A ready-to-teach, browser-based PLC programming curriculum — ladder logic, timers, counters, and real industrial automation machine scenarios — that runs on any school computer or Chromebook. No install, no IT roll-out, and no per-seat industrial software licence. Assign a scenario, students practise programmable logic controller code in the browser, and the simulator auto-grades every attempt.
To be clear: this is a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) programming curriculum for industrial automation and electrical engineering — ladder logic and IEC 61131-3 — not a generic teaching framework or professional-learning-community model.
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See how it maps to your program → — competency mapping for associate-degree, mechatronics & apprenticeship programmes, plus a free PDF pack.
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Empty organisation to invited students, an assigned learning path, an auto-graded run, and the live instructor dashboard.
Why instructors choose it
Teaching programmable logic controller programming is hard for reasons that have nothing to do with the subject. Desktop PLC software runs only on Windows, needs IT to install it on every machine, and locks each student to a single lab computer. Hardware trainers cost hundreds of dollars per student and a 30-seat cohort is simply not fundable. And every ladder logic exercise has to be checked by hand. This curriculum removes all three problems so a PLC instructor can spend class time teaching, not troubleshooting.
The entire PLC curriculum runs in the browser. There is nothing for IT to install, no admin rights required, and no licence keys to distribute. A new class can be writing ladder logic within minutes of logging in.
Every scenario runs the student's ladder logic against test cases and grades it pass/fail automatically. Students get immediate feedback; the instructor sees who has mastered timers, counters, and interlocks without collecting and marking a single file by hand.
Because it is browser-based, the curriculum runs on Chromebooks, Macs, Windows PCs, and Linux machines alike. Whatever your computer lab or Chromebook cart runs, every student gets the full programmable logic controller environment.
Students learn IEC 61131-3 ladder logic first, then switch the same program between Allen-Bradley-style and Siemens-style addressing and instruction names — plus Mitsubishi, Omron, Schneider, Delta, and Instruction List — so skills transfer to any brand they meet in industry.
The curriculum is sequenced from first principles — contacts, coils, and seal-in circuits — through timers and counters to multi-step machine sequencing and fault diagnosis. Assign the path to a cohort and progress is tracked automatically.
Conveyor sorting, traffic light sequencing, motor star-delta starters, tank level control — each scenario is framed around recognisable industrial automation equipment, bridging classroom theory to the kind of work graduates actually do.
The curriculum, lesson by lesson
The PLC programming curriculum is sequenced from first principles to multi-step machine control. Every concept below is a lesson or scenario you can assign and the simulator auto-grades — so students build each idea in the browser and you see who has mastered it without marking a single file by hand.
How it works for a class
Pick from the structured PLC programming curriculum or build a path that matches your scheme of work. Assign a ladder logic scenario — or a whole sequence — to your cohort from the instructor admin console.
Each student logs in on any school computer or Chromebook and writes real ladder logic against the scenario. No install, no shared lab machine, no booking system — they can keep practising at home on the same account.
The simulator runs each submission against test cases and grades it pass/fail instantly. You see cohort and per-student progress at a glance, and students export a portfolio PDF of timestamped completions for assessment.
Teaching with simulation software
Teach the concepts in class, then assign auto-graded simulator scenarios as the lab work. Students write real ladder logic in the browser — no install, any device — while the simulator marks every attempt against test cases and reports each student's progress to your dashboard. You keep the teaching; the software runs the lab and the marking.
For lesson-by-lesson material, pair the curriculum with the free PLC lab manual — structured labs with objectives, procedures, and assessment criteria, each mapped one-to-one to a scenario the simulator grades, so every lab ends with students running their own program in the browser.
Go to /org/signup and enter an organisation name plus your own name and email. It creates a free organisation with you as owner — no card, no trial clock.
From the team console’s Members page, invite each student (or a co-instructor as an admin) by email address. Every student gets an invitation link; seats are pooled and reassignable, so removing a student who withdraws frees the seat for a replacement.
In the Paths builder, order lessons and scenarios — including any org-private custom scenarios you author — into the sequence that matches your scheme of work.
Select the members to assign it to. From there, every scenario submission is auto-graded against test cases the moment a student hits Run.
The team Overview shows each student’s lessons completed, scenarios completed, total attempts and last-active date, with class-level rollups — so you see who is behind before an assessment, not after.
“Every instructor I talk to has the same bottleneck: marking. Thirty ladder programs, each one needing to be loaded, run and checked by hand. The simulator does that part in seconds, every attempt, every time — which frees the instructor to go and teach the two students who are actually stuck.”
Classroom & site licensing
A free organisation supports one instructor and up to four learners using the Free-tier lessons and introductory scenarios, so you can evaluate access, auto-grading and reporting before committing. When you are ready to run the complete Pro curriculum across a class, programme or site, managed access gives each paid seat Pro content plus a shared, reassignable seat pool and consolidated reporting.
Seats are reassignable — if a student withdraws mid-term, that seat moves to a replacement student rather than going to waste. Managed Teams access is $199 per seat per year, billed annually, with a five-seat minimum. Bulk and academic quotations are available. If procurement needs a purchase order or pro-forma quotation, contact us before payment.
Tell us your class size, the programme you teach, and whether you need a purchase order or quotation. We’ll set up the right institutional access for your school, college, or training centre.
Prefer to start now? Set up your classroom free.
For every kind of institution
Whether you are a single high-school PLC instructor, a college running a mechatronics programme, or an employer training apprentices, there is a tailored view of the same browser-based PLC programming curriculum for your context:
A ready-to-teach ladder logic curriculum that runs on any Chromebook or school PC and auto-grades every student. Create a free instructor account and assign your first scenario today.