A practical, hands-on course that helps vocational learners understand, use and question AI tools with confidence.

Artificial intelligence has moved from research labs into everyday work, and vocational learners are among those who will feel it most. Technicians, administrators and tradespeople increasingly work alongside AI tools. Yet most AI courses are still written for specialists. Within DIGITEX, the Erasmus+ project we introduced earlier this year, CogniSys set out to change that for vocational education and training.

Our AI and generative models module is now nearing completion. Across seven units, it takes learners from the basics of what AI is and how language models produce text, through writing effective prompts, to judging AI output critically for errors, bias, privacy and legal risk. It closes with a practical case study. Learners install and run a small open language model on an ordinary computer, fully offline, and build a simple assistant that answers from their own documents. The aim is not only to explain AI, but to let learners see how it works, where it fails and how to check it.

Built for the classroom

Good teaching material has to work for the people who use it. DIGITEX learners and trainers come from many countries and speak many languages, so we wrote the module in clear, plain English. We checked its readability instead of assuming it. Every unit comes with slides, worked examples and a step-by-step guide that lets trainers deliver the sessions confidently, even when teaching in a second language. The whole course is aligned with the European Commission’s latest digital competence framework, so its learning outcomes fit into recognised European standards.

CogniSys also leads the project’s curriculum work as a whole. In that role we set the common approach that all nine partner modules follow, and we review each one for consistency, assessment quality and accessibility. The module will be validated by teachers and learners across the partnership before joining the DIGITEX e-learning platform. There it will be complemented by an AI-powered language tool that CogniSys is developing for the project.

For CogniSys, DIGITEX is a chance to turn our experience in applied AI into learning that works in a real classroom. As AI becomes part of everyday work, vocational learners deserve an education that treats it with both rigour and clarity.

DIGITEX (“Digital Transformation for Vocational Excellence: Innovating Education through Advanced Technologies”) is an Erasmus+ KA220-VET cooperation partnership coordinated by ITECAM (Spain). More information: DIGITEX | ERASMUS+. Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or SEPIE, which cannot be held responsible for them.