Within the CRAFTS 3.0 project, content development is ongoing across all partners. As INQS is developing content around Competence Unit 4 – “Monitoring supporting and evaluating the  learning process”, we thought that we would share some of the developed content which is aimed at supporting handicraft teachers:

A very useful tool to encourage students to engage in self-reflection and self-evaluation is the use of journaling tools. These can provide an effective way of encouraging apprentices to frequently and consistently engage in reflection to capture their experiences and learning and to reflect on these.

 

There are multiple tools available for this process, but a common tools which may be particularly useful is a blog. A ‘Blog’ is is basically a website that can serve as an online personal journal or diary. Entries into blogs are called “posts” and use text, images, audio, video, file uploads — everything you use in a normal website. These can include activities like using some software, changing some settings, etc. Entries into blogs are called “posts” and can use text, images, audio, video, file uploads, etc. It is also often possible for other people to add comments to posts, facilitating discussion.

If apprentices are required to produce a report every 2 weeks, for example, you must gather the reports from apprentices, keep track of the files, etc. This can be further complicated by additional requirements such as providing apprentices with feedback, track learning progress through time, etc.

The use of blogs as a tool for a self-reflection can help address this problem by providing a single location where evidence of apprentice work or reflection can be uploaded, where feedback can be given and which is accessible from anywhere.

 

By adding their reflections as posts/ entries in a blog, apprentices can use text, images, audio, video, file uploads, etc. to quickly and easily submit content as often and as frequently as they wish. If a reflection from an apprentice work is submitted as a post in a blog, this ensures that all of a apprentice's reflections will be available in the same location, will be accessible to you at all times and will be automatically ordered in a chronological fashion – removing the need for you to track and organize apprentice work. It is also possible to quickly and easily provide apprentices with feedback in their blog by leaving comments directly under a post.

For more on the Crafts 3.0 project (including the developed European ECVET Curriculum on Management of Apprenticeship Programs for Handicraft Teachers), please see  http://crafts-project.eu/