Innovative offerings for initial, continuing and further vocational training
Training
The training that the ELKOnet partners coordinated or developed together ranges from basic training to further training for journeymen wanting to earn Meister (master craftsman) certification all the way to continuing training that spans several trades. To support this training, the ELKOnet operates a German-language training portal - ueba.elkonet.de - that offers users online instruction materials for recently updated electrical technician and IT occupations. These practice-oriented materials were developed on the basis of customer orders. The ELKOnet training portal is used not only by the ELKOnet partners but also by a number of inter-company training centres (see illustration).
The activity-based instruction provided through the ELKOnet training portal ideally supplements in-company learning that uses actual customer orders and the subject-based instruction offered at part-time vocational school. Additionally, ELKOnet instruction offers a foundation for activity-based or project-based learning at the level of further training for Meister (master craftsman) certification and at continuing training level. Blended learning in inter-company vocational training 
Blended learning for Meister certification training
The ELKOnet project created the conditions necessary for offering e-learning and blended learning in preparation of the Meister (master craftsman) examination. This entailed:
- Developing a course plan,
- Developing multimedia-based content for self-learning phases,
- Implementing a learning platform,
- Training teletutors and telecoaches.
Students undergoing Meister certification training at the bfe in Oldenburg for example start their course with ca. 500 hours of part-time online instruction. This is followed by six months' full-time training that takes them through to the end of the course. This structure makes it possible to condense training - from the previous nine months' full-time training to six-months full-time training. The Meister program
From training provider to training service provider
For ELKOnet partners, acquiring certification as a skill centre goes hand-in-hand with the transition from being a training provider to being a training service provider. This entails augmenting the training courses on offer with competent guidance and supplementary services; it also means structuring the instructors' usually unstructured continuing training for employees and gearing it to prepare trainees for a specific formal qualification. The following links contain examples of flanking or supplementary services:
- An online CAD application that is offered in tandem with training courses
- The ELKOnet standards and regulations service and
- The ELKOnet certification program
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