DIGITAL WINE TASTING

<< Background >>We applied for this project to increase innovation in the VET training sector and employability in the post-pandemic phase, especially in the EU wine and food sector. In the wine & food sector, new digital practices were born, such as digital and virtual tasting. More and more companies were shifting to online strategies to become more resilient. As many people expect to continue with new digital media behaviours even after the pandemic ended we decided to create an online course for organising virtual tastings. This new wave of digitalisation forced by pandemic requested new skills training to be transformed into an opportunity for social and economic development. The combination between social distancing requirements and the closure of enterprises have made practical and workbased learning - so crucial for the success of vocational education - difficult to be implemented. In this context, to develop digital solutions (e-learning) that are able to close the gap between VET and the workplace is necessary more than ever. Nevertheless, the digitalisation of VET training courses should not be considered just a solution to overcome the pandemic, but as an opportunity to introduce innovative learning methods in the VET training.<< Objectives >>The project addresses two general objectives and a set of correlated specific objectives. The first general objective of the D-Tasting Project was to innovate vet training through digital in order to transform a problem (covid-19) into an opportunity for innovation for VET providers, trainers and trainees. Specific Objectives: develop innovative digital competencies (digital tasting) in food and wine professionals. develop innovative e-learning courses for vet providers. increase youth and women employability through e-learning courses and competence certification. The second general objective of the D-TASTING Project consists in increasing youth and woman employability through e-learning course: 1) in a format that is very usable (microlearning), also in “pills”, in a form that does not need work-based training, not possible under pandemic restrictions; 2) increasing the course info and enrollmenttowards unemployed women and youth groups; 3) certifying the new digital competence acquired in a digital way (Open Badge). Specific Objectives: innovate vet training through digitalisation increase youth and women employability in the food and wine sector.<< Implementation >>Project activities were defined through a specific workplan. Project activities related to all the project management and communication: work package 1 - project management (leader BIC Ljubljana): reporting and operational management and quality assurance. Work package 2 - communication and dissemination (leader i-strategies): communication and dissemination plan, communication templates and graphics a communication and dissemination activities and project website. Project activities related to the delivery of planned project results: Work package 3 – Digital Tasting Skillset frame and course design scheme (Leader VCC Amico del Vino, Bic Ljubljana): Literature review and inspirational material and data gathering, creation of the power point presentation. Next was the plan of the whole instructional approach of the course(that was changing regrading feedback). At this stage, it was also decided how the content will be broken down. In this stage, the outline text content of the course was finalized, divided into modules and visually presented in a PowerPoint. Course outline did undergo critical review by all partners. Feedbacks were gathered and the working version was approved. << Results >>Microlearning online course Syllabus on wine and food tasting. That was the result of the cooperation among partners with complementary expertise in the field of Wine and Food Tasting (Amico del Vino), Microlearning Course Design (BTS), wine and food storytelling (i-strategies) and VET providers with courses and higher education programmes on Wine and Food (Valencia Culinary Center and BIC Ljubljana). The course Syllabus is based on 9 chapters: Introduction and Course Philosophy, D-TASTING and Sustainability, Prerequisites, Methodology, Target groups and Learner Personas, Technical Description, Course “Plots”: Content of the course, Course Certification and Collection of learner’s feedback. The next project result is Microlearning course on digital wine and food tasting MicrolearningCourse on “Digital Tasting” is an e-learning non-synchronous course that provides practical instructions for developing Wine and Food Tasting online. The course is set up on a Moodle platform. The Microlearning course has specific technical and content features. Technical features: Short duration; Focus on a single learning objective: Wine and Food tasting; Independent use; Having interactive elements.