Exploration and Practice of the Talent Training Model of Mechanical

and Electrical Majors Based on the Integration Project Empowered

by Artificial Intelligence

Xingang Shen

, Liming Peng

, Guiyang Jin

, Aiguo Jin

and Jianwei Shen

Intelligent Equipment Research Institute, Ningbo Polytechnic, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China

1300415814@qq.com,

544860629@qq.com

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Empowerment, New Computer Technology, Integration Project, Mechanical and

Electrical Major, Curriculum System, The Vocational Ability of The Post.

Abstract: Nowadays, the correspondence between the professional curriculum system and the talent training objectives

is not close enough, talent training lacks effective project support. Therefore, with the help of new modern

computer technology such as artificial intelligence, intelligent and personalized management software system

is designed for training mechanical and electrical professionals. Through developing professional integration

projects covering professional knowledge and vocational ability of the post and adapting to teaching and

practice, training program formulation, teaching process implementation, and teaching result assessment are

organically integrated into the professional curriculum system, which not only effectively supports the

realization of the talent training objective, but also makes the learning goals of students clearer, the teaching

contents of teachers to be more carrier-based, and the curriculum to be coherent and systemic. Moreover, the

curriculum system turns into an organic whole, and curriculum management and assessment get more

intelligent, efficient, and accurate. The introduction of professional integration projects empowered by

artificial intelligence can overcome the shortcomings of the discipline system in the traditional professional

teaching model. If the advantages of modern computer information technology can be fully used to exert the

systematic and complete advantages of the discipline system and emerge with the practice and teaching of the

integration project, professional talents training objective will be effectively supported to realize the “top-

down” design and implementation of professional talent training and improve the quality of talent training

due to the supplementation between theory and practice.

1 INTRODUCTION

Talent training according to professional

classification is an ordinary way of modern higher

education, and professional education is to shape and

develop the vocational ability of the post and

comprehensive quality of people in a certain field.

The school sets up majors according to the needs of

social and industrial development, formulates

professional talent training objectives, develops a

professional curriculum system, and decomposes the

knowledge and skills required by vocational posts

into different courses. Through implementing the

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curriculum system, students will finally have the

vocational ability to meet the needs of vocational

posts and the needs of enterprises for talents.

Therefore, when training talents, the market demand

must be focused to establish clear goals. The

construction of a professional curriculum system,

teachers’ teaching, students’ learning knowledge, and

training skills should be carried out around the

training objectives.

From the current situation, the specialty has

described the objective of talent training when

developing talent training programs and has

established a talent training curriculum system with a

logical relationship. However, the logical progression

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496

Shen, X., Peng, L., Jin, G., Jin, A. and Shen, J.

Exploration and Practice of the Talent Training Model of Mechanical and Electrical Majors Based on the Integration Project Empowered by Artiﬁcial Intelligence.

DOI: 10.5220/0011914400003613

In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on New Media Development and Modernized Education (NMDME 2022), pages 496-505

ISBN: 978-989-758-630-9

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

of these courses is limited to the accumulation and

transmission of knowledge, as well as a certain

increase in vocational ability. It can not

systematically shape students’ vocational ability,

because there is no effective and consistent teaching

project support in the specific implementation

process of the curriculum system, and there is no

organic connection between courses. Most of the

different courses are the personal behavior of

teachers, and there is no project to take charge of the

talent training in the whole process. In addition, there

is also a lack of specific standards for talent training,

and the assessment of professional courses and

vocational abilities is devoid of standards and basis.

As a result, an objective and fair assessment of the

quality of professional talent training cannot be made.

In addition, problems occurring in talent training

cannot be fed back to the talent training program,

which is also the reason why the State Council issued

the National Vocational Education Reform

Implementation Plan in 2019 to implement the pilot

1+X certificate system.

With the development of society and industry

towards lean optimization, the professional

counterpart rate and employment quality of students’

employment have become more important indicators

to measure the quality of professional talent training

compared with the employment rate of professional

students that were paid more attention to before. The

training quality of professional talents and the

professional counterpart rate after employment are

positively correlated. In other words, only premium

talent training quality can ensure a high employment

counterpart rate. On the contrary, poor talent training

quality inevitably leads to a low professional

counterpart rate. In addition, the current talent

training system is short of a customized, intelligent,

efficient, and accurate information management

system in the whole process in terms of talent training

plan formulation, teaching process implementation,

and teaching result assessment, which makes each

teaching link seriously disconnected and profoundly

restricts the upgrading of the talent training system

and the quality of talent training.

2 TRADITIONAL TEACHING

MODEL AND EFFECT

Taking the compulsory course “Fundamentals of

Mechanical Design” for mechanical and electrical

majors as an example, the teaching model and effect

of the traditional knowledge architecture course are

illustrated in this paper. This course is an important

professional course for mechanical and electrical

majors, mainly teaching various basic concepts,

knowledge, commonly used components, mechanical

structures, and design methods used in mechanical

design. The traditional course materials and teaching

models are conceived and arranged according to the

knowledge system structure (as shown in the block

diagram in Figure 1). How can students acquire the

practical ability of “mechanical design”? According

to the knowledge points taught in the course

Fundamentals of Mechanical Design, it is difficult

for students to obtain design ability, because

knowledge is scattered in the teaching process, and

mechanical design is an application of

comprehensive ability. Therefore, the general

practice is to design the curriculum twice or so in the

professional curriculum system, and the practice

project adopted is the well-known reducer design

(from the design of primary to secondary gear

reducers, etc.). The reducer is a typical project case

suitable for mechanical design, which can cover loads

of mechanical design knowledge. However, this

project has been a routine design process without too

much change, from which students can gain little

training in creative thinking and ability. Moreover, a

big problem of this project is that it can only stay on

the drawings. Due to the complexity of the

component structure and the particularity of the

processing technology (casting, gear processing) and

other problems, it is difficult to turn the design results

into real works and present them in front of students.

At the same time, for electromechanical majors, the

project also lacks the application of knowledge and

skills related to electrical control.

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Artiﬁcial Intelligence

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Figure 1: Project teaching reform of curriculum system

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3 PROJECT REFORM OF

CURRICULUM AND

CURRICULUM SYSTEM

To improve the quality of professional talent training,

higher vocational education has been continuously

reformed for more than 20 years. As an important

field of teaching reform in higher vocational

education, project teaching presents the main

exploration direction and effective way to reform the

teaching of the discipline system in higher vocational

education. Over the years, much literature has

summarized the reform and effect of project teaching

of the curriculum. For example, Zhang Anfu put

forward the transformation from the indoctrinated

CPE teaching logic to the project PTI teaching

method (Zhang 2019, Yao 2020, Ding 2019, Wu

2015, Yu 2015). Duan Yongkang proposed that

“project teaching has played an important role in

improving the quality of higher vocational education,

but there are some constraints when implementing the

project, such as higher requirements for teachers’

ability and inadequate allocation of resources,” and

suggested to “build a teaching coordination

mechanism” (Yan 2018). The author of this paper also

deeply believes that. Some literature also further

proposed to “develop a penetrating project teaching

system to improve students’ comprehensive

application ability and innovative consciousness

towards knowledge” (Duan 2019).

To improve the teaching quality and effect, the

projected reform of the course is carried out in the

process of teaching reform. In the teaching field of

mechanical and electrical specialty, the so-called

teaching project should refer to some teaching

carriers with independent and complete functions,

which should be defined from the function of the

carrier, rather than the knowledge system. Therefore,

the first stage of the teaching project reform is to

develop some teaching carriers suitable for

mechanical design as teaching projects, such as the

design of flat tongs, reducers, milling cutter heads,

etc. (as shown in the dashed frame of Figure 1),

integrating the original knowledge points of the

mechanical design course into these projects. By

implementing these projects, knowledge is acquired

and curriculum skills are trained. This projected

curriculum reform has made great strides and

progress compared with the teaching model based on

the knowledge system. However, these projects are

called “granular” teaching projects because they are

decentralized and not systematic although some

knowledge of the curriculum is covered.

To further improve the teaching effect, several

comprehensive projects (as shown in the double

dotted line frame of Figure 1) are developed as the

carrier, and the curriculum in the professional

curriculum system is decomposed into these projects

so that the training objectives of professional

knowledge and skills are realized through

implementing the projects. In this way, many

“granulation” projects in the original different

courses can be unified into a professional integration

project to implement the mechanical design in the

whole process, components processing and

manufacturing, electrical control system design,

mechanical and electrical installation, and

adjustment. In this process, the knowledge system in

the course is no longer the main content of teaching,

but the content of learning to complete the project.

Knowledge can be acquired through implementing

the project, rather than taking project training to

acquire knowledge. The active and passive

relationship of teaching has been transformed,

realizing the “project” design and implementation of

the curriculum system.

4 CLOSED-LOOP MODEL OF

TALENT TRAINING

In this paper, it is proposed to construct a closed-loop

control model for professional talent training based

on artificial intelligence empowerment (as shown in

Figure 2), which mainly includes two aspects. One is

to systematically design and develop integration

projects that run through the professional talent

training in the whole process according to the

objectives of professional talent training. Through

these projects, the courses in the professional

curriculum system are organically connected. When

implementing talent training, guided by ability and

achievements, the quality of professional teaching is

evaluated and guaranteed through the “X certificate”

to achieve closed-loop control of the quality of

professional talent training. The other is to customize

or research and develop the management system of

professional talent training empowered by artificial

intelligence in the whole process, providing

intelligent, efficient, and accurate technical support in

curriculum system design, teaching process

implementation, training system effect assessment,

and other links, and serving the entire professional

talent training system.

Exploration and Practice of the Talent Training Model of Mechanical and Electrical Majors Based on the Integration Project Empowered by

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Figure 2: Closed-loop model of talent training empowered by artificial intelligence

In the closed-loop control model shown in Figure

2, the design module, implementation module, and

evaluation module at the time

1+t are

)(

XI , )(

XE respectively. The closed-loop

control model can be expressed as follows:

(

)

)()()()()

(

XY •=

(1)

)

()()

(

(2)

)(

XF refers to the input transformation

function. It can be seen from the above formula that

Formula 1 represents the output obtained

at the

current time

t as input through the closed-loop

model at the time

1+t

. Formula 2 represents the

feedback module. By introducing the system output

feedback at a time

1+t

, the output of the entire

closed-loop model is optimized.

As for the management system of professional

talent training empowered by artificial intelligence in

the whole process in Figure 2, its main responsibility

is to serve the implementation of the design module

)(

, implementation module,

)(

and

evaluation module

)(

, which are realized by

three artificial intelligence ( AI ) models respectively.

For the design module

)(

, by introducing the

professional curriculum settings of other schools and

the professional curriculum settings and teaching

evaluation of one’s school, the professional

curriculum training system can be automatically

recommended with the help of the artificial

intelligence algorithm. The formula is as follows:

),(

YYAIModel1Y =

(3)

Among them,

, a n d

respectively

refer to the professional talent training curriculum

system optimized by the AI model, the professional

talent training curriculum system of the school before

the optimization, and the professional talent training

system of corresponding majors of other schools.

For the implementation module

)(

XI , AI

empowerment mainly completes the intelligent

arrangement of course progress, phased effect

evaluation, etc. Its formulaic description is as

follows:

),(2,

ZYAIModelZY =

(4)

Among them,

and

respectively refer to

the schedule of professional talent training courses

and the phased effect evaluation plan before

optimization in the school.

and

represent

the optimized schedule of the professional talent

training courses and the phased effect evaluation plan

in the school. For the evaluation module

)(

XE , AI

empowerment, mainly for the student-centered multi-

dimensional talent training effect evaluation,

evaluates the training effect of professional talents in

the school, including innovation ability, engineering

practice ability, critique ability, enterprise

adaptability, and so on. Its formulaic expression is as

Design

(Curriculum system inte

ratin

integrated projects)

Evaluation

(X certificate evaluation of the

independent third-party)

Implementation

(Teaching oriented by

achievement and ability)

The management system

of professional training

empowered by AI in the

whole proces

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follows:

)(3

YAIModelY =

(5)

Among them,

refers to the effect evaluation

data of the professional talent training system before

optimization in the school, and

r e p r e s e n t s t h e

multi-dimensional effect evaluation results of the

professional talent training after AI optimization in

the school.

5 VOCATIONAL POST AND

CURRICULUM SYSTEM

CONSTRUCTION

The typical vocational posts corresponding to the

major and the vocational ability of the post are the

basis for formulating the professional curriculum

system, and also the direct embodiment of the

training objectives of professional talents. Therefore,

the professional curriculum system is the core to

support the training objectives of professional talents

(as shown in Figure 3). In the article “Reconstruction

of electromechanical curriculum system based on the

international engineering education professional

certification standards”, the author summarized the

methods and processes of constructing the

electromechanical curriculum system in detail.

According to such methods and processes, the author

constructed a disciplinary curriculum system

structure with logical relations. The curriculum

system structure is complete and logical. Evaluated

from the normative and scientific aspects, the

professional curriculum system built in the way the

author proposed has made much more progress than

that constructed by the traditional way. However,

from the perspective of the implementation process,

there are still problems as described in Section “one”.

There is only a logical relationship between functions

and knowledge among the courses in the curriculum

system, lacking cohesion and coherence in skills

training and promotion. There is no unified common

goal between courses as a teaching guide. Therefore,

to strengthen the logical connection between courses,

the curriculum system and courses must be integrated

to serve the training objectives of professional talents

through the professional integration project, so that

the integration project can become the link

connecting courses and the information center of

professional talents training (as shown in Figure 4).

Figure 3: Professional curriculum system supporting talent training objectives

Exploration and Practice of the Talent Training Model of Mechanical and Electrical Majors Based on the Integration Project Empowered by

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Figure 4: Curriculum system architecture of electromechanical specialty

6 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE

INTEGRATION PROJECT OF

THE PROFESSIONAL

CURRICULUM SYSTEM

The integrated teaching project refers to a

comprehensive teaching project that can guide

professional knowledge and professional skills,

including electromechanical specialty. The integrated

project should cover the knowledge and skills of

mechanical graphing and reading, mechanical design

(including CAD, digital design of electromechanical

products), machining technology and numerical

control machining, the design of hydraulic or

pneumatic transmission system, the design of

electrical control system, PLC technology, and

engineering application, the installation and

debugging of the electrical control system, intelligent

equipment application, and other aspects. By

developing several integrated teaching devices that

can cover the professional knowledge and

professional skills of electromechanical specialty,

and running the integrated project through the talent

training of electromechanical specialty in the whole

process, the courses in the professional curriculum

system will be organically connected, so that the

course is no longer an independent one, but a

necessary link to complete the project. Each course in

the curriculum system is to complete a specific

function in the whole project. All courses aim to

complete several specific projects (as shown in

Figure 5). Students gradually form corresponding

vocational abilities through various stages of the

course. Finally, Students can complete the whole

project and form specific teaching works, so that

teachers’ teaching and students’ learning can be more

targeted.

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Figure 1: Professional integration project and curriculum system

7 CONDITIONS FOR

IMPLEMENTING

INTEGRATION PROJECTS

7.1 The Development of the Project

The primary condition for implementing the

professional integration project is to develop several

projects that can cover the core knowledge and skills

of the profession, and form a complete teaching kit of

the integration project, from which the teaching

materials of each course in the professional

curriculum system can be obtained. Organized by

professional teachers, the materials can become the

project carrier of the curriculum teaching. On one

hand, taking the mechanical and electrical specialty

as an example, according to the professional

characteristics, the integration project must be able to

cover the knowledge and skills of mechanical,

electrical, liquid (gas), control technology, and other

aspects. On the other hand, the integration project

should be a comprehensive project suitable for

teaching rather than directly gaining from the actual

project of the enterprise. Since the actual project

completely from the enterprise is ever-changing, with

complex project processes and high development

costs, and the students lack the process cognition and

accumulation of the enterprise project, the actual

project completely from the enterprise cannot be

transformed into actual products and are difficult to

implement in the school. Therefore, the integration

project must be suitable for professional teaching.

The project can come from the enterprise, but it must

be sorted, optimized, and refined.

7.2 The Configuration of Teachers

Another important condition for carrying out

professional integration teaching is that the teaching

team with rich practical experience must be able to

integrate knowledge and skills into the

implementation process of the project, and can

quickly solve the problems proposed by students

when completing the project, which is a test for

professional teachers. On the one hand, the teaching

content should be transformed into actual results and

works, which can avoid the disconnection between

theory and practice. On the other hand, through

implementing professional integration projects, the

Exploration and Practice of the Talent Training Model of Mechanical and Electrical Majors Based on the Integration Project Empowered by

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503

professional skills of professional teachers will also

be greatly improved.

7.3 The Complement of Funds

The curriculum and curriculum system is transformed

and implemented with project orientation, which

ultimately aims to complete the actual product.

Therefore, consumables cost is a real problem that

must be considered. Taking the Z device shown in

Figure 1 as an example, the cost of main components

such as mechanical components, electrical control

cabinets (including S7 1200 PLC), and pneumatic

components is about 75 thousand (The cost details are

shown in Table 1.), which is completed by a project

team composed of three students. Therefore, the

average cost per student's shoulder is 25 thousand

yuan. If the secondary or multiple uses of electrical

control components, pneumatic components, and

other components in the original device are

considered, the cost can be controlled within one

thousand yuan per person. Therefore, doing actual

projects will not greatly increase the cost of teaching.

In addition, the project transformation and

implementation of the curriculum and curriculum

system also involve the management system for the

professional talent training empowered by artificial

intelligence in the whole process. There are two

solutions. One is to develop a set of management

systems with complete intellectual property rights for

intelligent and professional talent training in the

whole process in the form of curriculum design or

graduation design. The other is to entrust an IT

company to develop a set of management systems

empowered by artificial intelligence in the whole

process of professional talent training. The system is

about 100,000-150,000 yuan. It is worth noting that

the system can be applied to the management of each

different professional talent training in the whole

process in the whole school, and the cost averagely

shouldered by each student is also acceptable.

Table 1: The project cost of the device Z (Figure 1)

Number

Major categories of

the components

Details of spare components Amount

Cost

(ten thousand yuan)

Mechanical

components

machining fitting

One batch

(20)

0.01

( only material cost

concerned

)

Heat treatment on components

( blackening )

One batch

(20)

0.01

3 Grid of 304 stainless steel 1 piece 0.045

Electrical components

Screw module ( including stepper

motor

)

1 piece 0.04

5 S7 1200 and I/O extended module 1 piece 0.4

Electric control cabinet and low-voltage

electrical components, etc

1 set 0.1

Pneumatic

components

Pneumatic cylinder 3 pieces 0.015

8 Reversing valve 4 pieces 0.02

Gas source processor and other

neumatic accessories

1 set 0.015

10 Others Accessories 1 set 0.1

Total 0.755

8 CONCLUSION

The integration project transformation of the

professional curriculum system aims to connect and

integrate the courses teaching professional

knowledge and training ability for students in the

curriculum system through integration projects.

Through the management system of professional

talent training in the whole process, the talent training

is empowered from the beginning to the end,

supplementing the shortcomings of systematic ability

while giving full play to the systematic advantage of

knowledge in the curriculum system. The dispersed

“granular” ability training is changed to “continuous”

and “systematic” ability training, integrating theory

and practice teaching, and forming the talent training

model of “integration project leading, ability and

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result guiding”. From the practice of

electromechanical specialty for about 3 years, the

effect is remarkable. The engineering practice ability

of the students has been significantly improved, with

a shorter cycle of adapting to professional posts. The

students are welcomed by enterprises, and the

professional counterpart rate of students has been

significantly promoted. In the future, this model will

be integrated with the “X” vocational skill level

certificate which is vigorously promoted and

continuously improved by China, realizing the third-

party assessment of teaching quality. The training

quality of higher vocational education professionals

in China will be significantly improved. On this basis,

the exploration and practice of the specialty in the

training model of innovative talents, the cultivation of

the professional skills, engineering expertise, and

literacy of the students will be paid attention to.

Meanwhile, more attention will be paid to training the

creative thinking and innovation ability of the

students. Students will be truly cultivated into

compound high-skilled talents with sustainable

development potential.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors would like to express appreciation for the

financial supports from the second batch of teaching

reform project of higher education in Zhejiang

province during the “13th Five-Year-

Plan”(No.JG20190718); Zhejiang Province "13th

Five-Year-Plan" Provincial Industry University

Cooperation Collaborative Education Project(Office

of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education

〔2021〕.No.7 );Ningbo “2025 S&T Megaprojects”

(No.2020Z072); 2021-2022 National Machinery

Industry Vocational Education Research Project

(No.JXHYZX202129); Special Research Project on

Education and Teaching Reform of Ningbo

Polytechnic in 2021(No.jg20210094).

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