CONTEXTDigital technology has transformed the way we use visual resources to share knowledge. Today’s business executives prefer processing information through non-text formats, including infographics, photos, graphic storytelling and video and both the influential enGauge report and the EU’s work on digital media literacy has established the importance of visual literacy in the 21st century because of its relation to critical thinking and learning to learn.The topic is especially relevant to engineering education, across all disciplines from mechanical and electrical engineering, to automotive, environmental and computer engineering. While sketching was traditionally used to cultivate spatial reasoning and problem solving, the recent digital technology transformation has rekindled debate how today’s engineers should use the myriad digital tools available to them. Put simply, engineering is a strategic sector in European economies driving innovation and growth. If we want our engineers to be more creative, productive and competitive, and produce more value for our economy and society, we can do through improved visual literacy. Yet, paradoxically and worryingly, visual skills are almost entirely absent from engineering curricula. Updating research carried out by our colleagues at UPM, in 2018 the NOT team found only two European HEIs that offer engineering graphics courses linked to creativity and that visual literacy is entirely absent from engineering VET. OBJECTIVEHence, the objective of our project is clear: strengthen the visual literacy of engineers across participating countries and further afield by introducing innovative visual literacy training into our vocational teaching and provision. ACTIVITIESTo achieve our objectives, we will undertake the following activities: Catalogue and communicate the specific visual competences that most contribute to engineers’ creativity and productivity by producing the VLEE Competence Framework - so that stakeholders and VET organizations are motivated to introduce this new element of teaching. Carry out rigorous testing to determine the most relevant, useful and easy-to-use digital graphic, image and video technology and share this knowledge with the VET sector so that engineering teachers have the knowledge, skills and resources to improve teaching and learning using visual content - VLEE Toolkit. Produce the first visual literacy for engineering VET training course to enable engineers to develop their visual competences in a very practical manner - VLEE online course.PARTICIPANT PROFILEThe project will respond to the following needs of these target groups: i) ENGINEERS. Students attending vocational colleges and working engineers need practical training opportunities to become better at problem solving, innovation and communication, and to stay up-to-date with the technologies affecting their sector ii) VET TRAINERS need support in modernizing their pedagogic approach and strategic use of digital technology in ways that better cater to students’ learning needs and future performance in the workplace. iii) VET ORGANIZATIONS AND STAKEHOLDERS, from technical colleges to professional membership bodies, education policy makers, need cost-effective, scalable solutions to improving the quality of education and its relevance to real life work skills.RESULTSWe will produce 3 main results:1 Visual Literacy for Engineering COMPETENCE FRAMEWORK, a digital publication that introduces our target groups to the concept and benefits of visual literacy education and the digital innovations that help teach it effectively. 2 VLEE TOOLKIT, an interactive publication providing practical guidance on the top 20 digital technologies, tools or platforms can be used to teach different aspects of visual literacy in engineering and advance students’ visual competences.3 Visual Literacy for Engineering ONLINE COURSE, a multilingual e-learning course & user driven platform which consolidates learning for students who have received classroom teaching, and enables distance/flexible learning for engineers already in employment irrespective of age, level of study or geographic location.IMPACTVLEE has been carefully structured to enable VET Schools & providers of professional education for engineers to better respond to labour market needs by enabling the introduction of high quality visual literacy education for engineers. All of our project’s outputs, combined with our dissemination/exploitation strategy, are focussed on both raising awareness of this gap, & equipping educators with the means to better teach these competences. As a result, thousands more engineers will have the skills they need to flourish in an ever-changing labour market.Furthermore, the unique structure of the VLEE project provides a reliable means of introducing and scaling improved visual literacy competences for engineering students & engineers in the workplace across Europe.