Vegan Food

Start: 31-12-2020 - End: 30-12-2022
Project Reference: 2020-1-TR01-KA202-094129
EU Grant: 93315 EUR
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action Type: Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Summary

Our school is Kadıköy Abdülhamid Han VET High School, which is located in Efeler district of Aydın. Our school has Food and Beverage Services and Accommodation and Travel Services areas. Due to the fact that our school was newly opened, it has deficiencies as infrastructure, promotion, equipment, workshops etc. Our school continues its way by analyzing the tourism potential and needs of the environment. Our students receive vocational theoretical training in our school for 6 months and begin their internship for next 6 months. At the end of 4 years, the owner of the workplace certificate graduates as an international professional. In this educational journey, we have a staff who are open to learning, expert in their fields, innovative administrators and teachers. Our staff provides training to 200 students.

Our students are family children whose economic status is below the minimum wage. Dispersed families are prone to dropout due to economic difficulties and failure. The best part of our students is that they want this profession voluntarily. With the aim of contributing to international tourism, keeping up with innovations and eliminating prejudices, we decided to research the Vegan Nutrition System, which takes its place among 21st century nutrition trends, with young people who are passionate about this profession.

Veganism is a way of life that opposes the exploitation and use of animals. Vegan diet has increased by 350% in the past 10 years with the effect of religion and lifestyle. 17% of the population of the Netherlands stated that it reduced vegan consumption and 25% of the meat consumption. These statistics are followed by Greece and the United Kingdom as fastest growing countries. It has been determined that 59% of the European population are also doing research on this diet.

However, the food and beverage industry could not complete its preparations. International staff trained as experts in many fields of food and beverage services fall short in Vegan cuisine. Varieties and presentations of plant-based foods need to be increased. Seeing this gap in the industry, we want our students to be informed about vegan nutrition, to learn new products, to overcome their prejudices arising from religion or lifestyle, to experience vegan guest behavior and service and to get a new module.

A boutique restaurant with our partners Finland, Greece, Ireland; Preparation and presentation of soups, main meals, snacks, appetizers, pastries, breakfasts, desserts, yoghurts, cheeses, etc, and preparing a common menu constitute the main basis of our project. An E-learning platform where we can publish our common vegan restaurant menus, recipes and works, which are the products of many cultures prepared, will be created. All the knowledge and experience gained will be brought together into a digital vegan module. Awareness will be raised on a significant shortcoming of our curriculum.

The prejudices of our students who are involved in this experience in vegan nutrition will disappear. Respect for human rights, personal preferences, religions and self-confidence will increase. Their innovative knowledge flow in a little-known diet will increase their belonging to the school, which will bring along success. The increase of their professional knowledge will enable them to love their jobs and become the sought-after employees in the sector. Increasing added values will also increase their employment in direct proportion. Our good cooperation with the industry will turn into perfection. The industry will take its share from this benefit aswell. There will not be any more shortage of international staff. Students who provide internship and employment will transfer the information they have learned from their source and make the hotels, restaurants etc. enterprises preferred. The spirit of entrepreneurship will develop. Guests who are vegan will receive service without prejudice and in accordance with their system.

Our school will contribute highly to the catering curriculum by learning a new nutrition trend from its source. Our digital vegan module, which includes vegan restaurant menus prepared with our partners, will be delivered to all VET High School teachers and students in our country from the e-mail of the MNE, General Directorate of VET. We will open stands in the first and only vegan festival “VegFest” which is made in Turkey's Aydin province Didim district, presenting our project site promotions and intellectual outputs that will meet with visitors. The results and outputs of our project will be shared with E-Learning platform, modules and menus in Aydın, food and beverage establishments, schools providing education in this field, meb managers, institution managers, seminars, promotion and workshops. These works will be carried out in our school and our stakeholder, Aquasis Deluxe Resort & Spa Hotel. A wide audience will be reached all over the world by encouraging the unlimited use of the E-learning platform.

Target Group of the Project:

Coordinator:

• Kadikoy Abdulhamid Han Mesleki ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi - Turkey

Partners:

• ANAPTIXIAKO KENTRO THESSALIAS - Greece
• OLEMISEN BALANSSIA RY - Finland
• MOMENTUM MARKETING SERVICES LIMITED - Ireland

ECVET Skills Platform

Start: 01-09-2019 - End: 31-12-2021
Project Reference: 2019-1-TR01-KA202-077191
EU Grant: 315050 EUR
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action Type: Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Summary

European education and training systems continue to fall short in providing the right skills for employability, and are not working adequately with business or employers to bring the learning experience closer to the reality of the working environment. These skills mismatches are a growing concern for European industry's competitiveness (Industrial Policy Communication Update COM, 2012, p:582 ). By 2020, 20% more jobs will require higher level skills. Education needs to drive up both standards and levels of achievement to match this demand, as well as encourage the transversal skills needed to ensure young people are able to be entrepreneurial and adapt to the increasingly inevitable changes in the labour market during their career. The scope and pace of reforms needs to be scaled up so high quality skills can support both growth and jobs (EU Commission Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes, 2012, p:2). Skills mismatch refers to a discrepancy between the demand and supply of skills on the labour market. In other words a situation in which the skills sought by employers are different from the skills offered by job-seekers or workers. In order to achieve excellence in VET, curricula must be systematically renewed, delivery must be constantly modernized and businesses, especially SMEs, must be actively involved. VET must be able to react to the demand for advanced vocational skills, tailored to the regional economic context.

Within this context given, this project aims to develop a platform through which vocational education systems and the labour market, especially the SMEs, communicate interactively, while one side voting for/valuing the skills they need and the other side, that's the vocational systems answers by updating the current curriculum. Also, the training content developed on skills analysis and mapping through the ECVET Skills Platform is considered to serve the quality of vocational education and training systems, giving the experts responsible for teaching technical skills the mission of teaching also the personal and conceptual skills.

Target group of the project is vocational education and training institutions, teachers/trainers in VET, SMEs, employers, decision makers, non-governmental organizations and trainees. It aims at creating a channel among the members of the target group to keep them updated about the needs and requirements of the firms and the provided skills at educational institutions.

During the project, the first step will be to identify qualifications of CNC Machining according to EQF as Level 4. Then, secondly, defining the expectations of the firms will be taken together with the opinions of technical teachers. In this context, ideas and expectations from firms and individuals in decision-making positions in the labour market will be gathered and a list of the necessary skills required will be established. Then, with ECVET Skills platform that will be installed on the internet, a ranking of importance will be listed by firms. This is the most innovative part of the project. Following this, the training curriculum in vocational high schools for CNC Manchine will be renewed and/or developed in order to ensure the most needed top ten skills. Trainers will be trained on this platform and will be informed about how they should implement their education. Then, hese trainers will apply the top ten skill-building training curricula on the qualification list from the digital platform.

The students and teachers will be able to access into the videos and teaching materials on the platform and assess their own learning with the rubric provided. Therefore, they will have higher self-esteem in terms of qualifications and the market can be more satisfied in with hiring more qualified employers. On the other hand, top ten skill lists created by firms; and all teaching materials and videos created in a dynamic fashion can be downloaded openly to all individuals in order to ensure that the created platform reaches wider population. Thus, as students, teachers, and trainers easily access these information, the widespread impact of the platform will be increased.

Establishing a vocational education and training curriculum and extensive content by using an online web portal to develop a system for skills and qualifications that are supposed to be based on the needs of the labour markets is the innovative wall of the project. One of the pioneering innovative elements will be enabling countries to obtain the skill ranking of CNC machining. The proposed web portal can be seen as one of the most key innovations of the project, since it will be accessible by all related stakeholders.

Website:

Coordinator:

• ISTANBUL VALILIGI - TURKEY

Partners:

• ANAPTIXIAKO KENTRO THESSALIAS - GREECE
• Yakacik Mesleki Ve Teknik Anadolu Lisesi - TURKEY
• SACHSISCHE BILDUNGSGESELLSCHAFT FURUMWELTSCHUTZ UND CHEMIEBERUFE DRESDEN MBH - SBG - GERMANY
• WIENER INSTITUT FUR ARBEITSMARKT- UND BILDUNGSFORSCHUNG - AUSTRIA
• EUROMASC AS - NORWAY
• INSTITUTO PARA EL FOMENTO DEL DESARROLLO Y LA FORMACION SL - SPAIN
• ISTANBUL SANAYI ODASI - TURKEY
• ISTANBUL TEKNIK UNIVERSITESI - TURKEY

Tutorbot for VET

Start: 01-10-2018 - End: 30-09-2020
Project Reference: 2018-1-FR01-KA202-048229
EU Grant: 275698 EUR
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action Type: Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Summary

The advances of technology in the modern world has dramatically changed how we live our day-to-day lives including the learning processes. However, according to the data provided by the Commission, 37% of the EU workforce has low digital skills or none and only 20-25% of them are taught by teachers who are confident using technology in the classroom. Early 2018, the Commission adopted a Digital Education Action Plan which includes 11 initiatives to support technology use and digital competence development in education, one of its key action focuses on supporting the digital readiness of both general and vocational schools by strengthening their digital capacity.

This is why the partners created this project that aims at designing and testing an innovative digital methodology for VET that combines Conversational Agent Technology or chatbot with an ad hoc designed modular learning path. /p>

Chatbots are computer programs that use artificial intelligence and machine learning to conduct conversation via auditory or textual methods. It is a form of a dialog system of virtual assistant, giving them the ability to, for example, small talking or engaging in casual conversations unrelated to the scopes of their primary expert systems. Its usage has increased enormously in the last 5 years with the internet of things but also with their integration on massive messaging platform (Facebook Messenger, WeChat or Kik). Instead of downloading yet another app, users are comfortable using their messaging apps to complete other tasks, like booking a table or checking the weather.

Adapted chatbot systems can offer students a range of advantages and act as a digital form of tutoring based on their ability to respond to their needs in an immediate and natural manner, particularly where interaction occurs within the broader context of an integrated learning environment. Furthermore, chatbots exhibit the capacity to create informal connections with users that they can be leveraged to support ubiquity and self-directed learning as well as personal and professional development. These characteristics are extremely important in the learning process and the benefits of the tutoring of students has been demonstrated on many occasions in the scientific literature for all learners, and especially for the disadvantaged ones.

This is why we offer to create together a Tutor Chatbot to support the students in their learning process and the trainers in their training. To do so we intend give the tools to trainers to create their own chatbot in the form of a chatbot creator platform, but also 4 different chatbots, filled with content and connected to the learning outcomes of the VET centres involved in the project, as well as a chatbot design guide and a chatbot creation training module to support trainers and VET organisations in developing their own chatbots.

Website:

Coordinator:

• EDULOG - FRANCE

Partners:

• ANAPTIXIAKO KENTRO THESSALIAS - GREECE
• ASSOCIACIO PER A LA CREACIO I ESTUDIS DE PROJECTES SOCIALS C.E.P.S. - SPAIN
• Grone-Bildungszentren Berlin GmbH -gemeinnützig- - GERMANY
• SCS LogoPsyCom - BELGIUM
• ISTITUTO FORMAZIONE OPERATORI AZIENDALI - ITALY

Digital Innovative Media Publishing for All

Start: 01-11-2018 - End: 31-10-2020
Project Reference: 2018-1-FR01-KA202-048220
EU Grant: 281568 EUR
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action Type: Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Summary

Digital skills are today as important as being able to read or write in order to remain employable in a more and more digitalized working place. They are used and expected in more than 90% of jobs, in every professional sector. However, European Union is facing a huge digital skills challenge. According to a factsheet released in September 2017 by the European Commision (“A Digital Europe needs Digital Skills”) only 56% of Europeans aged from 16 to 75 have at least basic digital skills.

One big trend of the digitalization of the labor market, that impacts all sectors, is the massive publishing of multimedia digital contents, gradually replacing traditional printed documents or opening the door to new kinds of publication.

Augmented reality, virtual reality, 360° video, enriched publications are conquering our screens, our cultural and professional practices and thus revolutionizing the way we produce and consult content.

However, if professionals come into almost daily contact with these new forms of enriched content in their professional and personal lives, few of them know their means of production, their cost, their use....

These new technologies are often perceived as complex, expensive and reserved for specialists and often cause reluctance or even anxiety when we are asked to use or implement them within a company. The lack of knowledge of easy-to-use creation tools increase the gap between “specialists” or “geeks” and the whole of professionals.

In order to tackle this issue, we intend to create the first European training on the practices and tools of 6 main technologies involved in enhanced contents publishing and dissemination: EPUB 3, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Video 360°, Interactive Video and augmented printed materials.

Practically, the Digital Innovative Media Publishing for All project will gather:

• A MOOC on the new technologies of enhanced content publishing
• Toolkits on tools of production and database of resources
• Reusable models
• Explanatory sheets
• A training implementation guide

The project will target learners of all age involved in the VET sectors, including the trainers and teachers. To do so, we intend to create a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) that will be accessible by all and to collaborate with VET providers in order to integrate the content of this course to their curricula.

In addition, we will pay a special attention to make the content available for all in order to avoid leaving learners on the side. Therefore, the content that will be created will be designed to be adapted as much as possible for individuals with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) which represent 8 to 15% of the population in Europe, depending on the sources.

As the digitalization of the professional world is a global process and all european countries are facing the same issue, our consortium gather VET providers and trainers in ICT in order to answer globally at vocational transversal needs that go beyond national and sectoral borders.

We will provide a learning certification for our learners : this certificate will be worth 1 ECVET.

During the program, we aim at gathering for the research, testing and use of the contents:

• More than 100 professionals in their respective network contacted and linked per partner (20 per partner)
• At least 500 learners attending the MOOC
• A completion rate of 20% of the MOOC (double the average of online course)
• More than 500 users of the Open educational resources

In terms of dissemination, we aim to reach directly:

• 80 people attending the International multiplier event
• 200 (40x5) people attending the national multiplier events.
• More than 500 VET institutions contacted
• More 2.500 people reached through the dissemination campaign

The DIMPA project has the practical objective to provide learners with operational tools, enabling them to define a digital strategy relying on enhanced contents production. In that way, we will improve their digital skills. Their professional curriculum will have a genuine added value to answer the imperatives of evolving professional practices and the expectations of employers and audiences. The will be able to reuse immediately a set of practical tools providing by the training within their daily professional practice, and thus improve their working tools.

We intend that the DIMPA training will be an asset to increase participant employment not only at local job market, but also at international level.

The DIMPA project is designed to function independently at the end of the project. By developing an easy-to-use platform and providing the training implementation guide, we expect VET community and trainers to appropriate the platform after the EU financing.

Website:

Coordinator:

• Rhéatis - FRANCE

Partners:

• ANAPTIXIAKO KENTRO THESSALIAS - GREECE
• ASSOCIACIO PER A LA CREACIO I ESTUDIS DE PROJECTES SOCIALS C.E.P.S. - SPAIN
• SCS LogoPsyCom - BELGIUM
• BERUFSFORDERUNGSINSTITUT OBEROSTERREICH - AUSTRIA
• Les Apprimeurs - FRANCE

Education for Zero Waste and Circular Economy

Start: 01-10-2018 - End: 30-09-2020
Project Reference: 2018-1-EL01-KA202-047749
EU Grant: 240340 EUR
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action Type: Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Summary

The transition to Circular Economy (CE) is an essential contribution to the EU efforts of developing a sustainable, low carbon, resource efficient and competitive economy (Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the CE, 2015). Such a transition represents the opportunity to transform our economy, generate green jobs and build up sustainable competitive advantages for Europe. This project aims to fill a gap in Vocational Education and Training (VET) programmes dealing with zero waste and circular economy.

Skills and competences for Zero Waste and Circular Economy (ZW&CE) are becoming extremely important. In Europe, we are using per person 16 t/a (tons per year) of material, of which 5 t/a become waste. Although waste management continues to improve, the EU economy still loses a significant fraction of potential 'secondary raw materials' in waste streams. The CE package, adopted by the Commission in 2015, has created an important momentum to support the transition towards a more CE in the EU. CE gained more significance in 2018 when the new CE Action Plan and a series of more restrictive waste and product policies have been adopted (eg, plastic policy). Transition to CE may only be successful if the corresponding awareness, competences and skills are deeply embedded in the knowledge and daily routine of EU professionals and companies and from this perspective VET education for ZW&CE is critical.

The primary goal of EduZWaCE Strategic Partnerships is to supporting exchange of good practices, enabling stakeholders to deepen and spread out knowledge, develop and reinforce networks, increase their capacity to operate at transnational level, and share and confront ideas, practices and methods. The project aims to create new VET programmes dealing with waste and circular economy, and focuses on developing the interdisciplinary skills needed for the jobs of the future that are tailor-made for the needs of the employers/SMEs.

With this project we would like to build up a common approach for VET Teachers and learners across EU to respond to the requirements of the future and flexible job market.

The project will focus on the following specific objectives:

• Develop partnerships amongst educators, businesses and stakeholders with the purpose of supporting VET learners in acquiring and developing skills and key competences in CE and foster employability
• Facilitate recognition and validation of competences for new jobs: the ZW&CE Manager and the ZW&CE Technician, by building two Skill Card Sets, structured in accordance with the standards and designed based on the ECVET requirements.
• Make education in ZW&CE available for all, by setting the EduZWaCE as an Open Education Resource (OER)

The project will be implemented based on a collaborative approach: cooperation between the project partners and collaboration between the consortium and the stakeholders at the local, national, and international level. EduZWaCE will respect the Sociocracy 3.0 collaborative approach. The project outcomes will be delivered using free, open, collective purpose based framework of patterns, will support exchange of good practices allowing organisations to develop and reinforce networks. It will increase their capacity to operate at transnational level, share and confront ideas, practices and methods whilst respecting co-creativity principles, fostering transparency and guaranteeing the equivalence of all participants in decision making.

Through its deliverables: (1) EduZWaCE Knowledge HUB; (2) EduZWaCE Skill Card Sets for two jobs roles; (3) EduZWaCE online collaborative platform; (4) EduZWaCE course and (5) EduZWaCE diagnosis tool, the project will foster cooperation between companies, stakeholders and VET educators. It will increase motivation of VET Teachers to use/re-use, adapt and/or modify the training materials, with the aim to improve the acquisition of key competences for their learners/students and to raise awareness of the local and regional policy makers on the importance of taking measures for promoting best practices and flexible learning pathways in VET from an interdisciplinary perspective.

On long term the project will have a strong impact on the creation of better interdisciplinary competences directly used for current or future professions and to the adoption of more circular economy solutions.

The project involves an appropriate mix of complementary participating organisations with the necessary profile, experience and expertise to successfully deliver all aspects of the project. They will become the facilitators of the EduZWaCE platform, support its utilization and the co-creation of CE solutions through cooperation and exchange – this will empower them as main stakeholders of ZW&CE application in the countries and will contribute to their organisational development.

Website:

Coordinator:

• ANAPTIXIAKO KENTRO THESSALIAS - GREECE

Partners:

• UNIVERZA V MARIBORU - SLOVENIA
• ENVIROS SRO - CZECHIA
• PROSPEKTIKER INSTITUTO EUROPEO DE PROSPECTIVA Y ESTRATEGIA SA - SPAIN
• EKOrast - SLOVAKIA
• Laboratorio Nacional de Energia e Geologia I.P. - PORTUGAL
• STADTLABOR INNOVATIONEN FUR URBANELEBENSQUALITAT GMBH - AUSTRIA
• Asociatia Centrul National pentru Productie si Consum Durabile - ROMANIA
• Global Reach Astiki Mi Kerdoskopiki Etaireia - GREECE
• ATMOTERM SA - POLAND

Establishment of a Modular Ecvet System in Europe

Start: 01-09-2015 - End: 31-08-2018
Project Reference: 2015-1-TR01-KA202-022287
EU Grant: 352825.75 EUR
Programme: Erasmus+
Key Action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices
Action Type: Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Summary

Adult learning covers the entire spectrum of what we learn after leaving initial education and training. This includes work- and career-oriented learning –obtaining new qualifications, up-skilling or re-skilling for employment – but also learning for personal development and active citizenship. Ensuring that Europe’s citizens keep developing their knowledge, skills and competence throughout their lives is vital for employment, competitiveness and innovation, especially considering demographic change and the challenges of globalisation. For these reasons, In this project we focus on adult learning to enhance the quality of European education as well certification and validation of their skills through an ECVET Modular system. A major concern is tackling unemployment and raising the rate of adult participation in learning, particularly of low-qualified adults and older citizens. Vocational education and training (VET) in a broad sense, including formal, non-formal and informal learning – in particular learning at the workplace – is a fundamental contribution to lifelong and lifewide learning of adults.

This project contribute the recognition of abilities of adult learners which were acquired outside the formal (national) vocational education and training system such as in other countries’ VET systems, on the job, during work or study periods abroad, within in-company training or learning taking place during leisure time becomes more and more important in the light of skill shortages and skill mismatches. This is especially important in transition periods such as when recruiting new personnel, looking for a new job, changing career paths or entering into further education. In this project, The recognition of prior learning of “event managers” enables employers to make use of candidates full set of abilities, applicants to present all their abilities and those seeking additional training to shorten study periods in order to achieve a new qualification.In this project we will enhance the access of adult participation in lifelong learning ‘enabling flexible access to training and qualifications’ to raise participation and to open access for all adults. them without barriers through Online Training Platform.

The ESVET project is a response to the needs of event managers who have low initial qualifications and encounter obstacles to the acceptance and certification of their professional experience. In order to improve the qualifications of workers in this sector, the project will draw up a European qualification standard for event management by describing managerial competences. It is intended to promote the recognition of learning outcomes for the event manager profile by developing a method of assessment using an ECVET and learning outcome-oriented approach. As a main product, the project will create and develop an assessment tool based on the CEMES methodology for the occupational field event manager. For this purpose, learning units are defined and action-oriented skills are described.

Website: www.esvet.org

Coordinator:

• Inovasyon Proje Gelistirme Egitim ve Danismanlik Hizmetleri San.Tic.Ltd.Sti - TURKEY

Partners:

• Centrul de Resurse pentru Educatie si Formare Profesionala - ROMANIA
• IBS-CEMES Institut GmbH - GERMANY
• INSTITUT ZA PODGOTOVKA NA SLUJITELIV MEJDUNARODNI ORGANIZACII ZDRUZHENIE - BULGARIA
• Global Egitim Kultur ve Iletisim Dernegi - TURKEY
• INSTITUTO DE SOLDADURA E QUALIDADE - PORTUGAL
• ANAPTIXIAKO KENTRO THESSALIAS - GREECE
• Biedriba Eurofortis - LATVIA