Specifically, the event is addressed to media educators and pedagogical information technology (IT) consultants, human resources (HR) development professionals from schools all over Europe, and other stakeholders, such as representatives of the Ministry of Education sector as well as of teacher education field  and training institutions. It provides a favorable basis for presenting the key findings of the DigiPath, sharing the experience of implementing the project pilots and offering inspiration on how to create practical workshops for teachers on using digital tools within their class.

More precisely:

• Participation is free of charge
• Seats are limited and need to be reserved in advance
• Registration is a pre-requisite, is open until 19^th January 2024, by submitting the respective registration form
• The virtual event takes place in the town electronic platform, access to which will be provided via e-mail, as declared within the registration form.

The DigiPath’s aim is to build VET teachers’ Digital Education Readiness (DER), by developing an Open Education Resource (OER) in the form of a blended learning course, incorporating Learning Paths for learners with varied levels of digital readiness and skills. DigiPath produces lightweight educational offers that can be seamlessly integrated into the daily routine of VET teachers, taking into account their specific work setting.

The project is implemented by a consortium of six (6) partners representing six (6) European countries (Greece, Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Portugal, Spain). The DAISSy Research Group of the Hellenic Open University, the Greek partner, participates in all deliverables of the DigiPath project and is responsible for the development of the DigiPath electronic learning platform.

For more information on the DigiPath project, and other activities of DAISSy:

• Website: https://daissy.eu/, https://digi-path.eu/
• Facebook: @DAISSyResearchGroup
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter: @daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email: info@daissy.eap.gr

The event took place on Friday 11^th November 2022, at 18:00, in the “Byzantino” Hotel in Patras, Greece, with participants coming from the vocational education and training sector, both teachers/trainers and representatives of VET organizations, representatives of digital solutions providers and representatives of institutional education bodies.

The event started with a welcome address by Dr.Spyridon Papadakis, Organizational Coordinator of the Regional Centre for Educational Planning of Western Greece and his intervention on the need for the vocational education and training sector to utilize modern digital solutions in order to upgrade the content and effectiveness of education.

In addition, Dr. Achilleas Kameas, Professor at the School of Science and Technology and director of the DAISSy research group of the Hellenic Open University, presented the group’s scientific interests, activities and the numerous projects it implements.

Later on, the participants had the opportunity to be informed about the objectives, expected results and actions of the UPDATE project by Mr. Konstantinos Potsis and Ms. Panagiota Polymeropoulou, key members of the project team, while the first deliverable of the project was presented and more specifically a report on good practices in the implementation of digital solutions in vocational education and training across Europe and popular useful digital solutions: http://update-project.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/UPDATE-IO1-Greek-compressed.pdf.

Finally, there were two more presentations on DAISSy research group’s projects that contribute to digital readiness in the fields of education and vocational training, namely the DigiPath project – “Enhancing the readiness of Vocational Training teachers for digital education” – by Ms. Vicky Maratou, and the Agile2Learn project – “Developing the professional skills of teachers and students” – by Dr. Katerina Nikolakopoulou.

The general objective of UPDATE project, which is co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme 2021-2027, is to improve the quality of vocational training delivered by VET organisations – in view of increasing the learning opportunities, inclusion and training success of learners, as well as their employability – reinforcing the trainers and tutors’ abilities to implement forms of blended and distance didactic and apply the new technologies to the training activities of high practical and manual content (specific feature of vocational training).

For more information about the project and the other activities of DAISSy research group:

• Website: https://update-project.eu/   – https://daissy.eu/
• Facebook: @update.project.22 – @DAISSyResearchGroup
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup
• Twitter: @daissy_research
• Email: info@daissy.eap.gr

During the two-day meeting, the partners had the opportunity to discuss the main findings of the research conducted to VET institutions regarding teachers’ perspectives on digital teaching and the mapping of their digital skills development needs.

The research’s findings constituted the baseline for discussion and analysis of the design of the learning paths, development of the educational material, as well as the piloting of the blended course of DigiPath project.

In addition, horizontal issues of the project regarding the exploitation and promotion of its results, as well as its management, were discussed.

The DAISSy Research Group of the Hellenic Open University participates in all the Work Packages, undertaking the implementation of the e-learning platform that will support the pilot blended course of the project.

The DigiPath project (with a duration of 26 months) aims to build VET teachers’ Digital Education Readiness (DER), by developing an Open Education Resource (OER) in the form of a blended learning course, incorporating Learning Paths for learners with varied levels of digital readiness and skills. In a structured approach, the project team will develop modular Adaptive Curricula that will equip VET teachers with digital competencies and skills as well as familiarize them with innovative digital educational tools and approaches. The Adaptive Curricula aims to build the DER of VET teachers by improving their attitudes towards digital teaching environments and promoting their willingness to engage with digital technologies.

On February 1^th, 2022, the kick-off meeting of the DigiPath project was delivered online, hosted by AFBB from Germany, Coordinator of the project.

The first project meeting was dedicated to an overview on the DigiPath project, the proposal submitted and previous agreements among partners. The first project meeting was dedicated to an overview on the DigiPath project, the proposal submitted and previous agreements among partners. The project meeting was dedicated to networking, project management, administrative, financial aspects, quality assurance, and reporting obligations of all partners. It was a great help for the partners in order to properly understand the deliverables of the project, such as the Needs Analysis and Mapping of Relevant Content Areas, Adaptive Curricula – Development of Learning Paths for VET teachers, Implementation of Adaptive Curricula into Platform – Technical Realization and Creation of Digital Content / Learning Materials, Trialing the Adaptive Curricula – Pilots of the Blended Learning Paths and Development of Transfer Concept – The Guidelines.

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.

For more information about the project and the other activities of DAISSy research group:

• Website: https://daissy.eu/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Facebook: @DAISSyResearchGroup
• Twitter: @daissy_research
• Instagram: @daissy_researchgroup
• Email: info@daissy.eap.gr

Project Partners

• AFBB Akademie Furberufliche Bildung GMBH, Germany
• SI4LIFE – Scienza e Impresa Insiemeper Migliorare La Qualita’ Della Vita SCRL, Italy
• TERCIFORMA — Estudos de Comércio e Serviços, SA, Portugal
• Hellenic Open University, Greece and its DIASSy Research Group
• Valencia Culinary Center S.L., Spain
• Kauno buitiniu paslaugu ir verslo mokykla, Lithuania