Projects of Faculty of organization and informatics
Digital and Entrepreneurial Skills for European Teachers in the COVID-19 World
| Status | Finished |
|---|---|
| Acronym | e-DESK |
| Summary | COVID-19 pandemic has shaken all sectors and all countries without exception. Even though technology is all over us, we have faced unprecedented challenges to adapt to this new reality. Education is the pillar of the development of any society and in the pedagogical domain, this pandemic came to expose the gap on educational demands to assist both the educators and the students (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/EN/TXT/?ri=CELEX%3A52020XG0626%2801%29; Unesco, GEM Report, 2020). As such, higher education institutions will need to develop a new value proposition that reassesses the quality of learning and delivery mechanisms in the classroom, and that addresses the needs of an international student population that may be less willing to cross borders for the sole purpose of study (OECD, Education and Covid-19, 2020) In this context, the concept of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) and the creation of technological solutions to use either in or outside a physical classroom, gain a new meaning and are proposed in this project. In this domain, educators need professional development aiming at fostering digital competences and ways to implement these new tools. Simultaneously, understanding how students use technology for educational purposes is also explored to adjust their needs accordingly. It is also very important for educators to get entrepreneurial education skills, and a clear understanding about the entrepreneurial competencies European youth needs to improve their employability and contribute to creating new opportunities, better jobs and solutions to the big challenges we are facing as EU and society. The project includes at least 40 HEI Educators (professors, teachers, lecturers, researchers, assistants, etc) from UC, UNL, UNIZG and LUT testing the project proposed deliverables, contributing to an iterative process for validation and quality increase of the final outcomes. In addition, at least 100 professors, teachers and educators in participative countries are given the opportunity to express their needs in an initial survey. By delivering digital training that will be promoted especially among European HEI educators, but accessible to any person interested, we will contribute to increasing the online educational skills of at least 1000 participants. This intervention benefits at least 80 university students from different study degrees of University Cantabria (UC), University NOVA Lisbon (UNL), University of Zagreb (UZ) and Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), that will take part in the pilot experiences to be implemented by educators from the four universities partners of this project. Whenever possible, we will promote the inclusion of young people with a migrant background. Also, at least 160 key stakeholders, especially from the educational sector and policymakers, will participate in 4 multiplier events in 4 countries. Thanks to a big effort in communication, at least 3000 persons (with special emphasis in educators and teachers) will also be reached by the e-DESK project, contributing to awareness and free access to the developed tools and methodologies, whose intellectual outputs deliverables will be downloaded as an Open Educative Resource from the project's webpage at least 500 times, seeking for replicability and scalability among Europe. Project activities comprise (1) the development of a guide on best practices on hybrid educational programs and their common key success factors. Hybrid education involves the creation of an environment that places students at the centre of the teaching process, being able to combine both the digital and face-to-face environment, depending on the context, in order to answer to new societal demands (Gornitzka, Åse & Maassen, Peter. (2000). Hybrid steering approaches with respect to European higher education. Higher Education Policy); (2) the design and production of a stand-alone digital course (MOOC) that will give the needed skills and tools for educators to manage successfully their teaching activity on a digital environment; and (3) the design of an adaptable, transversal, scalable and replicable high-quality hybrid education methodology that will be tested in a pilot course in 4 HEIs to validate the methodology, its effectiveness and replicability. Finally, the project will launch a wide range of dissemination activities such as the organisation of multiplier events. The project is expected to result in the minimization of the impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic while simultaneously, promote training and development of new skills to Educators, and shape the way we perceive education and the importance of developing innovative methodologies to deliver educational contents in an era of rapidly changing and digitalization so that in the future this methodology will be commonly used and applied in every educational institution that has to fulfil these needs. |
| Line of financing |
Erasmus+ |
| Duration | 01.03.2021. - 30.08.2023. |
| Budget amount | 237.085,00 EUR |
| Lead | FUNDACION DE LA UNIVERSIDAD DE CANTABRIA PARA EL ESTUDIO Y LA INVESTIGACION DEL SECTOR FINANCIERO |
| Partners |
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| Web page | https://edeskeurope.eu/ |