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Digital to grow

In November 2020 ITE SCARPELLINI participated in the competition “Digital Innovation 2020” promoted by the Italian Ministry of Education in collaboration with Anitec-Assinform (the Association for Information and Technological Communication of Confindustria) which involved high schools in various areas of Italy.

The evaluation committee chose four projects that received the “National Award on Digital Innovation”. They conferred also five special mentions, between which the one assigned to ITE SCARPELLINI in the framework of the Erasmus KA3 project Digital Tourism.

The mention was referred to the Institute’s proposal to adopt the 3 years Digital Tourism Technician Course created by the international partnership of the project to the Italian school system, beginning the process to update the existing tourist course with new digital learning outcomes.

Info: www.anitec-assinform.it
Newspaper:
www.lanazione.it

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National Competition “In the name of respect”

The students of ITE SCARPELLINI was awarded during  the National Competition, “In the name of Respect”, Tuesday, June 15, online mode.

The 4E TUR class with the video “A look at the past to build the future” got the highest award and a cash prize, surpassing 430 candidates for the Upper Secondary School section.

The students, supervised by the teacher Maria Carla Cicciola, project coordinator for the theme “Identity and respect for cultural heritage”, have created a short clip using a collage of photos and drawings. The content invites us to reflect on the importance of understanding, living, feeling the value of the environment that surrounds us and the heritage that someone before us has been able to pass on to us, in order to raise the quality of our behaviour and be respectful of everything else from ourselves.

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Tech.Lab Project

The project Tech.Lab, from Escola Profissional de Felgueiras, aims at the integration among Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, and it represents the strategy and vision of the school.

With this project, the school intends to potentiate synergies and the interdisciplinary dynamics in the technological areas of the schools’ programme, such as Design/Clothing, Electronics/Automation, Management and Multimedia.

This new space is designed to be stimulating and demonstrative of good practices and culture of Project Based Learning (PBL) and Know-How. In addition, the involvement of external partners and the joint development of integrated solutions is actively sought.

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Augmented reality in car mechanics


EV’nAR is an augmented reality tool for the hololens developed by education for education. The rapid technological developments in the automotive industry present schools and teachers with many intellectual and material challenges. EV’nAR was developed for the direction of automotive technology more specifically for classes on electric vehicles where the following specific challenges arise:


1. The purchase of electric vehicles is usually financially impossible for technical schools. Moreover, technology is developing rapidly. Today’s large investment may already be obsolete in a few school years. One more reason for schools to hesitate.
2. If a school does have an electric vehicle available there are several barriers. Most electrical components are invisible in the vehicle (covered). For safety reasons, they are hidden. The hololens makes all components visible. Many teachers also admit that they are reluctant to allow students to work on such a vehicle because of the safety risks.


The possibility to teach on a holographic electric vehicle without any safety problems, sky-high costs and with all the visual possibilities is much appreciated by the Flemish teachers but also from the Netherlands the questions follow at high speed.

Goal
EV’nAR provides a didactic and budget-friendly solution for lessons in working safely with electric vehicles.

Didactic added value for education
The development of EV’nAR combined with the need for distance learning tools (cfr. challenges COVID 19) has woken up schools to the possibilities offered by augmented reality. As a result, new learning strategies are being developed where augmented reality has a role to play. The old system consists mainly of pre-teaching, teaching/evaluation and ends in the workplace. The cycle is complemented by technology that is gaining momentum including virtual reality and augmented reality.

We build up from blended learning and the application of VR within the school context to the learning of competencies in the workplace, supported by the integration of augmented reality applications.
Each learning form will by no means be applicable in every context, but through the different phases, we try to create a picture where VR and AR in the learning process reach their optimal point. (Strategy developed by Go! Technisch Atheneum Keerbergen, Steven Hendrickx))

The didactic added value of augmented reality with the hololens in a teaching situation is situated on different levels:
Classically, the teacher can teach with the hololens on. By streaming the image he/she can show all the components regarding the electric drive system of the car as well as how to de-energize it to the students. This possibility is also very useful for distance learning.
After the lesson, students can repeat the material at their own pace and test their ability to safely de-energize a vehicle.

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Go! Atheneum Brakel laureate European prize for innovative teaching 2021

The NA of Flanders chose the Athenaeum van Brakel as laureate for the EITA 2021 based on its innovative approach and EU projects.

In 2015, the school started the Future Classroom LAB project in which new didactic tools, self-regulated education, international projects and collaboration, blended learning, innovative teaching methods and learning spaces were created. In a European strategic partnership with schools from 5 countries, the school continues to innovate.

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Competence development in public transport through VR: first results

The first result of the Erasmus+ project Competence+, led by the German ENNE network partner LAB, is a conceptual framework. It sets the foundation for the elaboration of learning modules and VR environments to foster competencies beyond pure professional skills in public transport. To this end, the partners first agreed on definitions of the key concepts and then agreed on learning outcomes for the four modules that are target-oriented for the topics of environmental awareness, conflict awareness, stress management and moral courage. From these, the concrete workshop and e-learning content will be developed in the further course of the project. The framework will be made available to interested parties in English via the project website.

The background

European cities rely on public transport and the people who keep these systems running every day. This sector will continue to grow as urban populations increase and sustainability requirements rise.

With this growth comes ever new challenges for public transit workers, and that’s where “COMPETENCE+: A Blended Learning Program for Competence Development Beyond Pure Professional Skills” comes into play!

The goal of the project is to create a continuing education platform that both trainees and employees in public transport can use to further their education in the areas of environmental awareness, conflict awareness, stress management and moral courage. To this end, a course concept is being created that includes both eLearning and classroom training. The special feature of Competence+ is that virtual reality scenarios are being created that enable learners to directly apply and test the knowledge and skills they have acquired. The project also includes an application manual for teachers who want to use or adapt Competence+ themselves

Interdisciplinary cooperation in the consortium

Together with the transport operators Reus Mobilitat (Spain) and Straeto (Iceland), the coordinators Leipziger Aus- und Weiterbildungsbetriebe (Germany) bring the direct perspective of public transport to the project, while Wisamar (Germany), DomSpain (Spain) and StandoutEducation (Cyprus) contribute their expertise in vocational training projects. The interdisciplinary collaboration is rounded off by Virsabi (Denmark), who bring all their experience as virtual and augmented reality experts to the project.

Goals and results

The long-term goals of COMPETENCE+ are to:

  • Improve the knowledge and skills of trainees and employees
  • Improve employment opportunities
  • Increase public awareness of the issues and needs of public transit employees.
  • Strengthen community ties and increase community safety through training
  • Promote European cooperation

The project runs from November 2020 until April 2023. For updates on the project, visit Facebook @CompetencePlusEU and the project website www.competenceplusproject.eu!

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New school year for Flemish schools

After a well-deserved vacation, Flemish schools start the new school year from September 1. Here’s what changes on September 1, 2021:

  • Schools start with the new attainment targets second degree
    From September 1, 2021, all secondary schools will start working with the new and approved curricula in the second grade.
    The new curricula (https://onderwijsdoelen.be/) are ambitious, but there will be a quality and gradual introduction.
  • Converting learning and working into dual learning.
    In order to convert learning and working into dual learning by school year 2025-2026 (together with the end point of the modernization of the SO), the conversion calendar (https://www.onderwijs.vlaanderen.be/nl/van-leren-en-werken-naar-duaal-leren) stipulates that CDOs and Syntra vzw must also convert their current offer to a future dual offer.

Also, from 1 September 2021 onwards, other corona measures apply than in the previous school year. You can find a complete overview here.

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New school year, the situation in Italy

The school calendar dates in Italy are determined by the respective regions.  There are small regional differences, with the school term starting earlier in the Northern regions, and later in the South, but it is usually just a matter of days. As more autonomy has been recently given to individual schools, it might also be the case that a school decides to make some minor changes to the yearly calendar.

For example in the province of Bolzano (very close to the Austrian border) students already went back to school on 6 September while the main other ones were from the 13th of September.

The primary objective is to guarantee a reopening in attendance for everyone, or at least for the ones that already have the green pass, according to the Minister of Education Patrizio Bianchi declared.

Among the resources allocated, said the minister, there are 800 million for the school transport issue, invested to increase the supply during peak hours by 20%. The use of masks by students over the age of six has also been confirmed, while with regard to the immunisation of children, “I trust them,” said the minister, “as demonstrated by the extraordinary response they are giving: between the ages of 16 and 19 we are already at a high level, with over 60% vaccination“.

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Restart of Erasmus+ mobility in Germany

After more than one year of a forced break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ITKAM – Italian Chamber of Commerce for Germany – is pleased to announce the restart of the Erasmus+ mobility in Germany!
Participation in the mobility projects will allow Italian students aged 17 to 19 years old to experience first-hand the world of work abroad. In addition, participants will be able to test their language skills and experience different cultures and traditions.
In Leipzig 9 students, aged 18-19 years old from Veneto will carry out their internship in the fields of ICT, electrical engineering, mechanics and mechatronics.


In Berlin, ITKAM will host several groups:
– 8 students from Veneto and 16 students from Emilia Romagna, who will do internships in IT, electronics and mechatronics companies.
– 16 students coming from Apulia, who will do an internship in consulting, tourism, marketing companies and in German-Italian kindergartens.


ITKAM is delighted to be able to welcome students again as part of the VET Erasmus+ mobility programme and wishes all the students the best of luck for the start of their adventure abroad!

 

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“Plano 21|23 Escola+” – Learning Recovery Plan

The educational system was among the most affected by the pandemic. The confinements and distance learning have brought consequences to the learning and well-being of the students. With the aim of recovering and making sure that no one is “left behind”, the Portuguese government approved a “set of measures that are based on educational policies with proven effectiveness in terms of strengthening the autonomy of schools and differentiated educational strategies aimed at promoting school success and, above all, fighting inequalities through education.”

The ”Plano 21|23 Escola+” establishes a set of goals for the next two school years:

  • Recovery of the most affected skills;
  • Diversification of teaching strategies;
  • Investment in social and emotional well-being;
  • Trust in the educational system;
  • Involvement of the entire educational community;
  • Capacity building, through the reinforcement of resources and means;
  • Monitoring, by evaluating the impact and efficiency of the measures.

The plan is structured in three axes and foresees the implementation of a set of measures to intervene with students in terms of learning recovery, socialization, and their physical and mental well-being, focusing on curricular aspects, school organization, resources of support and community dimensions. The three axes can be described as:

  • Teaching and learning – measures for the schools to have the pedagogical means for a more flexible curricular development, focusing on supporting students, especially those who have been most affected by the pandemic;
  • Support the educational communities – Empowering schools with resources and means for the development of measures to strengthen their capacity of response, in an action directed towards improving learning, to inclusion and to community involvement;
  • To know and assess – development of indicators and tools to monitor the Plan, promoting the dissemination of efficiency studies, the sharing of practices and the re-evaluation of the measures adopted.

The specific intervention of the plan in the vocational education and training falls under axis 2) Support the educational communities. The plan refers that “vocational education and training has proven to be one of the main instruments for the inclusion of all students. It is probably one of the most fruitful ways for the cooperation between education and economic development.” Thus, it announces that in addition to all of the measures that will be applied to the educational system, VET will have Centres of Technological Specialization for the modernization of Professional Education, in areas of high technological intensity and with potential to induce with potential to induce a high value-added economy; and the provision of resources to improve the students’ vocational orientation processes of the students.

With this, we know that the start of this school year will bring some news to the schools but also hope that it will be possible to return to school in a safe and normal way. The vaccination of young people in Portugal is proceeding at a good pace, which will simplify the access to many activities. The focus now is to recover what has somehow been lost, choose the best teaching/learning strategies and take care of the well-being of every student.