Collaborative tools and techniques

My initial research around vocational education indicated that collaborative tools and techniques are important to creating and maintaining partnerships.

The rationale of the study tour included this point:

“How collaborative tools and techniques can be used to manage communication where stakeholders are spread across geography, language and time zones.”

My research identified one organisation and 2 systems that were often quoted in research articles:

• ·         Cedefop http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en
• ·         ePALE https://ec.europa.eu/epale/en
• ·         Erasmus+ https://www.erasmusplus.org/

So I guess the big questions are: how widely are these systems used? How do frontline teachers use these systems? How do educational leaders use these systems?

I’ve tried to follow three simple steps with all of my interviews:

1. 1.    I send them a copy of the interview themes and draft questions so they can think ahead about my interview. I also reassure them that the interview will be informal and that the questions will guide our conversation and not be used individually
2. 2.    I conduct the interviews in as informal and natural a conversation as possible. I talk to them about who I am and why I have come to visit world leaders in education, I usually ask them about themselves and what role they play, I then try to use some of the points that they raise to introduce the themes of my questions. So far this technique has worked very well.
3. 3.    In my third step(s) I email them to thank them for their time, ask them if they have any further points they’d like to add, ask them if they would like to know more about the Australian VET sector and ask them if they would like to browse through some of our teaching resources from our Moodle LMS.

I’ll create an individual blog entry for each of these collaborative entities and tools and add my notes to them as I progress through the interviews.

Initial impression based on the interviews so far (6^th May 2016):

·         Almost every teacher has heard of the Erasmus+ program and knows of examples where teachers and students have taken part in the exchange program. https://www.erasmusplus.org/

·         Most teachers have heard about Cedefop but are not that aware of the work that they do. I suspect, but need to investigate further, that Cedefop is operating at a much more strategic level focused on European standards and policy rather than at an operational teachers level. http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en, https://www.facebook.com/Cedefop/?fref=nf

·         Most teachers have not heard about the ePALE system yet it is full of great articles and ideas. I suspect, but need to investigate further, that the system is mainly being used by managers and support staff to promote change in education and that teachers hear about the ideas through their support leasers. I need to investigate this further. https://ec.europa.eu/epale/en. This is a site that any teacher can join plus they have a very good Facebook page that you can like https://www.facebook.com/EPALE.EU/