
The project “Challenge-based learning of risk prevention techniques in the handling of port machinery using operator training simulators” ends this December after 20 months of work. The main objective of the initiative is to provide students from schools in Cádiz and Gijón with skills in port operations with a practical and safe working environment through simulators that allow them to learn in a practical way the process of loading and unloading and prevent occupational hazards.
The University of Valencia participates through the LSyM group of the Institute on Robotics and Information and Communication Technologies (IRTIC). The Public Integrated Centre for Vocational Training (CPIFP) Marítimo Zaporito, in Cádiz, is coordinating the project, which also includes the Integrated Centre for Vocational Training (CIFP) del Mar, in Gijón.
The team has generated training tools based on simulation, where students are presented with real situations and have the opportunity to learn in detail all the operations involved in port stevedoring. This compensates for the difficulty of having specific machinery, with very high acquisition costs, and the risk that, even if the resources of nearby ports were used, inexperienced people would manipulate the cranes.
In this sense, the machine is also not damaged by incorrect use, maintenance procedures are reduced and classes are never suspended due to weather or because the real equipment is not available. It also reduces the time needed to provide quality practice, as the instructional design organises learning.
The tool allows an objective, reliable and enriched evaluation, as well as detecting problems well in advance. In addition, access to the history of simulations carried out allows for evaluation and traceability of the students.
By reducing the risks associated with the operation of the machine, the student, their colleagues and the environment, practice can be carried out even in activities that would be impossible to perform with the real machine. Simulators make it possible to reproduce extreme weather conditions, breakdowns, to work on risks arising from interaction with other equipment and under stressful conditions, and to reproduce dangerous situations with a risk of accident.
For its development and improvement, the University of Valencia has introduced the simulator to students and teachers from the centres involved, explaining its potential in terms of risk prevention and breakdowns. The students then carried out simple load handling practices, while at the same time developing critical thinking through challenge-based learning to incorporate new exercises that improve the skills acquired.
Thus, the university has modified the tool and collected data from the student body to assess the impact of the new improvements and the evaluation system.
Digitalisation in the teaching, learning and guidance processes is one of the most important pillars of today's education system. The simulator will greatly increase the results of the teaching-learning process.
The LSyM team is also working on the project ‘Collaborative training system using agricultural tractor simulators’, in which the CPIFP La Torreta, in Alicante, and Montearagón, in Huesca, and the secondary schools Crémor and Alquivira, in Castellón and Granada respectively, are participating.
Funded by the European Union -NextGenerationEU. However, the views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.