Organized by the HEART Trust/National Training Agency
Vocational Training Development Institute
in collaboration with Cinterfor/ILO, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies and ILO Subregional Office for the Caribbean

Workshop content

BACKGROUND

The public recognition that the acquisition of workplace competencies and related skills are vital to employability is affecting both the redesign of quality educational systems and the role of educators. However, how these changes should be applied and how institutions can serve the expansive learning needs of workers is new territory under exploration. A particular challenge is how institutional capacity can be leveraged to serve more learners in settings both in and outside the formal classroom.

As governments in the Caribbean focus on developing a world class workforce issues associated with workforce re-skilling as well as initial skills development presents specialized challenges. In recognizing these issues, governments, the private sector and trade unions are challenging the education sector to be more innovative.

Currently many training institutions in the Caribbean, reacting to the request for educational reform, are tailoring their services to programmes built around more flexible schedules to meet learners' professional and social responsibilities. The use of modular instructional systems and the infusion of information technology has helped in this process to supplement traditional instructor-delivered training. Described as "blended learning", the approach may incorporate traditional instructional delivery approaches like printed text with a mixture of interactive programmes and/or the use of audio and visual training materials for designing simulation training. Blended learning offers learners a choice of how, when and where they wish to learn. The process also offers instructors choices on how best to organize and deliver their training. Assisting instructors in the blended learning approach requires not only training in the use of new technology but also how to effectively convert and arrange content. Challenges include how best to ensure that the content as well as its design is user-friendly and appealing to the learner, or how to choose delivery formats based on subject matter content and, at the end of training, how to effectively assess learning with the aid of the technology.

Exploring the application of information communication technology in the setting of workforce development will be the focus of an innovative workshop organized by the HEART/Trust /National Training Agency and the Vocational Training Development Institute in collaboration with the ILO. With support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, CANTA (The Caribbean Association of National Training Agencies), and the ILO, the workshop will explore the potential and facilitation of ICT through a variety of learning approaches using the instructional laboratories of the Vocational Training Development Institute in Kingston, Jamaica. Participants will be exposed to current ICT practices while demonstrating their ability to utilize instructional technology in hands-on activities.

The workshop will utilize the successful experiences from a similar ICT workshop in 2004 that involved participants from national training agencies in Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados and St. Lucia. In addition to building on last year's success the workshop will share with participants TVET related information from Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as drawing on experiences from the on-going CINTERFOR/ILO regional information technology exchange project.

The workshop will link information communication technology with a series of TVET themes that include:
1. Applying adult learning principles to competency based skill delivery
2. Exploring types of learning applications as tools for TVET delivery in open and distance environments
3. Sharing and implementing ICT skills in the Americas
4. Translating technical content into varied instructional formats

ORGANIZATION AND PARTICIPANTS
The workshop will follow a two-track format.

Track 1 is geared for managers and supervisors in TVET institutions. This track will encourage participants to explore ICT issues at the policy level, including technology improvement planning. Track 1 participants will be invited to examine and discuss strategies for facilitating seamless technology integration in the learning environments under their purview. In addition track one participants will utilize workshop content to configure an ICT strategy that promotes blended-learning in their institution. On Friday morning they will be asked to share the highlights of their plan with fellow participants.

Track 2 will target TVET practitioners who are directly involved with planning and delivering lessons in their institutions. Track 2 participants will be guided through the development of a multimedia product to support lesson delivery and are therefore asked to bring relevant content along with them. On the last day of the workshop they will be able to share the highlights of their product with participants.

The technical workshop will be interactive. Presentation methodology will reflect subject content using demonstration and hands-on application. Sessions will draw upon technical specialists from the Caribbean and Latin America.

WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

At the workshop's conclusion participants will be able to:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of how technology can be used to effectively match learner characteristics with the conditions in the teaching/learning process.
2. Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics, functions and uses of types of instructional media (projected, non-projected, computer-based).
3. Evaluate the features of computer-based instructional materials.
4. Discuss trends and issues with Distance Education.
5. Create computer-based tutorials.
6. Develop computer-based assessment instruments.
7. Manipulate supporting technologies such as the digital camera and scanner.
8. Select Internet-based resources suitable for area of specialisation.
9. Develop an integration plan for ICT utilization at the institutional level. (Track 1 participants).
10. Develop a technical TVET lesson or lessons using ICT instructional techniques (track 2 participants).

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPANTS

• Basic computer skills
• Basic competence in using Microsoft PowerPoint

RESOURCE PERSONS:
VTDI personnel in collaboration with:

• CINTERFOR representative from Latin America
• ILO Subregional office for the Caribbean
• Technical resource persons from Jamaica
  

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