Gamification of production automation

Abstract

The teaching of technically demanding content in exercises is often linked to the use of software that is required for processing. At the same time, a large number of requirements and technical conditions must be taken into account. Classical lectures follow the principle of frontal teaching. The teacher uses an example to show all the steps to be taken. In this way, the students learn how to operate the software and the required functions primarily according to the principle of "show and tell". Slight variations, for example, still require a certain adaptation performance of the student of the seen to the own task variant. The results are evaluated on the basis of fixed criteria and error catalogs.

On the one hand, this approach is not very motivating and, on the other hand, it is far away from the later requirements of the real working world. The compulsion to teach online as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic was used as an opportunity to replace this outdated teaching concept with a new one in the Product Automation course. It is based on the principles of gamification and considerably expands the learner's scope of action. An intrinsically motivating work environment is created through the use of real rewards and the possibility to control one's own results. The integration of a competitive component further increases motivation.