College construction teachers embrace digital innovation at collaborative event

Six colleges from around West Yorkshire came together to collaborate on the digital progression of the construction curriculum using Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) before breaking up for summer.

Construction teachers and IT support teams from the colleges spent the day at Elland Road in April. They explored new technologies with leading digital companies and discussed how the technology could benefit both teaching and learning in a construction setting.

The event was funded by the Local Skills Improvement Fund (LSIF) and is part of the West Yorkshire Consortium of College’s drive for digital innovation to meet skills needs in the region.

You can watch the event that provides a snapshot of the collaboration on Youtube or at the bottom of this article.

Led by Leeds College of Building, the ‘Digital Innovation: Construction’ project is drawing investment from the Department of Education of £1.3million in West Yorkshire’s colleges to update facilities, develop new course content and support college staff to deliver digital skills.

At the event, digital companies Metaverse and VISR demonstrated construction-related software and how VR can be incorporated to the curriculum to increase engagement including for maths and English.

WYCC project manager for the Construction LSIF investment, Brydie Lund explained how the event helped turn conversation into collaboration and opportunity.

“We held a workshop that covered areas such as how to incorporate digital technologies into construction curriculum and how to deal with some of the barriers that staff are facing.

“Having a mix of expertise from construction, teaching and technology meant that the group made positive progress around how to work together to help teachers get up to speed and utilise the investment to its potential.

“During the panel session, we heard from teachers who already use VR, AR and other digital technologies into their classrooms, giving the audience a chance to ask them questions.”

The LSIF investment in West Yorkshire is a boost of capital and revenue funding to the total value of £6.9million in WYCC member colleges across a number of curriculum areas as well as teaching and learning in general. Working in partnership with the West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, who published the Local Skills Improvement Plan in 2023, the investment also aims to bring education and businesses closer together and to make skills development appropriate and accessible to the region’s employers.

Since the LSIF funding agreement was announced in November 2023, Construction departments within the group have been planning their capital investment into VR and digital equipment that can enhance the learning experience and teach students new digital skills.

The unique partnership that among the seven WYCC colleges and groups in West Yorkshire has provided additional benefits from being able to collectively purchase, learn and engage with business.

With the funding coming to an end in March 2025, colleges are investing now and planning how to sustain the progression into the future.

Brydie continued, “It was a really rewarding day. It brought over 40 college staff members together from across the region, to allow them to use and enthuse about the kit which they will receive through the funding, chat and ask other members of staff of how they have used it for their teaching. The day also presented some surprises such as how the technologies such as AI has helped teaching staff save time and be more creative.

“The college staff were able to get advice, guidance and new ideas from the suppliers themselves on how best to use the kit and to have seamless installations within their current IT infrastructure.”

Leeds College of Building, Bradford College, Kirklees College, Luminate Education Group, Heart of Yorkshire Group and Calderdale College were all represented at the event and are benefiting from LSIF funding.

The project will develop a significant suite of interactive and new immersive skills in electrical, plastering, brick plumbing and joinery through the use of Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). In technical areas, digital surveying, hydraulics, sustainability measures such as Passive Haus technologies and acoustics will be explored.

Find out more about LSIF and WYCC Digital Innovation across the colleges.