M102b - Tools for work-based learning scenario

design

Author: Paolo Russo, EGInA (Italy)

Author’s biography
Paolo Russo has been dealing with
innovation and digital transformation for
about twenty years. Currently, the focus
of his interest is on the creation of digital
monuments capable of lasting centuries.
This led him to investigate the issue of
energy efficiency of digital systems.

In the past, he was appointed to several

Italian government’s committees for e-
government, e-democracy and open
source software. He has worked on
many innovation projects in the digital
sector in Europe and the USA.

Introduction
• The aim of this presentation is to introduce learners to a few simple tools that can be
used for work-based learning scenario design.

• Learning Outcomes
• Identify digital tools that can facilitate work-based learning scenario design.

Keywords
• Scenario: A collection of plausible and important related situations and problems that
exist in some nascent form in the present day.
• Flowchart: A diagram that represents a workflow or process, like a step-by-step
approach to solving an issue.
• Mind map: A diagram used to visually organize information about a hierarchy, starting
from a single node/concept.

Mapping the scenario’s situations

• Step 5 of the scenario building sequence suggests to organize the situations and their
decision points visually as a tool to facilitate the validation of the scenario.
• There are several categories of software that can facilitate the visualization process:
• Flowcharts are diagrams that represents a workflow or process. They are very
effective in visualizing algorithms, i.e. step-by-step approaches to solving an issue.
• Mind maps are diagrams used to visually organize information about a hierarchy,
starting from a single node/concept.
• Concept maps are diagrams that represent concepts as nodes (nouns) and their
relationships as connecting lines (verbs).
• Choosing one type of software or another is primarily a matter of personal preference.
Flowcharts are the most commonly used solution, but mind maps are also quite popular.

Flowcharting apps
• Any drawing program can be used to create flowcharts. However, using dedicated
software can bring some advantages. For learner’s convenience two possible free
options are suggested below.
• Open source flowcharting app:
• draw.io (online, web-based)
• Proprietary flowcharting app that offers fully functional free version:
• Canva

Mind mapping apps

• Some popular open source mind mapping apps are:
• FreeMind
• Freeplane
• Some proprietary mind mapping apps that offer fully functional free versions are:
• XMind
• Mind42 (online only)
• Other proprietary cross-platform apps worth mentioning are: MindManager, LucidChart
and MindMeister.

 Thank you for your attention!

Contact and further information

Please refer to the Good DEEDs website (https://gooddeeds-learn.eu)