In my two previous blogs I started a series of reports on the ‘start of the year 2016′ meetings in with our EU-funded Learning Layers (LL) project. In the first post I reported on the meeting of the LL teams of ITB and Pont, and in the second post on our working meeting in Bau-ABC. In this third post I give an account on the video conference in which the Work Package Leaders of the LL project discussed the preparation of our next consortium meeting in Innsbruck (2.2.-5.2.2016).

Below I try follow the reconstruct the discussion based on the recording of the meeting (in which I could not participate). I try to put an emphasis on the thematic blocks (and on the specific accents) that were set for the preparation of future activities. I do not try to give a comprehensive report but rather limit myself to the points that we should take up in the construction pilot team.

1) The integrated deliverable of the LL project of the Year 4

The idea of a single integrated deliverable was already discussed at the end of the Y3 Review meeting and it was agreed with great enthusiasm in the consortium. For our further work it is of importance that this deliverable is interpreted as the “Layers package of exploitables” (a comprehensive package of useful objects/resources to support exploitation of results). Now this idea is taking shape in different thematic blocks (see below).

2) Documentation of the impact of project with “Layers scorecards”

Tobias Ley had already in December presented a practical solution for documenting impact with the help of ‘scorecards’ that can be used in different field activities. The basic card has three main fields for describing a) the situation before the LL project, b) the contribution of the LL project and c) the situation after the project. In addition, the card has smaller fields for specifying different aspects of the impact. During the final year the project can collect booklets of scorecards within different activities and highlight ‘evidence of the month’. (See https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7vXuqBBjr9PX1RxUkpmZUt5Zkk/view .) This tool will be developed further in the Innsbruck meeting.

3) Collection of ‘training materials’ to support the roll-out of LL tools

Pablo Franzolini and Kai Pata presented the idea, how to include the component of ‘training materials’ into the deliverables. Already during the Y3 Pablo has supported the healthcare pilot team in preparing video material for webinars (with special emphasis on filming from different angles and making the presentations more lively). Whilst the use of webinars and videos have so far been rather tool-centered, the idea is now to shift the emphasis from single tools to combined use of tools in order to meet context-specific needs. (In this respect the demonstrations in the Y3 Review meeting were rehearsals for such materials.) As was mentioned in the discussion, we need to consider, when and how we can produce such material for different pilot sectors and spin-off initiatives.

4) Bringing together different evaluation agendas

The discussion on the evaluation activities – led by Ronald Maier and Stefan Thalmann – was inspired by the key question: “How to document changes  in the patterns of learning in the context of work in the pilot sectors (including the role of web tools/apps and mobile technologies?” It became evident that the more conceptual and context-oriented inquiries need to be supported by technical data collection (whenever it is possible) and these aspects need to linked to each other. In a similar way positive and negative findings regarding changes vs. obstacles to changes need to be discussed from the perspective of promoting innovations and marketing products and services.

5) Further discussion on the Dev-Ops model, Design patterns and Design-based research

One of the recommendations of the Y3 Review meeting was to enrich the Dev-Ops model with more elements of user engagement (that were presented in the sectoral reports). As a partial response to this, the meeting discussed the plan to prepare a comprehensive presentation on the Dev-Ops model, on Design patterns and on the LL approach(es) to Design-based research. It was agreed that the Confer Tool should be used to support this work. This work will be led by Ralf Klamma and John Cook.

6) Integrative group picture of parallel (mutually coordinated) exploitation initiatives

Already from the beginning of the year Gilbert Peffer and Raymond Elferink have organised bilateral or trilateral conversations with LL partners to create a comprehensive model of exploitation activities.  The aim is to compress the pictures given by different exploitation stories and to create more transparency between different initiatives. In this way different partners can find their roles and possibilities in a joint group picture. And with the help of this model the partners can trace the changes from current project partnership to future partnerships (in follow-up projects) or future business relations (in commercial exploitation activities). Alongside this work the clarification of IPR issues will be continued as a sub-theme of defining these partnership or business relations.

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I think this as much as I can report on this meeting. At the moment we (the ITB-team) are preparing ourselves for the bilateral/trilateral exploitation talks with Gilbert (and Raymond). We are looking forward to this useful milestone in the set of the ‘start-of-the-year meetings’.

More blogs to come …

In my previous blog I started a series of reports on the ‘start of the year 2016’ meetings in with our EU-funded Learning Layers (LL) project. The first post reported on the first meeting of the local LL teams of ITB and Pont in Bremen. This second post reports on our first working visit to Bau-ABC to discuss the current tasks in our fieldwork. From ITB Ludger Deitmer and I participated, from Bau-ABC Melanie Campbell and Kerstin Engraf. (A more detailed report on this meeting is available (in German) in the Learning Layers Google Drive document https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lgL4hCjkaRZnrY17E0swQcvxWqR7XvrkmaK2fnUhh_s.)

Firstly we took up some issues that were already discussed in the ITB-Pont meeting, in particular the situation in the development of Learning Toolbox and the timeline for pilot testing and evaluation. Our conclusion was that it is crucial to get the interactive communication channel and the group functionality (in addition to some other improvements) for the pilot version to be tested from March on. The active period for pilot testing in Bau-ABC will be from March to the end of May. The optimal period for evaluation measures will be the end of May and beginning of June. This year the summer holiday will start in the middle of June and and by 24th of July.

Secondly we noted the situation with the new projects and in the preparation of new proposals. Considering the new project on continuing vocational training (CVT) we discussed the need of some bridging measures already in the context of the ongoing LL project (see the next point on User Survey). Concerning the cluster-initiative “Bauen 4.0” we noted that colleagues from Bau-ABC cannot attend in the first meeting (on the coming Friday) but ITB will be represented and discuss some joint project ideas that were agreed earlier. We also agreed to cooperate with the preparation of a proposal for Horizon 2020, Topic “Technologies for Learning and Skills”. As a specific possibility for Bau-ABC we discussed the funding program of the German Ministry of Education (BMBF) to support digitisation of intermediate training centres. We agreed to get back to this once Bau-ABC has internally agreed on its priorities (in the light of two alternative funding priorities).

Thirdly, we discussed the continuation of the User Survey (on mobile technologies and web apps/tools as support for learning). In this context the Bau-ABC colleagues emphasised the urgency to collect data from the participants of the continuing vocational training (CVT) schemes that are present in Bau-ABC during the January and February months. We checked the questionnaire that had been developed last year and agreed to use it (with one minor amendment). We also agreed that it is useful to start again a User Survey with apprentices when they come in March.

Fourthly, we discussed the continuation of the training campaign based on “Theme Rooms”. In general, this had been viewed positively, but continuity would have been needed to sustain the learning gains. However, due to the heavy workload provided by the CVT schemes, it was not possible to start immediately in January. Therefore, we concluded that we should also carry out a mini-survey on the use of digital media and web tools/apps among Bau-ABC trainers (Lehrwerkmeister). Based on the results we could then see the need for some ‘refreshing the basic skills’ sessions. These should take place in February before starting a new full cycle of Theme Rooms in March. When preparing the next cycle of Theme Rooms we should also introduce Learning Toolbox (LTB) to the Bau-ABC trainers who are engaged as tutors of the Theme Rooms.

In addition we discussed an interesting new initiative to develop mobile apps and web resources for construction sector – in particular for the well-builders (Brunnenbauer). This topic merits a blog of its own a little later (once the start-of-the-year meetings have been reported). Finally, we discussed shortly our preparation for the LL project consortium meeting. On this topic we got new information from the video conference of the  Work Package Leaders of the LL project (that took place when we were having our meeting).

I guess this is enough on this meeting. The next challenge is to summarise the results of the WP Leaders’ video conference (and to draw conclusions for the construction pilot).

More blogs to come …