S05 - Session P6 - TEPIK - Test of Plant Identification and Knowledge; a digital innovative tool to learn and evaluate plant identification and knowledge

Authors: Valéry Malecot *, Sandrine Huet, Lucie Benoit

Innovation and market improvement can only be achieved on a solid knowledge base. However, in horticulture, landscape and floristry professions, there is a perceived lack of knowledge and skills related to plant identification and knowledge. The TEPIK - Test of Plant Identification and Knowledge - project aims to develop and make available digital tools for students, trainers and entrepreneurs to train, learn, assess, evaluate and certify a level of competence in ornamental plant recognition and knowledge. These tools will consist of an online test, TEPIK, and online learning tools. The construction of these tools is done in a collaborative way. An exhaustive inventory of the needs of different actors in the horticultural sector is carried out during participative workshops and individual interviews. Experts are invited on specific issues. Digital technologies are used for the benefit of pedagogical progress and educational differentiation, as well as for disabilities. The TEPIK tools are fed by a database resulting from the fusion of information from two other highly illustrated databases with active taxonomy management: Vegebase (Plante&Cite) and eFlore (Tela Botanica). Approximately 3000 cultivated and wild taxa have been selected from a total of about 190,000 taxa. The questions in the tools will be generated automatically, taking into consideration difficulty and the usage of taxa. An interactive interface will allow administrators to select these criteria. The test will be composed of a grid of questions with graduated difficulty. This results in a score that measures general competence and scores by horticultural use. Trainers and entrepreneurs will be able to build their own exercises to be used in class or independently by the learners. The TEPIK tools are intended for national and international use. They are designed so that other databases can feed the tools in the future for local adaptation.