From 2013 to 2022 I was an instructor in the profession of mechatronics and during my school career I noticed that our school system has ever greater weaknesses in teaching the basics and for this reason I started programming the e-learning platform to give learners the opportunity to supplement missing knowledge and quench their thirst for knowledge.

Why this project?

It turned out that the biggest problem in imparting knowledge is the preparation of the teaching material, because some documents go into depth far too quickly and get lost in detail, which very quickly overwhelms a newcomer, or the documents are kept simple and therefore often not formulated correctly and cause confusion or convey incorrect information.
Before new knowledge can be imparted, existing knowledge must be repeated and it must be ensured that the necessary basic knowledge is available and then it is important to make the connections clear, because it is important to understand these and to learn to combine them in order to develop independently and not simply to memorize something for the next test.

You can only impart knowledge if the learner also has the motivation to want to acquire the knowledge, so you have to create an interest in what is to be learned. My approach is to establish an existing connection to the subject area and build on this. Ideally, this should tie in with the hobbies of the trainees.

A very important point is to set a goal so that it is clear why you are learning this and where the journey is leading.

With many teachers, I often see the problem of routine, that they simply present their topic head-on and do not take into account the existing knowledge, interests, strengths or weaknesses of the students. 

A good teacher responds to their students and adapts the lessons to the learners in order to ensure interesting, comprehensible and goal-oriented teaching.

The aim should be to teach sustainably, i.e. you have to build up a relationship to what you have learned and understand the subject matter, only then can you refer back to what you have learned even after a long time.

The site should fulfill all these points,

Present knowledge clearly, i.e. define goals precisely
Show links between the topics
Linking the basics (prerequisites for acquiring new knowledge)
Small exercise examples with easy-to-understand solutions

The implementation

When developing the page, I made sure that technical terms are explained with a balloon, because this way you don't have to leave the page to quickly repeat individual terms or to make sure that the content is understood correctly. Great care has also been taken to ensure that the material is presented in a clear order and that the overall scope is clear.

The inclusion of learning videos has the effect that the material can be repeated without great effort and animations and experiments can also be shown well. The use of animations (gifs) also helps to present processes more simply and makes the page more appealing.

At the end of each article there are practice examples with sample solutions so that you can quickly implement and practise what you have learned.

Various simulators have also been integrated into the site so that you can now easily carry out practical exercises digitally or check your calculations yourself.

In order to check your knowledge, there are tests for each topic where you can briefly and concisely check the learning content. (does not work as desired at the moment)

So that not everything is delivered pre-chewed, there is also a separate area for the preparation of the final apprenticeship exam, in which test plates and collections of questions are listed without exact answers, so the apprentice can work out the answers with the help of his documents and the homepage.

Tips on learning and how best to prepare for exams are also available in a separate category.

The site was not only developed to prepare knowledge in a structured and professional way, but also to offer the apprentices in my classes an easy way to acquire the learning material during illness in self-study so that they can follow it more easily after their sick leave.  

Has the site had any effect?

I keep noticing that I am providing the young people with more and better documents and that they very often don't use them at all. Fortunately, I've had several cases where course participants have missed the start of the course due to illness, but thanks to the website, they have prepared themselves so well in self-study that they were able to follow the lessons without any problems.

When the coronavirus pandemic started in 2020, everyone was overwhelmed because we had to teach via video chat, as it is impossible to set up an e-learning system from one moment to the next. Thanks to my website, I was able to continue teaching seamlessly and easily distribute my teaching materials even when the official LMS platforms were down. At the same time, I also started to add sound to the videos. 

The goal

With this site, I want to create a central point of contact where you can get a good overview of the apprenticeships in mechatronics & co (plant operation technician, energy technician,...) and highlight the specializations of the respective professions. Furthermore, the content should ensure a good, quick and complete understanding of the subject matter, because only competent skilled workers who can apply their knowledge correctly are interesting for the job market and the work is more fun and easier to do.

I would also like to make a statement here that teachers bear a great deal of responsibility as to whether learners can and want to follow the material! There are plans to create a separate section for lecturers so that I can share my experience as a teacher.