The Centre of Excellence Luis Vives relies on Innovae to revolutionize its educational model

IES Luis Vives, located in Vallecas, Madrid, stands out as a benchmark in Vocational Training within the Network of Centres of Excellence in the speciality of Industrial Mechatronics, although its educational offer includes intermediate and advanced cycles in six different professional families.

With a focus on educational innovation, the centre has opted for the integration of Virtual Reality solutions in its training methodology in collaboration with Innovae. This partnership has resulted in the creation of an immersive room equipped with various simulators and designed to enrich the learning experience of its students. In addition, the centre has implemented SAVI, our management tool for Virtual Reality-based training, and the platform for the creation of Multi-user Virtual Spaces, ERAVIS.

The Luis Vives educational project is based on four fundamental areas: internationalisation, entrepreneurship, sustainability and digitalisation. Recognising the importance of making a qualitative leap in this last aspect, the centre has embraced Virtual Reality technology with the aim of providing teachers and students with a technological resource with great educational potential.

One of the centre’s specific needs was to be able to offer training on electric vehicles in a safe way, given the complexity and risk involved in working with them. As Juan Carlos Morales, director of IES Luis Vives, points out, “vehicles work with 400 volts DC, even some, such as Porsche, with 800 volts. It is dangerous and, moreover, it is difficult to adapt an automotive workshop from a 1978 centre into a centre for working with electric vehicles”.

To address this need, in 2021, the centre initiated a Ministry of Education and Vocational Training Innovation project, in collaboration with Innovae, to implement an electric vehicle simulator. “The project has been successfully completed,” explains Morales.

«Together with Innovae, we have managed to develop a Virtual Reality workshop in which the entire process is developed, from signalling when the vehicle arrives at the workshop, to basic maintenance operations such as battery replacement».

In addition to the collaborative room, designed to allow simultaneous virtual practices of several students, the centre greatly values our contents: “Innovae provides us with a very extensive catalogue of simulators for other professional families that we work with at Luis Vives, such as Renewable Energies”.

Specifically, in addition to the Plant Safety and Lift Mechatronics simulator, they also have a Wind Turbine simulator. As the centre comments, the latter makes training much easier due to the impossibility of having a wind turbine of real dimensions, more than 30 metres high, which offers the possibility of being able to visualise its components on a real scale, to understand how it works and to carry out maintenance operations virtually.

In conclusion, the integration of Virtual Reality at IES Luis Vives represents a significant step towards modernisation and continuous improvement in education. This innovative approach not only addresses specific training needs in high-risk technical areas, such as electric vehicles, but also enriches the learning experience in various disciplines through interactive simulators and collaborative practices.

This teaching model not only prepares students for the challenges of the real world, but also fosters innovation and educational excellence. “We are taking a step in methodological change and it is helping us to make that change happen at Luis Vives,” concludes Morales.