Cooperation and Telecooperation for Effective Workplace Learning

A project for the establishment of a cooperative educational scheme for industrial work experience is being carried out by the Technological Educational Institute of Crete/Department of Electronics under the financial support of the European Union's Community Support Framework for Greece. Our main challenge was to incorporate a project- and/or problem-based methodology for the participating students. Furthermore, we enhanced and facilitated the cooperation between students, the industry mentor and the faculty mentor by electronic communications through an appropriately designed Web site. A description of our overall project is presented, with emphasis given to innovative actions, such as the tele-cooperation activities of all parties involved and the so-called "Industry Placement Days". Practical aspects of students' experience and the cultivation of their skills during their industrial placement are reported. In each case, the work students had to carry out, was highly related to subjects they were taught during their studies, i.e. electronics, automation technology and telematics