FlippedVET: Digitalising VET: The Flipped Work-Based Learning

2021-1-LV01-KA220-VET-000025117

Erasmus+

2021 - 2023

Project webpage: https://flippedvet.bda.lv

Project Bio

According to a UN report from 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the largest disruption to education systems in history - affecting nearly 1.6 billion students in more than 190 countries and on every continent. Experiential learning, which is one of the most important elements of vocational education and training, has become largely unattainable following the mandatory change in the way we work.

The pandemic has exposed weaknesses in VET systems, including low levels of digitalization and long-standing structural weaknesses. Workplace disruptions have made it difficult to implement apprenticeship programmes and work-based learning models, which are key elements of a functional and market-responsive technical and vocational education.

To help vocational schools tackle this situation, our team decided to develop a project to support vocational education providers to improve and advance their courses through the use of a flipped work-based learning model. According to the literature, vocational schools in the IT sector show better adoption of flipped work-based learning than others. For this reason, this project aims to eliminate the challenges faced by non-IT vocational schools in digitalizing their services.

In this respect, the project results will increase the capacity of vocational schools with the necessary competences to digitalize their services and learn by doing.

Objectives of the Project

This project aims to support VET institutions and VET providers in order to improve and shift work experience courses by using a flipped work-based learning model.

This project is not focusing on the specific sector, given that there are already many flipped classrooms in different sectors such as STEAM education, textiles, biology and cooking. However, in the pandemic era, the gap between the application of the model and current VET curriculum highlights that non-IT VET providers need a tailored work-based learning with flipped classroom approach.

Partnership

The FlippedVET project includes seven partners of different European countries with very diverse contexts, realities and influences in the most varied areas related to the population, economy and politics, among others:

BDA, Latvia

Atlântica, Portugal

AdM Italy

ASIE, Romania

ProEduca, Czech Republic

CESUR, Spain

MSKU, Turkey

All partners present a diversity of their geographical, social and professional background and have strong links in terms of cooperation, networking and also synergies with their surroundings (public and private bodies, technological and business centers, NGOs, local partners, social entities, specific organizations in the fields of employment and labor integration).

Main project outputs

Outcome 1: A curriculum for flipped work-based learning. This curriculum is a tool to enable work-based learning to be implemented in a digital environment. It will provide information on how to design flipped work-based learning.

Outcome 2: A guide to flipped work-based learning, training materials and an online toolkit. This outcome aims to support vocational training providers during the digitalization process by providing them with a guidance and supporting training materials.

Outcome 3: Digitization of VET: Self-learning platform. This platform provides a complete and coherent environment that includes all the results produced by the project and presents them to the public.