Session
Organizer 1: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Organizer 2: Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 1: Vincenzo Vitiello, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Ivana Russiello, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Vincenzo Vitiello, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 2: Ivana Russiello, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Speaker 3: Vincenzo Vitiello, Private Sector, Western European and Others Group (WEOG)
Format
Roundtable
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: The online roundtable format of 90 minutes perfectly suits our Digital WBL workshop by enabling diverse stakeholder participation regardless of geographical location—modeling the very accessibility principles we're discussing. This format allows VET educators, industry partners, and policymakers to join from different European regions, including remote areas directly affected by digital training disparities. The 90-minute timeframe provides sufficient structure for presenting the Erasmus+ project outcomes while allowing for meaningful discussion of complex issues like digital readiness and public-private partnerships. The roundtable approach creates equal speaking opportunities, encouraging multi-perspective dialogue on critical questions about immersive technologies and sustainable implementation. This virtual format also demonstrates how digital tools can reduce environmental impact while creating effective learning communities—directly showcasing the sustainability benefits of digital approaches that form a core theme of our workshop
Duration (minutes): 90
Format description: The online roundtable format of 90 minutes perfectly suits our Digital WBL workshop by enabling diverse stakeholder participation regardless of geographical location—modeling the very accessibility principles we're discussing. This format allows VET educators, industry partners, and policymakers to join from different European regions, including remote areas directly affected by digital training disparities. The 90-minute timeframe provides sufficient structure for presenting the Erasmus+ project outcomes while allowing for meaningful discussion of complex issues like digital readiness and public-private partnerships. The roundtable approach creates equal speaking opportunities, encouraging multi-perspective dialogue on critical questions about immersive technologies and sustainable implementation. This virtual format also demonstrates how digital tools can reduce environmental impact while creating effective learning communities—directly showcasing the sustainability benefits of digital approaches that form a core theme of our workshop
Policy Question(s)
How can digital Work-Based Learning create innovative and accessible career paths that align with young people's interests, supporting the European Skills Agenda's goal of making vocational education more attractive to youth?
How can we ensure the digital readiness of VET educators and training environments to build secure digital work environments through adequate skills training, as emphasized in the European Cybersecurity Strategy?
How might partnerships and accessibility initiatives for digital WBL respond to the Digital Education Action Plan's priority of improving digital skills and competences across all European regions, including remote areas?
What will participants gain from attending this session? This workshop is addressed to VET policymakers and administrators, Digital Innovation Hub representatives, industry partners involved in work-based learning, Educational technology developers, vocational educators and trainers, researchers in digital education and work-based learning.
The main take away from the workshop will be:
Accessibility strategies - learning how digital WBL can expand quality training regardless of geographic location, including solutions for remote areas.
Public-Private Partnership models - insights into how partnerships can address "patchy" implementation of digital WBL and ensure equitable access across different regions.
Sustainability knowledge - understanding how digital technologies can enhance environmental and economic sustainability by reducing physical resource requirements.
Youth engagement approaches - understanding how digital WBL can attract young people to innovative, practical educational systems, particularly in remote areas.
Workforce upskilling perspective - learning how these approaches prepare workers for the green digital economy.
Description:
The workshop will explore how digital technologies are revolutionizing Work-Based Learning in Vocational Education and Training creating more sustainable, accessible, and attractive professional pathways. Participants to the workshop will discuss how Digital WBL is bridging gaps between education and increasingly digitalized workplaces. There are still many aspects to be clarified on the topic of digitization, and the workshop would like to present different points of view: are the VET Educators ready with the relevant digital skills for Digital WBL? How can immersive technologies be adapted to practical training? How scalable are the collaboration models between vocational education and training providers and Digital Innovation Hubs to meet the skills and technology needs of training environments? Thanks to the results reached through the Erasmus+ Eu funding project for the innovation of vocational education systems in Europe, Deal with Digital WBL project developed an assessment tool for best practices in Digital WBL, a collection of real-world case studies, a Blueprint to support innovative public-private partnerships, and emerging technologies. This workshop directly addresses how digital technologies can make professional education more environmentally and economically sustainable by reducing physical resource requirements, expanding access to quality training regardless of geographic location, and preparing a workforce ready for the green digital economy. Digital WBL can attract young people to innovative and practical educational systems, and to make professional technical training accessible even in remote areas where young people are located, the availability of the same digital technology could expose the provision of Digital WBL to a “patchy” system, leaving many areas not covered by this opportunity. In this case, public-private partnerships can make the difference in making this opportunity available to a target group of young people that also includes those living in outlying areas. Then, we can talk about more sustainable and accessible professional training courses.
The workshop will explore how digital technologies are revolutionizing Work-Based Learning in Vocational Education and Training creating more sustainable, accessible, and attractive professional pathways. Participants to the workshop will discuss how Digital WBL is bridging gaps between education and increasingly digitalized workplaces. There are still many aspects to be clarified on the topic of digitization, and the workshop would like to present different points of view: are the VET Educators ready with the relevant digital skills for Digital WBL? How can immersive technologies be adapted to practical training? How scalable are the collaboration models between vocational education and training providers and Digital Innovation Hubs to meet the skills and technology needs of training environments? Thanks to the results reached through the Erasmus+ Eu funding project for the innovation of vocational education systems in Europe, Deal with Digital WBL project developed an assessment tool for best practices in Digital WBL, a collection of real-world case studies, a Blueprint to support innovative public-private partnerships, and emerging technologies. This workshop directly addresses how digital technologies can make professional education more environmentally and economically sustainable by reducing physical resource requirements, expanding access to quality training regardless of geographic location, and preparing a workforce ready for the green digital economy. Digital WBL can attract young people to innovative and practical educational systems, and to make professional technical training accessible even in remote areas where young people are located, the availability of the same digital technology could expose the provision of Digital WBL to a “patchy” system, leaving many areas not covered by this opportunity. In this case, public-private partnerships can make the difference in making this opportunity available to a target group of young people that also includes those living in outlying areas. Then, we can talk about more sustainable and accessible professional training courses.
Expected Outcomes
• A digital collection of the Digiutal WBL case studies presented and best practices, compiled in a shareable resource
• A collaborative document outlining recommendations for VET providers on the implementation of digital WBL.
• The formation of a cross-sector working group to continue exploring scalable models for collaborations with Digital Innovation Hubs
• A policy paper highlighting how digital WBL connects to European priorities in education, cybersecurity and digital skills.
• Sharing a digital self-assessment tool for vocational education and training institutions to evaluate their degree of readiness for digital WBL.
Hybrid Format: The workshop can be organized including live demonstrations on accessible AR/VR solutions for vocational training, breakout discussions on regionally-appropriate digital WBL implementation strategies, collaborative mapping of potential public-private partnership opportunities and the can launch a Call to Action among the participants to develop a shared action plan for enhancing digital WBL in participants' contexts.