IT-Shape 3. Newsletter

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NEWSLETTER

3. issue April 2014

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Welcome

Demand for e-skills has been growing steadily

during the last years all over the world. According

to the study published in the frame of European

e-Skills Forum: “e-Skills shortages will result in an

excess demand of 384.000 ICT practitioners in

2015.” (Körte, W. B., Hüsing T.: Evaluation of the

Implementation of the EC's Communication on

"e-Skills for the 21st Century", Empirica, Bonn).

An important conclusion of related studies was,

that European companies "were increasingly

struggling to hire people who were competent in

both information technology and business

management. Companies need so called "T-

Shaped" professionals who enter the workforce

with a strong business understanding, ‘soft’ skills

and knowledge of leading-edge technology.”

(Fonstad, N., Lanivyn, B.: European e-

Competence Curricula development guidelines,

Final Reports, European Commission, European

e-Skills Forum, 2010).

EUCIP Core - at European level recognized IT

qualification - is an answer exactly to this

demand as its competence framework strongly

focuses on the business skills related to the

fundamental e-skills. The certificate was

established by CEPIS (Council of European

Professional Informatics Societies) and has been

used with success already in seven European

countries.

IT-Shape project aims to adapt EUCIP Core

certificate in the Hungarian Vocational Education.

The main impact of the project are the increased

chances of Hungarian (young and adult) people

getting their placement at enterprises, by

offering them internationally recognized, true

pan-European IT qualification.

I-T Shape Consortium

Table of Content

Welcome .............................................................. 1

The Second I-T Shape Meeting ............................ 2

Events .................................................................. 6

Project basics ....................................................... 7

Partnership .......................................................... 7

Target groups ....................................................... 7

Objectives ............................................................ 7

Work-packages .................................................... 7

This issue was published by:

ITCG E. Fermi Pontedera (PI) Italy

Editor: Adriana Fasulo

Copyright © IT-Shape Consortium

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The Second I‐T Shape Meeting

The second IT-Shape meeting, attended by representatives of the 10 project partners, took place on 1st, 2nd and 3rd April 2014 at ITCG E. Fermi in Pontedera. The Pontedera meeting followed the kick-off meeting that took place in November in Budapest (Hungary). Between the two meetings, six months of hard work on the project. The aim of the meeting was to evaluate and discuss the activities carried out so far and to examine the activities to perform before the next meeting, which will take place in Ireland at the end of October.

Mária Hartyányi, the project coordinator from iTStudy

Hungary Ltd, presented an activity progress report, where

she highlighted that the project is being developed

according to the initial plan. She also presented a new

version of the web platform to be used to upload and

manage the project contents (it-shape.hu).

Peter Tóth, headmaster from the Oveges Jozsef Vocational

School, shared the results of the survey which has been

carried out in Hungarian vocational educational schools,

involving about 500 students. The aim of the survey was to

get their views for the introduction of a European level IT professional training qualification among IT

students. Most of the students in the panel are open to taking part in an IT training which gives access to a

certificate recognized in Europe. The main issue coming up from the survey is linked to the lack of good

English language skills among Hungarian

students, even if most of the students are

willing to improve their competences, as

they are aware of the importance of

English in order to be more competitive

on the European job market.

In addition to that, the teachers from the

Hungarian partner schools have presented

the experience of the ITAF text exams.

The results were not what they expected.

Some students found it difficult to

understand the questions (there were

translation problems as the questions

were translated into Hungarian) and therefore the teachers have requested the tests in English and a

support from AICA (Associazione italiana per l’Informatica e il Calcolo Automatico – is an Italian Association,

member of Council of European Professional Informatics Societies ).

In the pilot phase of the project 200 Hungarian students have the opportunity to obtain the EUCIP Core IT

certificate. The students can decide to choose Hungarian or English language for their exam, and in case

they pass the three module tests (PLAN, BUILD, OPERATE), AICA will submit the EU-level recognized IT

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certificate. This would be the first step towards the Hungarian adaptation of EUCIP Core programme.

In the second part of the meeting Fabrizio Agnesi (AICA) presented the modalities and the running

environment for the Eucip Core tests.

Adriana Fasulo from ITCG E.Fermi spoke about the experience of her school following the introduction of

Eucip Core in the educational curricula. The main goal in starting EUCIP Core certification in their school had

been:

• the strong demand to meet the needs of the job market;

• the need to define a professional profile which shouldn’t be linked to a single commercial product or vendor or specific model, which often become obsolete in a short time;

• to offer an European professional profile for their students.

She listed the contents covered by the modules, the requirements for the exams, the difficulties the

teachers have faced, the critical points to pay attention to. Adriana introduced the three modules (PLAN,

BUILD, OPERATE) of EUCIP Core syllabus:

• PLAN: It concerns the analysis of ICT requirements and the planning of the use of technologies within organisations (how businesses are organised, returns on investment, process analysis, financing, risks, planning, etc.)

• BUILD: It concerns all the main aspects related to building and improving information systems, the process of developing information systems, graphic and multimedia aspects, software planning and development, database planning and management

• OPERATE: Operating management and supporting the functioning of information systems, technological aspects, infrastructures, architectures

After a very detailed introduction into the three knowledge areas, Adriana explained the new didactics and

methodologies applied in the course. The strength of these methodologies could be summarized:

• CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) has been introduced and two teachers involved in the project have spent two weeks in the UK for CLIL training under the LLP scheme.

• Use of interactive lessons based on an online system (IWB), each class has an IWB connected to the Internet.

• To adapt the school syllabus to the Eucip Core areas, the teachers developed Learning Objects available by the students on the IWB platform.

She explained that the students learning in the normal school hours in the morning join to extra lessons in

the afternoon on specific topics before the exams. As critical points she mentioned:

• Work plans have to be periodically revisited to be adapted to new ideas and to new suggestions made by the teachers involved;

• Teachers of different subjects have to collaborate regularly, especially for the plan module; • The teacher is the motivator! If the teacher does not believe in what s/he is doing, the students

give up after a few months; • Some modules are carried out in English, and this slows down the pace of the learning path.

She finally showed some test examples in order to make the participants understand the level of

complexity of the questions in the Eucip Core certification exam.

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The aim of next presentation of the day was to place EUCIP system, EUCIP Core certificate into a wider

context. As Pierfranco Ravotto (AICA) explained EUCIP defined by CEPIS is

• a competence system (frameworks are the syllabuses) • a certification system (IT Administrator, Core - Plan, Build, Operate- , Professional - 21 profiles) • a set of services for businesses and individuals (Self-assessment & proximity profile, Assisted

assessment, learning paths)

EUCIP is promoted by CEPIS, the Council of European Professionals Informatics Societies, and is managed

by the ECDL Foundation. Another European system is e-CF, the e-Competences Framework, defined by the

CEN (European committee for Standardization). E-CF is not a certification but only a competence system. It

is not proposed as an alternative to other frameworks, such as EUCIP but wants to be a common language

in IT sector. EUCIP and the e-Competence Framework have common features and interesting potential

synergies. EUCIP is moving to be compliant with the e-CF framework.

Pierfranco provided definitions related to EUCIP Core system as follows:

• Competence: a demonstrated ability to apply knowledge, skills and attitudes to achieving

observable results.

• Knowledge represents the “set of know-what” (e.g. programming languages, design tools, ...) and

can be described by operational descriptions.

• Skill is defined as “ability to carry out managerial or technical tasks”. Managerial and technical skills

are the components of competences and specify some core abilities which form a competence.

• Attitude means in this context the “cognitive and relational capacity” (e.g. analysis capacity,

synthesis capacity, flexibility, pragmatism, ...). If skills and knowledge are the components, attitudes

are the glue, which keeps them together.

The Hungarian partners agreed that these terms are used differently in Hungary, but there is an on-going

process to align the Hungarian education with the European Qualification Framework (EQF), aiming the

adaptation of the European terminology into the Hungarian system.

Pierfranco explained that 150 schools are involved now in the EUCIP Core programme in Italy. Three

schools started with the programme in 2010, but the number of schools involved is increasing continuously.

On the third day the partners, among them the teachers from the Hungarian vocational schools had been

invited for a meeting with the Italian teachers and the students involved into the EUCIP Core Program in

the high-school ITCG E. Fermi in Pontedera.

Some students of IT classes take part to Company Program, a program of Junior Achievement

(international not profit organization). JA inspires students to develop competitive skills and help prepare

young people for the real world by showing them how to create jobs and how to apply entrepreneurial

thinking to the workplace. The primary purpose of the project is the creation of a micro-enterprise that

encourages the entrepreneurial spirit in students, promoting creativity, use of resources, the courage and

the responsibility for the risk, just like the real entrepreneurs know how to do. The students created a

company named 4 assi spa. This company produces Aperipuzzle. It is a tray / cutting board suitable for

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“apericena”, so it can be sold in bars, pubs, which offer that kind of service, or customers may be families

that use the tray for those moments of conviviality with friends .

In the business management, the micro-company has been supported by some topics learned in Eucip Core

context: project management issues and tools, business application like CRM, e-commerce website, and so

on.

The demonstration gave an example of the new methodology used in the Italian school, namely how the

project-based approach could help to develop business competences of the IT students.

Later, the partners visited the “Creative Room” of the school . It is a math lab where simple but creative

tools could be used for developing logical competences of the students. In the laboratory, through

games and fun activities, the students discover rules and mathematical properties working in a group

and then comparing to get yourself to the solution.

Both visits had been very interesting and useful – as agreed by the guests.

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Events

On 16th May 2014 (at 6pm) the North-East AICA section is organizing a meeting about

THE VALUE OF IT COMPETENCES AT SCHOOL AND ON THE JOB MARKET

Free admission. Venue: Aula Magna of the “Luigi Pierobon” school in Cittadella (PD)

For further details visit: http://www.aicanet.it/eventicontestuali/2014/subscribableevent.2014-03-26.1935366749

Didamatica 2014

New processes e paradigms for didactic

28° edition – Naples 7, 8 e 9 May 2014

For further details visit: http://didamatica2014.unina.it

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Project basics Acronym: I-T Shape Title: I-T Shape – Shape European Level Competitive IT Certification for the Hungarian Vocational Education Duration: 1.October 2013 – 30 September 2015 Action type: Transfer of Innovation Program: Leonardo da Vinci – LLL Subprogram Participating countries: Hungary, Italy, Ireland Website: http://it-shape.hu Contact: Mária Hartyányi, iTStudy Hungary Educational and Researching Centre, Hungary E-mail: [email protected], skype: hmaria718

Partnership ITSTUDY- iTStudy Hungary Ltd. HU AICA - Association of Italian Information Technology IT ITCG – E. Fermi in Pontedera IT ICS The Irish Computer Society IE SZÁMALK-Szalézi Vocational Highschool HU Öveges József Vocational and Grammar School HU Neumann János Vocational School for Information Technology HU Makó – Galamb József Agricultural Vocational School HU University of West Hungary HU Enterprise Development Foundation of Pest Country HU

Target groups Primary target group: Hungarian VET students, career changers, non-qualified IT practitioners, job-seekers looking to break into the industry, secondary target group: VET teachers and trainers, managers and employees of SMEs

Objectives Adaptation and localization of EUCIP Core in Hungary included its three Knowledge Areas (Plan, Build and Operate) Elaborate the detailed syllabuses and the Hungarian EUCIP Core Program Validating the results: piloting the first module by involving Hungarian teachers, 50-60 participants from vocational/university and adult educational institutes Accrediting EUCIP Core under the Hungarian Program Accreditation System.

Work‐packages WP1 Project Management WP2 Analysis and Design WP3 EUCIP Core Adaptation WP4 EUCIP Core Localization WP5 Pilot trainings WP6 Evaluation WP7 Valorization WP8 Dissemination