Digitalization -exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic- has seriously disrupted Vocational Education and Training delivery. The sector increasingly uses digital methods and tools, moving towards hybrid approaches that incorporate online courses. This is especially challenging for smaller VET institutions and those which are particularly limited in resources. VETCAMP aims to help these VET institutions harness the potential of online distance education as an important part of continuity planning for these challenging times.
Instead of trying to duplicate the efforts of other VET institutions, the Green VET Online Campus will offer to smaller VET institutions the opportunity to capitalize on existing resources. The Campus will offer solutions for VET institutions that need supplemental digital content to provide more asynchronous learning opportunities in existing courses on green skills and sustainable development. By leveraging ready-made online resources, VET institutions can focus on precious classroom time (whatever form that takes) supporting student success, allowing students to learn at their own pace and get help when they need it, and opening the opportunity to scale class sizes.
VETCAMP encompasses not only technology but also pedagogical and instructional strategies to configure a complete online learning environment for green skills development. Based on the experience in higher education, it designs and uses Open Educational Resources (OER) to improve access to high-quality educational content released under open licenses by outstanding educational institutions worldwide. OER combined with online learning can improve the quality of the curricula in smaller VET institutions while equalizing the learning outcomes of international programs and reducing the cost associated with educational content development.
An important element of the Green VET Online Campus is the emphasis on the development – for the first time- of a common regulatory framework for the online development and sharing of high-quality VET courses. VETCAMP partners are aware of the possible IPR and other license constraints or regulatory barriers that restrict sharing, reuse and possible adaptation of resources. The Regulatory Framework suggested by VETCAMP aims to build on OER and Open Educational Practices for removing these barriers and creating the ground for effective cooperation between VET institutions, offering separate terms and conditions regarding the commercial use of the online learning resources after the project’s end.
VETCAMP is co-funded by the ERASMUS+ programme of the European Union for a duration of three years (11/2021 – 11/2024).