Last week, some of FORAVE´s teachers participated in the project Focus Group on the digitalization of education and the structure of the project toolkit “Online VET classrooms”, an online collection of tools and learning resources that VET teachers and trainers can employ to support the digital transformation of VET courses.
In this blended event, as two teachers were in quarantine at home, teachers shared the digital tools they used before the COVID19 pandemic, and the need they felt to upskill their digital competences when the pandemic forced, in March 2020, all Portuguese schools to go on lockdown and to organize the continuity of education through remote learning.
This shift from face-to-face lessons to remote online learning was challenging to all teachers who, despite the school support through online meetings and webinars tried to find by themselves digital tools and resources which better served the classroom activities, like students ‘assessment and content presentation.
All teachers agreed that the COVID19 crisis increased the need for digitalization in education and that their present digital skills are still not enough. Training, cooperation among colleagues and the exchange of good practices are, according to the participants, essential to adopt innovative tools and methods, and to engage students.
