Erasmus+ project: Development of digital module-based self-oriented teaching and learning arrangements for disadvantaged target groups – ModuSOL

Erasmus+ project: Development of digital module-based self-oriented teaching and learning arrangements for disadvantaged target groups – ModuSOL

Imprint

Erasmus+ project: Development of digital module-based self-oriented teaching and learning arrangements for disadvantaged target groups – ModuSOL

© ModuSOL 2019

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Website: https://www.ModuSOL.eu

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ModuSOL

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Project No. 2017–1-DE02-KA202–004138

This E-Book contains links to external pages like Facebook or YouTube. Be aware, that these pages use cookies to follow your activities. By clicking on the links you bear the responsibility for this.

Leading Partner of ModuSOL: BERUFSFÖRDERUNGSWERK der Fachgemeinschaft Bau Berlin und Brandenburg Gemeinnützige GmbH

Belßstraße 12, 12277 Berlin

Amtsgericht Berlin-Charlottenburg 97 HRB 40555

Geschäftsführerin: Gerrit Witschaß

Steuer-Nr.: 27/028/44115

Privacy Notice: We are committed to providing excellent service to all our prospects, customers and business partners. This includes the protection of your data. Information on the collection and processing of personal data can be found in our privacy policy: https://www.lehrbauhof-berlin.de/de/hinweise/datenschutz/.

Compiled and programmed by Dr. Bernd Floßmann. Berlin in collaboration with all project partners

Preface and Introduction

This eBook is the result of the European partnership project ModuSOL in the Erasmus+ programme supported by the European Commission.

The European partners in this project, with experiences and expertise in different fields of (vocational) education and in the work with youngsters in the different regions of Europe had the idea of pooling this competencies/expertise and develop innovative module-based learning arrangements to overcome problems of learning and teaching in the present learning concepts.

Basically the aim was to find concepts in which learners and teachers act together and benefit at the same time from the development of new skills or improve of existing skills.

Description of the initial situation

The changes in society as well as in the industry are accompanied by new requirements in teaching and learning.

Especially in the traditional professions (such as handicraft) the number of trainees with learning disadvantages is growing. The level of education of the trainees has declined for about 10 years; furthermore, the majority of today’s trainees are young people who come from educationally disadvantaged family structures. About half of the current trainees in the construction industry in Berlin have an immigration background. Current changes suggest that this rate will increase in the coming years. The existing education processes therefore meets no longer the new requirements and demands of the vocational training of the youth in Europe.

Therefore, effective educational strategies, concepts and innovative learning approaches, which are more target-group-oriented and up-to-date are required for a more efficient integration and inclusion of these groups of learners. This will also promote securing skilled personnel demand on a regional, national and international level as well as the national and European economy.

Innovative learning processes increase the motivation of the trainees and minimize the terminating rate of trainings, which is around 40% in many sectors and is one of the major problem areas of securing skilled personnel.

The learning contents conveyed in the former practice through teaching briefings are often not successful in reaching the cognitive understanding of especially educationally disadvantaged trainees.

Trainers are therefore regularly faced with the challenge of implementing alternative approaches to the teaching of knowledge and competencies in the teaching briefings.

The project partnership responds precisely to these challenges with this project to integrate more intensively digitalization into vocational education. A digital module-based self-organized learning in the sense of “e-learning 2.0”, which is developed jointly by teachers and learners, will make learning disadvantaged target groups participate more and more in vocational education and training equally.

This forms the basis for the increased development of self-directing competence by self-responsible design of the learning phases, the increase of communication and team competence by group work of trainees with trainers together as well as the increase of the media competence by the producing and realization of digital contents.

Such teaching and learning arrangements lead to changes in the role of the trainer as a learning companion and facilitator, thus expanding the competencies of the teachers.

Teachers and learners form the direct target group of the project in their joint work and interaction.

The indirect target includes trainers in the companies and teachers of the (vocational-)schools (within the framework of the vocational orientation) which will participate in the project results as they can use the project products as well. The developed digital contents give a new insight into real learning situations and provide a more realistic picture of the professions, which gives the vocational orientation of young people an additional authentic information basis.

Teaching and learning methods as well as training systems in the partner countries are different, but all are facing similar challenges. The comparison of different initial situations of the partner countries and the exchange of methods and experiences in the implementation of digital module-supported self-organised learning methods for educationally disadvantaged target groups, with a special focus on vocational education and training, guarantees the successful implementation of the project.

Through their complementary experiences and approaches, the partners ensure an efficient implementation of the project objectives.

The various phases of the project (starting, preparation, planning, realization and evaluation phase) are accompanied and consolidated by clearly structured methods: regular online-questionnaires, self-evaluations, regular project reflection, control of the quality and completeness of the documents, optimized scheduling (e.g. via doodle), milestone plan of the project tasks, project meetings to minimize the risks (risk assessment), quarterly reports for the assessment and evaluation of the finances, compliance with the financial controlling, strategic plans, optimized planning of the meetings and transnational learning activities.

Through the use of the results and intellectual outputs beyond the duration of the project, the transnational co-operation will established and invigorated effectively.

Phases of project and chapters of the eBook

All the different phases in the project partnership were documented precisely through surveys, with videos, evaluation interviews, concepts, scripts and in different activities in a national and European level.

Sharing these experiences with the public as a manual guide in an eBook format is the physicalisation and documentation of the 2-years project period, which started in October 2017 and end in September 2019.

The main chapters of this eBook are basically the 5 Intellectual Outputs (IO 1- 5) produced by the partnership

IO 1 Analyses / Inventory

which provides information about:

- Content, quality and impact of the educational process and its outcomes,

- Previous quality and content of the educational and didactical, methodical concepts and curricula for the application of the teaching instruction,

- Existing qualifications and competences of the trainers with focus on the interaction with educationally disadvantaged target groups,

- Previous developed competences of the apprentices,

- Implementation challenges, outstanding issues and yet available solution approaches.

IO 2 Didactical, methodical concept and curriculum for the competence development of the trainers

- Preparation of a concept for the competence development of the trainers

- Preparation of a curriculum for the competence development of the trainers

- Production of a video (screenplay included)

IO 3 Handout for the digital module creation

- Collection of best practice of digital implementation within the partnership,

- Collection of case study out of the transnational learning activities,

- Compilation and providing of an instruction (video or e-book) for the independent application of software for the production and editing of digital content.

IO4 Didactical, methodical concept and learning scenarios for the apprentices

- Preparation of a concept for the competence development of the apprentices,

- Preparation of learning scenarios for the competence development of apprentices,

- Implementation of a test phase following the national workshops and evaluation of the outcomes and the effect on the apprentices,

- Production of videos (screenplay included).

IO5 Recommendation manual for trainers

- Evaluation and valuation of the outcomes

- Evaluation and valuation of the products

- Evaluation and valuation of the transnational learning activities and meetings,

- Preparation of an evaluation concept in regards to quality assurance and targeted project realization,

- Compilation of the outcomes in a recommendation preparation

- Compilation of the outcomes in a recommendation manual

Each partner institution was the main responsible of one of these outputs (marked in the following chapters). At the same time all partners assisted in developing, editing, testing, documenting of all IOs.

Activities of the project

The innovative concepts, learning scenarios and curriculums were implemented, tested, evaluated with stuff (mainly teachers) from the partner intuitions through and during two transnational learning activities (TNLA).

The first TNLA took place in Santander (Spain) in Oct. 2018 and was mainly covering the content of IO2 and IO4.

The second TNLA took place in Prague (Czech Republic) in Dec. 2018 and was mainly covering the content of IO3.

During these activities the attendees (25 person per activity) produced as a result of role playing instruction videos on different simulated situations of learning obstacles to overcome these. The attendees got input in didactical-methodological skills (IO2 / IO4) and digital skills such as recording, editing, cutting, uploading, sharing videos (IO3) during these TNLAs.

Afterwards they implemented these learning and teaching arrangements in their institutions with students/trainees in team work.

This also explains the benefit of this project for the involved students: new role of teachers/trainers in learning as learning partners; increasing of learning motivation by becoming content producer of learning material, which means a inclusion into the process of learning.

This eBook is enriched by videos:

- Which show the atmosphere of the learning activities,

- the results of the role playing (perspective changes),

- the increase of digital skills of the teachers since they produced the videos in groups by their own,

- the instruction videos produced by learners/trainees as a result of the teacher´s transfer of that new knowledge and skills they got during the TNLAs,

- evaluation interviews with teachers and learners,

- dissemination activities (multiplier events) with stakeholders.

This may give the reader of this eBook an increased understanding of the project phases and their implementation.

The composition of different curriculums, concepts, director’s books, scripts and videos may provide a best practice example for institutions, companies who are interested in enrichment of their so far offered education.

The production and subtitling of the videos, which are linked in this booked, were done by all partners together.

Aims and credits

The partnership of ModuSOL hopes to make its contribution to the implementation of contemporary learning and teaching with motivated learners and teachers, who identify with their professions and sectors with a well-developed understanding for a lifelong learning which is an assurance of the skilled workforce.

The collaboration of the ModuSOL partner institutions and their staff during these 2 years supported in a very strong and practical way the European idea and integration of very different regions of Europe. Our aim is that these gains can be sustained.

We want to thank for the support of the European Commission, the Erasmus+ programme, the German National Agency (Nationale Agentur beim Bundesinstitut für berufliche Bildung), all colleagues in the partners institutions for their great work and support, the local, national and international supporters of our project who participated at the different multiplier events and activities.

September 2019

Intellectual Output 1: Preliminary Analysis

General Introduction

Responsible for this chapter was BFW.

This report belongs to the preliminary analysis (IO1) of the ModuSOL project which, through cooperation and the exchange of best practices among the different European partners, aims to improve skills and competences of trainers/teachers likewise students belonging to disadvantaged target groups thanks to innovative practices in the digital era in which we are immersed.

The Strategic Association responsible for implementing ModuSOL is formed by Berufsförderungswerk der FG Bau Berlin & Brandenburg (Germany), coordinating entity and beneficiary of the project, and by RegioVision (Germany), Dundee and Angus College (Scotland), INSTITUT INPRO, a.s. (Czech Republic) and DECROLY (Santander, Spain), as partners. Each of these partners has conduct questionnaires to trainees and trainers with the aim of analysing the situation in different countries.

Before the first transnational project meeting in Santander in October 2017, the BFW designed an analysis structure. Based on this an online questionnaire for all project partners was developed. The survey was discussed and completed with the partners at the transnational meeting in Santander. By comparing the starting situations and the actual statuses of the individual partner countries, the manifold methods, approaches and experiences in the implementation of digital, module-based learning and teaching methods for disadvantaged target groups, but also open questions and solutions, wanted to be gathered.

In the following text the words trainee, learner and students are used as synonyms. Among the partner institutions they are used for those who are participating at the learning programmes, classes and courses. Depending on the tradition in the particular institution, region or country it varies; i.e. in the context of BFW (DE) trainee is more common, INSTITUT INPRO (CZ) and Decroly (ES) are using mostly student. For the survey we used the general term learner which covers all of them.

Contextualization For Each Partner Institution

Berufsförderungswerk der FG Bau Berlin & Brandenburg (BFW), Berlin, DE

The BFW in Berlin is the competence center for the education of the industrial construction professions for Berlin and Brandenburg. Trainees in the company based vocational training are obliged to do parts of their training at the BFW. In total they spend up to 40 weeks of the 3years training at the BFW. Beside of that up to 30% of their training the trainees visit classes of the vocational school.

At the moment they are around 250 trainees registered for the training classes at the BFW. This number contains participants for the 1st to the 3rd year of the training. They are 14 subsection professions covered by BFW. 12 full-time trainers are responsible for the practical education of the trainees at the BFW.

Up to 50% of the trainees have a migrant background, which is also the average of Berlins population.

According to the aims and scope of the project ModuSOL, the questionnaire is going to be passed to trainees and trainers.

By groups, the questionnaire was filled in in the following way:

This questionnaire was passed to trainees and teachers in the target group in BFW in January 2018 in groups, and took approximately 15 minutes in each group to be filled in.

The trainees were asked to do the survey by using their smartphones. In average every participant needed 4 minutes to answer the questions.

The trainers needed in average 20 minutes to answer the questions by using their computers.

The e-survey platform we have used was SurveyMonkey.

In order to pass the questionnaires and make trainers and students participants in this project, more dissemination has been produced. In the case of students a brief project presentation has been made in each group highlighting the project goals, their implication in the project and specifying the use of the data to be obtained from the questionnaire.

In the case of trainers, they have been informed both by e-mail and personally on a project briefing on the 1st December 2017 where all trainers took part and got informed about the project content and the need to obtain data from them in order to progress on the project development and how the project will go on.

INSTITUT INPRO, a.s. (Czech Republic), CZ

The Czech Republic today belongs to advanced countries, creating a single interconnected world of free trade and easy exchange of information. Due to global competition, it is becoming more and more difficult to ensure steady economic growth, to prevent increases unemployment and ensure a happy life for all citizens. If we want to succeed in the future, we must take action, among which the ones concerning education are among the most important. The environment in which future generations will live is fundamentally changing, especially as a result of digital technology, and this change must also change the environment in which future generations will be educated.

On 20 March 2013, the Government of the Czech Republic approved the concept of Digital Czech Republic v. 2.0, The Road to the Digital Economy. Specifically, the concept states: “Information technology should penetrate the entire process of teaching at elementary schools, not just in subjects “Computer work”. The full involvement of modern technology in the teaching of all subjects is perceived by the state as necessary in the context of shifting the education system from simple memorization of facts to emphasis on reading literacy, communicative skills and logical thinking.” Part of the government’s resolution on this concept is a set of measures, of which measure n. 16 deals with education issues and requires the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of Education to develop a strategy for increasing digital literacy and developing citizens' e-skills. The Digital Education Strategy fulfills this governmental resolution for the area of initial education.

Changes in school system settings are currently being implemented everywhere in the advanced world. We also face the need to respond to the situation and to take steps that will change the current direction of development and get the training in line with actions in the rest of the society where technology is commonly used. A person equipped with “classical education”, even if he/she is more self-sufficient, will not have the chance to fully apply the digital world.

The Digital Education Strategy (Government Resolution No. 538 from 9 July 2014) formulates three priority objectives to be addressed by the first interventions:

- Open education to new methods and ways of learning through digital technologies,

- To improve students' competencies in the field of information and digital technology,

- To develop students' information thinking.

General barriers to the integration of digital technologies into education and teaching

Most teachers and schools are aware of the necessity and benefits of using digital technologies and are interested in their inclusion in teaching.

Foreign experiences and Czech School Inspection findings identify a number of obstacles to the wider inclusion of digital technologies in education.

The following are the most common obstacles for teachers:

- Lack of time - education, exploration of new technologies and their ability to prepare lessons and teaching materials,

- Insufficient knowledge of digital technology operators, insufficient ability to solve basic technical problems,

- Problems in organising teaching, especially if there are more students in the computer and other devices,

- Problems related to digital technology and curriculum integration with the curriculum,

- A negative approach to the inclusion of digital technologies in teaching, disagreement with the view that digital technology can benefit learning,

- Poor experience with the use of digital technologies in teaching,

- Concerns about digital technologies and lack of self-confidence, fear of losing authority over students and colleagues,

- The belief that using the computer is complex and demanding,

- Fear of change in general, lack of motivation to change established pedagogical practices and improve pedagogical performance.

All above mentioned barriers are general and apply for the whole country. Nevertheless further in this document some of these barriers were confirmed by our questionnaire survey.

Questionnaire Survey

The questionnaire survey was held in January and at the beginning of February in the Czech Republic. At the beginning of January we had a meeting with director of COPTH – Technical Vocational Educational Centre. We set up our mutual cooperation on the project and got this VET centre involved in the project. After this meeting we had another meeting with the teachers from this school. These teachers will be part of the project, they will cooperate with us very closely and also they will attend international learning activities within the project. This VET school has not had any experience with questionnaire survey as a part of international project.

A total number of participants is 40 - that mean on the survey participated 10 teachers and 30 students.

Dundee and Angus College (Scotland), UK

Dundee and Angus are a large VET provider in the North East of Scotland. With a large catchment area of students, the college has +6000 full time learners and around 1000 staff, delivering learning across 18 different departments from EQF levels 1 through 6.

The questionnaires were distributed amongst digital and creative media students and staff at the Gardyne Campus of the college. Most students were in the first year following their school education and had mixed levels of existing educational achievement.

SurveyMonkey was the online-interface used to carry out the survey as the college has an account with this company. They were sent via email to approximately 60 staff and students for completion. No assistance was provided to students although the survey email did state the reasoning behind the questions. We wanted pure data that was untainted by any prior detailed understanding of the project and its aims, therefore we didn’t speak to students before they completed the survey. All responses were completely anonymous.

The survey was looking to create a baseline for digital literacy across both staff and students in Dundee and Angus College. We received 38 students responses and 16 staff responses with key learnings detailed below:

- The majority of learners were in the first year of college and just under 80% were under 25

- Most learners had good qualifications (EQF 4/5) and understood their online tool was Moodle

- Interestingly, they then suggested that they didn’t know Moodle in a following question, but the majority knew MS PowerPoint, clouds such as Dropbox/Google Drive and video editing

- Over 80% wanted digital content or digital media as part of their learning and most had worked on a project using digital technology

- All students used technical devices in their free time and the majority believed their current digital skills were not taken into account in the classroom.

- Interestingly, the majority didn’t think they needed any additional digital skills

For teachers, the key learnings were:

- Over 90% of respondents were aged over 35 and the majority had used Moodle

- They all could see themselves enriching teaching with digital content

- Only one was not using technical devices in their free time

- Their knowledge of the mentioned digital tools was strong

- Time constraints was an issue consistently mentioned regarding barriers to increasing digitisation in their teaching

- All but four wanted to acquire more digital skills

Decroly (Spain), ES

Decroly is a VET, which covers education in the areas of business administrations, tourism, marketing and computing, with students from 15 years old and on.

VET studies are divided into three different levels, starting from Initial Level VET which is addressed to students who are out of the "normal” education system (ESO – Compulsory Secondary Education), passing through Intermediate level VET and finishing in Higher Level VET which is the equivalent of a first year in university.

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According to the aims and scope of the project ModuSOL, The questionnaire is going to be passed to students and trainers involved in Initial Level VET.

At this level, Decroly has 6 different groups in the areas of Business Administration and Information Technology. There are 52 students enrolled in these courses and 13 trainers.

Initial level VET studies are attended by students who have not been able to complete compulsory secondary education and so they apart from the "normal” education system.

This is so because of many different reasons, but each of them has their own circumstances and background, requiring in some cases special attention or individual needs that have to be covered by trainers and the education centre.

The groups chosen as target for the questionnaire are Office Computing, Computing & Communications and Administration Services, with a total of 52 students enrolled in them.

By groups, the questionnaire was filled in in the following way:

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This questionnaire was passed to students and teachers in the target group in Decroly on January 18 and 19 in groups, and took approximately 15 minutes in each group to be filled in. Some clarifications were needed in some groups as part of the students and trainers did not understood exactly some questions (even though they were in Spanish).

The e-survey platform which was used is e-encuestas.com. This is used in Decroly to carry out different types of surveys and questionnaires, especially regarding quality issues.

In order to pass the questionnaires and make trainers and students participants in this project, more dissemination has been produced. In the case of students a brief project presentation has been made in each group highlighting the project goals, their implication in the project and specifying the use of the data to be obtained from the questionnaire.

In the case of trainers, they have been informed both by e-mail and personally, as they already knew participation of Decroly in the project and the need to obtain data from them in order to progress on the project development.

Highlights of the Survey Results

The main part of this result should contain some sort of interpretation of the results. This is very influenced by the initial situation of the participants concerning the issue of learning and digital learning.

The results are going to be presented in two different parts, one related to the learners and the other related to teachers.

Learners/Students/Trainees Survey

In this part of the report we would like to present the results of the questionnaire survey among students/trainees.

Trainees who have served as target belong to Initial Vocational Training, students, in most cases, in situations of social risk, either for their exclusion from the educational system or social and economic disadvantages.

A total number of 169 trainees across the partner institutions have participated.

- 28 participants from GB

- 59 participants from DE

- 30 participants from CZ

- 52 participants from ES

The age of the vast majority is between >18 and 25 years

- GB 79%

- DE 88%*

- CZ 100% (>18 – 20)

- ES 100% (>18 – 20)

53% of the participants are in their 1st year of training, 39% in the 2nd and 8% in the 3rd year.

The reason why more than 50% of the participants are in the 1st year of the training is that they have every year of their training a different frequency in participating in classes at the BFW. In the first year trainees are doing approx. 20 weeks at the BFW (up to 13 weeks in the 2nd year and up to 4 weeks in the 3rd year). In other words: the distribution of the participants is in line with the frequency they spend time at BFW.

The education history of the participants in the partners institutions are quite different (focus on disadvantaged learners)

- GB - 13% have an Access or Intermediate; 80% have a higher or advanced higher certificate

- DE - 10% have no graduation from school, 7 % vocational (BBR) and 15% advanced vocational (eBBR) training maturity. It can be assumed that most of the disadvantaged learners are from those groups; in total 32% of the participants. (54% have a intermediate school leaving qualification MSA)

- CZ - 100% have finished the primary school

- ES - None of these students has finished Compulsory Secondary Education (see above in *Contextualization For Each Partner Institution- for reasons)

The question to the learners if they have ever heard about e-learning has been answered differently amongst the institutions:

- GB 75%

- DE 24%

- CZ 10%

- ES 74%

The result for Decroly (Spain) is interesting at this point. Since all students at Decroly have e-learning courses a result of 100% was expected. But there is a discrepancy of 26%, which shows a lack of knowledge about what e-learning covers. There is a clear need to develop the awareness, what students are dealing with. This will also give them more motivation, since it also means that they have some digital competences, but they didn’t know about that.

Therefore one of the aims of the project implementation should be:

Every participant should be able to define his/her competences. Therefore they should do (digital) competencies analysis.

In the survey it was not defined what we understand by e-learning. The aim was to keep the space open what they define themselves as e-learning.

As a next step, i.e. as a preparation of the national learning activities in the partner institutions, these keywords of (digital) competencies should be discussed and defined by the trainees together with the trainers.

The results for this question, especially for DE and CZ are in agreement with another related question of the survey: 75% of the trainees from DE and CZ declared that they have had no e-learning experiences during their school time (secondary school). In this case the implementation of the enrichment of learning cannot be based on previous knowledge or experience with digital content or digital platforms. Here, the partnership should try to find introduction methods to include the trainees/students.

Amongst the different participants of the survey the knowledge on e-learning platforms are quite different as well. We took the example of moodle

- GB 75%

- DE 10%

- CZ 6%

- ES 97%

of the trainees/students declared to have knowledge on moodle.

There is a clear difference between the partner institutions. The ones with more experience and knowledge on teaching/learning by using platforms such as moodle will share it with the partners who currently don’t have that much. This will be one of the benefits of this partnership among different European institutions.

The vast majority of the trainees declared that they would like to use multimedia and digital content for the professional education

- GB 82%

- DE 81%

- CZ 83%

- ES 100%

One of the key questions of the survey was about the correlation between the usage of technical devises / digital content in free time and the self-generating/creation of content

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We can see that the vast majority are passive users.

Therefore one of the main goals of the project implementation should be the motivating of learners to become producers/creators of digital content based on their experience in consuming digital content. It doubles the motivation:

On the one hand they can use skills they are interested in (using digital devices), on the other hand they can realize a higher motivation in learning since they then become "generator” of learning content. So the identification also with the professional knowledge will increase. It also can help to change the classical role of the teacher/trainer, which also can realize new communication dynamics such as learning together with the "trainer”, who becomes then more a learning guide or moderator.

This need we also can see as a result of another question:

Only 10% of the trainees declared that they made some experience with carrying out projects with teachers together as a team. In other words, 90% don’t know about the idea of doing projects with teachers together. This leaves room for the assumption that the classical teacher centred mode of learning is still the most common.

The numbers of learners who think that some of the skills they have are not taken into consideration in their training:

- GB 37% (such as IT skills, video editing, Creative Digital Media Qualification, independent computer work)

- DE 20%

- CZ 67%

- ES 23% (video games and physical activity)

The project implementation should include the idea of holistic perspective of (vocational) education; including different skills; especially regarding to keywords like lifelong development of competencies.

The question how the trainees value the teachers/trainers ability to pay attention to individual learning needs in relation to the flexibility or basic conditions of their institutions is answered:

- GB 55% yes + 45% sometimes + 2% definitely 84%

- DE 6,2 on a intensity scale from 0 to 10 5,1

- CZ 73% 80%

- ES 4.1 of 5 4,2 of 5

The focus of the project concerning the learners is the implementation and development of measures which cover also the needs of disadvantaged learners; in other words the individualization of learning content with the aim that obstacles can be overcome.

Teachers/Trainers Survey

In this part of the report we would like to present the results of the questionnaire survey among the teachers/trainers. Trainers, who have taken part in the surveys, are teachers of Initial Vocational Training. It will be important to know the pedagogical tools they use to work with these young people at risk of social exclusion, and what innovative methods they use to motivate their students and, if they use digital technologies in their methodologies.

A total number of 50 trainers/teachers among the partner institutions have participated.

- 16 participants from GB

- 8 participants from DE

- 10 participants from CZ

- 16 participants from ES

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The project implementation probably needs to take into consideration different pedagogical concepts for the different age categories according to their experience on dealing with digital content and also with new didactical methodological teaching concepts.

If the partnership has enough time and personnel recourses during the implementation of the project it should be figure out the different needs of the age categories by evaluating and testing. The transnational and national learning activities could be the base for monitoring potential differences between these age groups.

Between 50% and 92% of the trainers who participated at the survey stated that they have some experience with e-learning, being Moodle the most known platform.

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On the other hand all of the teacher state in the questionnaire that they can imagine using digital/multimedia content in their teaching. There is a high motivation to include digital content. Interesting is that this rate is higher than the trainees survey (especially for DE).

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Also here the rate of creating/producing content in relation to the general usage is higher than on the trainees' side.

The numbers of teachers who think that some of the skills they have are not taken into consideration in their training is:

- GB 50%

- DE 63%*

- CZ 0%

- ES 13% *most mentioned is special software for construction drawings, such as TurboCAD.

Asked for the assessment of their ability to pay attention to individual learning needs of the trainees in relation to the flexibility or basic conditions of the institution the teacher/trainer answered:

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For GB and DE it can be assumed that the increase of the institutions conditions for covering the individual learning needs will also increase the ability of the teachers to do so.

The main barrier how to not respond individual learning needs of students is lack of time. The occupation of teacher is quite demand to time. It is necessary to prepare to every lesson as well as to be able to answer to individual learning needs. Some teacher also mentioned that a lack of experience is preventing him/her to respond to individual learning needs of learners.

Most of interviewed teachers think that their role as a teacher had changed in last few years due to new requirements (except of CZ).

We placed this answers in relation to the teachers rating if they have the needed skills to answer these changes:

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Since most of the trainers are thinking that they have the skills, the task is to define the skills and find the right way to integrate to the teaching.

When asked if trainees bring skills that are not sufficiently considered, the teachers responded as follows:

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Also at this point there is a need to define the skills which the teachers mentioned. This will then be followed by measures for consideration and integration of defined skills which learners bring with them.

The question of whether learning challenges can be minimized by changing the role of teachers was answered as follows (yes responses)

- GB 67%

- DE 57%

- CZ 80%

- ES n/a

The majority of teachers have an impression that learning difficulties can be minimalized by a different role of the teacher. This is the reason why demands on teachers are that high.

Conclusion and Summary

Before carrying out this survey the assumption of the project partnership was in the way that e-learning platforms are nowadays very well-known and very often used. But our survey showed us that among trainers and trainees e-learning is not that well-known then expected usually.

On the other hand, digital tools are among learners very often used. Trainees are very familiar with tools such as PowerPoint, Podcasts, BlogSpot, Dropbox/GoogleDrive etc.

In general, trainers and trainees use digital contents and devices on a daily basis, both for personal and training use. However, they still lack a general overview of what digital content itself is, which is why they consider it is necessary to update their digital skills and competences.

Both - teachers and trainees - handle digital tools in their free time, but don’t have really connection to the professional education. In other words they are consumers of digital content, but no generators/creators.

The motivating aspect of producing digital content in teams including the teacher should to be developed and underlined synergy of the inclusion and integration of target groups with learning disadvantages. Only a few teachers has carried out projects with students together as a team. But doing so could support the "new role” of teachers: being a moderator, a learning guide, a learning facilitator instead of the traditional ‘purveyors of knowledge’, whose knowledge was expected to be absolute. The goal for the teacher should be to "be able to give structure to the knowledge acquired by young people from other sources, which are sometimes more up-to-date than the teachers’ own” (Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on Improving the Quality of Teacher Education COM(2007) 392 final (2008/C 151/13).

The willingness of learners and teachers to use digital content/digital media in (professional) learning/teaching is high. This is good sign since we registered in the first question that teacher from different age groups. But their motivation to learn something new is quite high across all age groups.

Even if the e-learning platforms are not very well-known among all teachers, who participated, digital tools are quite familiar for them. Most of the teachers would like to enrich their teaching methods by using digital content. But a significant number of the teachers are not quite sure how to do it. So there is a need of a concept how to enrich which methods of teaching.

There is a need of clarifying what e-learning means (contextualization) and which possibilities it includes for both sides (skills of the trainees; role of the teacher, base for an independent life-long learning. A huge number of trainees and teachers agree that digital content must be in their training, either as a motivating element, because it attracts learners, or as a pedagogical tool that can improve the methodology of teachers.

Not all teachers think that the conditions to educate in their institution are sufficiently flexible to fulfil the individual requirements of learning of the students. The project should also find suggestions for these institutions to increase measures for extension the conditions in the needed way.

Intellectual Output 2: Didactic-methodological concept and curriculum for Teachers

Introduction

Responsible for this chapter was Decroly.

The learning scenarios provided below, which should lead to an increase in the competence of teachers, are related to the teaching scenarios in Intellectual Output 4, that is, learning scenarios are designed so that they lead both to an increase in competences among the teachers and the learners.

ZIMORr (ACMOOF) was chosen in the draft because it provides a structure that is comprehensible to teachers and trainers, which makes it easier to set up appropriate learning scenarios.

Didactic-methodical Concept

Introduction

This didactic-methodical concept forms the basis for the comprehensive, quality-oriented and success-oriented preparation and execution of the learning scenarios which have to be realized in the project ModuSOL with a group of selected trainers/instructors in the First Learning Activity in Santander. Modusol is the short name of "Development of digital module-based self-organized teaching and learning arrangements for disadvantaged target groups ", which try to achieve development of Innovation by cooperation and exchange of good practices. The changes in society as well as in the industry are accompanied by new requirements in teaching and learning, therefore the existing education processes need new forms of the vocational training of the youth in Europe. It is very necessary to work on methodologies and innovative strategies favouring the work with trainees of our target group, young people at risk of social exclusion.

Motivation, participation and other strategies must be present in the learning methodology in order to reach a fitting understanding. The use of new technologies and digital tools provides a medium where young people can easily develop and can serve as a motivating element. The project aims to provide the basis for further development of the teaching competence through the design of learning phases, increased communication and team work, as well as increased competence in the creation of digital content. Such teaching and learning arrangements lead to changes in the role of the trainer as a learning partner and facilitator. The project association responds precisely to these challenges with this project to integrate more digitalization in vocational education. A self-organized digital learning based on a module in the sense of "e-learning 2.0”, which is developed jointly by teachers and students, will make the disadvantaged learning target groups more and more involved in education and professional training. Two relevant priorities will be considered according the objectives of the project: achievement of relevant and high-quality skills and competences; and open and innovative practices in a digital era. These project priorities are the first starting point for the preparation of this didactic-methodical concept. Second, the results of the questionnaires that were carried out in the first Intellectual Output will be carried out as an analysis tool for this document. There are several results that were reached after studying the answers to the questionnaires that were submitted to 127 students and 50 teachers from the different countries of the project members. We can summarize them in the following:

- Among trainers and trainees e-learning is not that well-known than usually expected.

- Trainers and trainees use digital content regularly, but mostly as consumers (trainers are some more into it)

- The willingness of learners and teachers to use digital content/digital media in training is high

- All teachers would like to enrich their teaching methods by using digital content

- they need a good plan / method how to implement

- The motivating aspect of producing digital content in teams including the teacher should to be developed and underlined synergy of the inclusion and integration of target groups with learning disadvantages

- There is a need of clarifying what e-learning means (contextualization) and which possibilities it includes for both sides (skills of the trainees; role of the teacher)

- Moodle as the most known platform could be a possible base.

Objectives

The objectives to be achieved in the first learning activity for trainers.

- Be able to change the role of teachers; from a teacher to a moderator, mentor, assistant, learning partner, a "Learning guide”. Modern teaching and learning arrangements are changing the role of trainers / instructors to be facilitators or assistants of digital teaching and learning processes.

- Perform role-playing games as a concept to broaden the understanding of needs, especially in relation to the learning of disadvantaged students. The learning scenarios that must be implemented will provide a real-life model for modern learning situations, to test the application of digital learning and the creation of digital content, and to consolidate related experiences and competencies. The results obtained from the processes and methods digitally through the case studies enrich the teaching and learning processes.

- Perceive the creation of digital content jointly with the learners as a step forward of the methodological competences and growth of the communication skills of the trainers. The role of trainers / instructors is to expand and strengthen new competencies and empower them to design vocational education for disadvantaged youth through the realization of digital learning methods, based on modules and self-organized.

- Enrich teaching methods with digital tools to meet the individual learning needs of disadvantaged youth

Implementing on-line training, our apprentices can feel more motivated and complement their training, all this will require digital skills in the trainers to create online content, and to be able to share that creation of digital content with their students together. The digital content is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for students, which meets in different periods of concentration during the day.

- Provide the ability to understand what are the main digital competences a trainee should have and foresee how to go to the next level of digital competences acquisition. That’s to be based on the European Framework for Digital Competences for Trainers.

Content

Notes

LS1: EXCHANGE EXPERIENCE

Introduction

Active learning is one of the main innovative paths for the acquisition of learning. There is a wide variety of pedagogical methods that encourage the active participation of trainees. Within this active learning we recognize methodologies such as Flipped Classroom paradigm, Learning by research and Discovery, Project Based Learning, where student leads its own learning experience having the teacher only as a guide.

Digital Competences as the cornerstone for every single learning and teaching activity. That knowledge is to be enriched by sharing experiences, and converting this experience exchange in an opportunity to grow and make our trainees grow with us.

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Target/goal

Main objectives:

- Be able to change the role of teachers; from a teacher to a moderator, mentor, assistant, learning partner, a "Learning guide”.

- Perceive the creation of digital content jointly with the learners as a step forward of the methodological competences and growth of the communication skills of the trainers.

Other specific objectives:

- Recognize good practices by trainers from other centres and countries.

- Improve communication and teamwork skills.

- Exchange digital tools that improve teaching work

Content:

- Active teaching and learning.

- Collaborative work.

- Experience exchange.

These contents will be displayed in the Moodle virtual course that will be presented for the realization of the "Learning Scenario”.

Methods:

This learning scenario will be carried out in groups of 3–4 people. Ideally, none of the people in each group should be working in the same learning centre, reinforcing the heterogeneity of each group. They will learn by working together.

The group should meet and complete several questions related to the process and procedures used, the reasons and benefits, tools that you would love to implement with possible benefits and restrictions / risks. Only one document will be shared for each group and they will express their opinions. Once each group has completed the exchange of small group experiences, we will have an open discussion in class where each group should explain their own survey and open a peer-to-peer debate about why and how they intend to use the new tools.

Example: John, Mary and Alex are one of the groups. Each of them belong to a different working centre, even country.

The group will produce a paperwork, given by the trainer with a predefined format, and will fulfil it together agreeing the tools used by each member, the benefits as well the risks and constraints to implement them.

As part of the brain-storming/debate, the following scenario is expect to happen: John explains a new tool, Slack, to the others and how it work and what’re the benefits. Ideally, the other members of the group will debate the usage as well will present, if applies, similar tools used by them for the same purpose.

Organization:

Learning Place

For the work of this learning Scenario will be necessary a classroom with computers with Internet connection. The classroom must have enough terminals for group to work. In addition,Google Documents or a Wiki in Moodle can be used for filling sharing worksheets. The practice on this tool will have a duration of 2–3 hours spread over one day in the First Learning Activity.

Who

Participants in the First Learning Activity in Santander

Results/transfer:

The learning will try to achieve with this activity are the following: The result of this learning activity will be a document in which the participants share their knowledge, where they have been working together sharing experiences.

Feedback

Interactive test (using PC and interactive board, work, PC tests, discussion).

LS2: BRAINSTORMING & OPEN DISCUSSION – CO-EVALUATION – DIGITAL COMPETENCES FOR TRAINERS

Introduction

Considering the exchange experience activity as a must; now it’s moment to co evaluate what’s the real level of "digital knowledge acquisition”, how it fits with the European Framework for Digital Competences and what would be needed to pass from one level to another. Ideally, after this activity each of the attendees will be able to understand that there’s a lot of work to do before considering our own selves as pioneers from a digital perspective.

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Target/Goal:

Main objectives:

- Be able to assess the European Framework for Digital competences for trainees as well to self assess each own level of Digital Competence acquisition.

- Conclude all together, via brainstorming/open question, different scenarios where a trainee can pass to the next level of Digital Competence acquisition.

Other specific objectives:

- Recognize good practices by trainers from other centres and countries.

- Improve communication and teamwork skills.

- Exchange digital tools that improve teaching work and figure out how these tools can make the trainee to pass from one level to the following.

Content:

- Introduction of the European framework for Digital Competences.

- Put the framework in context and self assess each own level of digitalization.

- Having group work.

- Brainstorming/Open question to make sure all groups are understanding the same.

These contents will be displayed in the Moodle virtual course that will be presented for the realization of the "Learning Scenario”. As well will be presented via deck presentation during the first half of the training session.

Methods:

The below diagram represents the level of qualification for a teacher may have. Starting with A1; and progressing until getting the C2 level.

To complete this activity it is imperative to build groups of 2–3 individuals. The aim of this activity is to define teaching behaviours and potential tools used to achieve each level. It is also important to put examples for the teaching activity on each level.

As a result, each group should produce a delivery containing table/s for each of the levels. Each level should have the following items:

1. Level name and what’s needed to achieve the level.
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2. Teaching methodology, strategy and tools.
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3. Let’s build together a SWOT and mention here what you see/know based on your previous experience and also based on what you see in your day a day work.
a. Strengths
b. Weaknesses
c. Opportunities
d. Threats
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4. Brainstorming/Discussion.
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As a result, based on the materials produced; we plan to have a brainstorming/open question to put all results together.

Example: John, Monica and Charles are the 3 participants of a group. Each of them belong to different working centres and even countries. They need to figure out together potential scenarios (based on their experience) and figure out the circumstances where a trainee can pass from one level to another in terms of Digital Competences acquisition. That is to be fulfilled in a document given with a predefined format.

Once that is completed; a brainstorming section will be carried out in order to figure out all together the real cases of Digital Competences Acquisition. Passing from level to another could be:

- Level 1: A teacher that records/report the non justified absences in a paper.

- Level 2: The same teacher but now recording the absences but in a digital file.

- Level 3: Now the absences are recorded in an Excel file, with dates and predefined layout.

- Level 4: Absences are recorded in a SHARED excel file where each of the teachers of the class can share information.

- Level 5: From level 4, imagine a teacher that want to use past year records and merge them with some other records in order to forecast when and why there’re more non justified absences (Big Data paradigm).

Organization:

Learning Place

For the work of this learning Scenario will be necessary a classroom with computers with Internet connection. The classroom must have enough terminals for group to work. In addition,Google Documents or a printed doc will be delivered for the attendees to work. This activity will take four 3–4 hours.

Who

Participants in the First Learning Activity in Santander

Results/Transfer:

The learning will try to achieve with this activity are the following: The result of this learning activity will be a document in which the participants share their knowledge, where they have been working together sharing experiences. By the end, during the Open Discussion, no materials will be produced but a video for the open discussion.

As an indirect result it’s expected to see tools used and the way they’re used. Key participants during the activity will be required to generate some content in order to make a presentation for the innovative tools/processes used.

Feedback

Online feedback during the Open Discussion. It’s there where we all together will try to figure out experiences that matches with each of the levels of Digital Competence acquisition.

LS3: ROLEPLAYING – CROSS-CUTTING THEMES.

Introduction

Considering the heterogeneous and multidisciplinary group of attendees the activities of exchange experiences will help each other understanding and performance in regards to the disadvantage target groups. Regarding the disadvantaged target groups the goal is to navigate all together through the cross-cutting themes and how to "attack” them from the classes.

In order to recreate real cases, and figure out together potential solutions in different scenarios and environments, a role playing activity will be undertaken during this session.

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Target/Goal

Main objectives:

- Be able to understand what’re the cross-cutting themes and how the law requires them to be integrated within each class schedule.

- Debate in class different ways of including the cross-cutting themes always using Digital tools as well seeing how to integrate them under IT subjects.

- Role-playing activity, in groups. The role-playing as a concept to widen the understanding of needs, especially regarding learning disadvantaged trainees

- Figure out a real case faced by trainee/trainers during their day a day work.

- Simulate, vie role game, the scenario defined.

- Record the results of the simulation.

- The simulation should include both simulation of the problem as well simulation of the action proposed to fix it.

Other specific objectives:

- Recognize good practices by trainers from other centres and countries.
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- Improve communication and teamwork skills.
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- Exchange different students behaviours, figure out how your colleagues fix them.
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- Get impressions/opinions from experts from other areas.
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Content:

- Introduction History, law context and Objective.

- Role-playing activity to see:

- Different casuistic.

- Different solutions (or same solutions but from different prisms).

- Get suggestion from different working sectors that’re working with individuals at exclusion risk.

These contents will be displayed in the Moodle virtual course that will be presented for the realization of the "Learning Scenario”. As well will be presented via deck presentation during the first half of the training session.

Methods:

The methodology to be applied will be the so-called "Role change”. In groups of 3–4 individuals the aim is to represent a known issue when managing situations by trainers and trainees.

The role playing activity is based on 4 main pillars:

- Situation definition.

- Situation performance.

- Situation fix.

- Fix performance.

Each group should have a preliminary meeting to figure out a real scenario to follow up during the performance.

Once agreed, the group should represent, on a role basis way, the problem and have it recorded in video format.

Once that’s done, the group needs to figure out what would be the best way to fix the issue by applying digital tools (enriching the acquisition here of Digital Competences).

Finally, it’s needed to represent the action agreed and what would be the presumable behavior of the actors.

Example: Figure out a scenario where there’re communication issues because of different languages. Represent a scenario where there’re some racist attitudes in class and how the teacher can work them out using digital tools.

Organization:

Learning Place

For the work of this learning Scenario will be necessary a classroom with computers with Internet connection. The classroom must have enough terminals to work. Also, the centre should have different rooms just in case each group wants to record the video without external noise.

In addition, to record the video it’s needed a camera (smartphone integrated camera should be enough).

The video is to be uploaded in the repository for the Learning Activity subsequently used for the final video that’s to be presented within ModuSol Learning Activity.

The activity will take place in 3 hours. First part will be used to present the cross-cutting issues and second part is to schedule the group activity. The groups are built by 3–4 individuals.

Who

Participants in the First Learning Activity in Santander

Results/Transfer:

The learning will try to achieve with this activity are the following: The result of this learning activity will be a document in which the participants share their knowledge, where they have been working together sharing experiences. The performance will be recorded in video and updated in the ModuSol repository for further usage to represent Best Practices.

Feedback

The videos are to be run during the session and to be presented to the rest of the class. That’s the moment where feedback will be provider.

As well, the video recorded will be used to generate the final edition that will be part of the final Best Practices stuff.

LS4: BEST PRACTICES – DIGITAL CONTENT CREATION.

Introduction

Moodle is an e-Learning platform, a Learning Management System (LMS). It is designed to provide a complete environment for training, a tool that will bring benefits to students, teachers and administrators. Web 2.0 and digital tools currently provide us with an enormous amount of very useful uses in the classroom: share information, access information in a more attractive way, edit video or images, perform collaborative work and thus a large number of tools with which can improve the methodology of the trainers.

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Target/Goal

Main objectives:

- Enrich teaching methods with digital tools to meet the individual learning needs of disadvantaged youth.

- Be able to change the role of teachers; from a teacher to a moderator, mentor, assistant, learning partner, a "Learning guide”.

Other specific objectives:

- Reflect on the usefulness that Moodle offers as a training tool with disadvantaged groups.

- Set up a course according to the preferences of the teacher and enrol students according to their needs.

- Create and adequately prepare contents, resources, activities and tasks.

- Manage and know different digital tools applying in our meth.

Content:

1. Moodle

- Making Courses.

- Registration to the course.

- Editing content.

- Resources.

- Activities.

- Blocks.

- Questions and quiz.

- Qualification.

- Monitoring.

1. Digital and Web 2.0 tools

- Each of these contents will be complemented with self-paced work and activities in the Moodle virtual course that will be presented for the realization of the "Learning Scenario”.

Methods:

The methodology to be applied will be the so-called "Flipped classroom” in which students have a pre-assigned time to watch videos, documents or other references to the practical work that will be done, so that time with the teacher is dedicated exclusively to the most practical work and to solve doubts, in this way it is the student who guides his own learning being the teacher the driver and support in his teaching process For the realization of the learning scenario we will use the Moodle tool itself, so we will learn the contents practicing itself. We will publish the contents, resources and tasks belonging to this "Learning Scenario”. The tasks, that will be carried out, will be to apply the knowledge acquired through videos, text files and demonstrations. For this the participants of this learning scenario will put into practice their knowledge creating a course with Moodle, configuring it, registering students, uploading tasks and qualifying them. The practical tasks will be complemented with complementary resources (web, video …) that help to acquire the contents. For advanced user in Moodle, a set of digital tools will be displayed so teachers can practice on them. Our idea is that you choose one of them, prepare some type of didactic material and offer us your opinion about the tool.

- What is it?

- Is it easy to manage?

- It is useful?

- Can it motivate the students?

- Where can we use it?

- For what kind of content?

Organization

Learning Place

For the work of this learning Scenario will be necessary a classroom with computers with Internet connection. The classroom must have enough terminals for participants to work,at least one or two participants per computer. In addition, a Learning Management System (Moodle) accessible to students will be installed so that they can access the contents of the Scenario and at the same time, be able to create and configure a course on this platform according to the aims set out in this Learning Scenario. Therefore, the participants will be given access to the platform with the profile of teacher editor. In addition, a set of web tools will be displayed in the Moodle course to practice.

Timetable

The practice o n this tool will have a duration of 4 hours spread over two days of training in the First Learning Activity.

Who

Participants in the First Learning Activity in Santander

Results/transfer:

The learning will try to achieve with this activity are the following: Become aware of the usefulness of Moodle and digital tools as a training tool and motivation for the work of instructors. Know how to upload content, task, resources and activities to the e-learning course. Improvement of digital competences

Feedback

The tool that will serve us to evaluate if our learning is acquired is the result of our practice. The participants will check if the course and its tools, they have created, are operational and functional. Through a group interview they will share the possible benefits and weaknesses that they think may arise when carrying out the activities with the working groups to which this ModuSOL project is focused.

Selection criteria for instructor / facilitator / tutor / trainer and their preparation

For the participation of the learning activity workshops and the testing of learning scenarios a group of 2–7 trainers have to select and prepared. The following selection criteria have to be observed:

- Basic experience working with media,

- methodological expertise,

- Learning (advisory) competence,

- experiences in the accompaniment of self-learning processes,

- experiences in working with learning-disabled,

- perseverance, empathy

- a high degree of responsibility, initiative and discipline,

- Willingness to engage in innovative project work in the free time and to actively help shape it.

The participants are prepared individually or in groups regarding the tasks by the project manager or a representative appointed by him.

This training action is designed for trainers who work with vulnerable groups and / or at risk of social exclusion, so that they can develop their digital skills with this approach to distance learning platforms. Looking for new methodologies that can advantage the motivation of the students and the efficiency of the learning.

Didactics

The selected trainers/instructors are confronted with new demands in the education. On the one hand, they have to apply their existing skills and experience in the new challenges of the digital learning culture in an innovative and critical way, as well as acquire and consolidate new competences. On the other hand, they have to meet the specific and current requirements and limited possibilities of the target group "learning disadvantaged”.

The following didactic principles are realized in the learning scenarios:

- principle of target group orientation.

- principle of participant orientation.

- principle of the language.

- principle of clarity.

- principle of practical orientation.

- principle of project-relatedness.

- principle of effectiveness and economy.

Methods

The content of the workshop and its learning scenarios determines the choice of methods. These include:

- Presentation deck.

- Team building and team work.

- Flipped classroom.

- Role playing.

- Education with games (i.e. Kahoot)

- Shared content Production (i.e. Moodle, Slack). Digital content is 24/7 available for learners, which meets there different concentration periods over the day.

- Self assessment guidelines.

Organization

Place of learning

During First Learning Activity will be necessary a classroom with computers with Internet connection and a wide classroom for develop groups activities. All the activities take place in the facilities of Decroly in Santander The computer`s classroom must have enough terminals for participants to work,at least one or two participants per computer. In addition, a Learning Management System (Moodle) accessible to students will be installed so that they can access the contents of the Activity, because the contents will be accessed through this platform

Agreements / rules taken

Based on the created framework conditions, concrete agreements are made, and binding rules are defined for the success-oriented and quality-conscious realization of the workshop and its learning scenarios:

- Set realistic goals.

- Match the different expectations of the participants.

- Articulate the rights and needs of the participants.

- Enable common and mutual learning.

- Prioritize disturbances, conflict and problem solutions.

- Implement common problem solutions

For working with hardware and software are defined:

- The provisions of data protection and data security. That is to be supported by the tools used.

- The terminal to be used, terminals.

- The output format of the eBook.

- Rules of the "formatting language Markdown”,

- Uniform text editing.

Time-frame

- Day 1: Introducing ourselves, Exchange Experience activities, self-paced work to reinforce the Flipped Classroom paradigm.

- Day 2: Introduction to Moodle, Digital Competences, group activity, ,Brainstorming/Open Question digital competences, self-paced work to reinforce the Flipped Classroom paradigm.

- Day 3: Introduction to cross-cutting issues, role-playing activity, share results.

Results

Learning outcomes

The achieved learning results include above all:

- Give the ability to create new and more specialized skills.

- New learning techniques.

- A higher learning motivation based on the knowledge acquired.

- Pronounced self-management.

- A higher qualification in regards to the digital competences.

- Better chances for integration into work.

- Based on exchange of experiences acquire Knowledge on how to manage learning disadvantaged target groups.

Products

The success of the workshop and its learning scenarios is also characterized and determined by the products developed during preparation, implementation and follow-up. The product pallets include:

- "didactic-methodical concept”.

- The handbook "Learning scenario”.

- The documentation of teaching and learning materials.

- The media library.

- EBooks (videos, text, pictures, animated texts and pictures).

- Glossary.

- The director and screenplay.

- the evaluation reports.

Curriculum for IO2

Day 1

Experiences Exchange

- Active teaching and learning.

- Collaborative work.

- Experience exchange o Exchange of challenges in teaching. o Exchange of experiences with learning disadvantaged target groups. o Best-practice-examples o Experiences with digital tools to cover individual learning needs

Day 2

Digital Competences for trainers.

- Introduction of the European framework for Digital Competences.

- Put the framework in context and self-assess each own level of digitalization.

- Having group work.

- Brainstorming/Open question to make sure all groups are understanding the same.

Day 3

Cross-cutting themes how to attack.

- Introduction History, law context and Objective.

- Practical Tests of Software-solutions and best practices (Role-playing with other teachers; best practice example video): o Different casuistic. o Different solutions (or same solutions but from different prisms). o Get suggestion from different working sectors that’re working with individuals at exclusion risk.

Everyday

Moodle and Digital and Web 2.0 tools.

Sharing results

- Self-paced work

- Walkthrough review.

Directors Book

Introduction

The director’s book is part of the Intellectual Output 2 results in the ModuSOL project, its realization is based on the work done in the first Learning Activity. During this activity, a group of trainers and experts in training with young people at risk of exclusion shared successful use practices.

Through the different Learning Scenarios that were programmed in the Learning Activity of Santander (Spain): experiences have been exchanged; digital skills of trainers have been discussed and analysed; digital contents were created through a digital learning platform such as Moodle; and finally, the simulation of real problems in the classroom regarding the needs of young people at risk of exclusion were resolved with digital tools.

In this last Learning Scenario, videos referred to this Director’s Book were recorded, through treatment of transversal themes, fundamental for motivation and search for success with target groups of this project.

The activity consisted of a group role-playing, performing a real case that the trainers have had to face in their teaching work. The recording did not only include the problem simulation also the pedagogical discussion to solve it.

These videos try to show an aid for trainers working with young people in risk of social exclusion, so they can solve similar situations by digital skills, they can be used as a methodological guide to introduce us in problem resolution with digital tools, being more innovative and motivating. In addition, apprentice can be an active part of their training, changing their role. The idea was always to implement the most innovative learning/teaching methods; such us creating video or audio content with the students/learners together. The aim is to re-define the role of the teacher by becoming a content creation partner and with the development of digital and communication competencies in this process. The effect on the students side is to become a creator of content instead of consuming only.

For the development of the Director Book of these different videos, we will follow this structure:

- Contextualization of the real situation that is pretended to simulate.

- Video script, for subsequent translation into the languages of the project partners.

- Justification and Conclusion, methodologies and ideas will be included what trainers intend to transmit in their videos.

Microsoft Translator video

Contextualization

Many of the young people at risk of social exclusion are foreigners who do not master the language of the host country, or even, if they have recently arrived, do not know the language in which they will try to learn. To solve communication problems there are simultaneous translation tools such as Microsoft Translator.

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To watch the video follow the link.

Script

Scene: The Problem

Teacher: Good Morning. Hello. May I help you?

Student 1: Hallo (German)

Student 2: Hast du es nicht verstehen (German)

Teacher: I don´t speak any German

Student: English, no

Scene: The Solution

Teacher: I have an app so I can use on my phone and then we could speak.

Student 2: Ok

Student 1: Das ist gut (German)

(Using the mobile phone app)

Teacher: Hello, my name is Alan

Student 1: Hi, Alan, mein name ist Robert, ich freue mich dich zu verstehen (german)

Mobile: (translate) Hi, Alan, my name is Robert, I’m glad to hear you.

Teacher: it can translate to and from many languages.

Mobile: (translate to German)

Teacher: Yes, it has a group mode. So everyone can speak in their own language.

Teacher: I have a code for you

Student 2: (speaks in German)

Student 1: (speaks German)

Teacher: I´m good Thank you. How are you today?

Student 2: (speaks German)

Student 1: (speaks German)

Student 2: mir geht es gut, danke sehr (speaks german)

Video subtitle: All are happy

Conclusion and justification

The implementation of this video proposes to the trainers of young people at risk of social exclusion the possibility of using mobile applications; mobile devices that can fill the gaps in communication, inside of a learning process it is fundamental that the information flows in both directions.

Learning support through mobile applications can be a complement for training. The mobile phone is widely spread by society and today they are complete computers, capable of executing the most diverse applications.

The multimedia capacity of mobile phones can be the starting point to facilitate student learning, discovering how highly motivating tool can be and how it is normally easier due to the high level of use handled by the users of these devices.

Communication is a process, present in all moments of our life, in all interpersonal relationships, therefore in the relationship that is going to be established between a trainer and the apprentice is one of the basic pillars. In the specific case of the problem aim this learning situation, the communication problems are solved thanks to a mobile application that partly solves the difficulties by improving the learning process.

Finally, it should be necessary pay attention to how mobile support can become a useful tool for whatever problems trainers may face in their learning processes with young people at risk of social exclusion.

Collaboration Tools video

Contextualization

Many of the trainer actions with people at risk of exclusion have more to do with conflict resolution than with the training itself. Social skills and cross-cutting themes have to be worked on together with the contents of the training because of these group characteristics .

This time, in this video, we will try to solve a conflict problem in the classroom with digital tools in the cloud that will allow for a collaborative work through which we can work with social skills, in particular empathy.

Script

Scene: The problem

Teacher: (…Explaining some general concepts)

Student 1: Hello

Teacher: Good Morning (look at his clock)

Student 2: Have you just arrived from your country? (disagreeably)

Student 1: Any problem? (threateningly)

Student 2: Yes, you came walking from your country because your family doesn’t´t have enough money

Teacher: wait please, What´s this discussion? We have a real problem here

Scene: The solution

Teacher: Hi Marian, as we discuss. We have had some intercultural problems. Two guys from Colombia and the other one from Spain. They had argued this week. I want to do an activity with them and I want you to see how it goes

(Teacher opens the door)

Teacher: You can seat over there. As we discuss I don´t like your behaviour during the class yesterday. It was not acceptable. You arrived with some delay and you asked him if he has arrived from your country. I know you are from Colombia and you from Spain. We are citizens of the world, we are not from Colombia or Spain, we are collages here. Let me Know, Have you check the distance between Vargas street and Dávila Street? and Have you check the distance between Santander and Bogota? The results are that (thank you for that activity). This is the distant between your current homes. The distance between where you live now and you live now. It´s like 3 kilometres and a half and this was the distance previously, you were in different parts of the globe.

So we are doing this activity to make sure you understand that this is a map, this is the distance you work before and this is the current distant but as you can see in the map is exactly the same distance which is something "like that”. That said, we’re citizens of the world. No frontiers, no barriers, no kilometres. We’re all working as colleagues here and I want you to understand that. Is that correct? Are you going to change your behaviour and your performance?

Scene: Pedagogical discussion

Teacher 1: Thank you for being here. We’re having a problem in class with two different students. Each of them from different cultures. One of them is from Spain and the other one from Colombia. The Spanish one is always trying to bully the Colombian guy. In the same way the Colombia guy is chasing the Spanish guy.

Teacher 2: I think maybe the problem they’re not aware about each other culture. Could be interesting to make them know each other culture. Ok, so probably we need ot think about the way to make them aware about each other culture.

Teacher 1: What do you think, Teacher 3?

Teacher 3: Ok.

Teacher 1: Do you have any ideas, Teacher 2?

Teacher 2: I think we have to propose them a task. Maybe they can probably calculate the distance between their countries and their current home.

Teacher 3: They can use Google Maps.

Teacher 1: Great idea, thanks Teacher 3. The can use Google Maps to measure the distance. I have another idea, we can ask them to do an activity and upload this activity to Google Drive so they will be using both Google Maps and Google Docs. And in Google Docs they can put the results of the activity. Both distance between houses and the differences in the culture.

Conclusion and justification

The realization of this video proposes to young people at risk of social exclusion trainers the possibility of using digital collaborative tools, in this case cloud tools from Google.

To carry out group work, the tools offered by the cloud, such as Google Docs, allow several students to work on the same document. Teamwork assist the learning of skills, improves communication and motivation, and involves greater engagement among partners.

In disadvantaged groups teaching, cross-cutting themes have to be handle as an important part of training. Above all, social skills are a point to deal with. Teachers through this collaborative work and with the help of Google Maps aim to increase ties between students, getting to know each other a bit more and developing empathy.

No matter if a company like Google or Microsoft, they have a large number of tools in the cloud that are a great advantage for digital team work. Besides the possibility of computers working or even with mobile phones. The tools are free in the case of Google, we only need to have an email account. Anyone may be able to discover tools such as Google Drive which is storage in the cloud, also Google Docs to create and format texts, Google Sheets as a spreadsheet, Google Slides for slide shows; and many other tools such as the calendar, a translator, …

Preparation Car Ride video

Contextualization

The use of videos for the learning of practical situations can be an interesting starting point and a motivating way to face an upcoming traineeship.

In this video, teachers set out a video tutorial about how to solve a simple learning problem: the steps to follow to start a car.

To watch the video follow the link.

Script

Scene: Preparation car ride

Teacher: Hello, Goran

Student: Hello

Teacher: Are we prepared for a driving lesson?

Student: A little bit

Teacher: Do you remember how to prepare for driving?

Student: I don´t know

Teacher: First, you feel comfortable

(Title: Adjust seat)

Teacher: For your safety you have to what…

Student: For my safety…of course

(Title: seat belt)

Teacher: So, now …next step

Student: Next step is start the engine

Teacher: Not yet, you must check your…

Student: Check our mirror, outside and inside

(Title: Mirror Adjustment)

Teacher: Now

Student: Press the button and put the key

(Title: Start of the car)

Conclusion and justification

The inclusion of video tutorials in a web platform which students can access the contents from their homes or in the workplace, this can be an important help in learning.

There has been widely acceptance that the use of multimedia can suppose a higher motivation for students to approach their learning. The inclusion of videos in the training of students will improve attention and content improvement.

It would be convenient that the videos are perfectly planned, designed for the acquisition of the skills that are intended to be learned.

The videos are another means of bringing the contents closer to the students. In methodologies such as the flipped class, video is the previous access to the learning contents; trainees will learn the basic contents from their home with videos so they will arrive at the Learning Centre and they will work mainly on the practice.

Either by motivation, by the ease to achieve certain knowledge or any other circumstance, the educational videos are an important basis for learning presentation. In our concrete case, young people at social exclusion risk , given that on any occasions they are immigrants without a perfect knowledge of the language, in others they have learning and social problems, or other types of problems, videos are a highly recommended tool .

Intellectual Output 3: Best practices & Case studies

Instructions on how to use software for the production and editing of digital content

Introduction

Responsible for this chapter was Institut InPro.

We have chosen 4 examples of best practices in using digital technologies when educating disadvantaged groups of students. These examples were selected based on two three-day transnational learning activities which took place in Santander, Spain and Prague, the Czech Republic. In total, 50 participants from the partner counties´ education institutions were discussing usefulness, practicability and possibilities of dozens of digital tools, applications and digital content in teaching (especially disadvantaged groups). The tools chosen are Slack, Kahoot!, Microsoft Translator and Markdown, each of them represents a different tool – an online platform, a game-based quiz, an application and a language. Along with these tools and platforms we present also case studies of trainers and teachers from different European countries that use them on a daily basis.

Case study

Slack

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What?

Slack is a cloud-based free online platform where you can meet and work with your colleagues, peers, students, co-workers etc. It allows group or team communications, sharing pictures and videos, uploading documents and dividing tasks.

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Why?

- The main benefit of this platform is that you do not have to address your students individually by e-mail and ending up having tens of separate communications. Slack allows you to communicate with all of your students at once, giving them work tasks and homework by just creating a common conversation at the platform.

- You can create as many communication channels as you wish, for instance, each of your classes can have an own channel, you can have a channel with your colleagues or channels categorized by topics of interest, all at the same platform easily organized.

- Inviting people into your channel is done by joining a specific URL or by sending invitation.

- Slack does not work only as a communication tool. You can upload documents, pictures or videos related to your class and you can ask your students to do the same with their tasks. This way you will have all the documents related to one class at one medium with no need to browse through your e-mail box.

- All the documents uploaded are at the same time backed up. If your computer would break up, what you uploaded to Slack remains safe.

- When you need to find something older in your conversation, you simply search it in a Search button.

- The platform integrates services like Google Drive, Trello, Dropbox and many others. In other words, the biggest advantaged is that you do not need to use more websites or digital tools because they are all combined at Slack platform.

- To use Slack you do not necessarily need a computer or a laptop. The platform is also provided as a mobile app adjusted to all operation systems.

- What is important to mention is the security issue. In a time of declining trust in social networks, Slack offers a solution by using two different levels of security systems to protect your data and your organization.

- When thinking of teaching disadvantaged groups, Slack can help mostly in the area of integrating them to the class. You can, for instance, divide your class into work groups and each of them will have to use their own channel for working. This way can not only allow student to work together but also socialize.

How?

1. Go to [www.slack.com][SlackLink] in your computer’s web browser. This will open the main page of the platform.

2. Join Slack by typing your e-mail address, then click on the GET STARTED button.

3. To create your very own communication channel, click on "Create a new workspace”. You also have the possibility to join already existing communication platform by selecting "Find your Slack workspace”.

4. Once you create a new workspace, you will receive a confirmation e-mail to you e-mail address. Check it and fill in a 6-digit confirmation code.

5. Choose your nickname. You can type your full name so that your students recognise who you are or you can use a funny nickname.

6. Create you password. Make sure it is strong enough.

7. Name your platform.

8. Choose your URL. Slack will suggest your URL address; you can either leave it or change it according to your preferences.

9. Agree with terms and conditions.

10. Send invitations. You can fill in e-mail addresses of people you want to share the channel with or you can skip this move and invite them later.

11. Get started. Explore Slack with the introduction tutorial.

12. Create new channels, chat, upload, share, comment, tag, search, enjoy!

How long?

Creating a new communication channel is not time consuming, it takes just few minutes. You can then use your platform as long as you wish, some of the co-operations through the platform last for years.

Restrictions

The free version of the platform has, of course, some limitations. For instance, you are not allowed to make group calls with screen sharing or you are limited with number of applications integrated in the platform and you have a limited storage. However, for the purposes of group work, sharing document or organising your teaching materials, it is sufficient. Nevertheless, if you are a more demanding user, you can always upgrade to Standard or Plus paid versions.

As for security and personal rights, the free version is secured with two-factor authentication which ensures your documents safety. The operator is not responsible for any content uploaded or shared on the platform and he is allowed to access and work with your personal data only in limited ways (more can be found in company’s Data Request Policy). Customer owns all Customer Data. The platform should not be used by students below 16 years old.

In Santander, a beautiful city in Cantabria, Northern Spain, a group of teachers from different parts of Europe discussed online platforms suitable for communication with students. Carol, a university professor from United Kingdom, suggested Slack as a perfect tool which not only allows you to communicate in a group but also share materials among each other and cooperate. As she was presenting the platform, he got his colleagues attention. It did not take a long time and they settled down a Slack channel for themselves to stay in touch even after they come back to their home countries. Since then, the trainers shared their experiences, pictures and videos on the platform. They have divided their channels according to the topics they were discussing and they keep inviting new colleagues to join the discussion and learn something new from each other. What it brought them is that they can stay in touch, work together and share materials even though they are thousands of kilometres away from each other and some of them do not use mainstream social networks

To show some examples of the applicability of Slack in educating methods, please watch the videos bellows. The first video presents one of the teachers what he learned about Slack and how he uses it personally.

This video shows a team of teachers explaining each other the advantages of using Slack when teaching.

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Lenka, a teacher from the Czech Republic, is showing where she can chat with other trainers.

Kahoot!

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What?

Using game principles in teaching methods is called gamification. Kahoot! as a game-based educational platform works on this very principle. It uses game competitiveness of players and applies it to learning through multiple-choice quizzes. Students then play against each other and try to get the highest score while, at the same time, they learn the correct answers.

Why?

- Sometimes it is difficult to attract students’ attention; Kahoot! as a game-based app can be a great solution how to liven up a class, no matter how old your students are.

- It is not demanding on teachers’ or students’ technological skills. All you need is your device (PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone…) and connection to the internet. No previous knowledge of programme like this is required, it is easy to use and the programme itself guides you the whole time.

- It allows you to create a quiz on any topic you can think of. If you teach an unusual topic, such as the history of artistic blacksmithing, you can simply create your own set of questions and answers to review your students’ knowledge. However, there are plenty of already existing quizzes of more common topics which may help your purposes as well.

- Besides testing your students or trainees knowledge, it can also (if you choose so) test their readiness.

- All of your students are involved to the game at the same time.

- This tool gives you instant feedback what your students do (not) remember as you can see results of every one of them. You can thus easily help you in preparing next steps.

- As for teaching the disadvantaged groups, especially migrants and other minorities who do not speak fluently in your language, the main benefit is in using quizzes for practicing the vocabulary. You can find many already existing quizzes specialized on practicing English, German, Spanish and many other languages, there are quizzes reviewing national histories, geographical trivia or quizzes focused on culture and cultural norms in different states. If you will not find the exact topic you want, you can simply create it right for your needs.

How?

1. Go to [www.kahoot.com][KahootLink]
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2. Sign up for free, choose if you want to use Kahoot! as a teacher/student, at work or just for fun and use your e-mail address to sign in.
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3. Choose your plan – you can simply use the free version or you can decide for paid version with additional features
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4. Once you are in, you can play already created quizzes which are grouped by topics or you can create your very own.
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5. To create a new Kahoot! quiz, click on "Create” button. You can choose among
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6. classic multiple-choices quiz;
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7. jumble which needs students to sort answers in correct order;
c
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8. discussion which sparks debate; and
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9. survey which gather audience’s opinions. Whichever you choose, now the creation begins. In this instruction we use the classic quiz as an example.
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10. Title your quiz, choose the visibility of the quiz (you can keep the quiz just for your own purposes or make it visible to anyone) and by clicking "Ok, go” button, you can start to formulate your questions and answers.
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11. In each question you can set as many correct answers as you want (always at least one), the time limit for answering and points for being fast. Save the question by "Save” button and edit by clicking on orange pen picture.
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12. This way you can create as many questions as you want. Remember, the longer does not always mean the better. Try to make your questions factual and catchy.
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13. When you are done with questions, save your quiz by "Save” button. You can now go back to editing, play the quiz or share it with other users.
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14. To invite your students, you have to click the "Play” button and choose the game mode (either your students can play individually or they can play as a team). Your quiz will generate a specific Game PIN for students’ log in.
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15. Your students need to go to www.kahoot.it and enter PIN. This will direct them to your game. Once you see that everybody is logged in, you can start the quiz. The questions and answers will be visible on your board/ screen and the answer buttons on your students’ devices.
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16. Learn and have fun.
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How long?

The length of creating the quiz and of playing the game depends on the number of your questions.

Restrictions

The free version of Kahoot! is limited, it does not offer features like large scale gaming (e.g. for big companies) or image library. However, for teaching purposes it is more than sufficient. Kahoot! is not responsible for the content of users’ games, you are the owner of the content. The Personal Information gathered through the application is used for business and marketing purposes in accordance with law.

During the second transnational learning activity which took place in Prague game-based applications were lively discussed. The absolute winner in terms of favourability among teachers was Kahoot! Not everybody was, however, familiar with its functions and possibilities. Julia, a teacher from Spain, explained she uses it regularly in her classes as it is fun for students and a got review of students’ knowledge for her. "It does not replace traditional teaching methods of course but it complements the lesson in a way which my trainees enjoy and remember. You pinpoint the most important information and repeat it to your students again in a fun way.” she said. Immediately, she logged in and shows everyone one of her homemade quizzes about the European literature in the 18th century. As this was a perfect opportunity for the rest to learn how the game works, they all tried to create their own Kahoot! quiz in small groups. You can see how they did so in this short video.

But what is work without fun. After they made their own quizzes, they also played some. As it turned out, our trainees were quite competitive and the game turned into a fierce fight for the first place. Our teachers proved that Kahoot! is suitable for people of any age.

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At the international learning activity in Prague, trainers had a chance to play Kahoot! quiz.

They also tried to create one quiz on their own.

Microsoft Translator

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What?

Microsoft Translator is an application which enables people who speak different languages to understand each other.

Why?

- There are plenty of translation applications available. Most of them, however, enable people to translate only written text. Microsoft Translator, on the other hand, allows you to talk through the application to foreigners who do not understand your language.

- The application works in real-time which mean that it translates your speech to the other chosen language or languages immediately as you say it.

- The biggest advantage of this application is that you can simultaneously translate your speech to different languages/devices at the same time. It all depends on how many people are connected to you and which language they choose.

- Microsoft Translator supports 11 languages for a speech-to-speech translation so far (2 Arabic, Chinese – simplified and traditional, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish). For a traditional text translation it supports more than 60 different languages.

- In education, you can use this application when teaching disadvantaged groups of students like immigrants or language minorities. It helps the mutual understanding through overcoming the language barrier.

- It is free and available on Windows, Android, IOS and Amazon operating systems as well as in PowerPoint.

- It is intuitive and easy to use.

How?

1. Download the application to your device. You can find it in all app stores under the name "Microsoft Translator”.

2. Open the app.

3. Choose what you want to do. Each symbol represents different action, all of them presented below.

4. Singular microphone allows you to talk in your language (the default language is usually English but you can switch to a different one) and see and hear the translation in the other chosen language. Just hold the microphone button and talk. In a right corner is a double microphone button which allows you to communicate one-to-one on your device. If you choose this option, your screen splits in two parts. You can again hold a microphone button, speak and then hear the translated sentence and see it in a written text. Your communication partner can answer in the same way.

5. If you choose a button of a typewriter, you can translate anything you type to a written text of the selected language.

6. When choosing a camera button, you can take a picture of a written text and translate it immediately to a chosen language.

7. Finally, you can use a presentation mode. If you click to a button of two people talking, you can either join a conversation created by somebody else or you can create your own one. When starting a new conversation, fill in your name/nickname and choose your default language. This will generate a unique QR code needed for the others to join the conversation.

8. When the rest of your communication partners or listeners want to join, they need to have this application downloaded, then choose the presentation mode (two people talking button), press a camera button to join the conversation and scan the QR code from your device. If somebody needs to join during the presentation, just click on a code text on the top of your screen to show the QR code again. You can connect up to 100 people.

9. The three dots in upper right corner allow you and your partners to adjust the conversation settings. It is possible; for instance, to choose to show the original text of a speaker, play the messages automatically in your chosen language or to choose a presenter mode ideal for giving talks and presentations.

10. Talk, chat and debate even without knowledge of your partner’s language.

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How long?

Downloading takes just a short moment then you can use the app for as long as you want.

Restrictions

As for the terms and conditions, they are the same as to all other Microsoft Services. You are the owner of your content in any Microsoft service you use. Microsoft as a giant company gathers your personal data from all its services and uses them for its own purposes but you can manage and control the collection of your data.

Case study

Sometimes it just happens that you cannot understand somebody, either you cannot speak the language or the accent, you cannot read a different alphabet and so on. It happens to everybody. But sometimes you need to communicate despite these obstacles. Martin, a professional educator from Germany, ended up in such a situation several times. As he deals with immigrants on a daily basis, he figured out a way how to overcome this problem – thanks to a special translator app. During the international learning activity in Spain, he and his colleague from Scotland had difficulties understanding each other as Alan was struggling with the specific Scottish accent. But instead of avoiding the conversation Martin suggested using the Microsoft Translator App. No one at the three-day-long event heard about the App before but that day all of the teachers downloaded it. It was a huge success. In the end, they created an instruction video about communication through this app. You literally could see the sparkles in their eyes when using it.

Moreover, during the second learning activity in the Czech Republic, teachers learn how to edit videos to make them more attractive and visually appealing.

Microsoft Translator was found very useful among our trainers.

Markdown

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What?

Markdown is not an application, website or a classical programme like the rest of the best practices. It is “a lightweight markup language with plain formatting syntax. Its design allows it to be converted to many output formats, but the original tool by the same name only supports HTML”. As it is simple, many people use it for writing for the web, however its simplicity attracts people to use it also for creating various documents as well.

Why?

- People are so used to common document editors like Word or OpenOffice that they do not realize how many other possibilities they have. The most common things are not always the easiest or the most practical and Markdown serves as an ideal example.

- Markdown’s biggest advantage is its simplicity. It is based on a WYSIWYG idea – what you see is what you get. In the most common document editors people often struggle with the form and structure. It takes a lot of time to edit your document to a desirable appearance and if you happen to change one thing, the rest of the document can suddenly change to a chaos. Markdown avoids this completely by allowing you to use just the most necessary features (like Headings, Bullet Points, Numbering, Quotations, etc.) in only one variation.

- Thanks to this feature you can focus on the actual content of your document, not on its form as usual. When not stressing about the visual side, all your attention can be focused on what you want to say.

- Similarly, it applies to using additional content like photos, pictures, videos, links etc. Instead of placing the actual content into the text editor, you use shortcuts from your computer or URL. You can thus use big files without fear that your Editor breaks down and your pictures never move from the place where you put them. As a side effect, it disciplines your work because you have to know where on your computer you placed this content.

- Moreover, Word and other editors have many different versions which are often not compatible, not only on different devices but sometimes even in the editor itself. Using Markdown means having the simplest document which can be opened and edited on every device and all operation systems. Needless to say, it can prevent many misunderstandings and excuses from your students.

- In the context of working with disadvantaged student groups, Markdown helps you to make your and others work easy, compatible and make the participants understand how to simple structure a text. Not only you simplify your work, you also teach your trainees not to focus on futility.

- Finally, unlike Word and other editors Markdown is completely free!

How?

- You can write in Markdown with every editor, even Word. You only have to keep the syntax and save the file as txt. However, to make the most from its potential, it is recommended to download one of several programmes, like Typora. How to do so is described below.

- Typora is a simple Markdown editor. To download it, go to the webpage https://typora.io/, scroll down and select your operation system. Now you can choose between two versions of Typora – Beta (x64) and Beta (x32). Which one depends of what computertype you use, modern Operating Systems like windows 10 are 64bit, so you chooose x64.

- Once you download the file, install it to your computer and open it. And that is all. Now you can write as much as you need. In "Paragraph” section you can, for instance, choose your Headings, make Quotations, create a Table and so on. You do not need to edit anything or be worried about destroying or messing up the rest of your document. What you use will always stick on its place.

- In the “Help” Menu you will find a full Markdown Reference to learn how to format your document.

- "Format” section allows you to edit your text (underline text, emphasize words etc.) and add annexes. For inserting an image just click on "Format - Image”. It asks you to either input the URL of the chosen picture (web address from the Internet) or you can select it directly from your computer. Once you choose it, it will show the picture in the text. Use relative path like mypicture.jpg and put all the pictures in the same folder as the text before you put them in the text. The picture will not be embedded in the text but a path! Always send the pictures separately if you want to send the document to someone.

Images looks similar like links, but it requires an additional ! char before the start of link. Image syntax looks like this:

!\[Alt text\](/path/to/img.jpg)

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!\[Alt text\](/path/to/img.jpg "Optional title")

You are able to use drag & drop to insert image from image file or we browser. And modify the markdown source code by clicking on the image. Relative path will be used if image is in same directory or sub-directory with current editing document when drag & drop.

For more tips on images, please read http://support.typora.io/Images/

This is \[an example\] inline link.

Das ist ein Beispiel inline Link.

\[This link\] has no title attribute.

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wird ergeben:

Dieser Link hat kein Title-Attribut.

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And you do not have to buy expensive programs.

But also for the production of papers, instructions etc. markdown is useful because of the compatibility.

To learn and use the MarkDown language is especially helpful with students who are learning someting about producing Websites. With MarkDown you are able to produce beautiful and clean html-Code (Websites) without having to learn html in the first place.

Case study

As for Markdowns limitations, it requires its users discipline to some extent but once you get used to it, it cannot be easier.

Markdown is a syntax language; it is not a certain application, website or a programme so there are actually not policies about your rights and obligations when using it. However, this does not apply to the editor programme Typora. When using Typora, the personal data are collected but you may choose to disable the collection entirely. If you let the collection of your private information allowed, they protect them but do not guarantee its absolute security.

Restrictions

Downloading and installing the recommended programmes takes just few minutes, depending on your internet connection and computer capacity. After that you will spent less time and protect your nerves creating your document than you would in case of using a common document editor.

How long?

- If you would like to use comments, just choose “Format - Comments” and continue typing. Finally, you can also use your right button on a mouse to see a shortcut for these options.

- In "Themes” section you can choose one of 5 visual looks of your final document. In "View” section you can chance the appearance of the program itself. So you can show the structure on the right side or you can change between rendered document and source code.

- After finishing a document, you can save it as a Markdown File or a Plain text File. This file can be worked at with every texteditor and compiled with every markdown program. But this is not the main idea, in File-Export you can choose between many different filetypes: You can produce pdf, html, docx, open office, latex and many other Formats.

- All in all, it works very similar like classic MS WORD, nevertheless it has less and simplified features to make your work as easy as possible.

- If you are not able to download a programme to your computer, you may use Dillinger (https://dillinger.io) which is an Online Markdown-Editor, however it is designed for slightly more advanced users.

How to create a video from scratch

HOW TO RECORD

Videos can be a great part of study content, they are easy to do, catchy for students and you can be as creative as you want. Here are few crucial points for video-making-beginners.

1. Get a camera – Every smartphone now should have a camera, the quality will of course differ depending on your camera resolution. Smartphones are practical as you have them by yourself almost every time, however you can of course record from a webcam on your computer as well.

2. Make sure you have enough memory – Videos, especially the long ones, take a lot of space on your phone memory. Make sure your phone will manage it or treat yourself with a memory card.

3. Prepare a script– A good tip is to prepare bullet points about what you want to record or talk about. Your very first video will probably not be a masterpiece but fortune favours the prepared.

4. Think about the content – Please be cautious what information you give out not to regret it later and make sure you do not plagiarize.

5. Choose your angle – Decide at the beginning whether you want to record a horizontal or vertical video. It is always good to stick only to one perspective and not to turn the phone during the recording. When you film people, make sure you record at your shoulder’s height.

6. Find a spot – Choose your location wisely, you do not want to record either in a dark place, or directly into the light. Remember, lighting is crucial. If you record yourself, it is better to have clear background behind you.

7. Speak clearly – Video without a good audio would not be much effective. As you want your viewers to hear what you say, make sure you speak loud, clear and don’t hold your finger on your phone’s microphone.

8. Do a test shot – Try what you have prepared and see how it goes. You can always change thing for the better and let’s be honest, you will probably need to record multiple times until you are completely satisfied.

9. GO! – And now the rock and roll show starts.

10. And stop – When you are done, do not forget to stop the video.

HOW TO PUBLISH

Once you record a video, it is time to use it. One of the most popular video platforms is YouTube so in these instructions we focus on uploading videos on Youtube.

1. Create an account on YouTube – It is easy, all you need to have is Google or Gmail account. Signing up, uploading videos and watching them is free.
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2. To edit or not to edit– Tricky part of making your own video is the editing. Firstly, ask yourself how much it is really necessary to edit your video as it is quite time consuming, especially if it is your first time. However editing can make your video more attractive to viewers. Professionals use special editing programmes but for basic users it could be enough to just cut your video (choose when you want your video to start and end). Some smartphones themselves allow simple editing like cutting or adding filters. You can also download free smartphone applications like KineMaster for more editing features. This editing must be done before uploading the video. Other possibility is to edit your video directly on Youtube through Youtube studio. This feature requires to have your video uploaded already (step 3), then simply click on the Youtube studio button in the upper left corner and choose one of your uploaded videos. One of the features of YouTube editor is that you can remove beginnings or endings of the video or you can split the video and skip middle parts which you do not like. For complete instructions see, for example, a video "How To Use YouTube Video Editor 2018” on YouTube which will show you the step-by-step instructions.
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[https://bit.ly/2U7LzdO]

1. Upload – After signing in, you can upload your video on YouTube either directly from your smartphone (just download YouTube app from your play store) or you can copy the video to your computer and upload it from there. Just click the “UPLOAD” button.
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2. Name – Do not forget to give a title to your video and add a short description to it. It will help you recognize it later.
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3. Publish – In your account settings you can choose if you want to share your video with everyone, with only some people through a link or keep it in private just for yourself. Click the “PUBLISH” button and wait until it’s uploaded. After that you could view your video live on your channel. Remember, publishing is not uploading! When you upload your video to your account, it is visible just to you. Once you publish it, you take the responsibility for its content.
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4. Use the content – Once you have your video in the air, use it as your teaching material, you can play it from any computer or phone or you can simply send your students a link to it.
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5. Be aware – Internet is full of trolls and haters, do not let them spoil your mood.

Intellectual Output 4: Didactic-methodical concept and learning scenarios for the apprentices

Responsible for this chapter was RegioVision.

The learning scenario for trainees will be developed in two structures.

The first structure is resource-oriented and follows the ZIMORr principle of didactic concepts:

Introduction

The learning scenarios provided below, which should lead to an increase in the competence of learners, are related to the teaching scenarios in Intellectual Output 2, that is, learning scenarios are designed so that they lead both to an increase in competences among the teachers and the learners.

ZIMORr (ACMOOF) was chosen in the draft because it provides a structure that is comprehensible to teachers and trainers, which makes it easier to set up appropriate learning scenarios.

ZIMORr ratio (ACMOOF)

The ZIMOR relation (Prof. Knöchel, et al.) is a german Abbreviation, that summarizes essential elements of the pedagogical process. Supplemented by “feedback”, it offers as a ZIMORr relation a clear model for the whole and effective planning of teaching units:

Aim

- Which target groups should be reached?

- What are they interested in?

- What changes in opinions or behavior do I intend?

- What funds are available to me?

The goals should be derived from the expectations of the participants.

Content

What should and can be conveyed to the target group in the time available, which abilities does they have to to develop, about which topics only knowledge is given?

According to the answers to these questions, learning material must be selected and ordered. The inner structure and dynamics of the subject matter have always to be recognizable to each participant.

Methods

Which means and methods are appropriate?

At any time, learners need to understand why certain methods are used.

The provision of a methods library contributes significantly to learning success. Also, knowledge about the learning methods used can itself be an access to the content. Developing individual method awareness is a refreshing and inspiring task for the teacher as well, since only in exchange with the participants can the whole variety of teaching and learning possibilities be explored and verified.

Organization

Even the announcement of a jointly developed schedule leads to more patience and dedication to teaching. The planning of the sessions should always be performed together by teachers and learners and should be accessible to all participants, for example in the form of a schedule.

The learning topics should be divided in

- Groups of mental operations,

- single Learning activities and

- complete learning actions (information, planning, decisions, execution, control, evaluation).

Combined with the possibility of their repetition and, to a certain extent, autonomous arrangement (modular systems), the participation of the participants in the learning process decisively improves their identification with »their« learning process and thus generates attention, independence and commitment.

Outcome enquiry

Results of learning processes, or group-work, should and have always to be accessible, the simple availability of pupils own results increases the possibilities for self-control.

The frequency and accuracy of the learning success controls, combined with their availability to all participants involved, improves the learning effect.

Pride in one’s own “work” is a great stimulus to learning.

Feedback

Problems such as success in the learning process must be able to influence the design of the processes. So it makes sense from time to time to hold “flashlights”, sessions with short inquiries or the like to organize, in order to give the opportunity to participants to express their mood, their problems, to get and give kowledge on the level of relations not only the factual levels.

Disturbances of the learning process will become visible in this way very early and can be corrected immediately. In order to give also in a sensory or emotional inhibited people the opportunity to participate in the feedback of the process, anonymous messages, for example a red card or a red sticky arrow to the problem areas on a table, a flipchart or at the agenda should be provided.

Motivational Learning Process (CSLIT)

A second structure describes the motivational process, which is characterized by three

Phases

- contact

- game / globe / situation

- transfer

and

The Spiel of the Three Motivational Forces

- Status

- Lust, Fun

- Identity.

Examples

Example 1: Masonry/ Brickwork

Z = Why - target/goal:

Apprentices discover different layouts of brickwork (masonry) in their living environment, learn to identify and imitate them. They identify faults in masonry construction.

Hampton stacks (source: Wikipedia)

Target group: apprentices in the construction industry.

I = What - content:

- Elements and terms: stones, stretcher, header, Stone Cuts, Orientations, Bonding

- Load-bearing bonds

- Flemish bond, Monk bond, Sussex bond, English bond etc.

- Diapering

- wall corners

- typical mistakes etc.

M = Whom - methods:

Contact

Through a group-conversation will be found out, what the trainees already know about Load-bearing bonds, what role this knowledge plays in their own education, if they have ever built some by themselfes and what experiences have emerged.

In self-study the trainees look for information about the elements and concepts of load-bearing bonds.

Trainees go in groups with photo cameras into the town/village and look for brick laying examples, photograph them, write down the place, describe the materials used, observe any possible construction errors.

Status

Who found the most and who found the most original brick laying examples? Group comparison.

Lust, Fun

Load-bearing bonds are replicated with Lego or with stones in the workshop. A stability test (leaning at the wall, shoving, handstand on the wall, shooting soccer balls against it) shows the different meanings of different wall groups and is fun.

Identity

The trainees look for their favorite examples, print out photos and stick it with their name in their report booklet.

Transfer

The apprentices compile their photos and the results of the self-study, the videos of the collapsing buildings etc. in an e-Book and make it available to other trainees.

ModuSOL - Instruction video produced by trainees of masonry in Berlin, construction of a wall

This video shows an example of an apprentice-generated content influenced by this Lesson.

O = Who, When, What, to whom - organisation:

1. Phase: classroom, library

2. Groups of 3 apprentices go to the city/village for 5–6 hours with their own cameras (smartphones) or cameras that have been set up by the company.

3. In the workshop, the trainees make various masonry, even faulty ones and test them with footballs or bowling balls or by leaning on.

R = - results/transfer:

The products are summarized in text form, photos and videos, these are compiled in an e-book and mutually evaluated.

R = feedback loop:

After the lesson everybody will be asked:

- What worked?

- What should be changed?

- What was boring, what exciting?

ModuSOL - Instruction video produced by trainees of masonry (team no. 2), Berlin, March 2019

ModuSOL - Instruction video produced by trainees of masonry (team no. 2), Berlin, March 2019

Example 2: Communication skill - Leadership

Z = Why - target/goal:

The 21st century is an age of information and an exchange of data, goods, services and ideas. Every day companies have to challenge different varieties of obstacles. They have to be solved on different levels of hierarchy within a company, depended on the complexity of the task itself. In order to secure a good exchange of information and distribution of tasks from the management staffs to the employees, it is critical to use a good didactical approach to the subject. The management staffs needs to be equipped at least with the basic knowledge of how to transfer their wishes and ideas on to other subordinate employees, how to handle problems within the communication with other employees, how to recognize the needs and interests of their listeners to maximize attention, trust and ultimately also innovating ideas for maximizing profit. The end goal is to be able to communicate with subordinate workers in an efficient way where all parties have the same understanding of the respective subject.

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Target group: apprentices as future executives

I = What - content:

- Elements and terms: different communication elements, for example: listening, telling, understanding, conveying, supporting, guiding, recognizing

- understanding (other) persons, culture and order

- typical mistakes and practical examples

- Etc.

M = Whom - methods:

Contact

By a group-conversation will be identified, what the trainees already know about communication at work and in private life, what role this knowledge plays in their own education and at work and what experiences they have made. By this way different positive and negative experience should be exchanged.

In self-studies the trainees develop an environment for good communication by their own background. So they have to collect and present conditions for a perfect communication at same eye level.

The trainees record videos in groups and show different negative examples at first. In a second step they show a better way of communication. They have to explain their results to the other trainees and why they have chosen that way. Also they have to create an exercise for the other trainees to work on (role play, case study (problematic situation, questions, …)

In the end any trainee can avoid emotion-led communication and know typical ways and tools for avoiding communication problems.

Status

Group comparison and group meaning: Which solution solves the problems in the best way? Are there other good ways for communication? Trainee decision:

1. What's the most innovative video / photo?

2. Which is the video / photo you learned the most of?

3. What's the most practicable video / photo? (Practical example here: Three different views of the target make different ways for better communication possible. That`s typical for communication.)

Fun

Making video / photo with mobile phone or camera in a group on the one hand and application of practical tools in a case study of the other hand included different types of trainees (introverted / extroverted, organized / improvised, active attitude / passive attitude) and motivates to deal with the topic. They can transfer and using the methods immediately.

Identity

The trainees look for their favorite examples, take photos / shortcuts and create an own overview with results for the report booklet and daily work.

Transfer

The apprentices compile their photos, videos and own overview about the results in an e-Book and make it available to other trainees.

O = Who, When, What, to whom - organisation:

1. Phase: Classroom

2. Groups of 3 apprentices look for suitable place for creating video / photos for 2–3 hours with their own cameras (smartphones) or cameras that have been set up by the company.

3. In the media-supported classrooms the results are shared and case studies will be solved.

R = results/transfer:

The products are summarized in text form, photos and videos. They will be compiled in an e-book and mutually evaluated.

R = feedback loop:

After the lesson everybody will be asked:

- What had worked?

- What should be changed?

- What was boring, what exciting?

- What do you think about the day? Was the course helpful?

Example 3: Job interview

Z = Why - target/goal:

Trainees learn basics about behavior and (non)verbal communication in job interviews.

intended changes: learn to see through the eyes of an employer, experience themselves in the unfamiliar but important situation of an job interview, self-reflection

Target group: trainees near the end of their training

I = What - content:

needed abilities:

- basic knowledge about job application (especially about questions in a job interview)

- handle smartphone or camera (video)

abilities to develop:

- identify wrong behavior and poor communication in job interviews

- develop ideas of right behavior and good communication in job interviews

- look at themselves from the point of view of an employer

- self-reflection

- judge their own behavior and communication-skills and get impulses on how to improve.

M = Whom – methods:

Contact

Through a group-conversation will be found out what the trainees already know about job interviews. They discuss what type of questions they will probably face while they are in a job interview.

In smaller groups the trainees go into extra rooms, where they find some accessories (bags, documents, pens, hats, …) they are free to use and a smartphone or video camera. They take as many videos of bad job interviews as they like in the set time. (It’s important to set boundaries for the videos, for example a completely sincere interviewer, not to destroy anything, no violence, no severely inappropriate behavior like racism or sexism, …). Together they decide which of their videos is the best bad job interview with as many faults as possible.

When the groups come together again, every group shows the selected video and presents their own view of it (where the faults lie, what they show and what’s the result of them). A group conversation may find more interesting things to mention. These findings of faults in job interviews will be written down for everyone to see and divided into different categories (systematization).

At the end the group with the best worst video will be selected.

Lust, Fun

Unfamiliar situations and the goal to do everything right tend to overwhelm certain trainees. Therefore it can be very refreshing to do things wrong on purpose. Trainees may not know how to behave in job interviews, but they most likely have some knowledge and sense about how not to behave. The learning scenario uses this knowledge/sense, the trainees have fun in behaving like they shouldn’t (in given boundaries!) and they feel competent, because knowing how it doesn’t work is a step, which easily helps to develop ideas about how to behave in a job interview.

Watching the other videos and discussing the contents in them is also fun and usually stays in mind, so that learning itself seems easy and playful.

Identity and status

The group with the best worst video wins the overall-contest and the best three faults out of all videos will be mentioned additionally. Strengthens group-identity.

Transfer

The trainees compile their videos and results of the group-discussion in an extra video and/or presentation and make it available to other trainees.

O = Who, When, What, to whom - organisation:

1. Phase: classroom

2. Groups of 3–5 apprentices go into extra classrooms with a camera / smartphone and make videos of bad job interviews.

3. Afterwards, the trainees come together as a whole group again, show one of their videos and discuss it, while the results (faults in job interviews) are written down and get arranged in categories.

R = results/transfer:

The products are summarized in videos and text form and are accessible via an online-platform for the trainees.

R = feedback loop:

After the lesson everybody will be asked:

- What was easy? What was hard?

- What should be changed? What should we do again?

- What ideas do you have for other learning scenarios?

Example 4: Car engine

The use of videos for the learning of practical situations can be an interesting starting point and a motivating way to face an upcoming traineeship.

In this video, teachers set out a video tutorial about how to solve a simple learning problem: the steps to follow to start a car.

To watch the video follow the link.

Z = WHY - target/goal:

Learning of specific vocabulary

I = What - content:

Technical English – vocabulary for the car industry – Car engine

M = Whom - methods:

At first the teacher will use the induction method – student know car engine terminology in their mother language so they will try to guess what English words mean.

Teacher will use PowerPoint presentation with scheme and photographs.

Then students will work in groups with worksheets.

As a last step will be lesson in a technical classroom for car mechanics with real car engines and their parts.

O = Who, When, What, to whom - organisation:

Who: Teacher and group of 8 – 14 students.

When: The 1st semester of the 2nd grade of vocational school.

What: Induction, deduction – students will use their knowledge from technical subject like “Cars and repairing”, “Car diagnostic” etc.

Work in groups and work with worksheets.

Work with real engines and engine parts.

To whom: Students of the 2nd grade of vocational school. Students are 17 years old.

R = results/transfer:

Students will know English names of car engine parts. So they will be able to talk to foreign customers in the garage and explain what must be fixed.

R = feedback loop:

Students will use their knowledge while filling worksheets, In the technical classroom they will talk about engines in English and describe each part.

Example 5: Romantic period in Czech literature

Z = WHY - target/goal:

Romantic period – definition, characteristics of the period, characteristics in literature, the most famous Czech writers and their works.

I = What - content:

- Definition of the romantic period and its characteristics

- Characteristics in literature

- Czech romantic period – K.H. Mácha, K.J. Erben

- Máj, Kytice – looking for typical characteristics of the romantic period.

M = Whom - methods:

Induction method – first of all we will work with two romantic texts and students will try to find the main characteristics of the period (type of hero, main feature,place, time, etc.)

Frontalmethod – teacher will prepare Power Point presentation about the period. She/hewill talk about new facts and sumarize information they have already learn fromthe working with the text.

Youtube.com– students will watch the programs where famous people from Czech universities speak about romantic period and famous Czech writers of this period (Mluvící hlavy).

Work sheets – students will work with different texts and individually try to find characteristics of the period.

O = Who, When, What, to whom - organisation:

Who: Teacher, students of 2nd grade of high school. Students are 17 years old.

When: 1st semester of 2nd grade of high school.

What: Induction, deduction, presentation, team cooperation, work with work sheets, discussion.

To whom: Students of 2nd grade of high school.

R = results/transfer/outcome:

Student can define the romantic period, she/he is able to speak about main characteristics of the period, can name famous Czech writers and their works. Students can find romantic characteristics in the text.

R = feedback loop:

Interactive test (using PC and interactive board, work, PC tests, discussion).

Conclusion

As expected, this structured approach made it very easy for teachers to create their own learning scenarios in their own environment. Teachers and trainers have looked up these ideas and developed their own ideas.

The use and production of digital content in vocational education leads to the increasing development of digital skills and strengthen skills of trainees & trainers/coachers/ social pedagogics in the dual education.

Evaluation

Highlights and Summary

Modusol was an Erasmus+ KA2 project (2017–1-DE02-KA202–004138) funded by the German national agency. The project ran from October 2017 to September 2019 with consortia partners from Germany, Spain, Czech Republic and the UK. It’s aim was to increase the digital skills of the regional workforce via the evaluation, development and delivery of learning to both teachers and students who may not be as digitally literate as hoped for.

The project was deemed a success with 192 teachers taking part in the project along with 169 learners. The project provided for a number of deliverables including an e-book which has been disseminated to the teachers, stakeholders and policymakers that attended the projects final multiplier events, along with interested parties that engaged with the project over its two year duration.

Evaluation Methodology

In order to evaluate the Modusol project, we utilised a number of evaluation tools and data collection methods including (but not limited to) surveys and questionnaires, interviews, observation and statistics.

During and after activities, participants were asked to complete a survey about their participation. The project used SurveyMonkey) as a tool for gathering feedback from partners regarding Transnational Project Meetings (TNPMs) and teacher Learning Activities, and used Mentimeter as an interactive method of generating feedback from participants involved in the learner Learning Activities and Multiplier Events.

Partners were also asked to provide any qualitative stories regarding the activities that took place allowing the project to capture any unforeseen benefits that participants had found during their participation within the project.

A key aspect of the ModuSOL project is the production of the training materials and the impacts on VET providers and learners. The Evaluate Europe Handbook Vol 1(CERN 2005) suggests five topics for evaluation: innovation; validity; dissemination; valorisation; and transnationality and partnership. The project will aim to evaluate these indicators formatively through a combination of internal evaluation led by D&A and involving all partners.

The evaluation will focus on:

1. Innovation – What is new about the project’s outputs – did the transfer of innovations work in practice?

2. Validity – Do products developed meet the needs set out in the application – were products appropriate to the needs of users?

3. Dissemination – the dissemination activities carried out as described and messages successfully conveyed to stakeholders?

4. Valorisation – evidence is there to demonstrate that project results are, or will be exploited nationally and at EU level?

5. Partnership – the partnership operate effectively and complete action plans by the agreed dates?

6. Trans-nationality – the project impact on internationalisation of all partner organisations?

Project Partnership (Partnership and Transnationality)

Meetings

Over the 24 month duration of the project, transnational project meetings took place in each of the partner countries; Spain, Germany, UK and Czech. Meeting dates were agreed at the previous meeting to provide partners with six months notice to assist with flight booking at reasonable costs.

Prior to each meeting, the hosting partner provided a list of accommodation options for attending partners to choose from, and make the booking on behalf of the attending partners thereby taking advantage of any existing discounted rates they may have already agreed with the accommodation. Agenda’s were formed and distributed and partners were requested to provide travel information in case of emergency.

At the end of each transnational project meeting and learning activity, evaluation surveys were carried out whilst participants were still present to ensure completion. The results of which then directed any changes that may have been required for future meetings thereby closing the feedback loop. Key results of this feedback is detailed below and the full data is available for review in Annex I if required.

Meeting Evaluation

All four transnational meetings received extremely positive feedback from attendees. The seven questions investigating evaluation and satisfaction on various meeting aspects, and which were scored by attendees by a sliding scale between 1–100, all scored over 93 marks with the average being 96.86 which encouraged the consortium throughout the project.

The three questions related to quality, communication, motivation and understanding provided the majority response of ‘very good’ with only a small number of responses being ‘good’ and none lower than this.

One open text field was provided for partner attendees with the key comments suggesting improvements to WiFi, providing more water and consideration of more free time outside the meeting for the partners to develop their relationships in a more informal setting.

Recommendations

- Create the Project Handbook and required templates as well as your choice of data sharing tool and/or communication tools (Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, WhatsApp) in advance of the launch meeting in order to present the information to all partners at the launch meeting.

- During each Transnational Partner meeting, agree to a date for the next meeting giving partners adequate time to book good value flights and accommodation.

- Discussing project details for two days can be tiring for all participants. Therefore it can be beneficial to arrange a social event during the evening of the first day and potentially a short tour of the host city or town. Enabling more opportunities for partners to develop their relationships outside the project meeting can be beneficial to the overall teamwork of the partner consortium.

- At the end of each Transnational Partner meeting, use your tool of choice (Surveymonkey, Mentimeter) to gather evaluation data for the meeting. If you leave this until after the meeting, thoughts can be diluted and feedback may not be as accurate.

- Simple measures such as a host organisation arranging taxis from hotels to their location, or picking up participants themselves can make a substantial difference to the project meetings.

Joint Delivery

During the two years of the project, the consortium worked closely together to become greater than the sum of their parts. Each partner had their own experience and specialism that they brought to the consortium and openly shared for the benefit of the project. Continued communication between the partners directly, formal and informal and at partner meetings contributed towards the development of ideas to both to gather required information and also to inspire solutions.

Each partner was responsible for at least one of the project Intellectual Outputs, however all partners were involved across all project outputs and provided ideas, critical analysis, materials, survey data and evaluations. Partner IO responsibility was assigned via their individual expertise in the IO are.

When developing the video materials for the outputs, all partners were involved in developing and editing content, and also contributed to the transcribing and localisation of subtitles for the video content to enable further impact and dissemination.

Recommendations

- during the pre-submission phase, build a project consortium of mixed key elements including existing experience within the subject matter, need and demand, transnational co-operational experience, access to target demographics and other similar requirements. By creating a consortium of mixed experiences, you could be more likely to deliver interesting and innovative results.

Future Partnerships

Whilst the primary aim of the project consortium was to develop and deliver the outcomes related to the ModuSol project, the consortium worked well together and led to new relationships between the partners which in turn led to potential future partnerships including at least one successful Erasmus+ KA2 submission in the 2019 call on a completed different subject.

Project Delivery and Results (Innovation and Validity)

Logic Model

Logic Model Illustration

The Modusol project used a standard progressive logic model as shown in the diagram based on the following theory of change.

Strategies and Approaches were developed during the application phase whereby the lead partner in association with the project consortium, determined the methodology and activities that would most likely lead to the required outputs, outcomes and impacts. This also determined the following logic model events.

The key project inputs were the funding from the Erasmus+ KA2 programme which allowed the partnership to come together, the teaching resources (teachers) that carried out the research and developed the materials, and the cohort group of learners that were used for testing purposes.

During the project, the key activities were carried out. Starting with the analysis of the current state of play in the partner countries regarding digital skills learning which was carried out via online surveys with both teachers and learners. Partners also spent time carrying out desk research into current best practice and the development of case studies that guided the development of the digital learning materials and strategies used to upskill the teachers and students. These strategies and learning materials were then tested in a classroom environment before being developed into an e-book for dissemination amongst stakeholders.

The e-book was one of the key project outputs along with an increased understanding of digital learning amongst the teachers, students and other staff that took part in the project. This then provided the two core outputs of upskilled teaching staff and upskilled learners with stronger digital skills to help with their employability.

Finally, a regional impact desired by all partners was to provide a higher skilled digital workforce for the participating regions. Whilst gathering quantative data on this impact is complex, the project has seen a large number of teachers and students participating, leading to an increased skillset that mathematically has increased the average digital skills of those within the region.

These digitalisation experiences opened the minds of teachers and students for simple and daily useable solutions. It is not always about platforms but as per example, about using Youtube (the biggest user-generated learning platform in this world) and pictures and text, compiled in ebooks with different formats. Although it is nothing new in the digital world, pedagogically usable realisations of this techniques are rare.

KPI’s

Planned KPI’s within the application form are detailed below:

KPI

Number

Teachers Involved

200

Teachers at TNLA

25

Learners at National Workshops

110

Educators at National / Multiplier Events

200

Decision makers at National / Multiplier Events

10

Trainers using developed products

1000

Education, political and economic representatives at Closing Conference (Berlin)

30

Other important stakeholders at Closing Conference (Berlin)

20

Education and training engagement in total

2450

Actual KPI’s are detailed in the table below, split into individual country elements:

KPI

Planned

DE (BfW)

DE (RV)

ES

CZ

UK

Totals

Teachers involved

200

27

29

66

40

30

192

Teachers at TNLA

25

7

4

6

2

11

30

Learners at National Workshops

110

40

40

23

47

19

169

Educators at National / Multiplier Events

200

25

25

19

47

10

126

Decision makers at National / Multiplier Events

10

30

30

13

3

5

81

Trainers using developed products

1000

395

15

50

-

20

480

Education, political and economic representatives at Closing Conference (Berlin)

30

35

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

35

Other important stakeholders at Closing Conference (Berlin)

20

5

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

5

The project also had some qualitative indicators to define success by:

1. Improvement of VET teachers competences to deliver digital learning

2. Improvement of VET students competences in the digital learning field

3. The uptake and use of ModuSOL Intellectual Outputs

4. Enhanced partnership working and developed relationships

As can be seen by the final indicators, some of the KPI’s expected of the project were slightly under due to various reasons, however other KPI’s were far above expectations. Whilst the number of teachers engaging with the project was slightly lower than expected (just 4% lower), the project brought together 20% more teachers together at the transnational learning activities that we had considered during the application process. Given the benefits of teachers from various organisations, regions and countries working together, we are extremely satisfied with this uplift.

From the outset, we knew that meeting our expected KPI’s during multiplier and national events would be difficult and this can be seen with the numbers. Unfortunately, demands on teachers bandwidth and time is extremely high especially during September/October when multiplier events occur alongside the return to the new academic year which led to lighter numbers than expected. This is compensated for with dissemination numbers which show a reach higher than we originally expected, and generated awareness of the project and its outputs amongst many in the relevant industries and sectors. Other compensation includes a larger number of decision makers at events which we hope will help with the long term sustainability and exploitation of the project results via waterfall methods from decision makers to teachers on the school floor.

Similarly, as the e-book has only been published at the end of the project, the numbers of those using the products is low however with the long term exploitation expectations, we would expect this to grow substantially following the formal completion of the project.

Most of the qualitative indicators are referenced throughout this e-book, however the partnership have continually developed their relationships throughout the project and indeed, two partners are now co-operating on another Erasmus+ KA2 project (2019 call) in a completely different area of learning due to their involvement in Modusol. Other notes regarding qualitative indicators:

It was very important for RegioVision to get suggestions for their own practice through the meetings and learning activities. There was a great deal of interest among educators in learning to develop learning modules together with teachers and students.

Also in Germany, 200 teachers and trainers are using Modusol project activities and output videos to inspire learners and trainees to establish long term exploitation of the project outputs. One NGO with a focus on modular learning in vocational education is also looking to implement the project results by using the eBook at their location in Berlin. This provides an additional reach of up to 2000 learners in the region.

Intellectual Outputs

The project delivered a number of intellectual outputs developed by the consortium.

Intellectual Output 2

As Intellectual Output (IO) 1 was removed by the National Agency, the consortium kept the IO numbering as it was in the application for easier reference, therefore the first IO worked on was IO2. The consortium did carry out some of the work required for IO1 which was to undertake a base skills and understanding audit of local teachers and students on their current level of digital competency which guided the remainder of the project. The results of this preliminary analysis are available for review, however do not form part of the official project outputs.

One key conclusion of the preliminary survey was

Before carrying out this survey the assumption of the project partnership was in the way that e-learning platforms are nowadays very well-known and very often used. But our survey showed us that among trainers and trainees e-learning is not that well-known then expected usually.

The key deliverable of IO2 was the development of a didactic-methodological concept which would form the basis of the learning scenarios that would take place during the first Learning Activity. More comprehensive detail regarding Intellectual Output 2 can be found elsewhere within this publication.

Intellectual Output 3

IO3 followed on from IO2 by identifying during the Learner Workshops in Santander, ES and Prague, CZ, examples of best practice in the use of digital technologies in learning. During the 6 combined days of these learning activities that were attended by numerous teachers and staff from the partner organisations, four key tools were chosen which represented different tools; a platform, a quiz, an application and a language – the tools were Slack, Kahoot!, Microsoft Translator and Markdown.

For each of the identified tools, the consortium created some guideline usage information for non-users along with case studies showing examples of how they had been utilised during the learning activities. This information will hopefully guide new users through the process of using these tools, and assist them on integrating new digital tools into their learning processes.

During the transnational learning activities in Santander and Prague, many videos were taken showing the teachers learning journey as new tools were discussed, investigated and used. At this time, it was realised that many of the teachers present (and many people in general) were more consumers of digital content than creators and there were many discussions how to edit the video created into microlearning snippets for easier consumption. Fortunately, one of the teachers present was a video expert and assisted and guided in the creation of instructions for teachers to edit video which could then be passed down to learners. These guidelines were expanded and integrated as an addendum to IO3 to assist readers and provide further learning on video recording, editing, and publishing.

Intellectual Output 4 - Didactic-methodological concept and learning scenarios for apprentices

IO4 had the consortium looking at best practices for the development and planning of teaching units. Based around the ZIMOR relationship, the consortium identified eight examples, all split down into the key ZIMOR concepts of

- Aim

- Content

- Methods

- Organisation

- Outcome enquiry

- Feedback

All 8 best practices were detailed and tested within this IO, to provide new ideas and suggestions for the integration of digital learning into the classroom and workshop. During this time, it was learned that even those hard-to-reach learners, who struggle with enthusiasm within the classroom, can be inspired by something new. One partner discovered that allowing learners to create their own short learning videos for their own peers, dramatically changed the energy within the classroom and engaged learners who up until that time, had been difficult to enthuse.

Whilst the project looked at eight different examples, one key learning was that different tools and processes worked best for different learners, teachers and classrooms. The consortium would recommend that teachers experiment with different digital tools to explore which work best for which group of learners in which classroom and not lose heart from the use of one tool that didn’t work for that particular scenario.

Learning Activities

As mentioned elsewhere within this document, the Modusol project utilised two transnational learning activities for teaching staff of both the partner organisations and learning organisations in the region of partners.

Two transnational learning activities took place in Santander (ES) in September 2018 and Prague (CZ) in December 2018. The learning activities were attended by 28 teachers in total.

The initial activity in Santander looked at the tools the attendees currently used as part of their teaching process. Tools such as Kahoot!, Slack, Microsoft Translator, Moodle, Microsoft Sway, and various mobile video editing tools were discussed and investigated. The teachers who participated looked at best methods to teach each other about each tool and video was the primary chosen method - teachers then recorded, edited and distributed short videos of each tool for feedback from other participants. Feedback included the content of the learning video and how these could be used within a classroom.

The second activity in Prague concentrated on further development of these ideas into classroom ready ideas, and further investigation into other onlline tools such as Duolingo, Mentimeter, SurveyMonkey and others that could be of assistance within the classroom. Participants, most of whom also took part in the Santander activity, again took a deep dive into the possibilities of using these tools within the classroom, and used them themselves to develop quizzes and feedback forms that would be relevant for learners.

A lot was learned during the Learning Activities that each partner will amend in future projects, but most teachers were reasonably happy with the activities and learned enough to make them worthwhile. For raw evaluation data from the Learning Activities, please refer to Annex II.

Following the Learning Activities, partners identified the following changes they would be making internal to their organisation:

1. one partner is developing an internal course for all their staff in skills and didactic methods similar to those learned on the ModuSol project.

2. one partner is already producing digital learning content amongst trainers and learners with trainers using more online tools in their courses.

3. one partner has used their learning from ModuSol in other projects.

Unforeseen Benefits

During the projects implementation, various unforeseen benefits were identified by the partners and teachers involved with delivery. Whilst these qualitative outcomes don’t form the basis of the project performance indicators, they do show that sometimes the KPI’s laid down during the application of any project aren’t the only measure to quantify project success.

1. Student Engagement in BfW During the workshop sessions in BfW, it was noticed by one teacher that learners who were sometimes problematic within classes and suffered confidence issues, were inspired by the creation and use of self-generated video as a peer learning tool. The teacher found that these usually disengaged students starting taking part in all class activities with purpose and enthusiasm as they were directed to develop video content to teach their fellow students a certain construction technique.
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2. Transnational Teaching Friendships Whilst the project always expected the participants within the Learning Activities to expand their transnational networks, we have found that numerous teachers have remained in touch following the activities and indeed, some have arranged and planned a common holiday together in the Czech Republic. This continuation of friendships can only benefit the teachers (and learners) as they continue to informally learn about methods, processes and best practices from other countries.
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3. Student Motivation Improving student motivation was always expected to be an outcome of the project, however partners found that student motivation and commitment for a subject vastly improved when they were the content creators. Students also talked about having a different relationship with their teachers with the change in classroom focus.
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4. Partner Stakeholder Networks One partner found that the project had further developed their local stakeholder networks, and that external schools and company trainers were showing further interest in connecting further with the partner on the subject - their network with local stakeholder partners was strengthening.

Impact

Short Term

The project found numerous short term impacts, some that were expected from the outset, and others occurring unexpectedly.

1. Some teachers with little technical knowledge and many reservations were inspired to become very interested in the newly developed methods to improve their teaching.

2. Participating teachers found that working together with European colleagues, exchanging ideas and experiences was extremely beneficial to their own personal development.

3. As the project activities took place in English, the language skills of non-native English speaking participants increased.

4. The concept of the communication between a teacher and student within the teaching-learning content became enriched by the generation of digital learning content within a team.

5. Teachers improved their digital and e-learning skills.

6. As teachers became moderators and assistants in learning with new methods, they improved their communication skills.

7. Students learning motivation increases as they experienced innovative learning moments.

8. Being involved in a European project (for partners who didn’t usually participate in European projects) gave motivation to all members of the organisation.

9. The ideas developed were found to be extremely helpful in teaching migrants.

10. The knowledge transfer process and knowledge acquisition of students was made quicker.

Long Term

As this report was written towards the end of the project development, we can only discuss expected long term impacts based upon our knowledge at this time. Key expectations are:

1. Some of the developed and tested learning and teaching processes will be implemented within the regular (non-digital) teaching process (student generated quizzes, video content generation, online class evaluation etc.)

2. The general idea of collaborating with European institutions and organisations is positively consolidated and the benefits of a project partnership in which ideas, knowledge and experiences are exchanged, is confirmed. (This impact is via the partner who hadn’t been involved in many Erasmus projects beforehand.)

3. The changing of the relationship between students and teachers via student generated learning and peer learning will lead to increase motivation and commitment and hopefully lead to great attainment and retention.

4. The processes and methods have been shown to greatly assist in the learning and integration of migrant learners which will be a benefit for the learner and the local society.

5. There is now a more positive relationship with the use of digital education tools and the education of disadvantaged groups of students.

6. Increased strengthening of skills required for working in an international and/or transnational environment.

Dissemination

Dissemination took place over the complete project and across all partners. Each partner kept a dissemination diary that was sent to the project co-ordinator every three months to ensure dissemination was kept at the forefront of the minds of the partnership.

Dissemination used many different tools and formats including:

- Traditional print and broadcast media

- Online articles

- Social media

- Face to face at meetings

- Formal presentations

The reach of the dissemination process is difficult to determine to any level of accuracy, especially for online events, however the partners were asked to provide engagement figures which were as accurate as they could be - the results of which are detailed below.

Partner

Reach

BfE, DE

5,000

Regiovision, DE

200

Institut Inpro, CZ

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Decroly, ES

20,000

D&A, UK

1,332

The overall reach of over 26,000, shows the level of dissemination and awareness generation that took place on the project. Whilst the project development, execution, outcomes and outputs are the key deliverables for the project, ensuring that the partners generated awareness of the project and it’s outputs ensures its longevity and sustainability following the project completion.

Valorisation

The valorisation and long term exploitation of the project will continue after the project conclusion, however at the time of writing it is problematic to determine key long term valorisation benefits.

However, due to the large amount of dissemination carried out on the project and the scope of attendees at the partner country multiplier events and conferences, we can make an assumption that the project results will live on following the conclusion of the project, and that the learnings will integrate into local and regional education systems with the hope that the recommendations and learnings will also expand transnationally outside the borders of the partner countries.

As an example, one key stakeholder who met the partnership was the Regional Education Counsellor of the autonomous region of Cantabria who took great interest in the project. Members of national skills organisations were also present at some regional multiplier events including the Workers Union from the Construction Industry, training companies, representatives from the Construction Industry social fund and various NGO’s with a focus on disadvantaged learning groups in Berlin. These attendees and stakeholders will assist expanding the project results outside the regions of the partnership.

Recommendations

for Teachers

Careers or courses? What is your organisational strategy?

Are you providing students with the opportunity to take courses in subjects of their interest or are you delivering courses in order to setup your students for a positive career with a strong foundation of required employable skills? If the latter then consider forecasts from the World Economic Forum that future (and current) workers need to be ‘agile lifelong learners’ with the ability to utilise the digital requirements that employers are now seeking.

But what are ‘digital skills’? The phrase can take a number of forms and meanings. Firstly, digital skills can refer to specific and specialised skillsets required for specific careers and industries such as the use of specific software for graphic designers or 3D modellers, or the use of specific booking systems for front-of-house workers on a hotels reception desk. These skills are key to the specific employer or industry however Modusol was aimed at the essential digital skills that all future workers will require for employment.

The UK Government has defined five categories of essential digital skills for use in both life and employment:

1. communication

2. handling information and content

3. transacting

4. problem solving

5. being safe and legal online

Countries other than the UK may have their own specific digital frameworks available, therefore it is recommended you seek out information specific to your own region of country before taking any other action. It should also be considered if your region has a large employer that may be a majority employer in the area, and what their specific requirements are, but for the purpose of providing learners with the key essential skills this document will focus on the identified essential skills above.

Digital learning need not be a separate learning stream within organisations. During the Modusol project, the partners found great benefit in integration of digital learning skills directly into the learners primary curriculum including:

- Tasking learners with the creation and editing of their own instruction videos for peer-learning. Following some basic instruction on the creation and editing of video using their mobile phones, learners were then given the task to create an instructional video of a skill in their primary curriculum (for example, in Germany the construction students created videos on how to lay bricks), which were then passed onto their peers for their own learning and feedback.

- Supporting primary curriculum learning through the use of quiz tools like Kahoot! to engage the learners in developing their own quizzes for their peers on a specific subject within the primary curriculum. One example from the UK involves care students developing quizzes for their fellow classmates on a subject they were learning in their primary curriculum.

The teachers directly involved within the project have also provided their own individual recommendations for their peers:

1. The idea of changing your role in learning may be difficult or fearful, but it will improve your skills and help you add new skills.

2. Using gamification in education as an additional method of learning will increase student motivation.

3. Producing learning content by using digital tools changes the idea of learning amongst the students and can motivate them.

4. Switching students existing digital skills that they have learned mostly as consumers of digital content towards education, makes them more professional and is an extra added value they received from their studies.

5. The new methods should be tried by the teachers without reservation, and applied in a simple way in their own lessons. The students can be well motivated by the direct involvement in the design of the lesson.

6. Don’t be afraid to try new things. Don’t be afraid of travelling overseas for your own education and most importantly, don’t underestimate your technical and language skills.

for Students

Being capable with social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat does not mean you have the digital skills to survive in the future world of work - however, it is a good start!

The EU Skills Agenda suggests that in 2014 around 40% of individuals across the 28 EU countries, had low or no digital skills (split into just over 30% for Germany and the UK, just over 40% for Spain and Czech Republic) whilst just over 30% of the workforce within the EU28 had low or no digital skills. By adding these digital skills to your skillset, you can become far more employable and stand-out in the competitive world of work.

Remember that even if the career you are aiming towards hasn’t moved towards digitalisation, by having these skills as well as those you need for your career, you will stand out over and above other potential candidates for specific roles therefore increasing your opportunities.

Those involved in the project also provided the following recommendations:

1. Learning can be fun if you become part of the process. Ask your teachers for workshops in which you produce content together. This will give you some “extra” skills during your studies / training.
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2. Understand that the teacher is working as a guide where the student is the responsible for the learning process.
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3. Be open to the new methods and work in creative teams with the teachers.
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4. Learning is a two-way street, not only students learning but teachers as well. If they are not as skilled in technologies as you, you can help them. In the same was as they help you with your studies.

for School Directors

The partners found during the project that getting the support from school directors and managers is key to the up-skilling of learners with particular disadvantages, as in order to do this, the skills of the teachers needs to be addressed first. Some partners underwent a skills analysis of their teaching staff as part of a large Digital Strategy overview, in order to determine where teachers needed to be provided with CPD to up-skill. School directors and managers understood that the up-skilling of learners in this area commenced with the up-skilling of their teachers.

The partnership would recommend all school directors who are looking to improve the digital skills of their learners to consider some of the following steps:

1. Before considering the digital skills requirements of the learners, carry out an audit of the digital skills of the teachers. Identify where any gaps are and use CPD sessions to improve the teachers before considering the learners. In the UK, the National Council for Voluntary Organisations has developed a toolkit for digital skills audits which is detailed and comprehensive and released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License for use by everyone. This toolkit can provide a solid framework for identifying the information you need to seek, and how to develop a learning strategy to improve skills. The Open University also provide a basic checklist to identify digital literacy as does the SVCO.

2. Develop a digital skills matrix that contains a minimum requirement of learning outcomes that learners should achieve during their time in education. Consider the use of the basic level of skills as a foundation, layering any sector specific requirements on top.

3. Start simple. Especially for teachers who may not be that technically literate, a large push of new learning and information may lead to a negative reaction, therefore start small and simple and develop individual learning plans for teachers that reflect their current digital skills and where you want them to end up.

Consider the following process for development of a Digital Skills Strategy:

1. With teachers, fellow school directors, government education departments and other relevant stakeholders, carry our research and identify the key skills requirements for your staff (both teaching and support).

2. Audit current staff against the key skills requirements identified to determine where the CPD and learning needs to take place. The audit can also identify staff thoughts and feelings about digital skills requirements themselves which can be helpful whilst progressing through the process.

3. Review the audit results against the key skills requirements and identify any learning needs required by staff, split into individual CPD sessions. Develop these CPD sessions with learning outcomes that relate to the key skills requirements.

4. Develop individual learning plans with staff linking to the CPD sessions identified in the previous task.

5. Once CPD is complete, repeat the skills audit to determine success.

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Those involved in the project also provided these individual recommendations:

1. It is very important to integrate those into the process, who would work with it.

2. Evaluation is important to follow the process and intervention.

3. Clarify which tools cover your needs the best before purchasing software and hardware.

4. Give the teachers time to understand the new methods and create the technical prerequisites.

5. Continuous professional development of teachers is just as important as it is for learners. Giving the teachers an opportunity to evolve, improve and learn something new in the field can bring only benefits.

6. Innovative learning and teaching arrangements should be tested

for Policymakers

Digital Skills are one of the key skills required for the current workforce and economic growth. The European Commission’s strategic Digital Single Market policy states that “A strong digital economy is vital for innovation, growth, jobs and European competitiveness. The spread of digital is having a massive impact on the labour market and the types of skills needed in the economy and society” (Digital Single Market - European Commission, 2019)[1]

The Skills Agenda for Europe published by the Commission in June 2016, sets out to improve the quality and relevance of skills formation, to make skills and qualifications more visible and comparable and advancing skills intelligence, documentation and informed career choices. Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition is the new flag ship initiative among a number of other initiatives that were presented.

The Digital Competence Framework 2.0 provides insight into the key digital competencies in 5 areas:

1. Information and digital literacy

2. Communication and collaboration

3. Digital content creation

4. Safety

5. Problem solving

All these skills and competencies are key requirements for both current and future employability and it is imperative that schools and learning organisations offer opportunities for skills development to all students and staff to further the European economy.

Individual European countries are developing their own frameworks of essential digital skills, however the UK Government Essential digital skills framework is worth reviewing for its various levels of digital literacy. It is hoped that the research, testing and evaluation of the methods outlined within this publication can provide a core framework of ideas for policymaker discussion and implementation. A key outline of the UK Gov’s essential digital skills framework is below:

- Digital Foundation Skills

- Communicating

- Information handling and content

- Transacting

- Problem solving

- Being safe and legal online

All the above have skills both for life and for employment and is a good starting point for discussion.

Project participants also suggested the following recommendations:

1. Policymakers should enable the exchange of experiences with innovative learning by bringing together the actors of education. The idea of “Education 4.0” as a slogan is popular in media and publications, but consultation about the efficient and individual needs of institutions is needed among the stakeholders, especially small and medium-sized institutions are constrained by this. Just co-financing the digitalisation of education will not cover the needs, since the needs are very individual. This and similar projects which are giving this kind of assistance should be pushed and encouraged by policymakers. The best practice examples of testing and implementing digital learning can be helpful to others in the decision of what is needed.
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2. Promote the development of new methods through new projects and technical equipment. Allow freedom in the curriculum.
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3. As proved by both transnational learning activities for teachers and national learning workshops for students, digital technologies and digital tools can be really helpful for teaching disadvantaged groups. This effort should be supported and projects like these should be promoted to reach as many people as possible

Annexes

Annex I – Meeting Feedback Data

We used the following questions to all participants in Transnational Partner Meetings. The responses are detailed in the table below.

1. How was the quality of the working programme, information deadlines, the logistical means used and offered prior to the meeting? [insufficient, average, good, very good, do not know]

2. How do you evaluate the logistical organisation of the meeting (the structure, breaks etc.) [sliding scale between 1–100]

3. How to you evaluate the substantive prepartion of the meeting by the partnership? [sliding scale between 1–100]

4. How satisfied are you with the meeting results? [sliding scale between 1–100]

5. How satisfied are you with the project management? [sliding scale between 1–100]

6. How was the project co-ordinators role in terms of capacity of communication and motivation of project partners and synthesis of the objectives and results? [insufficient, average, good, very good, do not know]

7. How satisfied are you with the general communication in the partnership? [sliding scale between 1–100]

8. How satisfied are you with the information for the next project processes and/or steps? [sliding scale between 1–100]

9. How satisfied are you with the meeting in general? [sliding scale between 1–100]

10. How is your understanding/precision of the missions/tasks to be fulfilled by your organisation before the next transnational meeting? [insufficient, average, good, very good]

11. Any other comments

Notes

1. Digital Single Market - European Commission. (2019). Digital Skills & Jobs - Digital Single Market - European Commission. Online available at: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/policies/digital-skills [Accessed 7 Jun. 2019].