Plumbers and gas engineers can train on a virtual house designed to guide them through NVQ level II in Plumbing and Gas.
The six CD-based interactive modules incorporate 3D animation, graphics, video clips and sound.
Students are guided through a visual tutorial complete with voice-over, before practicing their skills in a virtual reality house.
The course has been developed by virtual reality specialists Skills2Learn, in partnership with the College of North London, Hammersmith & West London College and plumbing home study specialists, Train 4 Trade Skills.
The six subject areas covered are Health and safety, Soft soldering techniques, Copper tube bending, Gas controls, Domestic central heating design principals and Condensing combination boilers.
The course can be bought by individuals, colleges, and businesses for trainees, or used to update more experienced engineers on new legislation.
Skills2Learn managing director , Dr. Majid Al-Kader, said, “The e-learning technology used in the modules is designed to maximize students’ recall. The familiar graphical style training is very engaging and the student can repeat the skill he’s learnt in a safe environment where students can neither harm themselves nor damage customers’ premises. This technology lends itself perfectly to demonstrating practical skills”.
Skills2Learn also claim that the new e-learning process saves organizations significant sums in wasted materials.
Dr. Majid Al-Kader added “one of our clients, a London college, claims to save around £100,000 each year in copper pipe now that students can practice cutting and soldering virtual pipes on the computer. The interactive programme gives them the choice of how long to apply the heat and how and where to apply the solder. If they get it wrong, the virtual pipe overheats visually on the PC screen and the soldering won’t work. By the time the trainees are trying this in a real situation, they know just how long the need to heat up the pipe and how and where to solder it, virtually eliminating waste”.