Week of VocTech: Knowledge Share

An afternoon of online learning, discussion and debate with practitioners from across the vocational learning and tech community

As well as a look at some of the fantastic work of the organisations we support, this event was an opportunity to engage with sector leaders and future thinkers through interaction and discussion.

The event also included the announcement of Ufi’s grant funding calls for 2023.

Part 1

Louise Rowland, Deputy CEO of Ufi VocTech Trust provided a recap on Ufi’s work from the year and look ahead to 2023. This included the announcements of Ufi’s grant funding calls for 2023.

Part 2

Attendees then had the choice to join one of three breakout sessions, each focussing on a specific area of vocational technology:

Breakout A

What works in VocTech for those most impacted by the digital divide?
Findings from ALT’s research into overcoming barriers to confidence and engaging vocational learners.

Breakout A was led by Lynne Taylerson who conducted ALT’s recent sixth-month action research project on behalf of Ufi strategic partner ALT (Association for Learning Technology).

Supported by several of Ufi’s projects, this session explored the insights that have emerged for how we can all better support learners to engage with digital learning and remain motivated to build their skills.

Lynne shared an overview of the research and lead discussions into some of the key findings on how to develop and deploy learning technology successfully; helping learners open doors, create growth spaces and have a clear purpose in their learning.

Organisations who participated in the research and who joined the breakout discussion included:

• Construction Industry Training Board (Northern Ireland);
• YMCA; and
• National Numeracy

(Unfortunately this breakout was not recorded)

Breakout B

Design principles in practice: How good user design makes the difference for disadvantaged learners

Led by Kev Jones, from Ufi’s expert panel, Breakout B focussed on how using design to plan and deliver your project really impacts user engagement.

Ufi projects that have experienced the process first-hand shared their stories of how design has changed the way they understand and meet their users’ needs.

Organisations participating include:

• Digital Unite;
• Derby University; and
• Sempai

…who who talked about their experiences of participating in the Discovery, Define and Ignite processes that Ufi offers to support developing projects.

Breakout C

Learning is about experience, not content. How can learning technology help create better experiences for learners?

Learning is all about moving people from their starting point to a constructive, clearly defined end point. So what experiences can learning technology provide that conventional training cannot? How do we shift our thinking away from content and towards changing people through giving them new experiences?

Led by Ufi’s Patrick Dunn, and with insight from Ufi supported organisations, Breakout C will focus on why content is no longer ‘king’ and why the real benefits to learners come through creating engaging learning experiences.

Organisations participating include:

• Mobilise;
• NIACRO; and
• Klik2Learn.

Each has a unique story to tell about designing an experience for their target user group.