E-education in Refrigeration Technologies for Students and Technicians in the Workplace *

The demand for broadly educated engineers, installers and service technicians is growing because of the strong growth in refrigeration, air conditioning and heating. The rapid technological evolution makes it impossible for a school or training centre to invest in all HVAC (heating ventilation and air conditioning) and refrigeration fields. It is here that e-learning, blended learning and virtual labs provide the answer. Students need new forms of learning where the course materials are available anytime, anywhere and are adapted to the needs and prior knowledge of each individual student. This is the reason why, in 2004, we started with the development of e-learning courses, which are all hosted on an open-source learning management system. Six years later, we have 30 interactive e-learning courses on cooling, heating and air conditioning, ranging from the basics to the latest technologies and systems. We are still developing new ones to keep up-to-date with the latest evolutions. But, education is more than just gaining theoretical knowledge. Our blended learning modules unite the theoretical and the practical aspects of education, by combining e-learning with practical sessions in our labs. Each course participant that uses blended learning does not only benefit from the many advantages of e-learning, but also can gain practical experience in this way. By integrating e-learning in virtual reality, we created virtual labs. We made 3D (3 dimensional) models of our labs complete with installations and equipment using 3D modeling software. Instead of looking at an image of an installation inside the e-learning course, a course participant can now walk around in our labs, walk up to an installation and look at real-time data from the actual installation itself, or go into a virtual classroom and take an e-learning course.