This article contains
- German national agency NABIBB has approved our application
- SPS el-it Dobruska (Czech Republic), Landesberufsschule Tschuggmall Brixen (Scuola Professionale Provinciale Tschuggmall di Bressanone, Italy) and Staatliche Berufsschule II Bayreuth (Germany) will cooperate in the project
- a description of how the application was prepared
On 22 July 2016 I received an email from the German national agency NABIBB stating that our application for a strategic partnership for VET (key action 2) had been approved. This was great news for the three schools involved in the project especially as we had already put a lot of work in the application. Here is a quick overview of what happened before…
The idea
Actually the project idea roots in the Comenius project “New Ideas Factory” which featured SPS el-it Dobruska and Staatliche Berufsschule II Bayreuth. During this project the participating schools developed a window-cleaning robot. Besides the technical design a task during the project was to develop a strategy and concept for online marketing.
Inspired by the spirit of entrepreneurship during this project, we at Staatliche Berufsschule II Bayreuth implemented a project in classes for management assistants in wholesale and foreign trade (Kaufmann im Groß- und Außenhandel). During the project students had to develop a business idea, write a business plan and setup their own online-shop (read here for more info in German). We were thrilled by the great results our students achieved.
However, what we at Staatliche Berufsschule II learned quite soon is, that the problem with teaching students skills for e-commerce is that there is no formal curriculum, no formal certification and also no schoolbook literature for these type of skills. What we decided was that:
- we would like to teach skills in e-commerce to our students in additional lessons for our students
- we would like to cooperate with partners from abroad so that we can exchange input, knowledge and skills from schools in other countries
The partners
As Staatliche Berufsschule II Bayreuth had already implemented two Comenius Projects together with SPS el-it Dobruska, this school was an obvious choice. As SPS el-it is specialised in technical professions they will provide and teach all the necessary basic skills on programming CSS and HTML to the “Fit for E-Commerce” project.
The initial contact to LBS Tschuggmall from Brixen was made by me when I contacted and visited the school in Brixen as part of an Erasmus+ project of Regierung von Oberfranken which deals with inclusion of handicapped students into regular classes. This first contact left a great impression. We found out that this school could provide valuable information and skills in online marketing (including keyword analysis and text optimisation for search engines), graphic design and product photography, which is fundamentally important for the success of an online shop. LBS Tschuggmall has classes for trade vocations as well as technical IT vocations. When we contacted them in February 2016, they signalled their interest immediately and we could start with the actual application.
The application
If you have ever written an application for an Erasmus+ project then you know what we are talking about here: creating a detailed concept, writing it down, communicating it to project partners, changing things again and again and complying with all the project formalities. In the end we had a 47-page application with a great project plan, a detailled budget but no guarantee that our application would succeed. I would like to especially thank Petra Uhlirova (SPS el-it) and Jürgen Seeber (LBS Tschuggmall) as well as my colleagues Agnes Kolb and Christoph Dietl for their great support with the application. Then finally on the 27 March at 12:09:52 our application was submitted:
Goals
Here is what we want to achieve during the project:
Intellectual output
- Learning Materials “Setting up an Online-Shop” (BS II Bayreuth)
- Learning Materials “Facilitating Online Marketing” (LBS Tschuggmall)
- Learning Materials “Basics of Internet Programming” (SPS el-is Dobruska)
Meetings and Learning activites
- Inital Project Meeting (teachers only)
- Learning Activity - Course Week “Setting up an online-shop” (students + teachers)
- Learning Activity - Course Week “Facilitating Online Marketing” (students + teachers)
- Learning Activity - Course Week “Basics of Internet Programming” (students + teachers)
Other activites
- Logo Design Competition
- Setup of an onlineshop platform for easy in-classroom use
Expectations and Outlook
The expected impacts on the student participants of the learning activities include the following:
- improved competencies in the field of e-commerce, a basic understanding of Internet technologies and competencies in online marketing
- additional qualifications for work with companies in the e-commerce sector and thus better employment possibilities in a growing, fast-paced market
- improved language skills in English
- improved intercultural knowledge and EU citizenship
- development of improved social skills by working in an international group
The expected impacts on the participating organisations include the following:
- long-term establishment of an innovative course programme in the field of e-commerce
- development of a more versatile school profile by offering courses in this emerging sector
- attraction of a higher number of students by the innovative course programme
- further development of teachers’ skills in e-commerce
- transfer of innovative methodology among the participating schools
- overall improvement in the teaching of ICT skills, digital competencies, etc.
- further development of teachers’ skills and competencies
I am really excited to be able to work on this project and I am really looking forward to the first meeting.
Martin