DigiPath

Digital Education Readiness for VET Teachers through Tool Assisted Learning Pathways

Project duration: 01 January 2022 – 29 February 2024

Backround

While the shift towards digital education has been part of general school development policies and European as well as national initiatives and funding for some years now, the current COVID-19 situation has revealed that there is certainly room for improvement. Many teachers were more or less forced to (re)design or update their teaching materials and use digital technologies to varying degrees. The situation accelerated the process of switching to or incorporating digital technologies in the classroom, even though some teachers did not consider themselves "ready" for it. In many cases, this was done in a completely unstructured way and without regard for pedagogical approaches or methods; often, digital teaching was just delivered "as well as possible" because otherwise it would not have taken place at all. As a result, the situation revealed great differences between VET teachers’ capacity to facilitate online teaching; some have little to no previous experiences in using digital education tools while others can already use these confidently.

Approaches aimed at advancing digital skills must centre on the more comprehensive concept of Digital Education Readiness (DER), which goes beyond the mere development of digital skills. The concept of DER encompasses more than just preparing and training educators; it is about improving individual attitudes towards and willingness to engage with digital learning tools, which ultimately lead to success in digital education.

Objective

Building VET teachers’ Digital Education Readiness (DER) by developing an Open Educational Resource (OER) in the form of a blended learning course, incorporating learning paths for learners with varied levels of digital readiness and skills.

Planned project results

Adaptive Curricula that will equip VET teachers with digital competences and skills as well as familiarize them with innovative digital educational tools and approaches.
Guidelines and a collection of learning materials which assist VET institutions to adapt the curricula to their own needs and facilitate a localised version of the blended learning course.

In a structured approach, the project team will develop modular adaptive curricula which aim to build the DER of VET teachers by improving their attitudes towards digital teaching environments and promoting their willingness to engage with digital technologies. Integrated on the learning management system Moodle and implemented in blended learning courses, these adaptive curricula support various learning strategies that will allow learners with varying educational and occupational biographies to access material from multiple entry points. VET teachers will experience first-hand how digital technologies can reduce overall workload (e.g. in terms of administrative tasks or learner support).

DigiPath will demonstrate lightweight educational offers that can be seamlessly integrated into the daily routine of VET teachers, taking into account their specific work setting. DigiPath recognises the multiplicities of different sectors and regional or national contexts. Consequently, the transferability and applicability to various contexts is a major objective of the project. To ensure all projects outputs can be (re)used in multiple contexts, an effective transfer concept (in the form of detailed guidelines) will also be developed and shared widely.