Gradia Jyväskylän puuteollisuuden alan koulutuksella on ollut tarpeen löytää uusia kumppaneita kv-yhteistyöhön ja kuten periaatteisiin kuuluu, niitä etsitään ensisijaisesti jo olemassa olevista verkostoista. Aarhus TECH on Gradia Jyväskylän pitkäaikainen ja luotettava kumppani niin kehittämishankkeiden kuin liikkuvuudenkin osalta ja siksi oli luontevaa laajentaa yhteistyötä myös puuteollisuuden alalle. Opettaja Matti Vehkala vieraili Tanskassa huhtikuun alussa.
Lisätietoja henkilöstöliikkuvuudesta: Rea Tuominen, kv-suunnittelija
Aurinkoinen Madrid hurmasi Gradian seitsemänhenkisen ryhmän välittömällä ja lämpimällä tunnelmallaan, kun kolmas CS-21 (Creative Skills) työpaja starttasi 14.11. Puerta Bonitan media-alan oppilaitoksen yhä vihreälehtisellä kampuksella. Projektikoordinaattorin, kahden opettajan ja neljän opiskelijan tiimi sukelsi kansainväliseen perheeseen puolentoista vuoden koronatauon jälkeen täynnä malttamatonta intoa ja paloa löytää uusia taitoja sekä saada uusia ystäviä.
Tämän kertaiseen kokoukseen oli tiensä löytänyt Belgian, Espanjan, Hollannin, Italian, Portugalin, Sveitsin ja Suomen ryhmät. Koronatilanteen seurauksena Britit eivät päässeet matkaan.
Opettajilla oli viikon aikana myös omaa ohjelmaa.
Kohti uutta opettajuutta
Creative Skills 21:n perimmäinen tarkoitus on kehittää opettajuutta ammatillisessa koulutuksessa. Hankkeessa mukana olevat opiskelijat toimivat ns. koekaniineina uudenlaista opettajuutta kehitettäessä. Ns. pehmeät taidot usein unohdetaan ammatillisessa opetuksessa. Luovilla aloilla korostuu yksilölliset taidot, luovuus ja yrittäjyys (freelancerit ja yksin yrittäjät).
Luovat ns. pehmeät taidot ovat kuitenkin käytännöllisiä ja niiden opetus on järkevää yhdistää ammatilliseen opetukseen, mutta opettajilta usein puuttuu tieto, miten tämä tehdään. Kansainvälinen yhteistyö ja viestintä kuuluvat olennaisesti opettajan työkalupakkiin ja mahdollisuudet oppimisen kansainvälisessä ympäristössä ovat tärkeitä. Tämänkertaisen työpajaviikon (soft skills) teemoina olivat kommunikointi ja yhteistyö.
Espanjassa maskipakko oli voimassa kaikissa sisätiloissa ja maskin käyttöä valvottiin tarkasti. Turvaväleihin ei aina ollut mahdollisuutta.
Koronaturvallinen koululounas.
Opiskelijat epätasa-arvon kimppuun
Opiskelijat jakaantuivat seitsemään kansainväliseen ryhmään luomaan mediaprojektia, jonka muodon ja sisällön he saivat päättää itse. Yhteisenä teemana kaikilla ryhmillä oli epätasa-arvo eri muodoissaan, josta kukin ryhmä valitsi oman näkökulmansa. Projektien aiheiksi nousi mm. mielenterveysongelmien ja taloudellisen aseman aiheuttama koulutuksellinen epätasa-arvo, asunnottomuus osana taloudellista epätasa-arvoa, sekä sukupuolten välinen epätasa-arvo.
Sen lisäksi, että opiskelijat loivat upeita projektisuunnitelmia, he tekivät ”pää edellä”-sukelluksen kansainväliseen yhteistyö- ja kommunikointiympäristöön, toisin sanoen, jokainen sai harjoittaa englannin ja miksei muidenkin kielten osaamista yllin kyllin viiden päivän ajan.
Itse asiassa tämä oli ehkä tärkein osa projektityöskentelyä sekä opettajille, että opiskelijoille, sillä Creative Skills-hankkeen tausta-ajatus on opetella uuden vuosituhannen vaatimia luovia työelämätaitoja, kuten luovuutta, ongelmanratkaisutaitoja, kriittistä ajattelua, tiimityötä, päätösten tekoa sekä sosiaalisia taitoja (soft skills, creative skills).
Opiskelijat valmistautumassa esitykseensä.
Opettajien tehtävänä oli toimia kasvainvälisten opiskelijaryhmien ohjaajina tai valmentajina ja eräänlaisina fasilitaattoreina. Yhteistyössä toista kieltä puhuvan opettajan kanssa viikosta tuli hieno matka omien viestinnällisten kykyjen äärirajoille samalla, kun side samassa tilanteessa olevaan kollegaan voimistui päivä päivältä. Opettajien päiviin kuului myös ryhmäkeskusteluja muiden opettajien kanssa, jotka mahdollistivat ryhmätyöskentelyssä esiin nousevien haasteiden jakamisen ja ratkaisujen etsimisen.
Virallisen ohjelman lisäksi vapaamuotoiset keskustelut ja kokemusten vertailu kansainvälisten kollegojen kanssa synnyttivät monta oivallusta ja näkökulman uudelleenarviointia. Erilaisten koulutusjärjestelmien ja olosuhteiden vertailu avasi silmät aivan uusiin oppimis- ja opetusmaisemiin. Oma kotoinen työympäristökin sai laajemman kontekstin.
Gradian hankeryhmä Madridin kukkuloilla.
Kohti kevättä
Samalla kun opiskelijat ja opettajat huhkivat mediaprojektiensa parissa, jokaisesta maasta paikalle saapuneet koordinaattorit suunnittelivat jo seuraavaa kokoontumista St. Gallenissa Sveitsissä helmikuussa 2022. Kyselyiden ja keskusteluiden kautta pyrittiin löytämään reaaliaikaisesti opastusta siihen, mitä taitoja ja kykyjä tulisi erityisesti ottaa huomioon Sveitsin tapaamisessa.
Madridin ja St. Gallenin kokemuksista saadut opit tullaan ottamaan käyttöön Gradian media-alan koulutuksessa ja jakamaan koko Gradian henkilöstölle erilaisilla oppailla ja koulutuksilla.
Hanke itse luo online-käsikirjan, johon kerääntyy hankkeen edistymisen myötä erilaisia harjoituksia ja vinkkejä, joita on käytetty työpajaviikoilla. Hankkeella on myös avoimet Fb- ja IG-sivut. https://www.facebook.com/creativeskills21/
Lisätietoja: Mikko Auerniitty, Gradian CS 21 projektipäällikkö
The MusicXchain is a network of six (6) education providers from five (5) member states (Finland, Latvia, Germany, Netherlands and Slovenia) all offering upper secondary VET education in music.
The Erasmus+ KA2 project with the same name has focused on key competences of learners in the music sector by creating new and innovative ways for cooperating and learning and thus enhancing their networking and digital skills as well as fostering an entrepreneurial mindset necessary for a successful career in the creative industries.
The MusicXchain project main aims have been to yield a number of tangible results on completion of the project such as
• a structured platform for managing and coordinating the network activities including a calendar of mobility modules and other events offered within the network; • a structured model for organizing learning mobility in the music sector taking into consideration the strengths and expertise of each participating college; • a facility (within the platform) for virtual music lab activities where masterclasses, validated technique videos and e.g. career stories of alumni can be shared or music productions can be planned.
On the participating VET providers level the results have been
an exchange of knowledge, skills and experience between organizations;
a significant increase in the number of learners in the music sector gaining an international experience through virtual communication initiatives and physical learning mobility;
a stronger focus on fostering an entrepreneurial mindset within the staff and the learners;
embedment– project activities and results have helped to create an awareness that internationalization provides an attractive, modern and functional context for VET curricula;
upskilled teachers – the project has also induced the need for modernisation of teaching and need for professionalisation of staff e.g. in the area of using digital tools for music lab activities at home.
On both European and national level the intangible results have been the following:
• A sustainable network of VET providers in the music sector – the project has involved international cooperation between VET colleges in five (5) EU member states whilst creating learning mobility opportunities, (virtual and physical) the projects core goal has been to create a strong and sustainable EU partnership for learning mobility; • More efficient use of European tools such as Europass and ECVET. The latter has been used to describe the knowledge, skills and competences learners can attain whilst doing a module abroad or virtual music lab activities at home, thus developing recognition, transparency and certification and to realise the latter, it has been important to have the developed products embedded in the partners’ curricula;
Join the celebration and learn more about the network and the project by coming to the MusicXchain webinar on Thursday 5 November 2020 13-17:30 CET/ 14-18:30 EET.
“When on Friday, 13th March 2020, it became clear that schools would be closed for a while and the work/study would be done remotely, no one knew how long the school doors would be locked for. We were confident we would stay at home for a maximum of 3 weeks. However, we never imagined that the quarantine would last so long,” says Headmistress Andreja Petrovic from Ekonomska šola Novo mesto.
We quickly had to find the ways for remote working. Some guidelines were provided by the Association of Higher Vocational Colleges, but they were rather general, not very useful for the specific situation. Surprisingly, no instructions were received from the Ministry of Education, at least not in time.
The participants in education are very helpful to one another. We looked for examples of good practices from colleagues from different schools and different education levels. We learned about different tools and tried them out – Jitsi, Zoom, VID Arnes, Exam.net. At our school the basic tools for remote working are Moodle, OneDrive and email.
Lecturer Sonja Kukman emphasises the role of the teachers. “It is extremely important that the lecturer provides support to students during and after the class. We have learned that remote working is extremely challenging for lecturers, as they have a lot more to prepare, review assignments and give feedback. We find the workload for lecturers to be much higher and the efficiency to be lower. “
At the same time, the staff at Novo mesto College have noticed also that distance learning is more demanding also for students who have to invest much more energy in learning than in the classical learning process, since they do not get immediate feedback.
“A big problem for our students is the equipment – some do not have a good Internet connection or have poor hardware performance,” notes Lecturer Damjana Mozic. Big software providers have allowed the college to use specialized software for free, but students were unable to download it because of less powerful computers. So, they’ve still had to find their own way.
The biggest challenge is certainly taking on-line exams, for both lecturers and students. But even that is going on well. Any video conferencing tool is suitable for oral exams – the lecturer and the student only establish a video link. Written exams are a bigger challenge. “First, we used a combination of a Moodle Quiz and a video link for written exams, later we started using the Exam.net platform. We find this platform very useful for safety reasons, and we intend to organize teacher training to use it in further exams,” says Lecturer Jerca Bozic Kranjec.
Before the exams, the lecturers must test the tools with students. Special attention is also given to students who do not have computer equipment or an efficient Internet connection. We prepare personalized exams for them.
After the first exams, the lecturers presented their experience to their colleagues in a video conference and answered their dilemmas. At the end of the first exam period the exam results and experiences will be presented to all lecturers and students.
“We are convinced that distant learning is a greater burden or challenge for students, as they have to do everything on their own and therefore the level of their activity is also much higher than in the classical education process. “ Unfortunately, psychological distress has also been present due to isolation and lack of social contacts. On several occasions students have turned to the headmistress and the lecturers because they just want to hear some encouraging words. They are afraid of the situation, they are afraid that they will not be able to successfully complete the study year.
“We all wish we could return to school by mid-May, but we doubt that will happen. It might be that this study year’s lectures will be completed by remote working and we will meet again at school at the end of summer.” Colleges in Slovenia are not autonomous and cannot decide when to return to the classrooms, the decision depends on the Government and the Ministry of Education. Another problem is that the colleges get most of the information from the media, which is unofficial, and the information changes on a daily basis.
“The problem is that we do not know when the first-year students will be able to do their placement in companies, which is an important part of the study process at higher vocational colleges.” Both, placement at employers in Slovenia and Erasmus+ placement abroad have been cancelled. The National Agency is very responsive, but unfortunately, the college cannot provide students with concrete information on the opportunities of taking placement abroad. This year, students will definitely not be able to do that, despite the fact that a lot of effort and time have already been invested in the activities. Sonja Kukman states that they hope that they will enjoy their Erasmus+ placement abroad in the coming periods, regardless of the present negative experience.
“What to say in conclusion? In this new situation, we have begun to learn and are still learning. We miss what the mission of the educational work is: personal contact, interaction, two-way communication, student feedback. We miss discussions, conversations, hanging out with co-workers.”
Now all the staff at the college want to do is to go back to their workplace and to work within the school walls with students and colleagues. But there is a silver lining in (at least almost) every situation: “We can only hope that we have all learned a great deal from this – from new forms of work to the adoption of new communication techniques and, last but not least, we had the opportunity to deepen into ourselves. This is an experience that will become handy in the future work field as we started thinking about gradual introduction of blended learning just before the corona situation broke out.”
First days of the pandemic were espeacially challenging for Slovenia due to the resignation of their Primer Minister in late January and the consequent formation of new government. First case was confirmed one day after Janez Jansa was elected Prime Minister. In this article Natali Borinc and Darja Štiherl from Gradia’s partner college Srednja šola za gostinstvo in turizem Celje are reporting their experiences during the pandemic.
Empty street in front of the college in Celje.
The tourism college in Celje actually switched to distance learning already in the first week of the »stay-at-home« quarantine which mainly included setting up the MS Teams system for communication with students and staff, getting acquainted with the tools, creating relevant groups (classes, teachers’ groups according to the subjects etc.) The students were then given instructions and support how to deal within the Teams platform. “The biggest problem at the beginning was to ensure that all students have a computer and internet access. This was partly solved by our school which provided 7 students with laptops and partly by donations of the mobile wi-fi routers” says Natali Borinc.
“Although ICT has been more and more integrated in our teaching and learning process in the past years we suddenly realized that creating a virtual reality was the only way for teachers and students to move forward and continue the work. The Corona crisis definitely made us all develop and upgrade our digital competences so to say overnight. And it worked well!” adds Darja Stiherl. After two weeks it has become quite routine to hold online lessons or individual consultations, to participate in weekly conferences and meetings, to create online tests, check students’ assignments uploaded in the Teams folders etc. “Will this experience bring any permanent changes in the way of our school work and life in the future? Yes, it definitely will. Namely, the feedback of all involved based on the analysis of questionnaires and personal interviews is very positive.” The college has been creating a database of numerous results of the distance learning activities like: recorded online lessons, students’ seminar and project works, video presentations etc. This database will represent a new resource for teaching and learning not only during the educational process at the school but also for the students on mobility periods, students who are often absent due to chronic health problems, for promotional activities etc.
Student Nejc Sovic learning online.
“As regards our transnational activities the Corona situation required immediate actions because we had two groups of students on mobility in Ireland and Finland when the EU countries started to close their borders.” With a strong support of their partners, including Gradia, in both countries they managed to bring all students home safely. A short-term impact has been the need to extend the duration of the current mobility project to make up for the activities which ended prematurely or have not been implemented at all. “It is difficult to predict the mid or long term impact, but we think that the selection of safe destinations and reliable partners will be one of the most important issues in planning the mobilities in the future,”Natali ponders.
Teacher Vid Burnik in his home office.
So what kind of an impact has the situation had on a more personal level? “As a project coordinator I am using distance learning tools to communicate with the future mobility participants instead of personal meetings and workshops which I usually implement within the preparation phase for mobility,” says Natali. She holds online group meetings and arranges individual consultations. And although her project work tasks were even previously mostly done by using ICT she has acquired some valuable new skills which will improve her future work with partners and participants before, during and after the mobility period.
“I’ve often heard and also used the saying “It’s never too late to learn”. Yes, it’s true and I have experienced this just a few months before my retirement,” Darja remarks. It has been her most intensive learning experience related to development of digital competences ever, a combination of self-study and support of her colleagues in the form of exchanging tips, advice, instructions and examples of good practice. “It was challenging, sometimes exhausting, sometimes fun-but the results are rewarding. And finally, I think that this experience improved the image and the importance of the teachers’ role in the education process.”
Natali and Darja would like to conclude with this: “At the end we would like to share our optimism for the future cooperation with Gradia and express our gratitude for the excellent support of their project team in organizing the emergency return journey of our students just before the airports and borders closed.”
Students from the tourism college in Celje are frequent participants in the tourism summer and winter schools arranged by the tourism programme in Gradia Jyväskylä. You can watch a video of one of the winter schools on Gradia’s YouTube channel: https://tinyurl.com/tourismwinterschool
