News from INSIGNARE: project meeting, schools hosting, training week

INSIGNARE’s Ourém Vocational School takes part in “Maker Education” project meeting in Turkey

The participation of Ourém Vocational School team in the Erasmus project “Maker Education” in Denizli, Turkey, in the week of October 4th to 8th, was a real success.

The Turkish School ERBAKIR FEN LISESI was an example of courtesy and friendliness during the working week. Learnings, both at a technical and cultural level, were many. The limitations were reduced over the working days and personal skills were enhanced.

With English as the base language, care was taken to learn some terms and expressions from the participating countries.

With regard to learning, related to the technical area and new technologies, strategy workshops were developed – LEGO Serious Play for Entrepreneurship and LEGO Mindstorms EV3. The team, in this activity, applied the knowledge learned in the Digital Systems and Computer Architecture discipline, with Professor Charly Silva, called programming in the form of a flowchart, an application similar to LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3.

In cultural terms, the fantastic Ephesus stands out, which was, at the beginning of the 7th century, a center of knowledge and also the birthplace and home of Heraclitus, the great pre-Socratic philosopher. In Ephesus, women had similar privileges to men, with records of female teachers, painters, artists and sculptors. When night fell, the city streets were lit by oil lamps, a luxury of the time not offered by most cities!

More information about the project can be requested from the coordinator, Horlescu Gabriela, at flory70_nt@yahoo.com

INSIGNARE’s Ourém Vocational School welcomes European schools for Erasmus+ project on Entrepreneurship

Last Friday, October 8th, a week of exchange between EPO students and their counterparts from Estonia, France, North Macedonia and Turkey ended, within “We Start Up!” partnership, supported by the Erasmus+ program.

During this week, participants learned how to make a business plan, underlying the creation of a company/product, as well as a promotional pitch.

They attended a class on Portuguese local and national Economics; listened to a short lecture on the CEO – Ourém Business Hub, as well as the funding and incentives, national and European, existing in Portugal and aimed at entrepreneurship, given by the local Business Association; listened, in person, to the motivations, difficulties and successes of setting up their own company by two young entrepreneurs (and former EPO students).

With such learning outcomes, in international work groups, they structured three business ideas, which stood out for their diversity and transnational character.

They also had a guided tour of the Cooperative of Olive Growers of Fátima, in which they were able to compare the traditional and modern ways of producing olive oil.

Culturally, they toured the Sanctuary of Fátima, as well as the Christ Convent, in Tomar, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the Mira D’Aire caves.

All project results can be asked to its coordinator, Heli Illipe-Sootak, at heli.sootak@gmail.com

INSIGNARE’s Ourém Vocational School’s teachers had a training week in Italy

From 27 September to 1 October, three teachers were in Bari, Italy, for a training week within INTENT Erasmus+ partnership, which includes educational institutions and business associations from Germany, Spain, Italy and the Czech Republic.

This training focused mainly on the way in which transversal projects are put into practice within vocational schools, with a clear connection to the business market. Before more than 20 colleagues from these countries, they presented a training module of their own, which lists three courses: Design, Management and Information Technology. It aims to prepare students to develop social and technical skills that go beyond those taught in their courses.

They analysed two similar modules, crossing Electronics and Management, by German teachers, and Logistics and Informatics, coming from Spain.

Thus, after this critical comparison, they worked on a model of transdisciplinary training design, integrated into international work groups, in which, among other dimensions, were described: the objectives and social and professional competences to be achieved by the students; the underlying problems/needs; student profile and any prerequisites; learning methodology; form of interdisciplinary cooperation; educational digital tools to be involved. The different solutions were presented and debated in front of the whole group, and can be asked to the project’s coordinator, Stefan Homeyer, at stefan.homeyer@akbk-horrem.de