Name:                               Eckert Hebel, Michael Salner

Organization:                   OSZ IMT Berlin, Germany

Date: Wednesday, 15-04-15

1. Activities description

Visit the SC Kranj to see the project week of the school

Visit the vocational collage in Bled

Visit the learning hotel Astoria in Bled

see http://www.vgs-bled.si/ and http://www.vgs-bled.si/index.php/studenti/solski-portal

Visit the castle of Bled and eat a famous Cremeschnitte

 

2. What did I learn from this activity? What insights did this new knowledge give to me in relation to school/organization, learner and employer?

The SC Kranj made an interdisciplinary three day project week. The student groups tried to build a 3d-printer. Therefore students from different classes with different subjects/professions were involved with suitable exercises.

First we went into a classroom, where Mechatronic students were learning something about pneumatics. They stood up, when we came in.

In another room students dealt with sensors for the printer. In the next room students developed the electronic interfaces for the printer. That class also had an English teacher co-operating with the IT teacher to help the students with English technical texts. The IT teacher worked with the presentation software Prezi. All the students were networked and everyone had a smiley at Prezi. They used Prezi together in a kind of network mode. It was said that a student who presents something should use pictures instead of many words. So the presenting student has to talk a lot (about the pictures). We think that is a very good idea. The students then have to speak and train to speak, which of course is also good to learn social skills as communicative competence. The IT teacher said that the presentations also had to be held in English. So the English usage is trained too.

The SC Kranj also has a library with a quiet room. There the students make their homework or just relax.

Again it was said that students had renovated some rooms at the school themselves.

The SC Kranj sometimes offers special motto days.

Last year the SC Kranj had a robot day. At that day many workshops were offered and robots could be seen.

Another day was the creative day. The best ideas were promoted with prizes. The winner was invited to a company.

At the wall there are pictures made for primary school students that they get an impression of the different professions and the different VET courses offered by the SC Kranj.

Then we saw a very good presentation about the applications of 3d-printers held by a Slovenian student.

In the afternoon we visited the vocational college in Bled and the training hotel Astoria The school was in a nice, ancient, renovated building. The school is located in a beautiful touristic area in Bled. At the hotel Astoria there was a special week with an international competence with barkeeper students from six countries.

At the hotel the students are trained to become a waiter/waitress, a barkeeper, or a wellness assistant. The hotel closely co-operates with the neighbouring vocational school so that the school knows best what competences are required for the Hotel. Discipline and social skills play a great role not only in those professions.

The hotel has co-operations with different countries as Finland. Finish students also participated in our final discussion. The managing director said it is always good to see how the personality of the students grows. He had a quite positive view of the Slovenian vocational system. But Slovenian students should be more open, less scared, said the manager. One of the students had a job beside their education.

Finally we visited the castle of Bled and we ate a famous cake called the Cremeschnitte at a café. We knew the Cremeschnitte from Germany.

 

3. How did I feel about what was presented to me? What did I find innovative? What did I find difficult or challenging to do or understand and why?

The innovative things:

• We saw that the teachers at SC Kranj work very practice- and action-oriented.
• The idea to develop a product together with students from different classes learning different professions is very good.
• The students renovate, create their own surroundings. This might have the effect that they more like to go to school, feel a little bit like home.
• The quiet area where students relax or make homework is also a good idea. They can help each other or just relax when they had stress in the lecture before.
• Also every student gets a warm lunch (meal) for only 2,42€ at the school canteen.
• Having employers or companies and schools nearby in the neighbourhood makes it easier to visit each other.Difficult is, and that’s what was said by the Slovenians, to organize the project week. Every class needs a new schedule and a lot of preparing project work has to be done as ordering the material or controlling everything, etc.4. What is working well and could be applied in my organisation and why? How would you go about doing this?

• Students could be more involved in designing the school, the buildings, the rooms, café, bringing equipment from their homes, etc. to make them feel good or to have a better atmosphere for study.
• The Prezi network features let students closely work together with Prezi.
• The quiet area is a good idea.

 

5. What definitely would not work in my organisation and why? Any additional comments.

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