The WildSkills EU project will address the skills gap identified by employers responsible for biodiversity monitoring & climate change mitigation. Here there is a mismatch between employer needs for early career staff to possess both ‘practical wildlife survey and identification’ and ‘communication and stakeholder engagement’ skills and the absence of this training from Higher Education pathways. This project is a collaboration linking practitioners from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), teachers from Higher Education and students seeking employment. These 3 groups will co-create and test innovative and accessible distance learning packages to address these skills gaps using a virtual learning environment that combines the use of physical equipment with online webinars and livestream technologies, delivering quality assured, endorse accreditation. The project will train staff and student teachers/trainers in delivering this unique model, test it on virtual mobilities and share the good practice established as a result. The objectives of the project are: 1. To co-create, develop and test 6 distance learning modules addressing employer skills gaps in ecology with key elements translated into native languages 2. To test and re-test a new digital pedagogy of distance learning skills delivery and assessment leading to employer and HE recognition on 60 virtual mobilities 3. To train 8 staff & 36 student trainers in new digital learning and assessment pedagogy 4. To establish a platform for sharing pedagogy best practice with practitioners Project target audiences are: staff and student teacher/trainers (to learn the pedagogy) and current or recent students who want the ecological and transversal skills to help them gain employment. The project will facilitate staff/students co-creation of both the learning content and distance delivery of 6 learning modules that address practical skills gaps in ecology, communication and stakeholder engagement skills. Module 1: Nature Conservation in Action (overview): Ambios Portugal, PT Module 2: Wildlife surveys using camera trap: Ambios UK Module 3: Bird identification and survey: UoEvora, Portugal Module 4: Tree identification and survey UoPadova, Italy Module 5: Communication skills Barn Owl Foundation, Hungary Module 6: Stakeholder Engagement WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature), Hungary Numerical indicators are the following: Learning package for students: 6 Intensive Study Programme for Students: 1 Joint Staff Training programmes: 1 Intensive Study Programme for Students: 1 Number of physical mobility for staff: 20 Number of physical mobility students recruited for the project: 36 Number of virtual mobility students recruited for the project: 60 Project website: 1 Project Virtual Learning Environment: 1 Multiplier Events: 7 Multiplier Events: 0 –> 234 participants Dissemination presentations (one at each university): 3 Dissemination publications (two in each countries): 8 A key result will be the recognition of learner acquired skills. Quality assured credit will be awarded using the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) and European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) systems. This will mean that the learner will be able to accurately describe the value of their learning by using e-badge meta data that will include reference to these systems and details of where, when, who was involved, learning outcomes achieved and, crucially an endorsement of the training from employers. An e-badge is a logo graphic with a hyperlink to a webpage or file which contains meta data on the achievements of the learner. It goes beyond a traditional certificate of achievement by including details such as dates and durations of learning, learning outcomes achieved, practical activities undertaken, trainers/teaching involved and any formal recognition, endorsement from employers and links to HE micro-credentials. It can also include further links to Europass and Europass Certificate supplements. Our active intension is that external employers will add their endorsements by the end of the project and that training program will be formally accredited within the teaching of the Universities of Padova and Evora.
The objectives of the original project were to co-create, develop and test distance learning modules to address employer identified skills gaps in potential employees; to test a new digital pedagogy of distance learning skills delivery leading to employer and HE recognition; to train staff and student-trainers in new digital learning and to establish a platform for sharing pedagogy best practice with practitioners. The last objective was removed as a direct result of assessment feedback which necessitated a reduced budget. The project was to facilitate staff/students co-creation of both the learning content and distance delivery of learning modules that addressed practical skills gaps in ecology, communication and stakeholder engagement skills. Target audiences were: staff and student teacher/trainers (to learn the pedagogy) and current or recent students who wanted the ecological and transversal skills to help them gain employment. We wanted the European network provided by project partners to be a place to explore, share and promote new systems of skills learning in the context of different cultures – addressing a wider point that transnational approaches are fundamental to ensuring sustainability of life on planet earth.
The project team addressed skills gaps mismatches identified by employers and their potential employees in the areas of nature and climate change while supporting students in developing basic skills relevant to this sector and innovating distance learning delivery practices in the digital era. These aligned with the Erasmus+ priorities at the time. Similarly, it was apparent at the time that the interruption of classroom based learning due to Covid-19 showed distance learning to be a valuable alternative learning pathway. In the context of global climate change, the skills required to survey wildlife continue to be increasingly important, in demand and lacking across the job-seeking HE student population. Moreover, the need for students to learn how to communicate the complex messages which result from such work and engage different stakeholder groups in positive actions that mitigate the worst effects of warming the planet remained of paramount importance. To address these issues, the project successfully built and tested 6 subject specific distance learning courses incorporating practical skills and disseminated their existence widely to the world-of-work, students and staff in Higher Education.