Troubleshooting and Safety Simulator for Wind Turbine Technician Education

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This project will address two critical national issues in community college wind energy technical education: 1) a lack of qualified entry-level technicians in the growing wind energy industry; and 2) the limited ability of students to transfer learned concepts from the classroom to actual applications. The U.S. Department of Energy's Wind Vision report details a plan for 35% of the nation's electrical capacity to come from wind by 2050, which will require over 3,000 new wind technicians each year for the next 15 years. Moreover, many new wind turbine technicians lack the skills of working safely and effective troubleshooting due to ineffective, outdated, teaching materials. Through a partnership of community colleges, universities and industry, teaching practices in community college wind energy programs will be transformed using engaging, dynamic content and realistic simulations. This project will have direct positive impact on over 500 community college students. Broader impacts will include: 1) providing a better-prepared skilled and diverse workforce to meet the demand of the wind energy industry; 2) improving the effectiveness of technology education; 3) providing a model for workforce development in other fields, and 4) inspiring K-12 students in STEM education. The project team will develop a web-based interactive 3D simulator incorporating numerous scenarios and education modules based on real world situations. The simulator will be designed to meet specific learning objectives with activities to facilitate learning. It will be used to teach troubleshooting and safety strategies that enable students to solve problems in a safe, cost-effective and timely context. These learning modules will include open-ended questions for students to learn critical thinking and problem solving skills. The simulator will be used in existing community college courses. The effectiveness of the simulator and derivative formats for improving the learning outcomes will be continuously assessed, and such formative assessment throughout the project will enable cyclical improvements. The project will contribute to the body of knowledge on the effectiveness, perceptions, and attitudes regarding web-based interactive 3D simulators for technical education and also measure the learning that comes from the different formats (web-based interactive 3D simulator, videos, and text-based materials). An expected outcome of this project is that computer-based simulators will be increasingly used in the future for transferring learned concepts to practical applications. The simulator will be taught and assessed in four community colleges. The project outcomes can be used by community colleges all over the nation.