Fagskolen Innlandet is Norway’s largest public vocational school with around 1500 students. Fagskolen offers the largest study options compared to all the vocational schools in Eastern Norway. Some of the subject areas the school offers include construction, BIM, and construction. Under construction, the school offers subjects such as geomatics, BIM for construction, tenders and calculations, project management, municipal engineering, 3D modeling, and LØM (Management, Finance, and Marketing).

Fagskolen Innlandet offers vocational training, and it is often students with a vocational certificate, who want to make themselves more sought after, who apply to the school. Fagskolen has chosen to use Infrakit in some of the fields of study, primarily in civil engineering.

We talked to Morten Flaglien, a subject teacher of civil engineering at the school and former project manager in Vestre Toten municipality, to hear about how Infrakit should be used in the curriculum and how knowledge of the platform can benefit students in working life.

Why use Infrakit in your school studies?

Morten says that he first became acquainted with Anders and Infrakit when he worked as a Geomatician at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (Statens Vegvesen), but that he, as a project manager in Vestre Toten Municipality, began to use it in projects. The school wanted to use Infrakit in some of the studies to make the students better equipped for the workplace, where some of them will use such systems.

“In this connection, it is important to have knowledge of the latest tools that are used by large contractors.”

As a former project manager in Vestre Toten Municipality, Morten has some opinions about the industry. Large builders, such as Nye Veier and Statens Vegvesen, are increasingly implementing digital solutions. Therefore, it can be a clear advantage for students to be up to date on the digital green shift in the construction industry.

“I try to encourage students to use aids and be effective once they are out in the real world. […] We get the digitalization mindset out there; we try to get an insight into what is going on – that we are up to date on what the contractors have done and how they do it. “

How should Infrakit be used in the curriculum?

Morten says that the vocational school is developing an interdisciplinary program within the BIM program and that they want to look at the whole of a project. This includes everything from the zoning plan to the requirements and content as well as planning. Interdisciplinary, Infrakit can be used in several of the subjects, including civil engineering subjects. Additionally, the full-time students who completed the construction study 19AN are already in the process of using the Infrakit platform through various projects at the school.

“The design phase can be entered into Infrakit, […] and in the next phase, the project and measurement are connected between Infrakit. In the construction class, the basic design of roads and water and sewerage is taught, and you can export and add such models to Infrakit. And in CAD and document understanding, they use Gemini Terrain to create models, which they post in Infrakit. Then they design inside and take Infrakit on the tablet outside, to see if the measurements from the terrain are correct and if it is buildable.”

Furthermore, Morten says that the school spends a good deal of time on making the right plans. The main idea is still to get things in place so that students get used to the best tools on the market. Morten concludes by saying that it is not inconceivable that the students at Fagskolen Innlandet in the future will come to builders who use Infrakit and that it is, therefore, important that they receive training in contemporary tools.