If vocational schools wish to appear more modern, relevant, and future-oriented to young carpenters – and keep up the number of talented carpenters in Denmark – they need to think digitally.
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN OLD AND NEW
The pride of the carpenter profession comes from knowing the methods and knowing how to use your hands and tools correctly.
But how do we enable the carpenters of tomorrow to be in touch with the traditions of the past?
One way to bridge the gap is by creating a hook that grabs the past and brings it to life in today’s carpentry via new technology.
For this, we used VR.
One digital twin – multiple ways to learn
From 1900 to the 1960s, we built countless tower blocks for our working middle-class. These buildings now need energy renovations and restoration, and it is the carpenters of today who need to learn how to renovate old buildings like these.
To accommodate both the individual learning experience and traditional classroom training, we have – together with Skive College and VIA University College – developed a blended learning experience consisting of a touch screen solution for classroom teaching and a VR solution where students can:
- choose the correct order and the suitable materials step-by-step, renovating the roof from its tiles to the new inner walls of an apartment
- experience the entire structure of a historical mansard roof construction
- train how to renovate and reconstruct the roof by adding new layers in the correct order
- learn about different building materials
- get familiar with special craft techniques
- see and learn from technical drawings
In the VR headset and on the touch screen, the students can always see what a renovated mansard roof construction looks like to help them (digitally) renovate their own.
