Leading House: Technologies for Vocational Training

A Research Programme of the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology.

Learning technologies are nowadays present in the educational system at almost all levels. They are however used in many different ways, based on different teaching paradigms. Because of its specific organisation, called dual system, and its specific needs, the swiss vocational education model imposes special requirements to the use of these technologies. Our Leading House does not expand traditional e-learning research, but develop a specific approach more dedicated to the specific situation of an educational program run jointly by several partners

The potential of learning technologies in vocational training goes beyond traditional elearning approaches (documents, exercises,…). DUAL-T explores learning activities that are relevant to the dual world, i.e. which stretch over schools and workplaces. The first year of research enabled us to identify specific needs of dual training that could benefit from technology enhanced learning. We encountered multiple instances of what we called the "skills gap", that is situations where the apprentices do not have the opportunity to practice at their workplace the skills that have been defined as objectives by the vocational training system.

DUAL-T considers technologies as "bridges" over the skills gap. The effectiveness of learning technologies will depend on the extent to which they support activities that target key cognitive skills (self-regulation, reflection and abstraction) without disconnecting these skills from the professional context.

Projects

1) Fostering autonomy through on-line scaffolds across learning contexts Prof. Jean-Luc Gurtner - University of Fribourg The target population of this project is car mechanics apprentices. It is based on the conjecture that one of the major achievements of learning a profession is to become autonomous in performing the tasks which are central to that profession. It investigates how mobile communication technologies can support apprentices on their way towards autonomy.

2) Learning by writing in project-based scenarios Prof. Mireille Bétrancourt - TECFA - University of Geneva This project focuses on apprentices in the health sector and particularly on dental care assistants. It investigates how ICT can support learning activities involving writing and reflecting about apprentices’ professional experience in the workplace.

3) Integrating technologies in heterogeneous contexts Prof. Pierre Dillenbourg - CRAFT - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne The project concerns apprentices in logistics. The central research question is how can a combination of tangible computing and fields of practice support the transition from workplace experience to conceptual knowledge and vice versa?

4) Transversal Project Dr. Alberto Cattaneo - Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training This project is orthogonal to the 3 other projects and hence constitutes an overarching roof for the leading house, strengthening the coherence of DUAL-T. Its aim is to generalize technology enhanced learning activities developed in projects 1 to 3 across professional contexts and across cultural (linguistic) contexts.