Abstract—Heat pump systems are very important at a
European level as they help meet the 20-20-20 targets of the EU
policy. In recent years, the European market for these
technologies has increased constantly. In addition to having
insufficient numbers qualified in heat pump systems installation,
current training has been recognised to have limitations. If high
quality, standardised training in heat pump systems is not
provided, it could result in a drawing back of the market
development of heat pump systems in the EU. Furthermore, the
low efficiency, poor reliability and increased cost of heat pump
system installation and maintenance, which has resulted from
poor training has also resulted in disillusionment on the part of
the purchaser, notwithstanding the obstacles of time, cost and
distance on the part of the installer with regard to training.
INNOVRET (Innovative Online Vocational Training of
Renewable Energy Technologies), a Leonardo da Vinci funded
project, aims to address the need for training sufficient
numbers in heat pump system installation throughout the EU.
The innovative online training solution developed by the
INNOVRET team will overcome the time, cost and distance
constraints of learners through the delivery of the training in a
flexible and accessible way. The methodological approach to
training delivery is based on the Competence-based Knowledge
Space Theory (CbKST). CbKST is a framework for
representing the conceptual organisation of a given body of
competences, which supports self-regulated learning. By
developing competencies in the installation and maintenance of
heat pump systems, installers and maintenance personnel all
over Europe will be able to leverage these capabilities in order
to increase their employability in the emergent heat pump
system sector.
Index Terms—Online training, competence-based knowledge
space theory, self-regulated learning, moodle, heat pump.
A. Dimache, A. Brennan, and T. Roche are with the Galway-Mayo
Institute of Technology, Galway, Ireland (e-mail: aurora.dimache@gmit.ie,
attracta.brennan@gmit.ie, tom.roche@gmit.ie).
S. Kopeinik and L. C. Winter are with Graz University of Technology,
Graz, Austria (e-mail: s.kopeinik@tugraz.at, l.winter@tugraz.at).
D. Albert is with Graz University of Technology and University of Graz,
Graz, Austria (e-mail: dietrich.albert@tugraz.at).
Cite: A. Dimache, S. Kopeinik, A. Brennan, T. Roche, L. C. Winter, and D. Albert, "Innovative Online Vocational Training of Renewable Energy Technologies (INNOVRET)," International Journal of Information and Education Technology vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 127-131, 2014.