VC BK - Evaluation von virtuellen Klassenzimmern in der Berufsbildung

At the Berufskolleg Kreis Höxter in Brakel, the establishment of a training course at the vocational school for business, specializing in business administration, with a focus on cultural management, was approved, which, as a school experiment, tests the use of Virtual Classrooms (VC) in vocational schools (BK). This trial is evaluated by the Chair of Business Education II as scientific support.

The idea for the new specialist school focus of cultural management arose in 2010 as part of school development planning at the Kreisberufskolleg Brakel in coordination with the Berufskolleg für Wirtschaft und Verwaltung in Höxter. In the meantime, the Kreisberufskolleg Brakel has become part of the Berufskolleg Kreis Höxter.

The lessons follow the blended learning approach, in which the software for “virtual classrooms” from netucate systems GmbH is used over the Internet, which only requires an Internet-enabled PC from the students. The lessons at the vocational school take place during the week in the evening via the virtual classroom, alongside work. The technology allows both teachers and students (designation within the vocational school) to communicate with each other and to use different communication channels (synchronous – chat, audio, video and asynchronous – mail) and feedback systems as well as presentation systems and group work options.

Qualitative and quantitative methods are used in the evaluation, the PVEC developed by Prof. Dr. Marc Beutner, i.e. the Paderborn Vocational Education Concept for eLearning and Serious Games, as well as the three-shell model of vocational training evaluation according to Beutner. These form the basis of the evaluation approach. An acceptance analysis, a content analysis and an implementation analysis are used as part of the evaluation concept.

Training program in Brakel:

• Interdisciplinary subject area
• German/Communication
• Foreign language (English)
• Economics/Politics
• Business and labor law
• Subject-specific subject area
• Business administration
• Accounting
• Business informatics
• Business mathematics/Statistics
• Additional subject (optional)
• Marketing
• Human resources
• Taxes
• Specialized subject
• Cultural management