2.16YOU’VE COMPLETED 0 STEPS IN WEEK 2

Summary of the week

This week, you have focused on the Delivery of apprenticeships and the End Point Assessment. There have been some really interesting discussions and, in particular, you shared examples of what you’re doing in your institutions, including using asynchronous tools to enable apprentices to interact at any time.

We asked you to tell us about which digital tools you use with your apprentices. The wordcloud in Step 2.3 shows the most used tools and it’s worth taking a look if you haven’t yet done so. Even if you have it’s worth revisiting as lots of tools have probably been added since you added what you use.

When deciding which tools to use, financial considerations are important so using free tools is helpful. But also, using already familiar tools such as Facebook in useful ways. For example, asking learners to set up a group and use it to upload videos and other useful resources to share, is an alternative. Ask your students what they use and for what purpose They’ll almost certainly have an idea worth sharing.

The early part of the week focuses on keeping learners connected across their various locations, and helping them to build learning communities. Lots of digital tools are useful to keep learners connected, including social media. This raises potential issues around safeguarding as whilst social media is a powerful tool, it is also important to be aware of the sites and tools our apprentices use, to be able to monitor them.

This week also looked at collecting evidence so that the apprentice can ‘show’ what they can do. Audio and video are very powerful tools for capturing what the apprentices have achieved. It’s important to be aware of the large file sizes and space these media require. Lynne Taylerson, another mentor, suggests a possible solution:

”Some online tools such as Smart Assessor allow evidence uploads and online discussion and tutorial meeting spaces…”

It’s important for all stakeholders; trainers, employers, and apprentices to be able to track the progress of the apprentice, and digital tools can really help in this respect. Alongside the Individual Learning Plans (ILPs) other tools, such as dashboards, are found to be very useful, for all to stay updated about the apprentice’s progress and to monitor their learning achievements. Digital tools make it easier to be able to compare individual progress against the whole cohort of learners.

The final section you looked at this week focused on the End Point Assessment (EPA). Having the evidence against the standards allows everyone to see how the apprentice is progressing. This is important when deciding whether they are ready for the EPA. Have a look at the poll on Step 2.10 to see what the main issues are for apprentices. Do you agree? How might you try to deal with these issues?

The many examples provided this week show how learning to use digital tools can enrich apprenticeships. So, thank you to everyone who has joined us on this course, participated in the activities and discussions, and shared your practice with the other learners on the course.

We would also like to give a huge thanks to the colleges, training providers and workplaces where filming has taken place, and their staff who have contributed so much time and effort to the project.

Bronwen

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