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22 September 2022

The traditional (offline) mobility programme of the WOODigital Erasmus+ project took place from 6 to 15 July 2022, organised by the 6 partners from 5 countries. The 10-day mobility to Italy included, in addition to the curriculum, a number of fantastic activities: lab, factory and museum visits, all in two wonderful places, Milan and Pesaro.

For the project partners, the methodological essence of the mobility is the live test of the curriculum. Although we are developing an online curriculum, there is one thing that innovation does not change - in contrast to the amazing potential of wood and furniture technology - that is the importance for teachers to observe the reactions of the first encounter when a student sees a curriculum for the first time. During the 10 days of mobility, the trainers collected a lot of spoken and instinctive feedback, and after the training for example we even received feedback where the boss of the participating trainee indicated what an experience the training, with its exciting programmes, had been for the young woodworker in an international environment.

After the training in Italy, the partners also completed an in-depth questionnaire with the trainees, the results of which will be of great help not only in finalising Woodigital, but also in potentially future projects.

And now for the question that interests everyone: did we pass? The final result of the post-mobility questionnaire was definitely positive, not only we but also the participants thought it was meaningful and interesting: a great mix of learning, visits to practical sites and professional relaxation. Participants felt generally prepared to absorb the material and the programme built on their existing knowledge. Participants thoroughly enjoyed the workshops and the factory visits, and would like to see more of these two activities in a possible future programme (we are working towards this).

It is particularly encouraging for us that the training on Quality Management and Environmental Certification, in addition to the more practical parts such as 3D printing and CNC technology, was also found to be very interesting by the students. The most varied results for the programme as a whole were in relation to the timing of the programme, but we expected this, as the rhythm of the learners, as is the case with other training courses, is very different (we were pleased that almost half of the completers gave us maximum marks for timing).

In conclusion, the mobility was a success, the participants left with more knowledge and wonderful experiences, the project partners gained a lot of information to improve the WOODigital before the project closed. Looking beyond WOODgitial, three important lessons were learned for possible future mobilisations:

- the young generation prefers small group sessions,
- shorter mobility times are preferred by participants
- and last but not least, you can never have enough practice and factory visits!