Concurrent Development of Educational Modules and Learning Factories: A Case Study in Industrial Design Engineering

This paper presents an approach to achieve constructive alignment between educational modules and learning factory environments, emphasising concurrent development to meet the evolving needs of engineering education. As industrial requirements and educational objectives are constantly changing, alignment needs to be flexible and adaptive. The approach presented in this paper emphasises the concept of resilience, treating both educational modules and learning factory designs as ongoing and iterative research problems that evolve through learner feedback. By adopting strategies such as problem-based learning, the learning factory environment serves as a semi-open solution space where students actively contribute to both their own learning and the development of the environment. A master-apprentice model further supports this process, encouraging collaboration and continuous improvement. A case study at the University of Twente is used to validate this approach and provide initial insights into the alignment process. The results of this case study provide a preliminary validation of the approach, demonstrating the value of solutions and behaviours in the learning factory as valuable sources of feedback for evaluating and improving alignment. This study highlights the importance of continuous iterative feedback in creating resilient and adaptable learning environments.