Finnish college with strong believes
Friday 27 August 2010
Oulu Vocational College (OSAO) in northern Finland is with its over 8,500 students one of Finland’s biggest vocational schools. Investing in training simulators is one step in improving operator training. Forming a network of schools practicing operator training enables the possibility to develop simulator-based training.
There are many reasons why the network believes in training simulators.
– We wanted to develop and improve operator training. Efficient and good quality training is needed when larger numbers of operators need to be trained, says Johanna Matinmikko, Project Manager.
Safety and economical issues are other reasons as well as decreasing the impact on the environment.
- Using simulators in training saves resources, since fuel consumption and the impact on the -environment (e.g. harvest virtual forest instead of real) are decreased, Johanna continues.
So far the project has implemented simulator in training for truck/ bus, car, forwarders, harvester, wheel loader, truck mounted crane and forestry crane. Four of these simulators are provided by Oryx Simulations and its partners: TYA, Komatsu Forest and Volvo Construction Equipment.
Fun and interesting way to learn and teach
Besides that, the simulators makes the education more interesting and motivate the students as well as the teachers. - The students and teachers do not want to leave the simulator even for a coffee break, says Timo Matila, teacher and a member of the development team.
The simulators are very good for motorical training and saves time. – The students can train in a safe class-room environment, without the teachers “hanging in the door” as they would in a real machine. The teachers can instead focus in other things. Another important feature is the possibility to train in similar conditions over and over again, until they know how to manage the situation, Timo continues.
The simulators are also used to market and enhance the interest for the school and their programs.
- We recently displayed the Truck mounted crane simulator in an exhibition, which attracted thousands of visitors, says Johanna.
In the future
At Oulu Vocational College they have a strong believe for training simulators, but do not think that it will replace the real machines. – It will not replace the real machines, but will be more common in operator training, says Johanna. More emphasis will be put on pedagogical planning and debriefing. –There are few simulator pedagogy development projects at the moment and yet more to come, Johanna continues.
For more information about Oulu Vocational College, please visit their website.
