Case study

Coventry College

As part of the FE Pilot Programme T-level manufacturing, processing and control students used Shoestring solutions to build understanding of industrial problems and the Internet of Things

During the 2025–2026 academic year, Coventry College integrated the Shoestring for FE Pilot Programme into its Engineering curriculum for a cohort of 14 first-year T Level students specializing in Manufacturing, Processing, and Control. This hands-on initiative allowed learners to build and deploy low-cost air quality monitoring solutions inside active college workshops. By correlating real-world environmental data directly with workshop timetables, the project helped students master essential data interpretation, project management, and presentation skills. Crucially, the experience significantly accelerated the learners’ commercial awareness and technical self-assurance, providing them with a distinct advantage as they prepare for their upcoming second-year industry placements.

The skills challenge

Coventry College is a further education provider located in the city of Coventry, England, enrolling thousands of learners across its vocational and adult learning courses. For senior leaders and curriculum leads within the Engineering Department, a persistent priority is equipping young learners—many of whom are only 16 to 17 years old—with commercially relevant, real-world skills that standard classroom exercises cannot easily replicate.

When evaluating the Shoestring for FE Pilot Programme, the college recognized an innovative opportunity to address several core educational needs simultaneously. First, the curriculum required a rigorous mechanism to teach data collection, plotting, and analysis using tools like Excel and AI utilities, alongside PowerPoint delivery. These competencies directly support the practical demands of the T Level Employer Set Project assessment. Second, the college wanted students to experience authentic engineering digitalization without the need for cost-prohibitive industrial systems or specialized equipment. By introducing a low-cost framework utilizing off-the-shelf components, students could learn how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) realistically implement digital technologies on a tight budget.

The solution

Coordinated in conjunction with Ahmed Madani, the pilot project was designed to span four distinct sessions running from December 2025 to May 2026. This deliberate timeline ensured that the practical work integrated naturally with existing college lessons and curriculum milestones.

Session 1: Staff Engagement: The project commenced by presenting the operational value and educational opportunities of the Shoestring for FE framework to teachers, tutors, and college staff.
Session 2: Introducing Low-Cost Digitalization: Students were introduced to the foundational concepts of Digital Shoestring, exploring real-world industrial applications and interacting directly with Shoestring solution demonstrators.
Session 3: The Build and Installation: In an engaging, practical session, Shoestring staff trained the students to build and configure low-cost air quality monitoring solutions themselves. Working collaboratively in teams and supported by college workshop staff, the students deployed their newly built kits across three distinct technical environments: the Car Body Repair Workshop, the Motor Vehicle Mechanics Workshop, and the Welding Workshop.
Session 4: Analysis and Insights: Rather than examining arbitrary test datasets, students focused explicitly on air quality monitoring because it offered a direct link to their daily routines. Over several weeks, the devices continuously captured data, allowing students to independently collect information and trace environmental patterns. Learners mapped active workshop periods against quieter intervals, inferred why changes occurred, and subsequently presented their technical insights back to university representatives.

The outcomes

The deployment provided highly reassuring operational data for the college’s facility managers and workshop teams, confirming that air quality consistently remained within entirely safe thresholds across all three busy environments. Because of this success, the college is already considering reusing the solutions to support long-term environmental monitoring.

However, the most profound impact was observed in the development of the learners themselves:

Explosive Growth in Confidence: For these young students, this project marked their very first opportunity to work directly alongside a world-class institution like the University of Cambridge team and present technical findings back to them. This unique exposure drove enormous improvements in their self-assurance and technical vocabulary.
Heightened Commercial Literacy: The project pushed students to look past basic sensor numbers and genuinely think from a business perspective, understanding exactly why an SME would find environmental data valuable.
Critical Thinking: Tutors noted that the learners became significantly more inquisitive by nature, actively questioning the “why” behind data variations rather than simply taking figures at face value.
Curriculum and Assessment Synergy: The hands-on timeline perfectly prepared the students for their critical T Level Employer Set Project assessment, which they completed at the end of April. Furthermore, the novelty of the project plan proved highly effective as an enrichment reward to encourage excellent student attendance and punctuality.

The implementation also provided valuable logistical lessons for college leaders. Tutors identified a specific technical vulnerability: if a workshop’s emergency stop systems were triggered, the sudden power interruption would reset the internal date and time settings on the air quality kits. While no emergency stops were activated during this testing phase—meaning zero data was lost—it highlighted a critical monitoring gap that staff must track early in future configurations. Furthermore, while students successfully collaborated, the college recognized that adjusting group sizes down from four-to-five learners per team to smaller pairings of two-to-three would enhance individual ownership and keep every student fully hands-on.

What are the next steps?

Following this successful launch, Coventry College’s Engineering Department is highly enthusiastic about continuing its partnership and developing the Shoestring programme further.

To enrich future cohorts, Ahmed Madani recommends deploying a broader range of different monitoring solutions and project focuses across student teams. Introducing multiple sensor types simultaneously will spark greater project variety and encourage much wider technical discussion between different student groups.

The participating faculty feel completely confident delivering these digital sessions independently in the future, provided that targeted staff training and resources remain accessible. By making the framework a permanent fixture, Coventry College aims to keep bringing technical qualifications to life through low-cost, high-impact innovation.

As Ahmed Madani notes:

“With the support of the University of Cambridge team, it has brought the learning to life and helped learners see how low-cost digital technologies can support real-world challenges!”

Case study summary: Coventry College

Solution setup:

The challenge:

Finding a low-cost, practical method to teach complex data analysis (Excel/AI) and presentation skills, while building early commercial awareness to help 16-17 year olds secure second-year industry placements.

Solution:

A structured, four-session air quality monitoring project where students built and configured low-cost kits, installing them across the college’s Car Body Repair, Motor Vehicle Mechanics, and Welding workshops.

Outcomes:

Reassured workshop staff by confirming air quality levels remained consistently safe.
Substantially enhanced student confidence, inquisitive critical thinking, and technical communication through direct collaboration with the University of Cambridge team.
Strengthened core T Level Employer Set Project competencies and served as an excellent enrichment tool for tracking attendance.
Revealed that college emergency-stop triggers could reset device time settings, pointing out a key risk to monitor in future setups.
Indicated that smaller student team sizes (2-3 learners) would further maximize individual project ownership.

Next steps:

Sustaining and expanding the programme within the Engineering Department, diversifying sensor types across groups to encourage broader discussion, and transitioning to independent, faculty-led session delivery.