New contents for Resource Area 3: The Italian and Slovenian case stories present different piloting activities

07-November-2006

[ arenas for piloting , project planning , workplace learning ]
In a previous posting I have presented briefly my idea on five "Resource Areas" as the content areas for WLP Web (and as resources to be addressed selectively in the WLP Manual and in the WLP Course). This posting updates the prior blog entry on "Resource Area 3 - The case stories" with the Italian and Slovenian Case Stories.
In the previous posting I have presented my thoughts on the need to upgrade the status of the 'case stories' as a specific resource area that consists of simple power point presentations. The aim of these presentations is to make the different experiences and observations in diverse country contexts to some extent comparable with each other.

So far it has been difficult to proceed with this idea because there has been no mutual agreement to what extent the case stories should be worked into a common format an to what extent they should be left as free narratives.

On the other hand there has been the issue how to cover very dfferent aspects of piloting with one single 'case story'. In fact, our experience has shown us that we need to illustrate our developmental processes from different angles to make them more accessible for diacussion and transfer-promoting initiatives.

From this perspective the attached presentations provide mutually complementing angles to the Italian and Slovenian piloting activities:

  • Regarding the Italian case stories the first presentation focuses on the phases of the community-building initiative and on the specific process dynamics that have characterised the piloting. The second presentation focuses on the role of 'local' facilitation (provided by Training 2000) and on the role of external support (provided by the WLP project).
  • Regarding the Slovenian case stories the first presentation focuses on the 'micro-piloting' initiatives that have been taken in the VET college itself (the SCV) in order improve its capability to support workplace learning. The second presentation focuses on the initiatives that involve regional enterprises into active cooperation with the VET college (SCV).

I believe that these examples make it more transparent what can be achieved with a resource area that provides a critical mass of such case stories with a relative transparent structure. However, these examples also demonstrate the limits of presentations with a common format. Therefore, I would assume that the French and UK case stories could be best available as free narratives. In the German cases (under construction) there is a point in using the common format.

Pekka Kämäräinen

Pekka Kämäräinen; 07-November-2006 12:11:29 forum (0)

Building the WLP Resource Areas - Introduction

19-October-2006

[ knowledge sharing , project planning , WLP Web ]
With my recents postings ("Getting the act together") to the blog WLP project management I have made some proposals how to bring the WLP project to a mature phase. These proposals have dealt with the country studies, process development and the architecture of the WLP website (see the attachment). With this posting (and a series of others to come) I try to put the users to the centre with a question: "How to make the knowledge resources of the WLP project work together?"
In the recent period I have had to give a lot of thoughts on the work that has been undertaken and on the results that are coming up on the WLP project. As I have emphasised on various occasions, the WLP project has gone through a period during which it has had to modify its work programme. In this context the project has had to reconsider what is possible to achieve when the underlying ideas have met obstacles and work has taken somewhat different course.

The major conceptual change that has occurred has been a transition from
a) separate 'packaged knowledge resources' to 'networked knowledge resources' and from
b) separate 'e-learning platforms' (in their own sphere) to 'working and learning with web-based resources'.

From this perspective I try to make transparent what is special (from the users' point of view) in the Resource Areas that we are building in the WLP project. To me the idea is growing gradually on the drawing board but it is difficult to communicate if the discussion focuses on single Resource Areas or single tools or single knowledge elements.

In the subsequent postings I try to give a picture of the building of mutually complementing resource areas that cover the following resources:
Resource Area 1: The preparatory tools for analyses of the preconditions for partnership creation,
Resource Area 2: The KLearn planning tools that provide a 'simulation cabin' for getting insights into partnership development,
Resource Area 3: The case stories that present  WLP partners' experiences on piloting and/or their insights into development of partnership-based cooperation in their countries,
Resource Area 4: The WLP Multimedia resources that provide video and audio materials on issues that are central for the WLP project and for learning from each other,
Resource Area 5: The WLP Partners' Areas that provide specific web areas for piloting (e.g. The Italian Piloting Forum) and dissemination (e.g. The Slovenian Dissemination Forum).

In the following postings the building of these resource areas is being discussed alongside the development of the materials. The idea is make the knowledge resource work togethether within the areas and across the areas.

Pekka Kämäräinen

Pekka Kämäräinen; 19-October-2006 18:45:30 forum (0)