- Focus on the DAP Project Team
To help you, as a manager, through the journey of developing your VET school’s Digital Action Plan, you will need a multidisciplinary team. Here is an example of a DAP Project Team for you to consider, and to adapt according to your VET school’s size and workforce.
- A project manager: who will be responsible for coordinating the different actions and steps, making decisions, motivating the staff involved and stay on track;
- Instructional designers: experts in the field, they will be able to carry out a detailed needs analysis;
- A few dedicated teachers: who will play a key role in the use of digital resources and have the best knowledge of their learners; they must be involved in the project at all stages and can communicate with the other teachers on the progress of the DAP;
- Technical experts (e.g. from IT department): who will provide their technical knowledge for the installation, maintenance and development of the infrastructure and tools;
- Any other collaborator that could be valuable in monitoring the implementation of the DAP, collecting user feedback and ensuring consistency with the educational objectives of the establishment. For example: a dedicated digital counsellor.
- Concrete example of SMART actions as a response to an identified goal
Goal: We want our learners to be familiar with online courses
Actions that were mentioned during the brainstorming phase, and their parameters:
| Actions | 1. Digitise part of our course offer | 2. Provide a catalogue of online courses for our learners to choose from | 3. Ask our learners to follow at least one online course in their diploma | 4. Ensure the learners are now familiar with the concept |
| Time frame | 2 months before the end of the current school year (prerequisite of action 2) | By the end of the current school year (provided action 1 is carried out on time) | By the end of next school year (provided action 2 is carried out on time) | At the end of next school year (provided action 3 is carried out on time) |
| Responsibility | Director of pedagogy | Director of pedagogy | School counsellor of each section | School counsellor of each section |
| Resources | Staff: expert teachers that will give tips to others on how to digitalise their course content (could be done through peer-to-peer workshops) | Staff: specialised educational designer that will help teachers digitalise their courses, standardise the catalogue and publish it | Staff: school counsellors to guide them in their choices + teachers to provide the courses | Staff: school counsellors to help them answer an assessment questionnaire |
| Success Criteria | Teachers have managed to digitalise some courses | The catalogue is published online and updated | Learners have chosen and followed an online course | Learners say (1) they understood how the course worked and (2) are now familiar with the concept of online course |
| Monitoring and Evaluation | Target: each teacher should digitalize at least one of his/her coursesMean of verification: publication on LMS platform | Target: the catalogue is published and contains at least 20 courses (at least 1 per section)Mean of verification: publication on LMS platform | Target: more than 90% of learners should have followed an online courseMean of verification: attendance on the LMS platform | Target: more than 90% of respondents answered positively to the 2 questions aboveMean of verification: online assessment questionnaire sent to each learner at the end of the year |
- Examples of indicators
You can find below a table template containing examples of indicators, the means of verification, and a column for the proposed targets.
| Indicators | Means of verification | Targets |
| Variety of educational resources available online | Number of educational resources, functioning digital access | [in this column you can enter figures that are realistic for your VET school] |
| Tailored learning offer | Access to educational content that learners can use at their own pace | |
| Lessons adapted to different learning styles | Variety of formats (pdf, videos, etc.) | |
| Improved online collaboration | Number of collaborative workspaces, attendance | |
| Improved online communication | Variety of channels and methods of communication | |
| More precise learner follow-up | Varied and precise assessment tools | |
- Focus on the involvement of stakeholders
The involvement of your stakeholders is crucial at all steps of your approach. You have already seen it in Module 1, and specifically the part ‘engaging the ecosystem’, Module 3 – Reviewing and prioritising, and you will see it again in Module 5, in particular to efficiently manage change resistance.
As a VET school, your stakeholders can be divided into 4 categories: (1) your management staff, (2) your teachers, (3) your learners, and (4) the companies who hire your apprentices/learners. Here are a few tips to involve all of them in your digital strategy and action plan.
Teachers:
- Discuss with your teachers about the pedagogical aspects of your DAP, and involve them in the choice of digital tools and methods. They should be regularly consulted to find out what their needs are, their preferences and the possible solutions that they have already found individually to be able to meet their educational objectives. Based on this output, you could create a catalogue of tools that have been “validated” by your institution.
- Offer training to your teachers and other key persons: some of them will need some support to acquire the necessary digital skills to enrich their pedagogy. These training courses must be adapted to their specific needs and include practical and fun aspects to help them master digital tools.
- Support your teachers in the long run: they also need tailor-made support available on demand, to properly integrate digital technologies into their teaching. For example, you could include two digital instructional designers in your educational team, whose role would be to advise and help teachers in implementing a pedagogy based on the validated tools, in exploring potential new tools or strategies, but also in overcoming the technical difficulties encountered.
- Encourage experimentation: your teachers must have the opportunity to experiment with digital technologies in their teaching, without being judged on their performance. It is important to give them the freedom to test new approaches. Your institution needs to be proactive with its teaching team, by regularly offering them the opportunity to participate in projects to experiment with new learning technologies, for example through strategic partnerships (virtual and augmented reality pilot projects, testing e-learning modules based on artificial intelligence, etc.)
Learners:
- Learners should understand the changes in their learning environment and what their VET school wants to attain through the adoption of a digital tool for pedagogy. Adapt your communication to your target and think about a suitable strategy and channels of communication that are suited to your learners
Companies(through in-company trainers):
- For a VET school, companies are another important stakeholder. They need to understand how the learning environment of their apprentice works, and how they can follow their educational progress, their evaluations, the acquisition of their skills, how they can support theoretical skills through practice, how the company/school periods articulate over time, etc. Think about a suitable strategy and channels of communication that are adapted to your partner companies. For example: display a list of digital courses linked to their sector, mention how many classes involved, which professional-educational tools are in use, etc.
Managers:
- Join relevant networks: it is important for a VET school to be part of networks in order to enrich its digital education strategy. It is a gateway to staying up-to-date with the latest trends and innovations in educational technology, and offers opportunities for collaboration and exchange with other institutions and education experts, thus promoting the sharing of good practices and mutual inspiration. It can facilitate access to some digital resources and tools, and also contributes to the reputation and visibility of the VET school as an innovative actor committed to educational transformation.
ALL:
- Show and share the benefits: it is crucial to encourage support, feedback and testimonials from the teachers and learners themselves, in order to communicate with the community about the benefits of using digital technologies for teaching. It is important to create times and spaces for discussion, in order to encourage peer-to-peer dissemination of practices and show the many ways in which these tools can enrich teaching. Different meeting formats can be proposed: e.g. educational cafés, pedagogical days, etc. A newsletter dedicated to these subjects can also be created.