11 DEC 2021 · Emerging technologies are transforming the possibilities for delivering really engaging digital learning. With a focus on users, we have the hardware and software to make new experiences accessible at an increasingly low cost. At the same time, smart artificial intelligence can remove some of the routine tasks from managing the learning process, allowing teachers and trainers more time to use their expertise to support learners directly. The new tech available in XR (augmented or virtual reality) gives learners the chance to immerse themselves in the learning task, developing muscle memory as well as gaining knowledge. It can be deployed where it is too risky, too expensive or simply too complicated to gain access to real workplaces to give learners an idea of what the experience is like in real life. Ufi projects have tackled the challenge of implementing VR/AR solutions in a number of projects, in sectors as diverse as construction, manufacturing, first-responder training, empathy and soft skills development and river pilot training. Bodyswaps is developing a Virtual Reality (VR) learning platform and content library offered as a service to businesses that uses VR and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide soft skills training similar in performance to expert coaching and role-playing, but close to the cost and scalability of eLearning. Many sectors are going through significant transformation through automation and digital innovation, not least those which have traditionally been labour intensive such as retail or transport. In this new realm, companies increasingly depend on employees’ soft skills to add operational value. Therefore, rapidly developing the soft skills of the workforces is critical. Virtual and augmented reality has very high potential to enable access to soft skills training at scale. The Bodyswaps platform empowers learners to safely practice their skills and measure their progress through a library of VR role-play simulations. The company’s most recent innovation is a job interview simulator, focused on improving university students’ career chances. With Bodyswaps, organisations of all sizes can boost and scale their training programmes with affordable learning experiences far more effectively than with traditional online exercises or even facilitated role-playing. Ufi invested in Bodyswaps in September 2020 alongside Haatch Ventures and a group of private investors. This investment fits with our focus on investing to help people learn the essential skills needed for work, now and in the future – including interpersonal skills Other projects Ufi have funded in this space include Bridgewater and Taunton College’s ‘PRACTICE’, Contented Brothers ‘The Difficult Conversation Trainer’, First Step Trust’s project ‘Smart Pathways’, NIACRO’s ‘SITE IT’, BTLK’s ‘Tripping the Thames’, TalkOutVR’s COPS, LIVES Covid-response project – also supported by TalkOutVR. And in AR, National Composite Centre’s ‘LayupRite’. In the emerging field of Artificial Intelligence, Ufi projects have addressed the challenges of student advice and induction, assessment and personalised learning. Taking English and maths GCSE resits after a less-than successful experience in school is hard – both for the learner and the teacher trying to motivate and support them. FE Colleges were looking for a better way to help learners succeed. CENTURY is the tried and tested intelligent intervention tool that combines artificial intelligence with the latest research in learning science and neuroscience. It creates constantly adapting, personalised pathways for every student and powerful intervention data for teachers. Over the past year, CENTURY has been piloting the use of their AI platform to demonstrate its potential to support learning in FE. Their focus is on the impact of AI technology in English and Maths as part of an independent or blended learning strategy for learners who are undertaking resits in these subjects. Their intelligent intervention tool works with Colleges to stretch and support every student, instantly addressing gaps in knowledge, remedying misconceptions, and providing resources for teacher-led learning sessions. This, in turn, frees up the time teachers spend on marking and feedback to make effective use of classroom time. Other Ufi funded projects involving AI solutions are Bolton College’s ‘ADA’ and ‘FirstPass’, and AI-assisted decision making in FLUENCE. These technologies are enabling innovators to not only redefine what is possible but also to build more inclusive and learner-centered models of delivery. Scanning the horizon, we anticipate metaverse technology will support entirely new approaches to learn, collaborate and demonstrate skills. Blockchain and micro credential technologies will provide new tools for learners to evidence their competencies. We also expect a seismic shift in modes of assessment where AI technologies make high stake examinations redundant. Over the last 18 months, we have witnessed an unprecedented acceleration in the adoption of digital technology to support learning. The challenge now is to maintain this pace whilst ensuring that no one is left behind.

3 DEC 2021 · One of the underlying questions in Ufi’s work on the VocTech Challenge work over 2021 has been “how can digital technology help ensure equity of opportunity to develop skills for work?”. This episode reflected on how this question has been addressed during the wide diversity of sessions during #Week of VocTech. The episode also includes the announcement the organisations being offered funding as part of the Ufi’s VocTech Challenge; £1.5m to help level up learning for those most impacted by the digital divide. Co-anchor Louise Rowland was joined for the Livestream by Ufi Trustee Jeff Greenidge, Director For Diversity at The Education and Training Foundation & The Association of Colleges, and Ufi team members Josh Smith and Mahreen Ferdous, to look back on the events of the week. Louise Rowland announces more than £1.5m in grant funding for 14 projects that use tech to help adults impacted by the digital divide, so they can gain the confidence to get the skills they need for work. The #WeekofVocTech is a free programme of online events exploring the role of digital technology in vocational training and to celebrate its impact on learners, employers, training providers and society as a whole. This highly interactive week united trainers, learning providers, developers, investors, funders and policymakers over five days of networking, interactive sessions and celebration of ‘what works’ in financing, developing, and deploying VocTech.

20 NOV 2021 · Ufi’s VocTech Challenge White Paper identified one of the key potential barriers for vocational learners as access to learning across wide geographical areas, and in particular how practical skills can be developed when workshop or classroom demonstrations are not possible. The needs of rural communities can be very different from the challenges in urban areas, and different approaches are requird to get learning to where it is needed and recognise the different mindset of learners outside of urban centres. A number of past Ufi projects have addressed these issues in a variety of ways, using entirely remote and hybrid approaches to serve their target communities of learners. From our VocTech Now portfolio of projects, PHX Training supported learners across a very wide geography in Cumbria, LIVEs created amazing new content for first responders across Lincolnshire and CTC (Care Training Consortium) delivering across rural Dumfries and Galloway made sure that their long experience of delivering in this sector could continue during lockdown using new technologies. From our Seed projects, Ambios (another Ufi project on the Learning Technology Awards shortlist) have developed an innovative nature conservation vocational skills training package, delivered remotely into a learner’s own environment. Through the loan of wildlife survey equipment, supported by access to enriched online training materials and live training broadcasts, learners can take the time needed to gain competence in specialist professional skills. Those might involve safely catching and monitoring specific species or tracking wildlife in its natural habitat. Myserscough College was one of our early pioneers in 2016. Their project involved the production of interactive instructional videos for the land-based sector, predominantly geared at level two golf greenkeeping learners, accessed on smartphones and tablets. The College went on to incorporate what they had learned into a wider programme of blended learning content development. The two guests on this episode have current Ufi projects supporting this sector. As a College in a rural area, Boston have first-hand experience that working at different levels across remote rural communities is challenging for employers, learners and trainers in terms of time and cost. The team used the Discovery Phase to explore with learners and employers the challenges they have in accessing classroom-based learning in order to understand better what VocTech solutions might help to solve those problems. In response, they are developing a learning programme that not only tackles contextualized learning for the Agri-Tech sector but delivers personalised learning pathways that adapt to the individual’s needs as they progress through the course. The VocTech supported learning programme will encourage users to progress onto Level 3 Leadership and Management qualifications, enabling learners to develop in their careers and local SMEs to be supported in their growth. All of this in an accessible fashion to meet the challenges of time and distance. The College as a whole has benefitted from involvement in the project, taking time to look in detail at their experience with blended learning and how that can be expanded, with the potential for the roll-out of more VocTech solutions into other areas of their work. Understanding of technical content is far more effective when presented and taught within a real-life or simulated vocational environment or setting. Herefordshire, Ludlow and North Shropshire College in our Seed 19 cohort plans to create, develop, deploy, test and share new Mixed Reality (MR) learning resources that overlay virtual objects onto the real-world environment, in a unique approach to the delivery of animal care & welfare education and training within a rural context. This enables the learner to both see and experience issues around animal care. The mobile nature of the headsets and the ability of the holographic horse (the pilot animal) to be placed in any working space goes well beyond current teaching methods used in college at present. The solution will use mobile digital technologies to operate effectively in a rural work and training environment. Combining these with the creation of small and highly practical MR objects for learning and assessment takes vocational training to a new level. Hologram imagery is impressive when viewed from the HoloLens headset. The Mixed Reality Animal Care learning object experience is designed to be compelling and any representations in videos or images cannot faithfully reproduce or replicate the excellent headset experience. Ufi’s experience with all these projects shows that there is a real need for innovative solutions to enable those most excluded from vocational training because of where they live to have better chances to develop their skills and their careers. Across all four nations of the UK, from the Highlands and Islands to the tip of the West Country, through rural Wales and across Northern Ireland, we encourage Colleges and other training organisations to engage with our funding opportunities and bring their unique perspectives on learner needs to our communities of practice.

2 NOV 2021 · Ufi has funded a number of very exciting Health and Social Care projects over the last five years. Learners in this sector very often fit within our definition of ‘unloved’ as they do an amazing job, often on low pay and with little chance to access continuing professional development. But there are some fantastic providers across FE Colleges and private training providers, innovating to make real change in the sector. The diversity of ideas and responses to the challenges within the sector are a very positive sign that there are alternative approaches using VocTech that can be used to tackle some long-standing challenges in the sector. Pandemic Response During our VocTech Now pandemic response, Ufi funded several organisations to transform their delivery so that front-line workers could continue to access the training they needed to be competent and safe in the workplace and to deliver the all-important care services in those difficult times of early lockdown. St Monica Trust, CTC (who ended up collaborating with one of our early projects in this sector, CuppaCare), Acorn Training, 3 Spirit (who have gone on to an Ignite project to explore AI in care), Acorn Training and Action for People all took the challenge of integrating VocTech into their practice so that learners could engage remotely in skills development. Responses included the creation of new resources that could meet both learner needs in being accessible for those with limited language skills, but still meeting the requirements of the accrediting body, right through to the kitting out of professional recording studios for the long-term creation of engaging learning content, demonstrating practical skills in a safe environment. There was a strong focus on allowing the seasoned professionals offering the training an effective way to deliver both skills and know-how using technologies that they were unfamiliar with. The learning curve was steep for both trainers and learners in many cases. Several of our Seed and Impact projects have also tackled aspects of vocational training in this sector. The Spotless project by Solutions 42 uses scenario-based learning, contextualized to the learner’s environment, to help learners really understand compliance issues in care homes and hospital settings. AgyliaCare offers bite-sized training and an extensive catalogue of training, using AI to personalize the delivery of the content, for paid and unpaid carers. What’s the challenge? The big issues in this sector are around creating bridges and ladders so that people can join and progress within the care professions from diverse backgrounds. This can mean improving entry routes into the labour market for young people, ensuring the existing workforce has the skills businesses and the NHS need to deliver high quality care, supporting individuals to progress in their professional practice, and deploying those skills in a way that drives productivity and growth. In an industry where profit and operating margins are often very low, the challenge is to support training that goes beyond basic compliance and ‘box ticking’ to something that really engages learners and offers a valuable learning experience at a time place that they are able to access the content. Demonstrator Projects The two projects joining Hilary Stringer for this livestream are Passport to Employment in Health Care from City of Glasgow College/KLIK2LEARN, which provides innovative training for non-native English speaking healthcare professionals, and Future Dom Care (now called e-care) from Barking and Dagenham College where learners are empowered to gain new skills in their profession rather than having to leave the frontline of care to progress in their careers - previously featured on FE News in this article. As of March 2020 there was an estimated 43,000 shortfall in nurses across the UK. Some of these positions could be filled by qualified professional from overseas or qualified immigrant healthcare professionals living in the UK. The aim of this City of Glasgow digital vocational training course is to provide non-native English speaking healthcare professionals with engaging, flexible and high-quality training which will enable them to obtain the language and skills needed to pass the mandatory Occupational English Test (OET) and start employment within the health service. The solution will enable them to improve their spoken and listening skills in authentic scenarios in real time. This project will give learners the option to study online, using an innovative tools and software, to create a user journey which focuses on communication skills and maps to the learning outcomes required to pass the OET. Building on the Ufi supported KLIK2LEARN platform, learners can study at their own pace, either using the tools and technology to guide them on the learning pathway or via a Tutor Supported option which will offer a blended approach. Over the last twenty years, recipients of social care have become older and sicker. Homecare agencies and care homes are dealing with tougher, more complex challenges. At times, society has looked the other way. But something more positive has also happened. Digital innovation has seen diagnostic tools become smaller, cheaper and easier to use. The e-Care project from Barking & Dagenham College and Care City aims to give domiciliary carers some of the latest digital technology to spot ill-health quicker, so they can call the right clinician at the right time with the right information. e-Care are building a mobile learning platform to help carers – many of whom lack the time and resources to go to college for long periods – to learn about physiology, the latest care tech and about working with District Nurses and GPs. KLIK2LEARN’s Ann Attridge and Jeanette Griffin from Barking and Dagenham will join us live to share more of their experiences.

22 OCT 2021 · Ufi VocTech Trust launched their VocTech Challenge White Paper in April, at the EdTech Summit, with a £2m commitment for grant funding, best practice sharing and sector partnerships to unlock the potential of digital technology to help those most impacted by the digital divide to get the skills they need for work. The initial “discovery phase” Challenge question to the FE community was “How can VocTech improve vocational outcomes for people most impacted by the digital divide and at greatest risk from the long-term impact of the pandemic on access to training and jobs? How do we then link those vocational skills to real employment opportunities?” A set of assumptions was published about the wider landscape Ufi had seen through their work during the pandemic and the desk research that they had undertaken. But the most important thing was to talk to people about their own lived experiences. Ufi undertook three months of consultations with learners, employers, and education providers of all kinds, to try to uncover what the big issues were for them. Participants were asked, what, in their direct experience, were the underlying needs of learners and employers? How can VocTech help with these needs? How can VocTech improve vocational outcomes / the working lives of those who need it most? And what could Ufi, either alone or with partners, do to reduce the digital divide? At the end of the process, a Green Paper was published focusing on the key findings: There was a lack of access to both devices and bandwidth and alongside that, learning design was not tailored to the devices that people were able to access content on Learners most at risk of digital exclusion have real issues of confidence and motivation which are real barriers to getting started and sticking with their learning Digital skills barriers remain prevalent, but are more complex than might be expected – not all young people are digital natives and not all older people lack digital experience It is particularly difficult to deliver practical skills remotely, and social aspects of learning need to be built into VocTech solutions The VocTech market is still a difficult one to introduce innovations into, and there is a need for champions in the sector to take a risk and adopt new approaches Ufi’s mission is around vocational skills, so they were not in a position to address all of these issues. A subsequent White Paper was published with responses to the consultation, including the VocTech Challenge funding call and activities in partnership with other key organisations in the sector to address some of the wider questions. They are now in full flow delivering on the commitments made in the White Paper, but it’s important to Ufi to continue to explore the themes that were uncovered, to see what’s changing over time, so they are working on a ‘one year on’ analysis of what change they have been able to catalyse or support. The VocTech Challenge funding call applications are currently in the process of being assessed to make sure that Ufi funds those that are addressing the issue of confidence and motivation within their target learner group – finding out what really works for those learners most at risk of remaining disadvantaged by the digital divide. Ufi are looking for projects that really engage with users to find out about their underlying needs and they know that these user groups can have complex needs to help them gain the skills they need for work. But the VocTech Challenge is about more than Ufi’s grants and learner needs. As part of the Discovery Phase for their Challenge process, Ufi spoke with teachers and educators across the sector to see what issues they were facing. It was clear that problems of confidence and motivation also applied to those supporting learners as they grappled through 2020 to learn new skills and work remotely. Ufi was well placed during the pandemic to fund a number of projects across the FE sector and private training providers to respond to the immediate needs of learners, and educators to keep delivering vocational skills in very difficult circumstances. As things are progressively returning to ‘normal’, Ufi is keen to see the VocTech that was adopted really embedded into daily usage, in a blended model or fully remote, depending on circumstances. And to champion what really good VocTech looks like, as an experience for staff and students. Initiatives like AmplifyFE run by the Association for Learning Technology are helping to share that message of ‘what good looks like’ and embedding best practice, and the VocTeach team are gathering and developing resources to help take the strain out of finding good online content. In this episode, Hilary Stringer, who co-ordinated the Challenge Discovery Phase will introduce guests Geoff Elliot, who worked at Pembrokeshire College and has led several Ufi funded projects and Peter Kilkoyne who is working with Pembrokeshire’s Audactive project – an innovative solution that enables teachers to create learning activities so learners can have a ‘conversation’ with coursework and avoid using a keyboard.

13 OCT 2021 · In episode 2 of the #VocTechFutures livestream, Ufi’s Patrick Dunn will be exploring how VocTech is being used to provide accessible, personalised and high-quality learning in the prison sector. As part of the session we will hear from two organisations delivering innovative VocTech solutions: Meganexus, who provide access to education and training technologies and content across the UK prison sector, and who are working with Ufi to bring learning into every prison cell in the country; and Niacro who are using VR to deliver immersive training in construction skills. The discussion will spotlight how VocTech is being used to overcome the challenges of working in the prison environment and share insights into approaches and technologies that might be applied more widely. It will touch on how technology can improve access to learning in prisons, how learning can be better tailored and assessed to individual need using new technology, and how prisons and prisoners can use technology to find employment and career paths.

6 OCT 2021 · How can VocTech support skills for work in FE? In this first episode, Sarah Axon, from Ufi VocTech Trust will explore what VocTech is, how it is being used and the impact it is having on learning delivery. Voctech are digital technologies that support vocational training and help improve skills for work. Voctech describes the digital tools which are used to teach vocational skills to adults: skills which will be used by the workforce in the workplace. What’s the difference between edtech and voctech? Edtech is a generic term which covers all types of educational technologies used in all sorts of settings - schools, colleges, universities - for all sorts of educational purposes. Voctech is the specific application of edtech in a vocational context. While the basic technologies are the same, when applied in a vocational context for adults existing tools often need adjustment or redesign to ensure they work for adults in a work skills context. Ufi is an independent charity which has been around for c 10 years. We believe in the power of digital technologies to change lives; only through the use of voctech will we be able to scale up and give wide access to skills training and tackle the UK vocational skills shortage. Our aim is to catalyse change across the UK to achieve the change in scale that we need in vocational learning for adults. Grant funding projects which demonstrate how innovation in digital learning has an impact Investing via our Ufi Ventures programme in order to help create a market in voctech Working in partnership with organisations who have influence in the sector Helping to build the voctech community and sharing knowledge We’ve funded all types of organisations to demonstrate voctech in all types of innovative ways. In FE for example, there is some real innovation. Bracknell College is working with Century Tech to use AI to provide adaptive personalised learning pathways for students. Hereford and Ludlow College used augmented reality for their animal care course. The National College for Nuclear and Bridgewater and Taunton college used VR to create a safe place to practice skills for the nuclear industry. Ufi’s VocTech Directory is a great resource for exploring other examples of how VocTech is being used. We understand the barriers to adoption of voctech in colleges. Resources – time and money are a real issue. FE colleges are really stretched. Government spending on FE has dropped by a third since 2010 (Institute for Fiscal Studies) and the budget for entire country is £3.5bn - less than the combined annual operating costs of Oxford and Cambridge universities. But the primary barrier has always been cultural – any change to how learning is delivered requires new skills and approaches, and that’s a challenge. The pandemic forced a shift. Necessity became the mother of invention. During the pandemic technology ensured that learning and teaching could still continue. Our VocTech Now funding call provided immediate help to 11 FE colleges to help them make the transition. Some great work and creative problem solving emerged. CPD for staff is an ongoing issue and we are working with ALT to create a network of FE voctech professionals - Amplify FE. The future? AI will undoubtedly help unlock voctech in colleges. When online, AI mediates almost everything – Google, Google Scholar, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, Netflix. And AI will play a great role in learning – which we are beginning to see. AI can create content powerful personalised learning - at scale. Data-driven approaches can also deliver push techniques, such as nudge learning and spaced-practice. If AI is the rocket, data is the fuel. In future episodes the FE livestream will be looking in more detail at practical applications of VocTech and how they can be applied to FE.