Session Information
02 SES 17 A, Digitalization III: Professional Development for Digital Competence for VET Teachers and Trainers
Research Workshop
Contribution
Technology is fundamentally changing how we teach and learn, making it more engaging but also challenging. The VET sector faces major challenges in every European country, including the development of new programmes, such as apprenticeship, to improve school to work transition and counter youth unemployment as well as the updating of workers skills and competences in the light of the introduction of new technologies including AI and automation..
The use of technology can assist learning from experience in work and in VET schools to overcome these challenges and help teachers give learners more and better learning support, while not increasing their workload overall. Technology can also facilitate the development of up to date and compelling open learning materials.
To realise these benefits requires the development of new skills and competences by teachers and trainers in VET. The European Joint Research Centre (JRC) has said teacher training in all fields should include advanced digital competence for teachers and their teaching. “The training should consider aspects of using ICT both as a learning tool within subject teaching and as a tool used by learners for their coursework and learning-related activities outside school settings.” This would mean that learning tools could be regarded as working tools which are able to also support learning within professional work.
This is a challenge for VET. Many teachers and trainers are skilled workers who have only received basic teacher / trainer training. VET includes a wide range of occupational subjects, themselves including changing technology usage. VET includes training at different levels, and both initial and continuing training and require close collaboration between schools and industry. VET requires ongoing modernisation to deal with the changing skills and competences required in the workforce.
Present, mainly short course provision of training vocational teachers and trainers is inadequate for meeting the needs of updating the entire workforce in using technology for learning and for the production by teachers and trainers of digital learning materials. There is a need for new models which can be scaled to provide professional development opportunities in using technology for teaching and learning to all VET practitioners.
This workshop is based on research undertaken through the Erasmus Plus Taccle VET project, bringing together partners from five European countries.
The JRC has recently produced a Policy Report on a European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigiCompEdu). The Taccle VET project proposes to build on and extend two areas of the Framework critical for the practice of VET - Digital Resources and Teaching and Learning. It builds on the report’s intention of the reference framework as a tool for implementing regional and national tools and training programmes. It is designed to meet the Erasmus+ priority to introduce systematic approaches to, and opportunities for, the initial and continuous professional development of VET teachers, trainers and mentors in both school and work-based settings, with a focus on developing effective digital, open and innovative education and pedagogies.
The project is working across different sectors of VET. This reflects the focus on pedagogy and the development of digital learning materials as the key aim for the project. At the same time it is developing new models and programmes which can support teachers and trainers in the use of technology in all sectors of VET practice, including formal and informal learning.
Method
The research and development work is being carried out over a two year time period, which commenced in autumn, 2018 with a major objective of extending the European Reference Framework in the areas of digital pedagogy and the development of digital Open Educational Resources for VET teachers and trainers in school and workplace settings The first period of activity has focused on undertaking a survey of Vocational Education and Training practitioners in the five European countries, to explore their present access to training, support and professional development opportunities and their current use of ICT in teaching and learning practice. Sectors include Building and Construction, Teaching Assistants, Tourism, Agriculture and Wellness and Sports. The findings from the survey will be used to develop learning scenarios for different sectors in VET and create a model using learning scenarios for training VET teachers in how to develop and use their own digital resources. These phases of the work will be reported and discussed in the workshop. The workshop will include three short presentations of the emerging findings from the research: a) An overview of the research aims and extending the DigiComp framework for VET teachers and trainers b) The results of the survey of VET teachers and trainers c) Professional development in the use of technology for teaching and learning in the construction sector. This will be followed by discussions and consultations with participants aimed at validating our initial analysis and possibly extending to other participants countries.
Expected Outcomes
We recognise that the project cannot, by itself, resolve the challenges VET faces in this area. Through the activities of the project we can develop models and exemplars which can be transferred to a wide range of different actors, including policy makers, planners, school and workplace providers and establish a community of practitioners as the basis for taking forward the project post the period of European funding. To do this we propose to bring together experienced leading researchers in VET in Europe with managers and practitioners from vocational schools and training organisations. The European perspective is important in allowing us to develop models and solutions which will have applicability in multiple VET contexts including in apprenticeship programmes, Vet schools and in the workplace as well as in programmes for initial and continuing training of VET teachers and trainers. Specifically the expected outcomes are that the Taccle VET project will promote (1) the European Reference Framework in the areas of digital pedagogy and the development of digital Open Educational Resources for VET teachers and trainers in VET schools and VET organizations, (2) learning scenarios for different sectors in VET, (3) a model using learning scenarios for training VET teachers how to develop and use their own resources, (4) Innovative learning opportunities and provide learning materials for professional development for VET teachers and trainers, (5) a Community of Practice in the use of technology for Open Education and training in VET in Europe and (6) a digital repository of Open Educational Resources and best practices of using technology for teaching and training in VET schools and in VET organizations.
References
Aagaard J (2018) Magnetic and multistable: reinterpreting the affordances of educational technology International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education Attwell, G., & Baumgartl, B. (Eds.) (2008). Creating Learning Spaces: Training and Professional Development for Trainers. Vienna: Navreme. Attwell, G. and Hughes, J. (2012) Pedagogic approaches to using technology for learning: literature review. Lifelong Learning UK Boud,D and Hager,P. (2012) Re-thinking continuing professional development through changing metaphors and location in professional practices, Studies in continuing education, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 17-30, Deitmer, L., Heinemann, L., Müller, W. (2016) Building Information Modelling (BIM) and its implications on professional skills of construction workers. In: Proceedings of the ECER VETNET Conference 2016: Papers presented for the VETNET programme of ECER 2016 at Dublin (22-26 August 2016). Nägele, Christof; Stalder, Barbara; Malloch, Marg; Gessler, Michael; Manning, Sabine (Eds.). Berlin: Wissenschaftsforum Bildung und Gesellschaft e.V. [www.ecer-vetnet-2016.wifo-gate.org] Eraut, M. (2000) Non-formal learning and tacit knowledge in professional work, British Journal of Educational Psychology (2000), 70, 113–136 Grundke, R. et al. (2018), “Which skills for the digital era?: Returns to skills analysis”, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, 2018/09, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9a9479b5-en Guiney, P. (2015) E-learning in the Workplace. An annotated bibliography, Ministry of Education, New Zealand Heinemann, L. Deitmer, L. (2009), ‘Evaluation approaches for workplace learning partnerships in VET: how to investigate the learning dimension?’, In: Towards integration of work and learning: strategies for connectivity and transformation, Marja-Leena Stenström, Päivi Tynjälä (Eds.), Springer International, Dordrecht. Jo Shan Fu (2013) ICT in Education: A Critical Literature Review and Its Implications, International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology (IJEDICT), 2013, Vol. 9, Issue 1, pp. 112-125 Kuit, J.A., & Fell, A. (2010). Web 2.0 to pedagogy 2.0: A social-constructivist approach to learning enhanced by technology. In Critical design and effective tools for e- learning in higher education: Theory into practice (pp. 310-325). United States: IGI Global. Kunzmann, C. and Schmidt, A. (2006). Towards a human resource development ontology for combining competence management and technology-enhanced workplace learning, paper presented at OTM Confederated International Conferences" On the Move to Meaningful Internet Systems", Springer: Berlin Heidelberg Redecker, C. European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators: DigCompEdu. Punie, Y. (ed). EUR 28775 EN. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2017,
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