• Active online learning
• Online group work
• Recording professional development through evidence of competences and qualification online.

After research on user requirements (WP1) and course piloting (WP4) we were aware of issues that are the most critical elements for VET teachers: collaboration, practice, and competences. The workshops were designed in reference to evet2edu e-course and based on its key elements: the concept of e-tivities, social learning and evidence-based learning.

We had in mind the blended context as VET teachers meet with learners at schools on regular basis. Therefore, the challenge for us was to prepare the workshop in such a form that would be the most usefull for our audience. During workshops we worked with active methods. The focus was put on designing engaging and authentic activities enhanced by ICT. We tried to stress that an online activity can be a small exercise which is possible to be accopplished by mixing face-to-face learning and online tools. Such approach we offered in Active online learning and Online group work. In both workshops we based on Gilly Salmon’s concept of e-tivity.

Teachers in small groups were brainstorming and disussing ideas for an activity enhanced by ICT. After that they worked out the idea in more details to finish the session with final outcome – designed activity. Groups exchanged their work and we discussed it all together collecting feedback on a flipchart.

In each group teachers developed their learning designs for students from VET schools, for instance activities required group work: a public park/playground planning, SWOT analysis of productional process; and individual activities: preparation of menu for vegetarian; developing mindmap with 7 new wonders of the world.

During the third path Recording professional development through evidence of competences and qualification online teachers were asked to identify their competences and map them with evidence. They produced digital evidence and built a draft of their e-portfolio.

We also proposed simple online tools that support individual learners’ work and collaboration among students. Padlet occured to be the most favourable tool in each workshops’ group.

It is very simple online board, easy to set up (without reqistering and logging into). As a consequence of its simplicity, Padlet is very flexible technology and can be used in every kind of activity that we can imagine. For instance, we used it to organise information around the workshops (schedule, agenda, deadlines, futher steps, links to reference materials, etc). Our teachers from Active online learning and Online group work wrote Padlet into their learning designs as learning environments where their students were expected to work/colaborate.

What is more Padlet was also used during the third workshop path Recording professional development through evidence of competences and qualification online where teachers built their e-portfolio and were amazed by its easiness and a range of possibilities in the same time.

We also decided to provide videoconference for teachers to give them a chance to experience this form of online activity. We met two times to talk about their projects and show them tool for online meeting.

From evaluation we know that all 3 workshops were ranked as very effective and engaging. We hope that Polish VET teachers have gained basic designing skills and knowledge where to dig deeper in the field of technology-enhanced learning.

Two workshops took place in the Technical Institute for Transport and Logistics “Gioeni Trabia” of Palermo, where were involved about a hundred teachers and professors of the same institute. The Institute would like to include the eVET2EDU e-course into its Moodle Platform and the Director showed the interest to integrate the course as a refresher course for his teachers.

The third one was held at CESIE office with a smaller number of teachers and trainers from different schools and VET Institutions. The workshop focused on the practical and concrete aspects of e-course.

15/09 Kraków: Active online learning

15/09 Kraków: Documenting professional development online

16/09 Kraków: Online group work

18/09 Warszawa: Active online learning

18/09 Warszawa: Documenting professional development online

Registration by KOWEZIU open till 7/09/2014

Both resources are downloadable from evet2edu repository in 9 languages: English, Polish, Czech, Croatian, Slovenian, Lithuanian, Spanish, Italian and Norwegian. The original course was also open on Moodle platform where all localised versions are accessible as OER and can be browsed with no registration/login.

For more details, visit evet2edu repository.

On May 30th CARNet team held the first exploitation workshop at the Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education, the institution in charge of the inservice training of vocational teachers. The workshop was attended by the representatives of the Agency, advisors for specific vocational areas.

During the workshop the course “Introduction to e-learning for teachers of vocational subjects” as well as the eVET2Edu project were presented. In addition to the presentation of the course, the workshop was an opportunity for a discussion with the Agency and advisors who work with vocational teachers about organising the course by the Agency and offering it to vocational teachers in Croatian schools, as well as to the Agency and advisors themselves.

This is the first of the three exploitation workshops that will be organised in the coming period for all the interested teachers and representatives of vocational institutions and vocational schools, with the main goal to disseminate the information about the course and the possibilities of its further use after the project is finished.

Based on the feedback from participants and the external evaluator, the course has been revised and improved. The module duration has been slightly adapted, so the course now last 50 hours over 12 weeks, with workload of 4 hrs/week. Some activities were shortened, changed or removed to provide for a clearer task list and more concise objectives. The list of competences the participants will acquire has been adapted and now includes 7, as opposed to 8 competences. The tools used for activities in the course were also adapted based on participant and tutor comments about their usability in the course and where needed replaced with better solutions. Some visualisations and images were added, clarifications and additional instructions provided where needed. Finally, the order of modules has been changed and is now: Module 1 Intro, Module 2 Competences, Module 3 E-learning, Module 4 E-tivities, Module 5 Motivation, Module 6 Group work, Module 7 Moderation, Module 8 Developing resources, Module 9 Reusing resources, Module 10 Facilitator’s role.

The revision was a collaborative effort of all the project partner teams.

The changes have been implemented in the English and local versions of the course, and the team is proud to say that the course can now be offered to a broader audience in partner countries and beyond!

The Report analised the responses of the:

• Course participants which evaluated the course
• Facilitators of the Course which assessed the Handbook for the facilitator
• External Evaluators which monitored the Course implementation

The aim of the report was to guide the partnership to a further improvement of the e-course and of the Facilitator’s Handbook, to ensure an high quality of the final products. Recommendations for improving the e-course and manual will be the key points in the Report.

In total 128 participants attended the VET_eL e-course while “only” 64 (8 per country) have been foreseen by eVET2EDU project proposal.

The participants evaluated the VET-_eL e-course being aware of having learned and acquired new competences – appreciating the innovative aspects in terms of contents, approach, methodology and sector.

They ensured that the content of the e-course was relevant as a teacher in to a VET context and provided many suggestions for improving the course.