Context: The Covid pandemic has prevented the normal flow of student mobility in many areas, including VET and Vocational teacher education (VTE). It has also forced digitalisation further up the agenda of all schools, universities and other educational institutions. Background: A recent systematic review of research on international mobility (Roy et al 2019) concluded that, although the evidence base was relatively weak, there were demonstrable benefits for students from short-term international mobility. These included increases in cultural awareness, cultural intelligence, global mindedness, cultural sensitivity and empathy, adaptability, language and communication skills, and intercultural competence. There were also personal gains such as increased confidence, self-awareness, perceived employability and career development. From a societal perspective, the students' future mobility and earning power were likely to be enhanced. The DIVE project will take a positive approach to these developments. Whereas student and teacher mobility, in a physical sense, is necessarily selective, digital mobility can be inclusive, providing opportunities for all. However, this requires careful thought about the educational benefits of international and intercultural exchange. Can these be replicated through online exchanges or other forms of activity, at home or in the classroom? Vocational education has particular requirements for internationalisation, specifically the provision of work placements in occupational specialities. VET teacher students are involved in a combination of pedagogical studies and occupation-specific learning, whether in construction, healthcare or any other area. It is difficult to recreate the experience of an actual workplace online, but in DIVE, we will implement novel forms of peer-to-peer interaction based on available technology, such as Go-Pro cameras and live streaming to simulate authentic work environments. This provides an opportunity for innovation, since it is not always possible to arrange the right placement for every student. Collaborative techniques, including digital story telling, will allow peer-to-peer interaction to substitute for the physical presence of visiting students. DIVE Objectives: 1) Develop a framework for internationalisation-at-home via online and local interaction (measurable by timely achievement of Intellectual output 1) 2) Incorporate this framework in VET programmes at local level, in the areas of sustainable development, values in education and citizenship & democracy (measurable by reporting of partners on incorporation and interaction of outputs 2,3,4,). 3) Promote the use of the framework and programmes to other actors in vocational education and beyond (measurable by indicators of impact and dissemination - see respective sections) Participants: We will work with VET teacher students and VET teacher educators. We expect initial participation of around 120 persons across the four partners, with a cumulative total of 250 direct and 800 indirect participants by the end of the project. The concrete activities of DIVE will comprise: 1) Preparation by all partners, led by NTNU, of a framework for development of three online programmes for vocational teacher education, each based on one of the themes sustainable development, values in education and citizenship & democracy, in the overall context of internationalisation at home.. 2) Parallel development of the three programmes by the respective partners in conjunction with local and international online colloquia 3) Implementation of the programmes as a background for local and international colloquia to be held within the partner institutions. 4) Iterative development cycles, incorporating feedback from participating teacher students and teacher educators Methodology Our theoretical framework will use concepts of proximity, mobility and possession, which we see as three essential dimensions of any given space. This in turn enables us to compare digital, national and international activities along these dimensions, and adjust some of the conditions within any space to recreate the benefits of moving across spaces. A central idea in DIVE is that staying at home, in a general sense, should become more desirable and less isolating than currently experienced by many people. Results and impact Our impact will be to make the benefits of international mobility available to a much wider range of participants in and outside VET. We will work with vocational teacher students as they will have future influence on young people and will be able to bring the benefits of DIVE programmes to a wide audience. However, the underlying principles of DIVE are transferable to any educational setting where mobility is desirable. Indeed, it will make it possible to bring international mobility to group who would otherwise be unable to engage in mobility, such as younger age groups or adults with families.
The overall aim of DIVE was to provide the known benefits of international exchange and mobility to a wider range of vocational teacher students, especially those unable to travel due to family, work or other pressing commitments. Based on our experience from the Erasmus+ project OPVET (Online Platform Vocational Education and Training), we decided to develop three new online courses dealing with overall themes relevant to DIVE. In addition, we wanted to share experiences of trying out different ways of using digital technology to organize virtual exchanges and sharing of professional teaching expertise. Previous experiences with physical student mobility showed us that shorter stays abroad provided extensive learning experiences, but only to small numbers of students. The student group in Vocational Teacher Education consists of adult students with experience from one or more professions. The students are most often established with families and jobs, have financial obligations and, as well as their study programs, find it even more challenging to spend substantial periods abroad. The idea behind the DIVE project was therefore to open doors for all students, despite their obligations and barriers to participation in international mobility. DIVE emphasizes concrete internationalization at home, and implemented virtual exchange not only as a solution to the pandemic's restrictions on physical travel, but also as an inclusive and strengthening measure to create a more internationally oriented vocational teacher education.
The Covid 19 pandemic caused traveling abroad to be reduced or cease altogether in many areas. The pandemic created a need to offer education on digital platforms, and the aim of DIVE was to strengthen the capacity of educational institutions to offer inclusive, high-quality education and international experiences via digital platforms. The section for vocational teacher training at NTNU wanted to include more Vocational Teacher Education (VTE) students in international activities, increasing the quality of their education by enabling them to implement local and global principles that will affect their own and students' future roles as citizens and professionals. Due to the relatively small size of most VTE departments, there was also a need for international collaboration with VTE programs without meeting physically. We established DIVE to give students the opportunity to orientate themselves internationally, and to explore how digital technology can benefit internationalisation at home. In the context of new curricula into the Norwegian school system, the themes of democracy and citizenship, values, and sustainable development provided common points of departure across partners’ teacher education programs and related curricula.