Event 'Perspective strategies on virtual WBL'

The short‐term mutual training event 'Perspective strategies on virtual WBL' took place in Naples, Italy, in the period 3-6/5/2022.

The event was organized and hosted by the partner University of Naples Federico II, with the participation of staff from the other project partners from Portugal, Estonia, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Poland.
The activities included contributions of experts and researchers: from Italy, Dario Russo, Carmen Ferrara, Elena Lopresti, Maria Nicola Buonocore, Gaia Fristachi; and from Turkey, Beytullah Ceylan. 
Stimulating discussions on the different aspects dealt, provided ideas on how to enhance the effectiveness and usefulness of the ongoing piloting of the vWBL course for VET teachers.

Handbook for VET teachers / trainers

Handbook for VET teachers/trainers on best use of the competencies acquired through the course vWBL course ‘Virtual WBL for VET teachers’.

This handbook addresses to support the VET teachers better understand how the high level digital skills achieved through the course ‘Virtual WBL for VET teachers’ could be successfully applied to virtual WBL and simulations of work-based experiences.

 

Piloting the vWBL products

The vWBL project has successfully delivered pilot training for VET teachers and trainers in Portugal, Estonia, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Poland. 

The project enabled the delivery of training to about 150 VET teachers/ trainers and students.  

Last project meeting by the coordinator EPRALIMA in Arcos de Valdevez

The coordinator EPRALIMA organized the last project meeting by its school headquarters in Arcos de Valdevez (Portugal).

The last project meeting took place on 7-8 November 2022, with the participation in person of all partners who could discuss the final results of the project and the follow-up initiatives to be undertaken.

Open Data from vWBL

At the end of the project, the vWBL project team makes available the findings of the surveys to which VET experts, teachers and trainers participated in 2021.
These results are at disposal as Open Data that could be freely used by research communities and stakeholders.

Experience of respondents in teaching/training in VET: How long have you been teaching/training in VET?
Experience in distance teaching/training in the project countries: How long experience do you have in distance teaching and learning?
Social forms used in digital teaching: Which of the following social forms do you use during your teaching?
Teachers’ knowledge and skills in digital technologies: Please state your knowledge and skills in the following technologies and tools
Teachers’ self-evaluation of their teaching abilities: Please state the following about yourself as a teacher/trainer
Planning WBL during pandemic: How did you plan your teaching during pandemic in the WBL group?
Assessments activities during pandemic: Think about assessment activities during the pandemic in the WBL group
Feedback from students: Feedback from students during pandemic in the WBL group
Variations for students: Variations used for students during the pandemic in the WBL group
Tools mostly used in online learning: In your online teaching/training you mostly use
The biggest difficulties in online learning: Considering your experience, what do you think are the biggest difficulties encountered in online teaching/training?
Difficulty with students’ attention by countries: Students/learners’ attention and participation
Practical learning in online: Considering practice, exercises and work-based learning, how did you transfer these to online learning experiences?
Teachers’ usage of simulation tools in online learning: Do you use advanced digital tools for simulating reality in your training/learning?
Teachers, who are interested in simulation tools: Would you be interested in experiencing digital simulation tools?
Information of virtual WBL organisation: I had full information, how virtual WBL is organized at our organisation
Teachers’ independence in decisions: I was able to decide for myself how to conduct my lessons
Information of support: I knew I could get help if needed
Collaboration between teachers during pandemic: I discussed activities and tasks related to the learning process with other teachers at least once a week
Forms of cooperation during pandemic: During the pandemic, we implemented the following forms of cooperation
Problem solving during pandemic: Any problems that arose were resolved quickly
Feedback collection and usage: Feedback collected from...
Comparison of teachers cooperation: Compared to the previous period, teacher cooperation during the pandemic
Students’ participation in virtual WBL: How would you rate the students’/learners’ participation level with the online work-based learning you offered?
Evaluation for students’ learning results: My overall evaluation for students’ learning results/outcomes during the distance learning period
Changes in teachers’ work: The extent to which your work changed during the distance learning period
Teachers’ self-evaluation of online WBL: How do you self-evaluate your proposed online work-based learning?
Effectiveness of virtual WBL compared with pre-pandemic: Comparing traditional learning in WBL before the pandemic, please evaluate the effectiveness of distance learning during the pandemic
Aspects in virtual WBL should always transfer: What do you think is the most important aspect that an online work-based experience should always transfer?

Evaluation of results

The project results have been evaluated by VET teachers and experts as well as by VET students in the project countries Portugal, Estonia, Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Poland.

The respondents provided a very positive feedback, particularly on the future use of the proposed training.

Some of the comments received are:
“ Very detailed programme offers enough knowledge and motivation to participation in such programmes in the future”
“ The materials used are very helpful. Well-structured and the duration was just about enough”
“ The programme fulfilled my needs and is beneficial to anyone especially during this COVID-19 period”
“ User-friendly platform and interesting materials and information”

 

Promotion initiatives

vWBL has been broadly disseminated through different channels and media.

Traditional and digital media have been used to impact stakeholders and specialists in all project countries, totally achieving a total audience of more than 11,000 people reached by the project during its implementation period.

 

Final international conference

The coordinator EPRALIMA organized the final project event by its school headquarters in Arcos de Valdevez (Portugal). The final international conference, organized by Epralima in November, gave the opportunity to present all completed and validated project results to a broad audience of stakeholders and to collect all participants’ evaluation and suggestions for further uses of the vWBL results.

The audience was encouraged to continue to engage in various ways.

Namely:

• Visit our website for materials including  specific training to VET teachers on virtual WBL, particularly operating in the area of the competencies of the VET teachers to be aware of the potential effectiveness of the virtual vWBL (virtual Work-Based Learning) and to create their own impacting simulations of WBL;
• Engage with our Facebook page and Tweeter account;
• Share our training programme with other VET teachers/ trainers.

The vWBL Newsletter 4

Inside this issue:

• FINAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
• PILOTING THE VWBL PRODUCTS
• VWBL HANDBOOK FOR VET TEACHERS / TRAINERS
• TRAINING EVENT IN NAPLES, ITALY
• EVALUATION OF RESULTS

WHAT IS VIRTUAL WORK-BASED LEARNING?


vWBL Video  is life 

Have a look at the video by the vWBL team to give you an idea of what you can get from the project results.

More information at www.vwbl.eu


For  VET teachers and  VET expert interested to digital Work-Based Learning.