Collaboration in innovation

The use of technology by Ealing, Hammersmith & West London’s College’s to improve teaching quality and learner experience was on display yesterday (26 January) as the College hosted a visiting group from Tknika, the Basque Country’s applied innovation centre for vocational training, along with other educational representatives from the region.  

The College was approached last year by the Association of Colleges (AoC) to host the group, and jumped at the opportunity. As a Google College and a finalist in the TES FE Awards for Outstanding use of technology for improving teaching,West London’s College was well placed to talk about the technological challenges facing educational institutions. The Basque group featured educational experts working in projects related to the use of ICT in classroom and the development of digital competence, with a knowledge and skill base that can be applied to the full range of FE courses. 

The visitors were taken on a college tour, meeting ICT teaching staff and students, along with Google Innovators and College ICT administrators to discuss the future of technology in the classroom and some of the challenges we’re all facing.

“We all have the same questions” says Iñaki Olabarrieta from Tknika. “But we all have different answers and it is great to collaborate and share knowledge”.

These challenges are important for all FE colleges as the digital revolution in education advances – the ownership of and protection of data and issues around digital privacy. With all Colleges and training providers taking a slightly different approach, further collaboration in the future will be key to solving these issues.

The collaborative visit was a big success and something that WLC looks forward to doing much more of in the future according to Dean Vaughan, Assistant Principal of Hammersmith & Fulham College.

“It was an absolute pleasure to showcase and share our good practice with our European colleagues. It is reassuring to find that we are keeping pace and in some cases leading the way in using emerging technology, as we all face similar challenges upskilling students and staff for the digital age”.