Digital Culture for the 21st Century Vocational Education and Training

"Background, contextInteractive multimedia for teaching / learning did not live up to expectations, nor did interactive whiteboards, although they cost a lot of money. The emergence of web 2.0 has made the first change in the use of ICT tools for educational purposes, as it has been offering (literally) thousands of easy-to-use, free applications for practice and demonstration, motivating both teachers and students to learn and to create.There are many teachers who are happy and enthusiastic about training courses that support their professional development. But when we ask educators one year after attending a course on digital pedagogy about the extent to which they could incorporate what they have learnt into their daily practice, the most optimist answer is 10-15%. Why?We cannot blame the lack of infrastructure any more, as most teachers and students have a device with internet connection. But as recent research has revealed, the problem is more complex - a technical device cannot solve anything in itself. An educator who, after a successful training, returns to the teachers’ room at school, equipped with some new digital skills and methodology, often finds her/himself in a vacuum. It is time to realize that it is impossible to integrate technology by individuals into a system as complex as learning and its environment.Specific problems:●Lack of monitoring the efficiency and integration of training coursesIn-service teacher training is widely available, but most schools and educators enrol to them with the attitude of ""let’s get over with it, let’s get the credit,"" and there is definitely no follow-up, no organized feedback on utilization or integration.●Tension between digital challenges and the average age of educators Online training is common, which is beneficial due to their flexible timing. However, because of the average age of teachers, it would be important to ""physically"" show them how to use digital tools and applications.●Isolated pioneers – slow changesEducators who are open to change are often isolated. Changes are slowed down by the lack of collaboration and knowledge sharing among teachers.●Lack of institutional efforts to embed digital cultureVisiting each other's lessons, evaluating them and collecting feedback is not a common practice in schools.The answer to the problems:On-site digital pedagogy training supported by institutional intervention.The project aims to embed the traditional digital pedagogy teacher training program in a broader context by organizing customized school-based contact training sessions, linking it to organizational development components that enhance institutional digital competence and quality culture.Target group: VET teachers, trainers and managersIntellectual outputsThe Consortium plans five intellectual outputs, all of them developed in strong collaboration of the partners. All outputs contribute to achieving the final goal of the project: developing a methodology based on multilevel interventions, enabling VET teachers and schools to renew their teaching methods by utilising the potential in digital technology. IO1: Toolkit for developing Digital Pedagogy Strategy IO2: Digital Menu Card IO3: Developing and testing workshops for schoolsIO4: ICT-based creative classroom workIO5: Digital Pedagogy Training ModelWe believe our innovative model for intervention could potentially be applied by a wide range of educational institutions (even outside VET context), bringing tangible and lasting changes in digital pedagogy, to the benefit of students."