The Ambassador Programme is an opportunity for VET teachers to become digital teaching changemakers/ambassadors and establish a community in cooperation with an international institutional network. The ambassador Programme is aimed at promoting students’ (digital) Future Skills with different workshops/training opportunities. The Ambassador Programme will be a group of experts in digital systems applied to the dual approach, understood in all its forms:
● Digital work-based learning of a hybrid type, i.e., use of digital tools to support the work-based learning experience
● Comprehensive digital work-based learning, e.g., such as the use of technical and specialized labs in virtual and augmented reality to implement VET learning experiences in a simulation environment
At the end of our project 200 VET Educators will be involved and 50 VET Educators will be formed.
The Activities
The Ambassadors will be involved in the following activities:
● THE WORKSHOPS: the participation in four short national monthly digital workshops to exchange good practices, learn from each other and receive input on topics such as the competences framework, Open Educational Resources (OER) or Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR). The meeting will take place monthly from November 2022 to February 2023. In addition we also planned an international workshop driven by DHBW that will take place on 22 February 2023, 5.30-7.00 pm CET .
● THE COURSE: we ask all our ambassadors to participate in the training for trainers course “Deal with digital WBL”. The course will be available on the project multimedia platform from March 2024.
● THE MOBILITY: the ambassadors will have the chance to participate in the project learning training activity in Karlsruhe, Germany in March 2023, someone in presence and someone by remote.
The Implementation: latest news from our partners!
SFC
SFC has planned to implement monthly workshops that will take place starting in March 2023.
WORKSHOP 1: Digital WBL validation tools for BP. Selection of 17 Good practices of DWBL – further inputs and highlights from Ambassadors. The workshop will take place in March 2023.
WORKSHOP 2 Digital WBL: VR/AR to support the digital transition of work-based learning approach. Suggestions from Ambassadors. The workshop will take place in April 2023.
WORKSHOP 3 Digital WBL: Teachers’ profile and motivation to implement the Digital transition of the work-based learning activities. The event will take place at the School of Sermoneta with the participation of 30 teachers from ITS Mechatronic Lazio. The workshop will take place in June 2023.
WORKSHOP 4 Digital WBL: Cooperation with local Research Centers and Universities to improve the sustainability of the work-based learning digital transition. The workshop will take place in June 2023.
DHBW EXPERIENCE
The DEAL team at DHBW has tried to design and set up a workshop programme which connects and inspires teachers, trainers and innovative initiatives across locations with the Digital WBL Ambassador programme at DHBW. For this, we benefit from the DHBW Education Competence Network (EdCoN), coordinating different initiatives in innovative digital teaching and learning approaches.
So far, three workshops have been held online, preceded by a kick-off meeting on October 20 to introduce interested persons to the project. Teachers, education specialists and researchers at DHBW as well as trainers from partner institutions were invited to take part in the programme in a more or less regular way. By opening up the workshop to participants throughout the institution, existing initiatives have gained visibility, the DEAL project has become more well-known throughout the institution and a group of regular participants has already benefited from new ideas and inspirations on how to integrate good Digital WBL practices into their own teaching and learning settings. In every workshop so far, the presented inputs were discussed by participants concerning possible applications in their own teaching contexts, competence needs and framework conditions. The first workshop, held in November 2022, was focussed on participants sharing expectations and discussing inputs on a VR scenario for practicing public speaking as well as applications for the use of video technology in work-based learning with examples such as animated case studies, 360° videos and 3D VR models for anatomy learning contents. The second workshop in December featured an input on hybrid counseling settings and several inputs on Open Educational Resources and Practices for digitally enhancing teaching and learning experiences. The recently held third workshop was focused on potentials, applications and recommendations for immersive media or VR and AR settings in higher education teaching and learning.
HANSE-PARLAMENT EXPERIENCE
A workshop on digital work-based learning (WBL) was recently held by the Hanse-Parlament in which a group of 8 people participated. The workshop focused on how to effectively incorporate digital technologies into WBL programs, as well as how to use digital tools to enhance the overall WBL experience for students. The participants discussed the challenges and opportunities presented by the increasing use of digital technologies in WBL, and brainstormed strategies for overcoming those challenges and maximizing the benefits of digital WBL. Good practices of digital WBL were presented to the participants and their design, potential impact and the necessary framework conditions for VET teachers discussed intensively. Another important topic was the introduction of the ambassador program. The involvement in a range of activities, such as attending events, speaking to the media, and sharing information about the digital WBL project on social media was debated. The goal of our ambassador program is to raise awareness and support for the digital WBL project and its mission, and to engage and mobilize supporters. Overall, the workshop was a valuable opportunity for the participants to share their experiences and insights, and to learn from one another about how to effectively implement and manage digital WBL programs.
IPOSZ EXPERIENCE
The kick-off meeting of the project was held on October 27, 2022, where we briefly presented the main objectives of the project, the Ambassador Program itself and some of the good practices to the 17 participants. Together with the participants, we determined the expected dates and possible topics of the forthcoming workshops. The first workshop took place on November 29, 2022, and 18 people participated. At the workshop, the specialists of Learn Virtual Europe Kft. presented the simulation techniques currently available in vocational training and adult education in Hungary.
The second workshop was held on December 13, 2022, with the participation of 20 people, where, in view of the great interest of the participants, we continued the presentation of the simulators available in Hungary. It is impossible for a business today to maintain its competitiveness, whether on the domestic or international market, if it does not keep up with changes in the field of digitalization. In addition to the training of our member companies, we also want to ensure that the new digital competencies should appear in vocational training school and in adult education, with which we can also make the craft professions more attractive.
UOC EXPERIENCE
The kick-off meeting of the project was held on November 29, 2022, where we briefly presented the main objectives of the project, the Ambassador Program itself and some of the good practices to the 30 participants.
A Google Form was shared with all of them asking for their participation in the project, either as ambassadors, or as supporters. 9 of them are going to join the project as ambassadors and 10 as supporters.
The first workshop took place on January 17, 2023, and 5 ambassadors participated. At the workshop, an expert in VR and AR explained basic concepts about these technologies and presented some examples of their application to teaching learning. After a conversation with the expert to clarify some aspects of how to deal with these technologies, the ambassadors talked about the Future Skills on Digital VET. The expert ppt, a spreadsheet and a Google Forms to gather training needs from ambassadors and their colleagues have been shared the day after the workshop. This data will be discussed at the second workshop scheduled for February 2023.
CIS EXPERIENCE
The identification by Cis of the Ambassadors for the Digital WBL project is still in progress. The pool in which we are working for their involvement is that of ITS, in the areas of: LOGISTICS, AUTOMATION, DIGITAL, FOOD
ITS Istituti Tecnici Superiori are highly specialized technology schools that run two-year post-diploma courses as an alternative to university to train higher technicians. At the same time, the experts who will conduct the Ambassador Programme workshops, which will be held online in February, have been identified.
The first workshop will be conducted online by Phil Taylor,Expert in Digital Transformation and Change Management, on 14 February. Title: Tools and methodologies for interactive online learning.
The second by Prof. Marcello Pellicciari ,UNIMORE, Full Professor Department of Engineering Sciences and Methods.Title: Creating realistic simulation environments
The third will be conducted by Prof. Raffaeli Roberto, Unimore. Associate Professor Department of Engineering Sciences and Methods Title: Virtual Training in virtual factories.
