Harnessing AI, Gamification and Data Analysis in VET Digital Facilitation

The use of digital content in education worldwide was relatively uncommon before the COVID-19 crisis started. Only 20% of countries had digital learning resources in teaching, and a mere 10 percent of countries had more robust digital learning capabilities offering some of the educational materials available outside of the classroom. According to the World Bank, no country has a universal digital curriculum for teaching and learning. These numbers paint a picture of the efforts that governments and schools had to take to rapidly move to distance learning to ensure continuity of learning. The other part of the equation is how educational institutions are equipped for online learning, and how well teachers are prepared for and engaged in online teaching. Teachers need to quickly adjust their teaching methods and learning expectations. Is in this context that the figure of the digital facilitator trainer (DFT) in the vocational education and training became necessary. A multi-disciplinary, complementary consortium consisting of three organisations from Turkey (Osmaniye İl Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü), Romania (TEAM4Excellence) and Spain (Femxa Formación) was assembled to address this. The consortium implemented the project Digital Facilitator Trainer Role (DigiFacT) during 2021-2023. The consortium detected that in some countries the educational entities took charge of the demand for training by implementing virtual classrooms and telematic media, and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Gamification, and Data Analysis for the improvement of educational services. During the Pandemic, AI became an instrument of measurement parameters that we didn't pay attention to before, for instance, a good example in Spain was the inclusion of new AI tools into final university examinations to avoid cheating. Gamification (GA) is another innovative methodology that is making its way into the VET community, as an efficient tool to engage and motivate learners during online training. The quality of gamification techniques and digital tools is improving year by year, making it essential to include gamification in the Digital Facilitator Trainer model. Finally, the consortium included Data analysis (DA), since it was also evident a pre-existing gap in the use of data to improve the learning models. Data analysis presents an especially effective solution to improve, monitor, and assess teaching in online settings. Additionally, the consortium detected in a previous analysis the