INTERVIEW - MASSIMO BRACAGLIA

ITS MECHATRONICS OF LAZIO ACADEMY

Today we present Massimo Bracaglia, for some years engaged as a Tutor in ITS MECHATRONICS OF LAZIO ACADEMY, a reality that trains highly specialized students in the digital transitioning for manufacturing and chemical-pharmaceutical industries regarding the mechatronics field.
Massimo, graduated with honours in law, has always been passionate about Industry 4.0. 

Given his passion for different learning methodologies in other countries, he has begun to deal with European Projects, introducing the students of the Academy to the wonderful opportunity to learn traveling and experiencing different working realities. We asked Massimo some questions to learn more about his experience on how digital skills can impact the training in the Academy and work-based training

 

  1. Massimo, we know that in the ITS Mechatronics of Lazio Academy you have many opportunities to make work-based learning “digital”. Could you tell us an example and tell us what these digital methodologies entail in the organization of the tutor’s work? What are the main results of this type of training?

The ITS Mechatronics Academy of Lazio is an example of a dual system in Italy and uses digital technologies to support experiential learning. One of the fields in which we successfully apply digital for WBL is welding.

The welding simulation programme allows the student to be in a virtual reality environment, where every movement is instantly reproduced and represented to himself and the teacher on a 3D visor and external control screen.

The virtual environment faithfully reproduces the conditions under which the welder will work in the real world, simulating the joint, the electrode, the welding position and any other parameter or condition significant to the training and evaluation of welding skills.

The Virtual Welding curriculum is accompanied by a series of theoretical questions that serve to complete the students’ training and introduce them to the fundamental concepts of manual or semi-automatic electric arc welding.

This technique has been very useful for:

  • Shorten the duration of standard training courses;
  • Improve the learning process by also introducing notions of theory (including standards and safety);
  • Select beginner or declared expert candidates to start a career as a welder;
  • Evaluate welders in advance before sending them for official certification;
  • Pre-training of welders on virtual simulacra of production parts (self-presence).
  1. What did motivate you to participate in the Digital WBL Ambassador Program as part of the “Deal with Digital WBL” project?
In order to be successful and competitive, organizations can no longer wait for new needs to arise, they must find a way to anticipate them, operating proactively: change is so rapid, that keeping up with the times they must act promptly and update training and business models. The advance of digital technologies is profoundly changing the reality in which we live and, above all, our relationships with people and content, with profound implications especially on the world of work. Being able to quickly transfer new skills to employees and, at the same time, promoting the emergence of a flexible and open mindset is a fundamental key to the success of every organization, especially for our services. A strong debate on the theme of digital skills among trainers would certainly be of fundamental importance to understand where we are with our country.  The presence of different expertise, from universities to business schools, to the training centres of employers’ associations, gives Digital WBL Community of Ambassador an additional value in terms of integration of skills and expertise from which to draw.
  1. Which are your 3 main expectations about joining the program?
  • One of the main expectations is certainly to become part of networking opportunities at European level in the WBL digital expert community: networking means firstly giving, not receiving. It’s about building trust and helping each other towards common goals. Engage regularly with your contacts and find opportunities to strengthen knowledge and relationships.
  • The second expectation is the development of collaborations with other ITS in mechatronics and chemical-pharmaceutical fields, training courses of the 5th level of the EQF (European Qualifications Framework), in order to enhance the internationalization of our training courses, with the Erasmus Mobility, job shadowing abroad, study visits in foreign companies, etc.
  • Last but not least, I expect that being part of this wonderful community will give me and my collaborators additional skills to use digital technologies to improve student inclusion, personalization and active engagement.