MESHGuides

The Pro-VET project needs to be considered a unique case: Russian and Serbian (non-EU) professionals designing VOOCs with support of their Dutch, Finnish, German and Irish (EU) counterparts. Nevertheless, on an aggregated level, project partners experiences are universal and thus still extremely value for educational professionals with similar ambitions of developing MOOCs for VET teacher professionalization, worldwide.

This MESH guide is based on the EU Erasmus+ Pro-VET project. From 2019 to 2022, a team of Dutch, Finnish, German and Irish (EU) educational professionals joined their Serbian and Russian colleagues (non-EU) (until the invasion) in the development of Online Distance Learning tools. These tools – in Pro-VET known as Vocational Open Online Courses or VOOC’s – focused on various key aspects of state-of-the-art VET teacher professionalization.

In the survey, project partners were asked to reflect on Pro-VET and compose a series of concrete lessons, with regard to collectively developing VOOCs. The following main lessons can be drawn:

In the following we will summarize the impact of Pro-VET, as asked in the online survey sent to all project partners for this MESH guide. For partners personally, Pro-VET clearly meant a lot with regard to roughly: 1) developing VOOC’s as such, 2) getting to know new (more interactive) pedagogical approaches, 3) improving teamwork, 4) new national cooperation and international experience.

According to project partners:

For this MESH guide, project partners were asked questions via an online survey (see methods in 'design practices'). To begin locally, from within the local Russian and Serbian development teams, the overall development process was experienced as an interesting but rather ‘bumpy road’. Partners mention that while the overall teamwork was well-coordinated, it nevertheless took a lot of time and effort to make the course development process run smoothly due to various external and internal factors.

In each of their institutions, the Russian and Serbian partners formed local VOOC development teams and labs. Despite local dynamics, all institutions followed the same overarching Pro-VET development methodological approach. Russian and Serbian teams were supported by EU-partners. Some national cooperation developed as well during the course of the project.

The Internet and consequently online learning, or ‘e-learning’, have revolutionized our lives and the world of education. Whereas education traditionally predominantly took place in teacher-driven, classroom face-to-face settings, learning can nowadays take place by students anywhere and anytime. Recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, e-learning seems to have been further rooted in mainstream educational landscapes globally.

Vocational Education and Training – abbreviated as VET – is the education, training and teaching related to specific trades, occupations or vocations. The European Commission defines VET as follows: “Vocational education and training (VET) provides learners with essential skills enhancing their employability, supporting their personal development and encouraging active citizenship.

The EU Erasmus+ Pro-VET Project aimed to introduce a systematic approach to continuous professional development on European VET policy and practice for VET teachers (in-service trainers, instructors, mentors etc.) and Higher Education (HE) teachers engaged in VET teacher training in both school and work-based settings for Russia and Serbia by specifically using e-learning tools: VOOCs.

Abduhamad, S. (2020). Barriers to distance learning during the COVID-19 outbreak: A qualitative review from parents’ perspective. Heliyon, 6, 2020.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e05482.

Adedoyin, O.B. & Soykan, E. (2020). Covid-19 pandemic and online learning: the challenges and opportunities, Interactive Learning Environments.

https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1813180.