The offering of professional online learning platforms expands as the EIT Raw Materials community builds out it’s composites Academy.
As the Coronavirus crisis drags on, more and more education, research and innovation initiatives have explored expanding their online activities. The various European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) communities have developed their online offerings in this spirit. The latest initiative is that of the EIT Raw Materials community, as it launches an E-Learning Composites Academy platform. It is an online training platform aimed at operators, technicians, and engineers in the field of composites. The course trainees will be allowed to engage software, receive kits for hands-on activities, and quizzes to check on knowledge acquisition. Interaction with a tutor is also foreseen. A committee composed of specialists from industry, research and education, validates the courses.
The Composites Expert team, supported by EIT RawMaterials with Booster funding, created this novel large-scale educational project. This initiative is as such a good example of knowledge triangle integration, where industry, research and education cross-pollinate to mutual benefit.
The first modules were beta-tested in January 2020 with manufacturers representing different sectors of activity in order to obtain experience feedback and adjust the content and tools. The final skill-certification is conducted by a face-to-face exam. This Test of Composites Technical Evaluation (TOCTE) aims to become the professional benchmark in the world of composites.
Taught in 4 languages – French, English, Spanish and Portuguese, the training covers all aspects of the composites field, dealing with tooling constraints, quality, safety and technological limits, with application cases, simulations and calculations. The first module focuses on the general knowledge of composite materials, with a focus on 17 processing technologies associated with their fields of activity. As a next step, new training modules will be added every six to twelve months. In 2021, the Composites Expert team plans to develop a class related to thermoplastic composites, as the demand and use of thermoplastic is growing worldwide.
Other communities in the EIT also have online offerings. EIT Digital is launching online courses on the Coursera platform, while EIT Food has launched courses on futurelearn as a platform to equip learners all over Europe and beyond with the skills needed to make an impact on the evolving food research and innovation sector. ClimateKIC and InnoEnergy have each designed a series of online courses within their own platforms.