Proceedings 2019 Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA-ACEG19) Conference

APPLYING INDUSTRY 4.0 AND EDUCATION 4.0 TO ENGINEERING

EDUCATION

Irina Neaga
School of Engineering, University of Wales Trinity St David, Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom
Corresponding Author [email protected]

Abstract – This research work-in-progress deals with a infrastructural foundation for tomorrow’s innovative
holistic analysis of the impacts of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) for industrial technologies and educational environments
(Mourtzis et al., 2018; Xu, Xu and Li, 2018). The related
engineering education especially for University
roadmap presenting the main technologies supporting the
undergraduate (level 4-6), master (level 7) and PhD evolution from Industry 1.0 to Industry 4.0 is presented in
related manufacturing, automotive engineering and supply figure 3. (TSB Forum, 2015; Santos et al., 2017). This
chain management programmes in United Kingdom higher technological framework could be used for industrial
education institutions. This analysis aims at providing engineering and management applications facilitated by
support for further consolidated recommendations to the digital engineering education systems, tools and virtual
enable the development of higher education engineering learning environments.
curriculum for enhancing I4.0 application for smart
organisations and industrial companies within the digital
supply chains. Also the paper provides an analysis of
advancement from digitalisation in engineering education
to the implementation of Education 4.0 and related
practices of smart labs, and simulation of smart factories
leading at the learning factory. A conceptual framework to
support the application of big data and learning analytics
in the School of Engineering from University of Wales
Trinity St David, Swansea, United Kingdom has been
identified, discussed and intended to apply in the context of
applying learning analytics.
Keywords: Industry 4.0 and Education 4.0: Internet-of-
Things (IoT): Smart and learning factory: virtual learning
environment: learning analytics.
Fig. 1. Industry 4.0 Framework

Education 4.0 is a development based on Industry 4.0

1. INTRODUCTION applied concepts and digitalisation of higher education
The Industry 4.0 has been initially called Industrie 4.0 institutions and of teaching and learning practices.
as it was launched during the Hannover Fair in 2011; Advancement of digital and/or online education supported
“furthermore, it was officially announced in 2013 as a by an Education 4.0 framework will facilitate the
German strategic initiative to take a pioneering role in development of skills and building graduates’ competences
industries which are currently revolutionizing the for contemporary industry based on I4.0. According to
manufacturing sector” (Xu, Xu and Li, 2018:2941). The Mourtzis et al. (2018) technologies such as Internet of
industry 4.0 has included several technologies as presented Things (IoT), cloud computing, augmented and virtual
in figure 1. Several recent approaches demonstrate how reality, big data and learning analytics have an important
Industry 4.0 represents the evolution of the Fourth role in engineering and management education, supporting
Industrial Revolution, upon which Information and advanced life-long training of the skilled workforce. It has
Communication Technologies (ICT) form the been demonstrated that learning analytics provides insights

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Proceedings 2019 Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA-ACEG19) Conference

about the teaching practices that could be rapidly adapted improvement), to deliver orders (around 120%
(Sclater, Peasgood, and Mullan, 2016). improvements) and time-to-market (approximately 70%
The paper is organised in distinctive but inter-related improvement).
sections that are addressing curriculum development to Some of the technologies associated with Industry 4.0 are
support Industry 4 leading to students and graduates as follows:
competencies for future rapid employment. Other sections  Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing
are dedicated to demonstrate the benefits of the application (CAD/CAM) that support the development of projects
of learning analytics in higher education institutions as and work plans for product and manufacturing using
complex organisations. Education 4.0 represents the computerized systems;
application of Industry 4.0 framework and the associated  Integrated engineering and logistics systems that
technologies in education based on the intensive support systems for information exchange in product
digitalisation. development and manufacturing;
1.1. Motivation and Background  Digital automation infrastructure using sensors that
are based on automated systems embedding sensor
The First Industrial Revolution has began at the end of the technology for monitoring through data collection and
eighteenth century and early nineteenth century, which was analysis;
represented by the introduction of mechanical  Flexible manufacturing lines defined as digital
manufacturing systems utilising water and steam power. automation with sensor technology in manufacturing
The Second Industrial Revolution started in the late processes (e.g. radio frequency identification (RFID)
nineteenth century, symbolised by mass production using in product components and raw material);
of the electrical energy. The Third Industrial Revolution  Simulations and analysis of virtual models based on
began in the middle of twentieth century and introduced Finite Elements Methods, Computational Fluid
automation and microelectronic technology into Dynamics, etc. for engineering projects and
manufacturing. These advances in manufacturing commissioning model-based design of systems, where
technologies were closely related to ICT. In the Third synthesized models simulates properties of the
Industrial Revolution, the advancement of ICT was at the implemented the model in real world;
core of every major shift of the manufacturing paradigm.  Big data collection and analysis that correlate large
For example, the widespread adoption of computer amount of data for applications using predictive
numerical control (CNC) and industrial robots made analytics, data mining, statistical analysis and other
flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) possible; the tools;
technologies for computer-aided design (CAD), computer-  Digital Product Service Systems incorporating of
aided manufacturing (CAM) and computer-aided
digital services in products based on IoT platforms,
processing planning (CAPP) made computer integrated
manufacturing (CIM) possible (Feng, Li, and Cen 2001; embedded sensors, processors, and software enabling
Xu, Xu and Li, 2018).
Industry 4.0 changes the landscape of industry mainly
related the following critical aspects (Santos et al., 2017):
1) Improvements in resource efficiency and sustainability
of industrial systems, 2) Distributed and responsive
industrial systems 3) Human-oriented interfaces and
improved work conditions. 4) Development of educational
competences based approach and skills. Industry 4.0 aims
to increase the digitalization of industrial companies and
supply chains, facilitating the communications between
people, machines and products, thus enabling real-time
access to product, production and supply chain
information for participating entities, and the performance
of autonomous work processes along the value chains.
Thereupon, the European manufacturing sector expects to
achieve a growth from 15% to 20% by 2030 if it fully
implements the digitization of their value chains (TSP
Forum, 2015). Also according to Santos et al. (2017) the
digitalization of supply chain applying I4.0 can bring
positive benefits for sales and operations planning of
manufacturers, such as reducing the time to respond to
unforeseen events affecting orders (around 300% Fig. 2. Implementation of Learning Factory 4.0

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new capabilities; higher education in UK Universities (Sclater, Peasgood

 Additive manufacturing, fast prototyping or 3D and Mullan, 2016). This approach could lead to an action
printing; research that is a methodology that has become
 Cloud services for products and services. increasingly popular and has been developed in education,
specifically at universities and schools directed to
The engineering education should take these opportunities influence the best practices. Road mapping could be also
and quickly respond to the challenges of educating the new applied in order to anticipate the future of the engineering
education correlated with industrial needs and skills
generation of engineers, and logistics professionals. requirements based on an existing roadmap for I4.0
Therefore fundamentals of I4.0 and the associated (Santos et al., 2017)
technologies must be taught within the Universities and
new curriculum should be developed and applied for new 3. PRELIMINARY OUTCOMES
programmes and apprenticeships. Applying Education 4.0
3.1. Competencies based education framework
in Engineering Education leads to learning factory 4.0 as
shown in figure 2 (Mourtzis et al., 2018). A comparative analysis of the current competencies,
Extending this approach and the conceptual framework knowledge and skills and those required in the future is
provided. Ramirez-Mendoza et al. (2018) have proposed
will contribute to the advancement of the traditional
the transition from developing skills and acquiring
teaching to learning using Factory 4.0, integrating Cyber- knowledge to competences based education that are
Physical Systems and Industry 4.0 technologies and presented in figure 3.
applying the Education 4.0 framework.

1.2. Aim and Objectives

The main aim of this research is to contribute at
accelerating the development of Education 4.0 based on a
holistic analysis of the impacts of I4.0 and existing
Engineering Education strategies and practices regarding
digitalisation and generation of large amounts of data.
The related objectives are related to the identification and
definition of the:
1. current state of the art of the application of I4.0 and
Education 4.0 leading to define Engineering Education
4.0 Framework.
2. benefits of applying Industry 4.0 (I4.0) for
Engineering Education Programmes including
apprenticeships in United Kingdom.
3. transferable skills and competencies needed by the
future engineers to effectively work within an I4.0
industrial environment and related digital supply
chains. Fig. 3. From Knowledge and Skills to Competenceies
4. opportunities and challenges to embed learning
analytics within Education 4.0 in higher education It is also anticipated that final outcomes of the research and
organisations. the related models will positively influence the
collaboration and engagement with industry in the School
of Engineering from University of Wales Trinity St David
(UWTSD), Swansea, United Kingdom. The Welsh
2. METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH Government addresses the economic development;
The methodological approach includes performing a transport; infrastructure; employment; skills; and research
systematic review of the literature and using content and and development, including technology and science
thematic analysis (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2012). providing a set of recommendation as a result of emergence
The work in progress is based on secondary data analysis of Industry 4.0 in Wales (National Assembly for Wales
of text presented in academic publications and reports. Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee, 2018).
Applying the research case studies (Yin, 2003) methods is For a society and economy that enhance the development
based on success of application of learning analytics in of 21st century skills in lifelong learning based on
digitalisation of higher education supported by Education

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4.0. 21st century skills encompass not only supporting environments in which learning is
technical/engineering and domain-specific knowledge and performing (Daniel, 2015; Sin and Muthu, 2015).
expertise, but also domain-independent meta-skills such as
• LA supporting the following aspects and issues in
critical thinking, creativity, communication, and cross
higher education:
cultural collaboration, and moreover dealing with the
complexity of future industrial issues of Industry 4.0. • Development and introduction of adaptive learning
strategy;
4. APPLICATION OF LEARNING • New pedagogical approaches and development
ANALYTICS leading at redefining and applying learning styles
(Kolb, 1984)
The outcomes include the definition of the current state of • Quality assurance and improvement;
the art of I4.0 and Education 4.0 leading to • Student retention; and
recommendations to support the I4.0 and increase the • Overall student experience and engagement.
benefits of application in industry addressing the
shortcomings such as interoperability, information Academic Analytics (AA) are related to the application of
transparency, and trust. The preliminary outcome is the the business intelligence and practices in Higher Education
conceptual framework presented in figure 4. Institutions. Business intelligence is a category of
applications and technologies for gathering, storing,
analysing, and providing access to data to support
organisations to make better business decision (Chatti et
al., 2012; West, 2012)

The main challenges of the application of big data and

learning analytics are as follows:
• Data integration architecture and systems;
• Selection of suitable data processing, analysing
systems and tools;
• Data privacy, especially the new data protection act,
and ethical issues of using/exploring student and staff
data.

The recommendations for implementing learning analytics

are as follows:
Fig. 4. Conceptual Framework for Learning Analytics • Selection of a suitable LA solution and systems
• Integration of VLE (i.e. Moodle) with other systems
(attendance monitoring, feedback tracker, etc.) and
Based on the students’ activities, their performance can be
related data bases.
predicted applying data, text and web mining techniques
• Distinguishing between LA and AA that are oriented
(Berman, 2013) such as
towards supporting administrative procedures in
• Regression higher education institutions.
• Association Rules Discovery • Moodle Learning Analytics (i.e. SmartKlassTM)
• Classification should be included as a component of the Moodle VLE
• Clustering to empower teachers/lecturers to manage the learning
• Content and thematic analysis, and journeys of their learners.
• Running data mining software systems (RapidMiner, • Institutional implication and agreements considering
XLMiner, Data R) specific policies and regulations.
Predictive Analytics enable prediction of student's Extending this conceptual framework will further support
behaviour, skills and performance by analysing various the implementation of Education 4.0 that is characterised
traces of their activities while actively interacting with the by teachers and trainers using Industry 4.0 technologies
Virtual Learning Environment and/or using social media. (i.e. IoT, RFID) to involve the aspiring engineers and long
life learners in real world simulations that increase the
• Learning analytics (LA) is concerned with the
perception of the studied material. Additionally, teaching
collection, analysis, evaluation and reporting of data
factories 4.0 will serve as an introduction for the aspiring
about learners and teachers aiming at understanding
engineers to the newly developed and implemented
and optimising learning process, and the related
technologies, through hands on training and workshops

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Proceedings 2019 Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA-ACEG19) Conference

that call the participants to utilize these technologies as a models) by connecting large databases and various
mean that will improve the quality and the effectiveness of sensor systems.
their tasks, potentially unlocking new capabilities. The  Information trust and relevance that are crucial for
implementation of these technologies in the teaching information sharing and exchange.
laboratories will also boost their integration in a real
industrial environment as the new engineers that have 5.1. Further Work
familiarized themselves with the true potential and the The development and adoption of Industry 4.0 and
capabilities provided by I4.0. Education 4.0 require further research, and practical
applications and the main issues are briefly presented
5. CONCLUSIONS AND below:
RECOMMENDATIONS  Developing a comprehensive framework for
Engineering Education 4.0 in the School of
The increasingly digitalisation offers great opportunities
Engineering from UWTSD.
for Industry 4.0 (I4.0) leading to the generation of new
 Engagement with relevant industry and research
teaching and learning possibilities in the higher education
institutes in UK and abroad in the context of Industry
institutions. This has enabled to move forward rapidly as a
4.0 as well as with logistics professional communities
global society in many respects, but has also led us to
complex, diverse and interdisciplinary challenges that in Wales leading to increase impact and collaboration.
affect all areas of knowledge In order to meet major  Analysis of the challenges and opportunities of
challenges. applying the I4.0 for the whole logistics chains.
The concept of I4.0 together with Education 4.0 bring  Identification of the required competencies of future
significant innovation for industry, schools and logistics professionals as well as the identification of
universities. In order to adequately and timely respond to the existing gaps in the educational programmes and
the need of equipping students with suitable qualification, in the related curriculum in the School of Engineering
skills and competencies the education institutions should from UWTSD.
adapt and the effects of the related changes will be  Definition of the requirements for a new curriculum
significant, and required to be carefully developed and for Industry 4.0 applying Education 4.0 to logistics
implemented. The current significant issues of qualified and apprenticeships programmes in the School of
people, made changes in engineering education that will be Engineering from UWTSD.
an important step in raising the standard of engineering  Comparatively analysis the research and practices in
education programmes also adopting Education 4.0. the higher education institutions in different countries
Therefore engineering education should develop and such as UK, Ireland versus Canada.
address the following aspects:
• Interdisciplinary educational programmes holistically Acknowledgements
teaching science, engineering and business courses /
I acknowledge that this research and participation within
modules also providing rapid / real-time innovation of
Canadian Engineering Education Association (CEEA-
the programmes, and modules in partnerships with
ACEG19) Conference are financially supported by the
industry.
Seed-Corn funding awarded by UK Canada Foundation,
• Adaptive learning environment and associated
London, United Kingdom.
strategies of rapid adoption.
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