CREATING A WEB-BASED COURSE ON MEASUREMENT UNCERTAINTY IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Teresa Werner 1, Wojciech Plowucha 2, Władysław Jakubiec 2, Albert Weckenmann 1 1 Chair Quality Management and Manufacturing Metrology, Friedrich-Alexander- University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Naegelsbachstrasse 25, 91052 Erlangen, Germany teresa.werner@qfm.uni-erlangen.de, albert.weckenmann@qfm.uni-erlangen.de, 2 Laboratory of Metrology, University Bielsko-Biala, ul. Willowa 2, 43-309 Bielsko-Biala, Poland wplowucha@ath.bielsko.pl, wjakubiec@ath.bielsko.pl Abstract: In the project "Statistical Analysis of Measurement Data For the Evaluation of Measurement Uncertainty" (SAM-EMU), an elearning-based course on measurement uncertainty was developed by a consortium of partners from five EU countries, targeted towards students at universities all over Europe as a possibility to amend education as well as towards engineers already in professional life as a source for advanced vocational qualification. The considered target group is very non-homogeneous regarding pre-existing knowledge, learning situation and individual learning targets. Furthermore, the equipment of different universities providing the course may differ a lot. The most crucial step for the development was the definition of a course methodology adaptable to the constraints of learners and universities all over Europe. The defined approach was based on the results of a user needs analysis regarding learning methodologies and infrastructure as well as topic-related interests, considering both the target group of learners and the intended providers. The implemented methodology of the course allows for a high degree of freedom both for the learner and for the provider of the course. To enable adaptability to various constraints, the course is based on elearning content designed for self-controlled learning which is offered via a web-based learning platform. This web-based learning facility is basically sufficient and may be used as a stand-alone solution for self-controlled learning. The knowledge imparted there sets the standard for gaining a certificate for this course. Yet, to enhance the practical applicability, a guideline was developed to adapt the course to the specific situation at each university. It is recommended to offer a course with a basic structure and time schedule, including a tutor to answer questions or provide support if required. Also, the virtual learning environment should be amended by face-to-face practical exercises or workshops, designed by the specific provider according to the respective facilities and group of participants. With the web-based platform SAM-EMU a learning offer on manufacturing metrology was developed that is adaptable to the diversity of learning and teaching constraints in different countries as well as to the equipment of a specific university. The
developed approach combines elearning materials defining a uniform standard of generally available information with individually designed presence-based offers. The elearning-material was implemented by international cooperation of universities and metrological institutes and assessed in a pilot implementation of courses on universities in Poland, Germany, Romania, Italy and the United Kingdom. Based on the positive results, the course is now offered to all interested universities and provides a valuable amendment of existing study programs as well as a source for advanced vocational training on the topic of metrology. During the further use, it will be possible to enhance the cooperation and communication of students from different countries, unified by a basic standard learning offer, but still profiting from the diversity and individual strength of every specific learning environment. Keywords: Blended Learning, Life Long Learning, User Adaptability, Measurement Uncertainty, European cooperation 1. Introduction The professional life of an engineer very often is focused on the development or manufacturing of products of various kinds. To execute the resulting duties properly, usually, information about the properties of products and the underlying manufacturing processes are indispensable. This information is gathered by measurements of different quantities, e.g. length and shape of manufactured parts, temperature of chemical processes, or strength of voltage or current for electrical applications. Among these, geometrical features constitute the most frequent and common measuring tasks as they enable the description of components and in the follow-up an assessment of their functionality. Yet, for a well-funded interpretation of this information, e.g. for the decision if a batch of goods can be delivered to the customer or if a manufacturing process has to be corrected, it is not sufficient to know a value of the inspected property, but one also needs information about the quality of the performed measurement. This is provided by the measurement uncertainty, describing how accurately the value of the inspected property is known. It is demanded by international standards that for all deliveries between customer and provider decisions have to be based on measurement results under consideration of their uncertainties [1, 2]. The proper evaluation of measurement results is an important topic for trading in all countries, with increasing relevance due to the growing internationality of market. A company will typically buy products or components from many suppliers all over the world and especially all over Europe, using the economical benefits of European Union. Therefore, rectifying or adapting delivered parts is not possible or extremely expensive due to the increased spatial distances between manufacturing and assembling. Still, most engineering students do not learn anything about the proper gathering and evaluation of measurement data during their education as only a few universities provide lectures or courses on metrology at all and even then it is difficult to cover the rather advanced topic of measurement uncertainty sufficiently within the strict time limitations of modern curricula. To supply a suitable learning offer, the project "Statistical Analysis of Measurement Data for the Evaluation of Measurement Uncertainty" (SAM-EMU) was conducted within the program Erasmus under the framework of Lifelong Learning Program funded by the European Commission, in
order to develop a learning offer on measurement uncertainty, suitable for students all over Europe, thus enhancing the international relation of the topic. 2. Outline of the project In the project consortium, universities worked together with partners from industry and state institutions to assure the reference to practical applications and the adaptability of imparted knowledge to real tasks. Overall, eight partners from five EU countries participated: University of Bielsko-Biala, Poland (Coordinator) Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania University of Padova, Italy Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Germany ANGA Mechanical Seals Ltd., Poland International Foundation for World Class Manufacturing, Poland The developed learning offer shall be accessible to students from all participating countries and also to external persons interested in advanced training on this topic. Thus, besides imparting competencies for the evaluation of measurement uncertainty, students should learn to communicate and cooperate in international learning groups. The international cooperation for development of the course shall contribute to the establishment of a European dimension in education, supporting international openness, convergence of education and preparation for Life Long Learning as key elements of Bologna declaration and its follow-up documents [3, 4]. In order to enable an efficient cooperation among all institutions, a suitable working approach had to be chosen. The general schedule of a project has to enable an efficient procedure to achieve results of high quality. For projects with an educational topic, several methods are offered via the models of Instructional Systems Design (ISD). For the project SAM-EMU, the model ADDIE was chosen, consisting of five phases: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and Evaluation [5]. It facilitates efficiently the development of user-oriented learning offers by focusing on the needs of the learner together with the intended learning aims. To enhance a smooth work flow and avoid iterations, elements of evaluation were not only used for a summative assessment of gathered results at the end of the project, but additionally measures of summative evaluation were included. The specific results of each phase were checked and improved if necessary before passing them on as base for the next step, thus implementing a concept of quality gates. 3. Conduction of User Needs Analysis For the implementation of a training course, it is indispensable to know the needs and wishes of the intended learners. Then the design and implementation of the training concept and realised learning materials has to be adjusted to these properties of the learner to enable efficient achievement of the defined learning aims. As a base for this, it is necessary to describe the intended target groups of the course to be developed. Regarding the development of a course with international users, the analysis of target groups is of special importance as it is expected that the needs and conditions may vary a lot. Therefore, one has to know the range of demands in order to be able to provide a suitable solution.
To collect information about the needs and properties of the target groups, a user needs analysis has been conducted. Firstly, an analysis of existing data on both target groups regarding the development of training offers was conducted. Secondly, to amend this data for the special field of measurement uncertainty and to verify the conclusion gained from the available data, a survey was conducted among both target groups. 3.1 General analysis To identify the needs of the intended target groups, results of former development projects could be used, where comprehensive analyses have been performed [6, 7]. Additionally, experiences from the members of the project consortium about the implementation of elearning based courses in university could be used as well as national studies performed recently to assess the ability and interest of students in university to use elearning, e.g. [8, 9] and unpublished sources. Out of these sources, general information about the target groups can be gained, covering relation to manufacturing metrology as well as constraints for learning forms. Regarding students of technical subjects as the primary target group, constraints for the use of new learning forms are very positive. Nearly all students have access to computers and internet and are also skilled in using these media. There is generally an interest in the participation in elearning-offers, but only a few students have so far actually used a purely virtual course offer. Mostly, elearning-offers are favoured as amending facilities for presence-based lectures or courses, e.g. to provide additional lecture or training material. Regarding purely virtual courses, the first experiences show that a proper introduction of the participants to the learning form is required to assure a broad acceptance. The main disadvantages stated by students for virtual courses are the increased necessity for self-organisation and the higher effort required for communication in respect to the fear that there would be no possibility for support. Regarding the existing knowledge about metrology in general and measurement uncertainty as a more specific subject, only a few students have access to this subject during their university education and are often learning only basics. On the other hand, some universities offer metrology as a specification for study where students may gain advanced knowledge about this topic. There is a variation to be noticed in the comparison of different countries regarding the organisation of studies and the resulting freedom of choice for specialisations, but also among different universities in one country due to focus of research and resulting teaching. Therefore, it is to be expected that the pre-knowledge of participants in the field of metrology will vary quite a lot from mere basics to advanced understanding. Yet, there is no explicit data about measurement uncertainty so far. Therefore, interest in the special subject and relevant existing knowledge had to be observed during the amending survey. Regarding employees in manufacturing as the second target group, former analyses showed that there is mostly no experience at all with new learning forms but a great interest to test these opportunities. Most employees have access to a computer and internet at their workplace that can be used for learning and also have a computer at home. Considering existing competencies, the topic of metrology usually is not covered in vocational education in depth, but only very basic ideas and skills are imparted. Therefore, employees working in this field have to be additionally trained.
From this analytic review, it can be concluded that the intended development of an elearning-based course on measurement uncertainty is suitable for both target groups as it offers the required flexibility in the choice of learning contents. To increase usability, it is recommendable to amend the virtual learning offer by presence-based workshops or seminars, if possible, or at least provide some basic introduction to the learning form. Yet, here the way that this can be implemented depends strongly on the infrastructure of the university and the organisation of studies. Thus, the course has to be organised in a way to allow for broad adaptability. 3.2 Conducting of a survey To verify the results gathered from the general analysis, a questionnaire has been defined and a survey has been conducted among students as well as among employees. For the survey, groups of students from different universities were asked that were considered as possible participants for the intended elearning offer. Regarding employees, the survey was conducted in Poland, Germany and Romania with participants in advanced courses on metrology. By the findings of the conducted survey, the results of analytic specification were verified. Additionally, some findings have been made regarding aspects of nonhomogeneity in the target groups: The amount of money learners were willing to spend is differing a lot. The amount mentioned by students is not dependent on the usual income in the various countries but significantly increases with the usual amount of money required for studies. This proves the general acceptance of elearning as a learning form but points out the differences between funding in various countries and the resulting view on course fees. Regarding the interest in the topic, the opinions of students in the survey are divided. It is visible that with an increasing basic knowledge in the field of manufacturing metrology also the interest in measurement uncertainty is rising. The same distribution of interest holds true for employees. Regarding pre-knowledge, most students estimated their knowledge about statistics as poor (52%), rather than good (40%), although most students had participated in some courses on this topic before. For metrology, most students ranked themselves as good (60%), but also many as poor (36%). For the group of employees, the distribution is similar. This suggests it will be necessary to include information about basic topics of statistics and metrology to assure the understanding of the advanced contents. Yet, the information has to be provided in a way which enables a flexible choice of contents adapted to the specific knowledge of a learner. As an additional topic, the participants in Germany have been asked about their willingness to participate in a course in English language. Among the students, 59% would be willing to do so (although all students learned English in school at least 5 years), among the employees only 17%. This refers to a basic problem regarding internationalisation of education in engineering. For the use of internationally oriented courses sufficient basic competences have to be enabled, including foreign languages as well as self-competencies such as communication and time management. Obviously, not all students command the fundamental prerequisites for participation in the oncoming internationalisation of education.
It can be concluded, that an elearning offer will be suitable to fulfil the demand of the user group, but it should be properly introduced to the learners. Also, during the set up, it is necessary to establish a close context to metrology and to repeat basics of statistics and probability calculation. There, all learning contents have to be designed in a way supporting the choice of contents according to existing knowledge. 4. Design of curriculum and teaching learning methodology Based on the results of the user needs analysis, the teaching learning methodology has been defined and the contents of the course have been specified in more detail. 4.1 Curriculum The course covers six main topics in the range of evaluation of uncertainty in manufacturing metrology (table 1). From these, four modules are considered to impart the core competences for the evaluation of measurement uncertainty. They are amended on the one hand by a module on basic statistics to provide a facility for those students with limited statistical knowledge to close the gap. On the other hand an additional module on uncertainty for multivariate measurands is offered providing rather advanced content for especially interested students or those wanting to specialise in the field of metrology. Overall, the course is intended for a learning time of 45 hours, 3 ECTS. Table 1: Outline of curriculum of the course SAM-EMU Topic of module Category 1 Basic statistics (plus tutorial on calculation software) Optional (Fundamentals) 2 General methodology of uncertainty evaluation Core Element 3 Uncertainty of conventional measurements Core Element 4 Uncertainty of coordinate measurements Core Element 5 Uncertainty in surface roughness measurement Core Element 6 Uncertainty in case of multivariate measurands Optional (Advanced) The defined detailed curriculum together with information about the intended learning time for each topic was presented to experts for assessment. The pool of experts consisted of two basic groups: On the one hand scientists working in the area of measurement uncertainty, on the other hand experienced engineers who deal with the evaluation of measurement uncertainty in practical application. By this combination, it was assured that the contents of the course cover all topics relevant for a profound understanding of necessary basics and scientific fundamentals on measurement uncertainty, but at the same time it also enables the imparting of competencies oriented towards the practical application of this knowledge in professional life. 4.2 Teaching learning methodology It has become clear that the target group has a strong interest on training with an elearning solution and also fulfils required constraints such as the access to a
computer and internet. Thus, the main source of information in the project should be web-based content provided via a suitable learning platform. Out of didactic requirements, it is necessary that the content is designed in a way facilitating easy understanding, self-controlled learning and the application to actual tasks. To support the authors of the various modules on the design of suitable learning content, authoring guidelines have been specified providing recommendations. If possible, it is recommendable to embed the tutored online course in a concept of face-to-face seminars. At the beginning of the course, a kick-off-workshop can be offered where the participants meet each other and the tutor and get accustomed to the use of the learning platform. During or at the end of the course, a thematic workshop may be established where practical examples on measurement uncertainty can be discussed to demonstrate the practical impact of the imparted content. Here also, a written examination may take place that is required by many universities in order to accept a course as subject for study credits. Yet, the design of these presence-based phases will depend strongly on the constraints of the course provider as well as on the specific needs of the group of learner which may vary widely. Therefore, general recommendations for the design of the described workshops were given, but the main concept of the course SAM- EMU is established as a purely web-based offer which may be amended with face-toface offers according to the needs of a specific learner group. 5. Development of course materials Based on the achieved methodology and curriculum, the actual course contents were set up. The informational contents were developed in the form of learning texts, following the defined authoring guidelines. Additionally, interactive and animated elements have been implemented. All developed learning contents have been crosschecked by other partners regarding accuracy of explanations, completeness of covered topics, comprehensibility for the target group, didactic quality and correctness of language. The learning modules have been implemented and facilities for the students to control their learning progress have been prepared in a learning platform based on Moodle provided by the University Bielsko-Biala. Finally, the implemented materials have been checked again and accordingly improved. Pilot courses have been conducted at all universities participating in the project. The overall concept of the course as well as the developed learning material has been assessed by the participants. Based on the results, possibilities for improvement have been identified and the learning materials have been revised accordingly. Also recommendations for the future integration of the course in study programs were collected. For evaluation, the achieved training materials are assessed and the quality of the gathered results is evaluated. Based on the results, a revision can be started. Respectively, the developed results of the former phases can be finally verified. Here, a summative evaluation has been conducted, amending the various approaches of formative evaluation conducted already during the project to implement the quality gates for the single phases. For the evaluation, the web-based tool evalue has been used which was developed especially for the evaluation of development projects for educational contents. It enables a holistic assessment of the gathered results by considering input of users as well as of an expert for the respective topic and an expert for didactics [11].
The results of evaluation were generally positive. The developed course concept was rated as comprehensively covering the intended area and being suitable for the use in study programs of master students as an amendment to existing lectures and courses. 6. Conclusion and Outlook With the web-based platform SAM-EMU a learning offer on manufacturing metrology was developed which is adaptable to the diversity of learning and teaching constraints in different countries as well as to the equipment of a specific university. The developed approach combines elearning materials defining a uniform standard of generally available information with individually designed presence-based offers. The elearning-material was implemented by an international cooperation of universities and metrological institutes and assessed in a pilot implementation of courses on universities in Poland, Germany, Romania, Italy and the United Kingdom. Based on the positive results, the course is now offered to all interested universities and provides a valuable amendment of existing study programs as well as a source for advanced vocational training on the topic of metrology. During the further use, it will be possible to enhance the cooperation and communication of students from different countries, unified by a basic standard learning offer, but still profiting from the diversity and individual strength of each specific learning environment. Acknowledgements The project SAM-EMU has gratefully been funded with support from the European Commission from October 2008 to September 2009. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. References [1] ISO 9001 : 2008. Quality Management Systems Requirements. [2] ISO 14253-1 : 1998. Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS) Inspection by measurement of workpieces and measuring equipment Part 1: Decision rules for proving conformance or non-conformance with specifications. [3] The Bologna Declaration of 19 June 1999 - Joint declaration of the European Ministers of Education. Online, http://www.magna-charta.org/pdf/bologna_declaration.pdf> [4] The Bologna Process 2020 - The European Higher Education Area in the new decade. Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers Responsible for Higher Education, Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, 28-29 April 2009. Online, http://www.ond.vlaanderen.be/hogeronderwijs/bologna/conference/documents/leuven_louvain-la- Neuve_Communiqu%C3%A9_April_2009.pdf [5] Branch, R. M. Instructional Design: The ADDIE Approach. New York, Springer, 2009. [6] Söllner, J.; Weckenmann, A. METROeLEARN - a new approach for training in the field of manufacturing metrology.. In: IMEKO 8th International Symposium on Measurement and Quality Control in Production ISMQC (11.-15.10.2004, Erlangen). VDI Berichte 1860, Düsseldorf : VDI, 2004, pp. 499-504 [7] Weckenmann, A.; Blunt, L.; Beetz, S.: European Training in Coordinate Metrology Components of a training concept for Coordinate Metrology: Situation - Curriculum - Methodology - Training system - Experiences, impuls, vol. 20, Oct. 2005. [8] Kleimann, B. Kurzbericht Nr. 10 E-Learning aus Sicht der Studierenden, Hannover: HIS, 2005. [9] Weckenmann, A.; Werner, T. Introducing Engineering Students to Open Distance Learning - a case study on the acceptance of a virtual course as compulsory subject. In: Fink, F. (Hrsg.): Book of Abstracts, 36th SEFI Annual Conference "Quality Assessment, Employability and Innovation", p. 50 and CD-ROM [10] Weckenmann, A.; Zwolinski, K. Qualität und Wirtschaftlichkeit von Schulungen In: Redeker, G. (Ed.): Qualitätsmanagement für die Zukunft Business Excellence als Ziel. Bericht zur GQW-Jahrestagung 2001, Hannover. Aachen : Shaker, 2001, pp. 189-204