Show your own gold – a European Concept to Visualize and Reflect One’s Vocational Biography Using Digital Media Erasmus Project

Project Title

Show your own gold – a European Concept to Visualize and Reflect One’s Vocational Biography Using Digital Media

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Context/background of the project; aims and objectives:
The project aimed to support young unemployed Europeans in the difficult phase of school to work transition by developing, testing and evaluating a European concept to help them shape their vocational biography. The project intended to make them practically set up and visualize their competences and interests by actively producing media, uploaded on a Web-based multimedia portfolio environment. A course curriculum design to support reflection and appropriate media formats for individual biographical narratives was developed, tested and evaluated. Within the project, both the web-based online multimedia environment and the consultancy of young people was be developed in the form of accompanying courses offered in 6 countries.
The main activities undertaken were the following:
1. A desk study (analysis, literature review) of the situation of vocational preparation organised and embedded in the VET system and the employment situation of young people in the countries. This is necessary in that no studies are at present available on the analysis of the integration of the concept of vocational biography design in vocational preparation in the participating countries;
2. the development of the courses (curriculum design) and 3. the application in the 6 partner countries, followed by 4. a set qualitative interviews and surveys with the social actors involved, such as trainees and trainers, accompanied by a series of transnational work meetings. A staff training event was set up to train project workers in the countries. A multiplier event was set up to improve impact and dissemination of the results at transnational level.
The didactic approach of the course design was based on constructivist and constructionist media education, combining active design and reflection processes of the young participants to visualize their vocational biography, strengths and competences. The project focussed on learning processes for the conception and production of authentic media products and biographical narratives for vocational self-presentation in online multimedia portfolios. These biographical media products served to present the young people in the context of their educational backgrounds, vocational experience and interests. The online multimedia portfolio environment was co-designed by the project partners, according to the needs identified in the countries and technically realized by the partner Pontydysgu.
6 institutions with a high expertise within media education with young people, media design, visual culture, as well as VET, vocational preparation and continuous training constitute the strategic partnership. They have very wide experience in research within European projects. All of them have participated in a considerable number of projects within European Commission programmes related to VET and media: most or even all of their research is carried out by means of contracts with external institutions such as social partners or individual enterprises: The Institute of Vocational and General Education (IBP) at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT (coordination) undertaking research and teching in VET, including technology didactics, vocational preparation and orientation target gorups; The University of Barcelona’s Esbrina research group undertaking educational research in visual culture and media education; Pontydysgu ltd., U.K. a research and development company in Wales; AxA Consulting, a training provider in Bucarest/Romania as well as the Zavoid Nefiks, a non-profit provider offering pre-VET projects in Ljubljana/Slovenia.
Results and impact attained:
The courses were applied sucessfully with young people in all partner countries. To facilitate the dissemination of the project’s approach and results, an international Youth Panel was set up. Depending on the strong partnership and cooperation in the project, both the social actors, stakeholders and policy makers involved in pre-VET were integrated in the project and part of the multiplier event held. Bringing together policy makers, practitioners and researchers, a wide spread of results was realized..
Long-term benefits are implemented through the inclusion of university students of the partners in higher education. Further pre-VET training providers and schools involved in the project plan to continue working with the concept in the future.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 334215 Eur

Project Coordinator

KARLSRUHER INSTITUT FUER TECHNOLOGIE & Country: DE

Project Partners

• INSTITUTO POLITECNICO DE BEJA
• ZAVOD NEFIKS – INSTITUT ZA PROMOCIJO IN BELEZENJE NEFORMALNO PRIDOBLJENEGA ZNANJA
• PONTYDYSGU LIMITED
• SC AxA Consulting 99 SRL
• UNIVERSITAT DE BARCELONA