"AppMentor project continues the work that began during the Leonardo da Vinci Project WorkMentor (2011-1-IS1-LEO05-01263) chosen to be a ""success story"" by a panel of experts from the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission and WorkQual (2014-1-IS01-KA202-O00180). The need for AppMentor in VET has arisen as an increasing part of the learning is conducted during work based learning (WBL) away from the VET provider. Sometimes it is impossible to travel to the companies and have mentoring sessions on the spot. Many work mentors & mentoring teachers already see the benefits of using mobile technology (=SOME) in mentoring. Also reporting and registering is already done online in many sectors of industry and service. In order to do this work mentors and mentoring teachers need tools and encouragement to guide and support them to start using SOME when mentoring. They don’t want to be made feel inferior to the students who use different forms of mobile technology and social media. By implementing the outcomes of Appmentor we will give work mentors and teachers the tools needed in order to start using SOME when mentoring. This will make mentoring more flexible and it will create a learning experience which is user friendly, meaningful and up to date with the working environment. Students used to using mobile technology (blogs, facebook, Instagram, chats etc) use it because it is useful, flexible, instant and a way to keep track on what is going on. Students might however need support and encouragement to use these forms of mobile technology in a “new” way, a way that encourages and supports learning. AppMentor provided teachers and work mentors with tools and ideas on how to guide students to use SOME for learning. AppMentor transferred & implemented mobile learning to work placements. 2) encouraged work mentors to use mobile technology (e.g. apps, social media, virtual learning platforms) when mentoring students/apprentices during WBL, 3) deepened the cooperation as well as information and data sharing between work mentor and mentoring teacher during placement by introducing tools for mobile technology, 4) ensured that all students regardless of where they have their work placement receive continuous mentoring & feedback through mobile technology and thus raising the quality of learning received during work placements, 5) introduced tools, methods & materials that support the work mentor and student during work placements.AppMentor had the following intangible results/impact 1) Better cooperation between the work mentor and teacher, 2) Improved communication between student, work mentor and mentoring teacher, 3) Raised quality of WBL both nationally and abroad, 4) Flexible and qualitative mentoring fit for the 21st century and 5) An attitude change relating to how learning and mentoring should be done.The project lifespan was 24 months + 2 extra months to ensure that the outcome(s) were qualitative and user-friendly. Appmentor partners hosted five transnational project meetings during this period. Each meeting lasted for 3 days. In order to ensure time to work on the intellectual outputs there was 1 meeting every 5-6 months, the first meeting was held in December 2016. Throughout the project each partner cooperated closely with employers, work mentors and students and develop the Intellectual Outcomes: 1) Online Micro Learning mentoring course, 2) Manual of mobile technology and social media that can be used to facilitate and strengthen the quality of the mentoring process and 3) Guidelines for mentoring students online using mobile technology. All 3 IOs are included in the AppMentor - An online course for coaching and mentoring at work (https://appmentor.weebly.com/). The AppMentor Online Course is open for all interested parties to use and implement and is available in English, Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, Dutch, Icelandic, French and Spanish.Dissemination was and continues to be an important part of the project and all partners were active in disseminating the project though SOME media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram and by participating in conferences and seminars as well as other events. AppMentor has a project web page http://thalttun.wixsite.com/appmentor and an open Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AppMentor.project/ that function as dissemination channels.By the end of the project all partners had implemented the outcomes of the project in their daily activities and are committed to ensure that the outcomes will be sustainable and used in the future. Appmentor project partners are: P1 = Axxell, Finland (coordinator), P2 = Broadshoulders, UK, P4 = Charlottenlund Upper Secondary School, Norway, P5 = Nantes Terre Atlantique, France, P6 = Verkmenntaskolinn a Akureyri, Iceland, P7 =Education and Mobility, Spain and P8 = Het Idee, The Netherlands"

SASKY Municipal Education and Training Consortium (Sasky) is applying for 61 longer individual placements (4-12 weeks, tailored according to the differing needs of our different schools and former experiences) and for 8 short school exchanges to be realised in group with 2 accompanying persons. As for staff, we are applying for 15 mobilities for our own staff and 2 grants to receive an entrepreneur from abroad. There are 14 hosting partners from 10 different countries all in all. All the 9 vocational schools and all the sectors provided by SASKY are involved in the project. The content of the student mobilities is mainly on-the-job learning, realised according to the field-specific objectives while doing the field-specific work. The students’ objectives are to improve their professional, linguistic, entrepreneurial, social and cultural skills and to reinforce their self-confidence and independence, both at work and in life in general. Some of the longer placements may be realised at vocational schools if that is consistent with the students’ objectives; the reciprocity is an important means to support our internationalisation at home measures. A particular case is the short group exchange. Sasky plans to realise one such exchange each year within a different field. This year, the plan is to assemble 8 students and two accompanying teachers from our two different agricultural schools and to send them to a partner school in the Netherlands. The accompanying persons are needed because this opportunity is offered also for students who are somehow disadvantaged or have special needs – and to students who would not dare to do a longer placement alone. We are also applying for exceptional costs funding to give additional support to students who could not afford to go abroad without it. As for the staff, the goal of most exchanges is to scout the on-the-job learning opportunities for students in order to extend the mobility prospects to a new field and to do the ECVET work in practice, i.e. discuss the students’ objectives, skills and assessment. As a result, the teachers will gain a clearer idea of the kind of learning outcomes the students will get, how those learning outcomes can be recognised and what kind of professional preparation the students need. At the same time, the teachers’ own international skills are enhanced by means of peer learning, through the dialogue of vocational subjects teachers and international coordinators. While assembling the teacher groups, we always see that the group are equipped with skills related to student placements, knowledge of the field in question and sufficient linguistic skills. In addition to the group exchanges for the staff, we are also applying for a few staff work placements. Their objective is staff development, both personal and professional, and both from the perspective of the organisation as well as that of the individual. Our objective with receiving entrepreneurs from abroad is to increase opportunities for internationalisation at home and to reinforce the labour market relevance of the teaching, which is in line with the Finnish VET reform. We also want to contribute to the implementation of the VET reform by developing the identification and recognition process of the international skills. Earlier we have made some development work on this in another project, but because of the reformed curricula, some further development is needed. We aim to develop clear, OLS-compatible rules for the recognition of linguistic skills and a vocational module for international skills based on the regional requirements for vocational skills. To support its assessment by our partners, we are also applying for a KA2 project during the Call 2018. The results of the project include first and foremost improved international skills and interaction, presentations and reports, and the development of shared ways of work and processes. As an impact, the students’ improved skills improve their employability, whereas the staff mobilities and the development work contribute to the quality of Sasky’s international activities and its attractivity while supporting Sasky with the implementation of the VET reform. This project supports Sasky’s internationalisation strategy in the following ways: - equal opportunities for internationalisation: common selection procedures, the group exchange for the disadvantaged, the exceptional costs for the financially impaired, internationalisation at home opportunities through reciprocity - the quality of mobility: the ECVET work and the development of the recognition of the international skills - Sasky is a genuinely international organisation: enhancing the international skills of the staff as well as their motivation for internationalisation. Mobility has also brought and continues to bring internationalisation closer to the everyday life at Sasky.

This project aims to provide training to senior students of 2017 Vocational Courses (Accountancy, Electrotechnics, Industrial Maintenance, Food Service, Software Management, as well as to senior students of 2018 Vocational Courses in Management, Electrotechnics, Commerce, Food Service, Lab Analysis and Industrial Maintenance.The training process is a crucial part of these courses which aims to prepare senior students for their professional life through getting in touch with real work situations. These training courses will take place in Bilbao, Madrid and Brussels, from March to June 2017, and in Barcelona, Brussels and Rimini, from March to June 2018. The training courses will last 6 weeks for 24 students, both in 2017 and in 2018, in a total of 48 weeks.To carry out the projects, partnerships have been established with competent entities in the cities of Bilbao, Madrid, Rimini and Barcelona; these entities present life-long experience in curricular training courses, which in itself is a guarantee that not only the students will be properly guided but also of the high standards of the work experience provided.The selection of the host countries – Spain, Belgium, Italy – have to do with the following criteria: these cities’ economies have been flourishing rapidly, boosting their countries’, on the one hand, and pinpointing them in the European economy, on the other. Their vast social, business and technological development will enable trainees to interact with such working life.The presentation and discussion of the outcome of these training courses will allow further adjustments and finer tuning in the Vocational Courses, permitting partnerships/protocols/projects with local companies.There are other goals of significant importance related to this geographic area: - the promotion of entrepreneurial culture between neighbouring countries; speaking neighbouring foreign languages, thus promoting cross-cut skills; - fostering good business relationships with the host countries; acknowledging the life and working habits and attitudes of our partners, fostering multiculturalism and the socialisation skills of trainees.This project aims to respond to needs that are crucial in the present European economy and, most significantly, to our country; these are:. to perfect assimilated knowledge;. to acquire new skills;. to chain theoretical skills to further practise, empowering these future technical experts to tackle future technological changes through the acquisition of techniques already in use in European companies, broadening their horizons professionally, culturally and personally;. to endorse real contact with the professional world and go along with the most relevant projects under development by these partner companies and entities, during the training process;. to promote foreign language learning skills, especially using English communication skills;. to stimulate the European spirit and mobility, as well as a multicultural work profile;. to endorse entrepreneurship skills, truly indispensable to present economies’ organisation, management and innovation expertise.This project will allow the integration of trainees in the professional world and will provide the ability to do so in the European competitive market. The project will also be an important contribution to the global strategy or our school group, chiefly on the European Development Plan, regarding vocational training courses, as approved by the School Board of Teachers; also, it will greatly improve the status of Vocational Courses in our school, community-wise.The biggest challenge, though, is as regards the ECVET, as it was accorded with go-between entities to keep on working with trainer teams of both home and host countries, leading to the production of a MoU with the sole purpose of acknowledging skills in different course areas (English, Spanish, French, Italian, Welding, Auto-CAD, Food Safety, ITED and other related to Commerce and Food Service).

Bremen as a City of Trade has a special interest and a high responsibility to establish vocational training that focuses on international trade and commerce. The city is a melting pot of different cultures and languages and so the society needs to communicate and interact on an intercultural level. The institution Bildung im Ausland UG that is running the project assists companies and vocational training institutions in making training more international. Also we want to give as many young people as possible a chance to feel intercultural live across boarders.The project BreMover III had the idea to give young people the possibility to speak a foreign language in a foreign country, to feel their confidence through solving problems by their own - generally speaking, to foster personal and professional skills to improve the opportunities on the labour market. Also the staff on Bildung im Ausland UG had the possibility to get to know new target groups and get knew ideas and methods on how to work pedagogically with these and already known target groups. During the two year the project run we send 24 students for mobilities of two to twelve weeks abroad. The young people studied in the fields of administration, trade, industry and health care and made their work experiences in the UK, in Ireland, Spain, France, Austria, Malta and Cyprus. Most of them live in Bremen, one girl came from southern Germany, they were aged between 18 and 31 at the time of the mobility. The students that took part had mostly german nationality, but also students from Iran, Syria, Guinea, Russia, Turkey and Sierra Leone took part. The aim met the expectation to include a wide variety of people. Three mobilities were used by staff for four days travels to Austria and the UK. Due to the Corona crises three students had to stop early their mobilities, eight applicants had to cancel their stay just three weeks before the start.During the mobilities the students did a work experience related to their profession, some also took part in a language course. The staff mobilities were run as job shadowing. The outcome of the project is a clear personal improvement in terms of independence, confidence and openness. Also language skills were improved especially the intuitive use of a foreign language. All the participants benefited from looking beyond the obvious, they experienced their profession from a wider perspective and gained new motivation to go on with their studies. Also a better understanding of working with disadvantaged people is an important outcome of the project. If you look at middle and long range effects you can see an increase of requests for international mobilities in combination with vocational training by training institutions. Companies and schools that took part in previous ERASMUS+ projects were involved in BreMover III as well as new institutions that we hadn't work with before. Also more and more vocational training organizations get in contact with Bildung im Ausland UG to see how they can take part in such a project and benefit from its impact to their staff and students.

In the NaturiWab2 - students and staff abroad project, 49 students from the natural resource and environmental sectors had opportunity to do part their studies abroad. At the same time, a mobility period for 17 staff representatives was made possible. Student mobility durations ranged from 12 to 81 days and staff from 4 to 5 days. There were 40 receiving partners in the project, from 20 countries. The short periods were mainly adult students´ periods. Some of the host organizations in the project are long-term partners of the network's educational institutions, some new cooperations were created during the project.The project was implemented by the Naturi network, which includes five Finnish natural resources and environmental VET providers (Kpedu, Sakky, Sedu, Ysao and Kao). The applicant organization and coordinator was the Central Ostrobothnia Vocational College. Since 2005, the network has implemented 8 expert and student mobility projects, which have resulted in a number of good practices and a flexible collaborative model.This project responded to the need for natural resource and environmental students to develop their professional skills and general working life skills (key competences for lifelong learning) through international mobility periods. Networking enabled the sharing of ECVET-related know-how among the Naturi educational institutions and the acquisition of new foreign partners. Memorandum of Understanding and Learning (later Training) were learning and collaboration agreements in use.Government policy says that organisations should take a digital leap in their actions. We have done it in training, evaluation, guidance, training marketing, etc. In this project, we strengthened the use of electronic systems and applications for internationalization; we transferred ECVET forms to student information management systems and informed about the NaturiWab2 project's activities in Facebook, blogs, Twitter and Instagram. In communication, guidance and reporting, we utilized various digital tools such as WhatsApp and Skype. In network communication, we deployed the Office365 Group, where we shared the materials and where we went through all the project discussions.Our main goal was to provide added value to a student's degree by sending him abroad to increase his internationalization skills. Through the project, we strengthened our relations with our foreign partners and increased our network. In line with our goal, we sent more and more adult learners to the world, as well as increasing our staff's expertise by involving them in this project.As a result of the project, the professional skills, language skills and cultural knowledge of students and staff increased. From the international experience they have gained, students benefit in many ways in their lives..Staff members can use the benefits in development work of their organization in addition to their personal interests.With the experience of the project, It is easier for the student to cope with the future in an increasingly international working life - and it is easier for the teacher or staff representative to guide and steer students for that.