The IO4 eTracker contributes to the suite of the Skills Swap IOs as a highly innovative, mobile and digital individual learning record (ILR) for those participating in hospitality sector skills swaps as employees, or as apprentice. One of the unique aspects of the skills swap concept is the 'bite size' nature of the experience – short enough to be practical, long  enough to gain insight into, or develop, the initial knowledge or skills to understand or acquire capability for a particular task.Therefore the core function of the eTracker is to ensure that the learning from the experience is not lost or dissipated, but is captured and 'tracked' in real time, before, during the completion of the skills swap and at its close. It acts both as an interactive guide and as a repository, in a structured format, that digitally captures evidence of tasks performed at the workplace through scans, photos, diaries/testimonies and short films it has a number of applications. These include (a) being a mini e-portfolio of evidence for the employee to keep as evidence of experience and to refer to as a reference guide in future (b) providing evidence for WBL components of vocational qualifications, both in apprenticeships and in C-VET programmes (c) when applied in transnational 'skill swap' exchanges, as supporting evidence for ECVET accreditation.

The eTracker is highly transferable in that it will be responsive to the different mobile interface formats (laptop, tablet, smartphone) and will also act as a self guided learning app for theapprentice/employee. It has the additional impact that, for employees and apprentices who are familiar with apps and using digital tools the interface will be simple to use, whereas for those employees with fewer digital skills it will act as a 'push' mechanism to learn important skills given that so much in the industry is becoming digitised. It will therefore provide an educational resource 'at the fingertips' taking them through how they can track their journey, recognise their achievements and also record any concerns. It will contain a running journal from the time they are engaged to participate in a skills swap to its completion. This will make it easier for them to then have constructive and informed conversations with employers and improve retention rates that are so low in the industry.

The eTracker will devise the following features:
• A timeline component, with starting and end date plus milestones allocations
• An initial and final assessment tool to show the distance travelled.
• A task list / goals generator.
• A component to record the evidence of completion, which will capture and store digital formats (text based, video, audio and pictures).
• A login system.
• A profile section (in which gamification aspects will be explored, see below).