3 April 2024 – The challenges of digitisation in secondary vocational education in the field of mechanical engineering were the focus of the closing conference of the project Academy for Combined Learning.
The project co-financed by the Norway Grants, has developed six interactive learning materials with the support of institutional partnerships and the exchange of knowledge and good practice. These learning materials are the first of their kind on the Slovenian market. They are intended for school and independent use in mechanical engineering programmes in secondary and higher education. The teachers from technical schools and other conference participants had the opportunity to learn about the possibilities of using the developed materials.
The conference was opened by the Executive Director of Rokus Klett Publishing House, Maruša Kmet Dejak, who was the Project Promoter.
The keynote speaker was Marko Lotrič, President of the National Council of the Republic of Slovenia. He stressed that it is the efforts for cross-sectoral cooperation, networking between researchers, entrepreneurs and the education system that contribute to competitiveness and higher added value. He believes that such projects will empower students to come out of education systems with the right skills and thus be more employable.
In the main part of the conference, a panel of guests from secondary education, university education and business shared their experiences and concerns about the changes they are facing in their work and in their organisations because of digitalisation. Speakers stressed the importance of acquiring new skills for a different way of teaching. They also stressed the need to teach students a different way of learning. And since the combined learning model means both learning through various online applications and learning in the classroom, the right materials are very important.
In the second part of the event, ten teachers presented how they use the materials they have developed.
The Project Promotor of project Academy for Combined Learning is Rokus Klett Publishing House and the project partners are the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia – Institute for Business Education, Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Ljubljana, School Centre Novo mesto and the Gyldendal Norsk Forlag AS from Norway.
SOURCE: Academy for Combined Learning