Educating Designerly Thinkers for Vocational Education and Training: Design Thinking Tool for Educators Erasmus Project

Project Title

Educating Designerly Thinkers for Vocational Education and Training: Design Thinking Tool for Educators

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Open and distance learning

Project Summary

The transitions in global economy, the use of digital technologies in the realm of work and the development of new types of entrepreneurship are changing the profile of jobs. These changes pose a major challenge to the systems of initial vocational education and training (IVET). Having regard to the issues in IVET system (slowness in updating curricula; the governance models, and sector specific characteristics), DT4VET aims to pursue a strategy apt to make IVET system reflective and active in addressing the ever-changing skills demands of labour market.

DT4VET foresees benefit in changing the PRAXIS of vocational education; the mind-set, values, the practices of people who are educating the future qualified and entrepreneurial workforce of Europe. The field requires REFLECTIVE Educators: Open to take initiatives responsively; skilled to determine problems and produce solutions; skilled to revise/improve critically their teaching methods/contents even beyond the expectations of the market.

DT4VET considers DESIGN THINKING (DT) as a key method/process to trigger reflective practices in educators. DT provides a method that has the potential to simultaneously address most of transversal skills, such as the ability to think creatively and critically, take initiative, and work collaboratively for common goals, and entrepreneurship competences in a systemic/holistic approach.

The main GOAL of DT4VET is to enhance the transversal skills and entrepreneurship competences of educators teaching at vocational technical high schools by devising strategic actions that implement “design thinking” into the training of educators. DT4VET project activities are mediums of collaboration and co-learning, and teaching among its partners that pursue five strategic objectives:
1. Compile problem solving methods in the vocational training of project partners; review existing courses and trainings, identifying deficiencies/mistakes, evaluate this information and make a mapping;
2. Make bilateral cooperation between countries representing the groups of active players and aspiring countries to enable peer learning, leading to better VET system responsiveness to global trends;
3. Teach educators in vocational technical high schools and future educators a PROCESS of solving complex tasks through the method of design thinking;
4. Make the method of design thinking an accessible, understandable, sustainable tool through a shared and inclusive approach.
5. Propel DESIGN THINKING tool as an incubator for VET educators/trainers who want to rethink the education system and the current teaching/learning methodologies.
DT4VET, as a trilateral partnership consisting of 7 partners from 4 countries, create an interaction field among key experts from the field of design (TOBB ETU, METU Turkey; VAMK, Finland) and VET (SNS, Italy; ITB University of Bremen, Germany; Ministry of National Education, Turkey), coupled with the target group of the project, that is, current and future VET Educators (Ankara Chamber of Industry Vocational and Technical High School, teachers from schools affiliated to MoNE, Turkey; students of ITB Uni Bremen).

DT4VET is structured in three interlinked and parallel progressing work packages (WPs) and the activities leading to four intellectual outputs coordinated by five workteams (WT). To prepare the foundation of DT toolkit tailored for VET Educators, WT1 (experts in DT) maps and analyses existing methods/models/tools in design thinking leading to the publication of “Re-Thinking Design Thinking” (O1); WT2 makes the needs analysis of VET Educators across European Countries leading to the publication of “What do IVET need?” (O2). WT1-2 organize two DT4VET Staff Trainings that interrelate O1 with O2.

Based on this foundation, WT3 creates a user-friendly toolkit that user can naturally gain creative problem solving skills, DT4VET Toolkit (O3) that is tested/assessed/redeveloped via four training activities with target groups: DT4VET Educators Trainings (2 in Ankara, 2 in Bremen). To gain widespread adoption of the toolkit by stakeholders, WT3 elaborates DT4VET online training module (O4) that is tested with target groups, consequently put online, open access, on DT4VET website, School Gateway: Teachers Academy and METU BilgeIş, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC).

WT M ensures successful project implementation in WP1 and disseminates outputs through two DT4VET Seminars, and DT4VET website in WP2; WT QA coordinates the internal and external evaluations of project activities and the outputs in WP3. The activities in the different WTs are managed through five transnational project meetings.

The expected outcome for the participating partners is the implementation of DT4VET trainings at their institutions; for the teachers trained by DT4VET is the improved skills in creative thinking. The expected long-term impacts of DT4VET will be the development of a culture of creative thinking process by this tool among VET educators.

Project Website

http://dt4vet.etu.edu.tr

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 189049 Eur

Project Coordinator

TOBB EKONOMI VE TEKNOLOJI UNIVERSITESI & Country: TR

Project Partners

• ÖZEL ANKARA SANAYİ ODASI (ASO) TEKNİK KOLEJİ MESLEKİ VE TEKNİK ANADOLU LİSESİ
• OY VAASAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU – VASAYRKESHOGSKOLA AB
• MINISTRY OF NATIONAL EDUCATION
• MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
• FONDAZIONE SCUOLA NAZIONALE SERVIZI
• UNIVERSITAET BREMEN