Utilization Of Cooperative And Collaborative Learning In Technical Teacher Training And Engineering Education Over National Boarders

The Masters level Opportunities and Technological Innovation in Vocational Teacher Education project aims to develop the use and management of virtual learning environments in the area of vocational teacher training, drawing on a well established international partnership of institutions providing both technical and educational expertise. This paper gives an overall picture of results and products of the collaboration. We touch upon the aims, the assessments and the learning process of using “Multimedia and e-Learning: e-learning methods and tools” module in detail. The main cooperative and collaborative devices are presented in virtual learning environment. The communication during collaborative learning, the structured debate on forum and the efficiency of collaborative learning in VLE are interpreted at the end of this paper. Preliminaries At one of the legal predecessors of the Centre for Teacher Training and Engineering Education of Budapest Polytechnic, at the Institute for Engineering Education, an electronic syllabus package of four modules was developed in 2004 as a result of a project supported by ”Apertus” Public Foundation (project leader: Dr. Péter Tóth). The objective of the project realised under the leadership of one of the authors was the development of an electronic syllabus package with unlimited availability in space and time together with accompanying methodological aids in the topics of education technology and multimedia. The main areas of the application for the syllabus package are teacher training and in-service teacher training as well. As a result of the project, the processing of the education technology and multimedia syllabuses was completed in distant teacher training and took place in a blended form in full time teacher training. At the beginning of the term students received the electronic syllabus on CD first and later also in a form downloadable from an FTP server. The electronic syllabus package was comprised of the following parts: Basic skills module: it presents the basic terminology of educational technology and multimedia development and expectations towards such materials. Editing Individual media module: its purpose is to learn the skills necessary for the activities related to the planning and editing of digital media. This module consists of two pats. One presents the tools of editing time-independent (images and figures) while the other those of time-dependent (audio and video) media. Multimedia Editing module: to learn the skills related to Authorware shell necessary for the development of e-learning software. Two methodological aids were also developed to accompany the syllabus modules. Students of technical teacher training taking part in the training may, after graduation, participate in adult retraining and in-service training, too, where electronic-based distance learning may play a decisive role. Therefore we considered it important to elaborate recommendations helping the teacher’s (tutor’s/instructor’s) work, which process methodological questions in connection with P ge 14339.2 the development and application of electronic syllabi. In addition, a methodological guide was developed to provide more information about the individual characteristics of independent learning, with a decisive role in adult education, as well as a questionnaire to assess and evaluate learning styles. The other project relevant to our research set as its aim the pedagogical and methodological examination of the adaptability to teacher training of virtual learning environments. The specific aims of this project are to develop a methodology for assessing institutional requirements for networked learning and for selecting and implementing appropriate solutions, including the choice of VLE; to create staff development and training programs to support the management and use of virtual and networked learning; to increase trans-national collaboration in vocational initial teacher training and develop capacity to deliver programs where this takes place; to investigate the specific application of VLEs in vocational initial teacher training, and to revise curricula to maximise benefits to teaching and learning processes; to compile and analyze data comparing various VLEs, and to disseminate this with a view to standardizing policy in vocational initial teacher training. As a result of the ”Leonardo da Vinci” project led by Dr. Pál Pentelényi and realized in an international co-operation (involving Hungary, Finland, England, the Netherlands, Portugal and Greece), the following three electronic syllabus modules were developed: Basic Teaching Skills, Computer Mediated Skills and European Collaboration. These competency modules were integrated with BlackBoard and Moodle systems. Students of technical teacher training from England, Finland, Portugal and Hungary collaborated in processing the syllabus. Tutoring students’ work created an excellent opportunity to get to know and analyse a virtual learning environment. More can be read about the results of the project ”Virtual Electronic Learning Vocational Initial Teacher Training” (VELVITT) on the homepage velvitt.banki.hu and in the publication edited by Pál Pentelényi. Background of a New Leonardo Project The Masters level Opportunities and Technological Innovation in VocAtional Teacher Education (MOTIVATE) project transfers innovatory practices and developments to benefit the two Hungarian higher education institutions (Budapest Tech Polytechnical Institution, College of Dunaújváros) in the partnership. The innovation is twofold: the introduction of Masters level modules into the vocational and technical teacher education programmes, and the use of new and emerging web technologies in the implementation of the developed curriculum (Advanced Pedagogy, Multimedia and e-learning, Teaching a specialist subject). The other partners of the consortium (University of Huddersfield, Tampere Polytechnic, Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Fontys University of Applied Science, University of Lisbon) have the necessary expertise to provide this innovation. The UK partner, with considerable prior experience of development and delivery of Masters level professional development courses in the vocational education and training (VET) field, is the main provider of the innovation. All partners have a wide experience of VET curriculum development and technological innovation in its delivery. Tangible outcomes include development of common quality criteria for the P ge 14339.3 qualifications and professional development of VET teachers and trainers in different learning environments and common core criteria for identifying their learning needs. Innovative solutions for sharing aims, objective and criteria include the use of social software and collaborative Web 2.0 technologies which facilitate the creation of a new online community of European partners. The possible platforms for the community could be Moodle, Wetpaint Wiki, Second Life. The new generation e-learning is used to refer to new ways of thinking about e-learning inspired by the emergence of Web 2.0. From an e-learning 2.0 perspective, previous elearning systems were based on instructional packets that were delivered to students using internet technologies. The role of the learner consisted in learning from the readings and preparing assignments. Assignments were evaluated by the teacher. In contrary, the 2 generation e-learning places increased emphasis on social learning and use of social software such as blogs, wikis, del.icio.us, etc. This phenomenon has also been referred to as Long Tail Learning. The new theory in social learning replaces the traditional view of knowledge and learning. The new perspective that underpins the previous electronic-based learning assumes that knowledge is a kind of substance, so it can be packaged using instructional methodologies in order to be delivered and transferred to the learners. In contrary, new generation e-learning assumes that knowledge is socially constructed. Intangible outcomes of the project include the potential to disseminate the expertise gained in order to widen this community so that it can encompass new partners or involve trainee teachers across different institutions and countries in similar collaborative efforts. One particular advantage would be the development of Subject Specialist communities for VET teachers that, because of the reach of internet based technologies, can facilitate much larger groups of subject specialists than are possible in face to face contexts. Project Aims and Objectives The specific aims of the project are: to develop a methodology for assessing the institutional requirements for development of Masters Level VET qualifications to adapt Atwell’s common framework for VET professionalization to address these institutional requirements to develop parallel Masters Level VET qualifications in each of the partner institutions in order to support lifelong learning and professionalization in the sector. to utilise Web 2.0 technologies to facilitate these developments to create staff development programmes to support the use of these technologies This project aims to build on the work of those who have sought to identify common criteria and a working framework for the professionalization of VET and to implement such a framework in a number of institutions across Europe. To this end, it seeks to develop parallel VET qualifications at Masters Level in each of these institutions, working from an agreed common framework. In order to support lifelong learning, the resulting qualifications will be made available as training opportunities for both initial trainees and as continuing professional development for existing VET professionals. Innovations at the University of Huddersfield in the UK include the application in teacher education of Web 2.0 technologies (such as social bookmarking, social networking, blogs, wikis and