ViRGIn4.0 – Virtual Reality and Games for Industry 4.0 Erasmus Project

Project Title

ViRGIn4.0 – Virtual Reality and Games for Industry 4.0

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

With the project ViRGIn4.0 – Virtual Reality and Games for Industry 4.0, the vocational college Bocholt-West (Germany) wanted to use virtual reality (VR) and games in the context of Industry in a school partnership with the partner school IES Javier García Téllez (Spain) 4.0 investigate.

The aim of the project was to find out which VR tools are already available, whether it is possible to use them to create IT-based games independently, which then also meet the requirements of Industry 4.0 and can be used in lessons. The didactic and methodical embedding of the new topics and technologies in the lessons should also be dealt with. In addition, the participating teachers received intercultural impressions and gained insights into the world of work and the educational plans of vocational training in the respective partner country.

Four meetings were planned, two in Germany and two in Spain. The aim of these meetings was to hold workshops on the three main topics of virtual reality, game-based learning and Industry 4.0, in which the current state of development was continuously examined. It was also tried out whether it was easy to use tools to develop games that could then be used in the classroom. In order to obtain information and to get impressions, various institutions and institutions that were already dealing with the above topics were visited. In addition, there were activities during the meetings to get to know regional customs and culture and the school system of the partner country. The results of the project can be found on the “Erasmus + Project Results” platform.

Before and after the meetings, project activities were planned on the one hand to prepare and follow up the meetings and on the other hand to continue working on the topics.

Unfortunately, the fourth meeting was canceled due to Covid-19 and we continued to work in video conferences, which, however, was not as effective as a real meeting. As a result, we were not able to achieve all the results that were planned at the beginning of the project, in particular the topic of “Industry 4.0” was not finally processed. Since the Erasmus follow-up project ViRGIn4.1 has been approved, we will continue to work on the topics and also consider augmented reality as a topic.
In conclusion, it can be summarized for the project that we were repeatedly positively surprised in the course of the project, which possibilities in the area of ​​VR are already being used by companies and institutions. We did not expect this at the start of the project. We also looked at the use of IT tools and found out that it is currently still very time-consuming to create complex solutions with these tools, but simple solutions were created by the project team (see Erasmus + Project Results). The programming effort for complex issues is too high for teachers, but simple solutions can already be created. However, it is becoming apparent that the tools will become better and easier to use over the next few years.

The long-term effect of the project is achieved by involving additional teachers in conferences and further meetings in the two partner schools, who can then also work with the tools examined. Companies that train their trainees in our schools have also shown interest.

The project activities and the detailed results of the project are described in detail on the “Erasmus + Project Results” platform.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 28170 Eur

Project Coordinator

Berufskolleg Bocholt-West & Country: DE

Project Partners

• IES Javier García Téllez