The Role of Technologies in Crossing Boundaries Between Work and Education: Good Practices in Vocational Education and Training (VET)

Since the mass diffusion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), both educational institutions and business enterprises have been implementing software and technological infrastructures in order to enhance the learning experience as well as productivity. The initial Vocational Education and Training (VET) has been part of this process of changes with several pilot projects, such as iCnos (a project financed by the CNOS-FAP federation) and iVideo (a project financed by the Swiss Federal Institute for VET), which aim at introducing ICTs as support for didactics and learning processes. Within VET, technologies are involved in the learning processes taking place in the classroom, in the laboratory, and during the traineeship. In the classroom, technologies are mainly used to support learning activities like assignments, group works, assessments, etc. in general cultural subjects. In the laboratory and during the traineeship, technologies are used in different ways: on the one hand, they are, and they have always been, a regular part of the work activities, which are the subjects of learning; on the other hand, they “can serve many roles to support Work-Based Learning (WBL)”. Technologies risk being confined to each respective framework (classroom, laboratory, workplace), leaving unexploited their potential as a learning tool. ICTs can support WBL activities for better identifying relevant learning opportunities and for better structuring learning activities within the working context. The main research questions of the present contribute are as follow: a) How are technologies used in laboratories instructional practices and in the workplace? b) Which learning processes are activated in the students through the use of professional technologies? C) Could WBL supported by technologies be useful for learning activities in general cultural subjects? If so, how can it enhance student learning processes?