Learning hydraulics on a tablet

Traditional on-site fluid power training is alwaysa compromise. Shifts have to be scheduled around, an instructorfound and brought to the site, and the class needs to learn and moveforward together. If the abilities of the students in that class are badlymismatched, some students will spend most of their training timebored, wading through beginner material, while others might beoverwhelmed by material that is too advanced. Even skilled instructorshave to compromise, and teach towards the middle of the class’ ability.At the end of the class, the instructor vanishes, and the students resumeregular work. Whatever was not absorbed in that short visit is lost.

Some businesses look to computer-based training, or e-Learning, to address these training deficits, but traditional e-Learning comes up short in the fluid power world as well. Many, if not most technicians, mechanics and millwrights are not thrilled at passively clicking “next” on a glorified slideshow for hours at a time. These are people who got into trades because they love the activity, and don’t always enjoy sitting and reading. Kinesthetic learning is strong in this group; lengthy video lectures or slide shows do not play to that strength. Learning this way can easily be perceived as a chore or even a punishment, instead of the vote of confidence in their value that such an investment really is.

CD Industrial Group Inc. launched LunchBoxSessions. com to revolutionize e-Learning by attacking these problems. LunchBox Sessions is a completely new e-Learning platform that works equally well for self-directed learning, or for supporting an instructor-led classroom session. Our strong roots in onsite technician training have guided our e-Learning content development and informed our technical choices. We are ready to challenge your notions of what computer-based training can accomplish.

LunchBox Sessions is a rich library of lessons, animations, videos, puzzles, quizzes, and of course, our always popular Live Schematics. Students practice real-world skills such as valve adjustment in the safety of a virtual environment, and gain confidence through safe and correct repetition. Rather than a single training event, access to LunchBox Sessions is a resource that can be called upon over and over, as students refresh their own knowledge, or take on new tasks. Most lessons are short enough to be completed in one sitting, so they are easily incorporated into a daily or weekly training program. Quizzes with randomized question selection and answer ordering can be taken as many times as desired. We believe that this reflects a far more realistic attitude towards training — students learn continuously, in digestible chunks, according to their need. As most institutions are now moving away from training that follows the oldest models in traditional schooling and education, to a focus on how learning actually happens in the minds and lives of learners, our mastery-based learning system fits with expectations for real progress in knowledge and skill.

We are proudly SCORM-noncompliant; we refuse to accept the severe handicap that the outdated SCORM standard imposes on our dynamic media. Instead, we have created training that looks like nothing else in the fluid power world. LunchBox Sessions takes pride in creating material that is eye-popping, colorful, and highly interactive. Rather than sitting back and struggling to stay awake, users control the pace of their learning. Hydraulic systems come alive, with the learner at the machinery controls. Valves shift, flow paths light up, cylinders move and motors spin. Complex concepts are made simple as users experience and manipulate systems, rather than just reading about them.

LunchBox Sessions allows students to move at their own pace and encourages them to explore freely and even experiment wildly. We suggest an order of progression from simple to complex, but we’ve avoided imposing a rigid linear structure, where one topic must be completed to unlock another. Curiosity and a need to inquire drives much of our true learning in life. Finding and readily accessing a topic of immediate interest brings value.

Students can work alone, or in teams. If someone is appointed to the role of trainer, they can take advantage of the content in LunchBox Sessions to bring interactivity into classroom sessions, as well as deploying the puzzles and quizzes for on-the-spot assessment. Instructor-led training and needed classroom discussions for summarizing topics, correcting errors in understanding, and synthesizing new knowledge are never the same after a session where the learners are working asynchronously with the same simulation as the instructor in front of the class.

No special hardware or software is needed. Lunchbox Sessions runs on standard browsers and loads quickly on mobile devices including tablets. For corporate clients that need LMS integration, we offer custom data transfer solutions. LunchBoxSessions.com is also a design and hosting service for companies that wish to have learning content and Live Schematics built for their specific machines, systems and objectives. These materials are then accessed in a private space together with all of our standard content.

Online learning has additional features that the classroom alone can’t match. Since LunchBox Sessions is always available, it lends itself extremely well to “just-in-time” training. For the solo night shift technician with complex diagnostic work to be done at 3 a.m., or for the team member in a different time zone who needs to work and train independently, this library of powerful animations and learning tools is ready to train whenever and wherever you are.

Check it out for yourself, and try out free content at www.lunchboxsessions.com

At IFPE in Las Vegas, March 11, at 11:00 a.m., Location S230, Carl Dyke, Chief Educational Officer at CD Industrial Group will present the educational session: Electrohydraulics Troubleshooting with LunchBox Sessions Simulations. Topics covered will include valve piloting, pump controllers, and load-sense troubleshooting techniques. Come and play along with your web enabled laptop or tablet and receive a limited time account.

Dyke will also be available in Fluid Power World’s booth in the South Hall, S-80752, to demonstrate LunchBox Sessions and answer attendees’ questions.