Welding training is expensive, it takes time for students to acquire the skills needed for this trade and sometimes it can be unmotivating for them.
That’s why the Colombian National Training Service (servicion Nacional de Aprendizaje, SENA) held a workshop titled ‘Simulation in Welding Training’ in which students and current welding instructors were able to try different edtech solutions to improve welding training and make it more attractive.
Virtual and Augmented Reality systems from Spain, USA and Austria were shown up to Mechatronics university students and teachers from the Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira (UTP) and the SENA, and then they were asked to answer a survey on which technology was best to enhance the training of qualified welders.
These were the results:
The president of the welding board and teacher of the UTP, Alberto Zapata, admitted that: “these are cutting edge technologies that have made the training process more flexible. The idea is let entrepreneurs, instructors and trainees know about them, for them to provide feedback to the welding board about the advantages of these educational support, to evaluate their use in welding training programs”.
