Strengthening Vocational Educators for the Digital Era
The educational landscape has undergone a rapid digital transformation, at the latest due to the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. These changes also extend to vocational schools in particular, as the aim here is to explicitly prepare learners for the changing labour market. Teachers are now obliged to provide digitally versed and pedagogically founded training using new media. In order to fulfil this, they must develop their digital and pedagogical skills so that they can meet the need for practical teaching and learning arrangements that reflect the complexity of the professional world. This need is particularly pronounced in full-time vocational schools.
The international project "Teaching case studies online: How to design and teach case studies in vocational schools" (TeC@ses) recognises the potential of case studies as a problem-based and action-oriented teaching method and aims to bridge the gap between digital teaching methods and complex, work-based learning scenarios. The project is a response to criticism that traditional case studies are often text-heavy and unengaging. With TeC@ses, teachers can develop their digital competences to use multimedia and digital tools to present and engage with case studies in an engaging and authentic way.
The project of the Universities of Antwerp, Cologne, Tampere and the Prague University of Economics and Business focuses on the development of an innovative e-learning tool, the TeC@ses tool, which is specially designed for case study teaching. This tool works on two levels: Firstly, teachers are introduced to didactically high-quality case study development. Secondly, the TeC@ses tool promotes the development and teaching of digital skills for teachers in order to develop digitalised case studies and teach them in a digitalised setting. The TeC@ses tool integrates interactive learning support in the form of a learning path via its modules ("Design" and "Teach"). Within this tool, practical examples and pedagogical steps for teaching are created and development elements as well as interactive exercises are built in. These resources are designed to equip teachers with the skills to create high-quality, practice-orientated case studies. The content is presented in a variety of formats, including instructional and process videos, podcasts and interactive exercises to train teachers at their own pace, regardless of time and place.
To ensure the effectiveness of the TeC@ses tool, educational experts in vocational education and e-learning are involved in the evaluation. Associated partners, represented by vocational schools, play an advisory role to ensure the project is aligned with the needs of the target group.
The TeC@ses tool is not only a means for teachers to improve their skills through new media channels, but also serves as a platform to develop the digital competences needed for media-enhanced and innovative teaching. This tool will be available in Czech, Dutch, English, Finnish and German and marks a significant step towards a digitally empowered and vocationally prepared educational landscape.