BLOOM

BLOOM BLOOM (or Bite-size Learning Opportunities on Mobile devices) is the latest exciting European project that Tribal is engaged in delivering. It started in January 2008, and the 18 months of this project are packed with a dense round of customisation, training the trainers, intensive research and documentation, and all the other requirements of European projects, and it has a keen and committed set of partners who are determined to make this a success. An inaugural meeting was held over two days in Vienna in mid-January, attended by all the partners, at which the structure and timetable for the next 18 months was formulated in an atmosphere of excitement and cooperation.

Tribal is the lead partner in this consortium, which aims to develop a business model for a service designed to bridge the digital divide within the EU passenger transport and logistics sector.

So what does this really mean?

The project will support lifelong learning, encouraging excluded groups to upskill and enhance their employment prospects through a programme of blended technologies, in which mobile learning will play a critical role. It will aim to deliver basic skills as part of lifelong learning within the passenger transport and logistics sector by contextualising the learning areas to meet the requirements of the sector and the workplace, taking into account the patterns of shift working, with its irregular and unsociable hours, that make traditional programmes of learning unsuitable for employees in this sector.

Most importantly, BLOOM aims to demonstrate that workplace learning via mobile devices is a viable option that can add value to learning, and that such a strategy can be sustained by a commercial roll-out of the service through a comprehensive business plan which will identify committed sources of funding for the future.

In the UK, the project will use an existing bank of mobile learning material, which will be customised for the German and Austrian markets following a review of the cultural, pedagogical and linguistic adaptation that will be required for them to operate successfully.

The BLOOM partnership encompasses a rich and diverse mix of private and public sector bodies, both in the UK and in the partner countries of Austria and Germany. In the UK, both CWU (Communication Workers Union), representing workers in the postal and telecoms sector, and Go Skills, the sector skills council for businesses working in the UK passenger transport sector, are partners. Bango is a private company whose business is based on the commercialisation of mobile phone technology, providing content across mobile phone networks. In the consortium, they will contribute an in-depth understanding and knowledge of the mobile networks landscape in Europe, analysing and reporting on the current mobile service provider context of the three partner member states, including their ‘market readiness’.

The Austrian partner, BEST Institut für berufsbezogene Weiterbildung und Personaltraining GmbH, is a training provider with direct access to unemployed adults seeking entry into employment, including the passenger transport sector, thus providing direct access to one of the BLOOM target groups. The German partner, IVT, is an association of logistics training providers with access to the passenger transport sector through partnership working.