Karsten Lensing, Kristina Lampe (geb. Dietrich), Silke Frye, Joachim Friedhoff, Alexandra Vivien Dorschu, Tobias Haertel

• The absence of real-world experiences is a lasting challenge in the field of higher engineering education. Therefore, learning-scenarios, which are highly reliant upon the students’ powers of imagination alone, would not be promising at all. Particularly with regard to the increasing complexity of information-, material- and workflow networks in a digitized industry, future manufacturing engineers need to be trained towards an ability to act and within situated contexts similar to shop floor conditions. Hence, scenarios enabling a sustainable anchorage of theoretical knowledge through the link between thinking and action are a necessity. In response to increased dropout rates and as a result of repealing the compulsory pre-study internship for bachelor candidates in mechanical engineering, first year students receive the opportunity to gain their experiences and get a so-called ‘machining license’. In the spirit of a holistic ‘hands-on engineering’-approach, the students will run through the entire process – from idea to product – and experience various manufacturing processes in a mechanical workshop – the ‘Technikum’: a 500 square meter production facility at the Hochschule Ruhr West. The developed scenario has been derived from a cooperation with the TU Dortmund Universities’ professorship for Engineering Didactics, where the course design was used for teaching woodcraft to adults.