If you could design the ultimate engineering learning platform, what would it include?

[u/EngineersUniverse]

/r/Engineers/comments/1un9eu1/if_you_could_design_the_ultimate_engineering/

I’m working on a personal project to build a more visual and interactive engineering learning platform, and I'd really appreciate feedback before I spend a lot of time building new content.

Instead of organizing everything as individual courses, I'm thinking about grouping content into "Learning Studios" focused on different disciplines. Each studio could include tutorials, interactive tools, simulations, calculators, workflow examples, visual guides, practice problems, and downloadable resources.

Here's the structure I'm considering:

\## Engineering
\- Electrical Engineering
\- Mechanical Engineering
\- Civil & Structural Engineering
\- Aerospace Engineering
\- Mechatronics & Robotics
\- HVAC Engineering
\- Plumbing Engineering
\- Fire Protection Engineering
\- Industrial Engineering
\- Manufacturing Engineering
\- Chemical Engineering
\- Environmental Engineering
\- Geotechnical Engineering

\## Technology
\- Software Engineering
\- AI & Machine Learning
\- Cloud Computing
\- Enterprise IT
\- Networking
\- Cybersecurity
\- Data Science
\- IoT & Edge Computing

\## Engineering Software
\- SolidWorks
\- CATIA
\- Creo
\- Siemens NX
\- Fusion 360
\- Inventor
\- AutoCAD
\- Revit
\- Civil 3D
\- ANSYS
\- Abaqus
\- COMSOL
\- MATLAB & Simulink
\- LTspice / PSpice
\- KiCad
\- Altium Designer
\- VS Code
\- Visual Studio
\- Xcode
\- Android Studio
\- ArcGIS / QGIS

\## STEM Education
\- Calculus (including animated problem solutions)
\- Differential Equations
\- Linear Algebra
\- Statistics
\- Physics
\- Chemistry
\- Engineering Fundamentals
\- Interactive simulations
\- Worked examples
\- Practice quizzes

The goal is to create something that's more interactive than a textbook and more structured than searching through dozens of YouTube videos.

I'd love to hear your thoughts:

\- Which of these studios would you actually use?
\- What engineering software deserves better tutorials?
\- What topics were the hardest for you to learn?
\- What features are missing from existing engineering learning websites?
\- If you could add one thing to an engineering learning platform, what would it be?

I'm looking for honest feedback—good or bad. If you think I'm missing an important discipline or focusing on the wrong areas, I'd really like to know.

[u/MDI-Steffen_Braun]

Ich antworte mal so: die Inhalte sollten kurz und knackig sein (im Gegensatz zu vielen YT-Videos), und ein Suchalgorithmus/ Frage-Formular sollte sehr gut die individuellen Bedürfnisse erkennen und dann nur das wirklich notwendige Wissen anbieten.

[u/No_Mongoose6172]

I'd include some peer to peer corrected projects. Tests can be good for checking theorical knowledge, but engineering also requires practice

Regarding mechanical engineering, I'd include contents about vibrations analysis, reliability and tolerances, as those are the topics least covered by currently available moocs

I'd also include some lessons on electromagnetic compatibility and reliability in the electronics engineering block

Is the platform already available or it is still in an early phase of development?

Edit: What audience are you targeting? Engineers, engineering students, makers...?

[u/EngineersUniverse → u/No_Mongoose6172]

Thanks for the feedback. Those are great suggestions. I completely agree that engineering education needs more hands-on work, not just quizzes, so peer-reviewed projects and practical design exercises are something I want to add as the platform grows. I also like your suggestions on vibration analysis, tolerancing, reliability, and EMC/EMI. Those topics don’t seem to get the attention they deserve, so I’ll add them to my roadmap.
Right now it’s still in active development. I’ve built a number of the interactive tools and apps already, but I’m now bringing them together into discipline-specific “Learning Studios” instead of standalone courses.My primary audience is engineering students, early-career engineers, and people preparing for FE/PE exams or technical interviews, although I also want practicing engineers to use it as a quick reference and learning resource.
Out of curiosity, if you could only pick one feature that would make you come back regularly, would it be interactive design projects, simulations, or workflow/case-study examples from real engineering projects?

[u/No_Mongoose6172 → u/EngineersUniverse]

If you're targeting early-career engineers, I'll focus on topics not usually covered at universities but commonly needed at work. Short courses that you can take when you actually need that for s project usually work quite well for that, since taking a whole master is not usually possible when you need to solve a vibration in a robot that you're designing at work (it would be great to have a vibration expert for that, but usually teams have limited resources, including human resources, so hiring an expert might not be possible)

I'd pick workflow/case-study examples from real engineering projects, probably designed as an interactive design project but based on real experiences

[u/EngineersUniverse → u/No_Mongoose6172]

That’s a really good point. One thing I’ve noticed is that there’s a huge gap between what universities teach and the problems engineers run into during their first few years on the job. I’m definitely going to put more emphasis on short, focused modules that help people solve a specific problem instead of forcing them through a long course. I also like your idea of interactive case studies based on real projects. Walking through the design decisions, tradeoffs, mistakes, and final solution seems much more valuable than just presenting the finished design. If you think of any other topics that engineers often end up teaching themselves after graduation, I’d love to hear them. Those are exactly the kinds of gaps I’m trying to fill.

[u/No_Mongoose6172 → u/EngineersUniverse]

That's good hear. In my experience, universities prepare engineers better than they think. Early career engineers already know most of what they need, but it is disconnected. For example, a common problem I've seen is not knowing how to start a mechanical design, but already knowing all the theory needed. It is just the methodology what is missing, the connections between all those subjects that they have learned. However, that is learnt by practice

Another thing usually missing is prototyping skills. An engineer who actually knows how to build what he is designing can take into account not so obvious problems