Applying digital technologies to foster soft skills in schools
The concept of the school is changing, and it is unstoppable. In nowadays we want curricula that are in line with the latest trends. Educational communities focus on individualized approaches to learning, fostering learner-centred, market-driven collaboration and technological competencies. The relationship with technology is getting closer and closer, and education experts are urging a close look at how it is used in education.
“Technology complements our daily lives more than ever before. Education systems need to adapt to this by educating employees, employers and future entrepreneurs. Faced with rapid technological change, education systems are still slow to adapt to the changes, not only in how to use technology but also in how to teach new skills to teachers themselves, ”notes Mirta Gagliardi, Erasmus+ project Enable coordinator from Ufficio Scolastico Regionale Lazio in Rome.
At the end of May in Rome, this school introduced e-learning platform specifically designed to develop soft skills for students through project-based learning. Project-based learning encourages students with special educational needs to try it out. The virtual learning environment contains tasks and exercises that have been tested and developed at schools in Lithuania, Sweden, Romania and Italy. European business representatives and employers have contributed to developing the material for the platform, incorporating the needs of the labour market.
“The educational revolution is taking place through intense and versatile collaboration between key players. Co-operation between education providers and industry is important for the proper, efficient and rewarding development of digital technologies. Employers should be an integral part of curriculum designers to ensure that learning subjects reflect the latest trends in the labour market, ”says education expert Gagliardi.
The e-earning platform consists of two main blocks - one contains tasks and guidelines for teachers, tutors and educators and the other consists of activities for learners. Once the users register and become approved by the Enable coordinators, they access to the platform, fostering negotiation, verbal communication in their mother tongue and English, learning to learn, social competence, initiative and entrepreneurship development tasks.
Most of the activities are designed to be done in groups in order to develop skills in delegation, collaboration, critical information assessment, and negotiation. By completing the tasks, students together with teachers become a part of the project team. Students learn new things by naming a problem, setting a goal, and designing a project, generating possible solutions, and learning how to select reliable sources of information.
