Designing Practical Learning Activities for Industry 4.0 and 5.0: A Case Study in a Learning Factory

The so-called Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0 have reshaped manufacturing, making it necessary for workers to develop a new set of practical and non-practical skills, which can allow them to remain competitive in the evolving context. Traditional educational models often fail to bridge the gap between knowledge and skills, highlighting the need for innovative teaching methods. Among the tools and technologies supporting teaching, Learning Factories offer a promising solution by providing students with life-like hands-on production experiences in a controlled environment. By combining these aspects, this paper proposes an approach, based on the theory of Constructive Alignment, for the design of a Learning Activity with the support of a Learning Factory. The approach is tested on a practical application involving Bachelor’s and Master’s students enrolled in engineering courses at the University of Bergamo. To gather feedback on the design of the Learning Activity, a questionnaire, that evaluates the learning experience according to a set of moderating variables, is submitted to the participants. Results show good acceptance by the students and give indications on how to improve the design of the Learning Activity to make it more effective.