The EUCoop Campus reflective journal, as part of the two-year European cooperative mobility project, has been tested during a study visit to two cooperatives in the Almería region of Spain. The reflective journal is part of a "Values and Principles" unit being developed for the EU Leonardo da Vinci-funded EuCoop Campus project, and is designed to provide structure and accredited learning for members of cooperatives.
ACTIF-Europe provides its expertise and experience of ECVET approaches to support the design and the assessment of the EUCoop Campus programmes.
The project, which aims to develop a Europe-wide learning framework, encourages learners to learn from each other by networking and sharing best practice. It is designed to be a real opportunity for cooperatives across Europe to share best practice and learn from experiences, both positive and negative, and to help them evaluate the effectiveness of their own cooperative.
For the pilot phase, partners from the other partner countries in Europe visited Almería, an area where family small size farming cooperatives are numerous. The programme is aimed at managers and elected members of cooperatives.
Participants undertook a study tour, where they were given presentations by Casur, an agricultural cooperative which helps producers by packaging produce and by linking with client organisations as a supplier channel and with Cajamar, a credit union which supports small farmers and funds research into agriculture. Each learner had to complete a reflective journal, designed:
• to be a vehicle for the learners to collect evidence for pre-determined learning outcomes,
• to reflect on what they had learnt about the co-operative they were visiting and what they would take back to their home country from the experience.
This was then assessed and evaluated by the host cooperative.
Feedback received during the pilot phase is enabling to refine the journal, and to take language differences into account around the way terms, such as 'vocational', are understood in different educational systems and cultures.
The next pilot phase, for Membership Engagement, will take place in Germany in July 2014, where attendees will stay at ADG's conference centre Montabaur castle and undertake study tours of German cooperatives.
See more at: www.facebook.com/coopcampus/timeline