the project
Officially launched in June 2021, IDiVET – Improving Digital Learning in VET – is a cooperation partnership (KA2) supported by the Erasmus+ Programme. The project aims to support the adoption of innovative pedagogical approaches and the use of digital technologies in vocational education and training, in particular in the automotive services sector. ANFA, as coordinator of the project, has joined forces with 4 European partners to carry out this action.
CONTEXT
The COVID 19 pandemic has added further urgency to the need to develop innovative digital practices in the area of education. This is particularly true for Vocational Education and Training (VET) and even more so regarding initial VET on European Qualification Framework (EQF) level 3 and 4. Due to a certain focus on manual skills, VET has been less “digital” than other areas of education.
As anti-COVID 19 measures and restrictions increased across the globe, VET providers had to come up with quick solutions to maintain teaching and training provision. In many cases, this involved the deployment of digital practices and tools they were not very familiar with – without paying much attention to underlying theoretical approaches. So far, the COVID 19 experience and its impact on digital VET teaching practices has not been analysed in detail.
Nonetheless, the pandemic has not only been perceived as a major challenge but also as opportunity. To some teachers, trainers and VET providers, the COVID 19 crisis has acted as a catalyst accelerating the introduction of new digital practices which would have required much more time under normal circumstances. It has unlocked the creative and innovative potential of European VET teachers and trainers.
OBJECTIVE
The project aims to foster the innovative use of digital technologies in education and support VET providers in dealing with the “new normal” by developing suitable solutions to hybrid training. In doing so, the project intends to contribute to making responsive digital VET a crucial means for overcoming the economic and social aftermath of the COVID 19 crisis.
More precisely, the objectives of the IDIVET project are :
- To support and enable VET teachers and trainers to mutualise and capitalise on their COVID 19 experience to develop innovative digital practices
- To provide them with insights from transnational examples
- To support teachers and trainers in their adaptation to the digital transformation;
- To support VET providers by developing suitable solutions to digital and distance learning.
MAIN STEPS AND OUTPUTS
The project intends to support the uptake of innovative approaches and digital technologies in VET through two main steps:
STEP 1 : MUTUALISE AND ANALYSE.
- Develop a grid to analyse digital VET practices developed since the outbreak of the pandemic
- Create a repository of concrete good digital learning practice examples from the area of automotive VET through a questionnaire and in-depth interviews.
STEP 2 : SUPPORT AND ACCOMPANY.
- Provide general recommendations on the principles of quality digital VET based on the insights from this analysis
- Develop and test a transnational training course for teachers and trainers on how to design quality distance and digital VET
To achieve its goals, the IDIVET project will expand on national and European projects and initiatives, such as SELFIE and DigCompEdu and build on the shared and complementary expertise of a consortium reflecting the variety of VET across Europe. Even though the main focus will be on pedagogical support to teachers and trainers facing the “Herculean task” of abruptly adopting digital and distance learning, the project will also highlight external factors facilitating the emergence of innovative digital approaches.