Teaching Online: Video Initiatives in Digital Education and Module Learning Erasmus Project

Project Title

Teaching Online: Video Initiatives in Digital Education and Module Learning

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Open and distance learning

Project Summary

Background – Covid-19 abruptly transitioned online learning from a convenient learning option to a necessity. Higher education had no choice but to promote digital education opportunities in order to save students’ academic year and moderate institutional costs. Educators who lacked digital education knowledge and skill, were left in a stressful situation needing to transition from face-to-face to online learning overnight. Sometimes out of desperation, online learning was not delivered as effective digital education, but as emergency remote learning.

NEED – Today educators must constantly learn to keep abreast of the most effective teaching and learning strategies and healthcare practices. Continuing education (CE) has not always considered the new realities of ever-busier academic and healthcare staff who have less time available for CE, and sometimes are subject to constraints preventing them from attending face-to-face CE experiences. There is overwhelming pressure for administrators to offer intentional educational supports and staff training to ensure staff can offer quality online educational experiences.

Solution – TOVID will address an unmet need –relevant, practical, CE accessible in mediums other than face-to-face. This is especially essential for busy academics and short staffed hospitals and long-term care workers where leaving the workplace can jeopardize patient safety and care.

TOVID will provide solutions by designing, delivering and evaluating innovative, long-lasting, high quality digital content and programs to facilitate educator’s digital education readiness and capacity conveniently accessible via mobile devices. Educators will attain the confidence, knowledge and skills to support them to implement blended and online teaching. By networking and sharing expertise and resources with other countries, universities, government, the public and private healthcare industries and an international NGO, we will be able to expedite the design, uptake and scalability of digital educational products in countries less enabled with regard to digital education in order to prepare students to be succeed in a digital world (an aim consistent with the European Commission Digital Education Action Plan https://ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/digital-education-action-plan_en.

Delivering CE via video has had positive results for both engaging learners and learner knowledge retention and acknowledges that (a) educators are busier than they ever have been; and (b) educators enjoy learning with and from peers.

Target Group – Approximately 4000 university academic staff in (Malta, Cyprus, Finland and Slovenia); Malta’s Ministry of Health 500 Postgraduate Medical Training Centre professionals and Mater Dei Hospital’s 1000 clinicians, residents and students; 500 staff at Learning Work’s 9 long-term care homes; and 5000 European Federation of Educators for Nursing Science (Fine) NGO members who will collaborate to create, share and distribute innovative resources to support educators and reduce redundancy, time and cost.

Outputs include: (1) A Get Ready digital education program to increase readiness by convincing educators of the merits of eLearning and motivating them to continue to review Get Started. (2) The Get Started digital video program to provide educators with the confidence, knowledge and skills to take first steps toward designing, delivering and evaluating effective online, distance and blended learning and be motivated to enroll in additional digital education learning experiences. (3) The Get Online Teaching Tips digital program will take advantage of strategic partnerships to support exchange of ideas and tips and provide a learning community for educator peer-to-peer support to continue to learn best practices regarding online teaching with and from one another. All three digital education programs will delivered via email/twitter and accessible on mobile devices. (4) A website and online repository to further distribute digital education programs and enable rating and cataloging. (5) Evaluating the resources will enable understanding with regard to the value of video and mobile learning in digital education, how and under what circumstances busy academics and short staffed healthcare worker transfer learning to teaching, and how geography, cultural, gender, and language – impact digital education. A mixed method design will be used to obtain a full understanding of the interventions.

TOVID will deliver an arena of quality resources beneficial at a regional, national and international level that uniquely spans healthcare and education free for public access from the TOVID’s open access repository. The new ideas and strategies implemented will go a long way toward addressing education shortcomings highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic and move TOVID partners and the EU toward becoming leaders in innovative digital teaching strategies and solutions (Annex for TOVID at a Glance).

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 242397 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITA TA MALTA & Country: MT

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
• Ministry for Health – Government of Malta
• ABO AKADEMI
• Learning Works Ltd
• UNIVERZA NA PRIMORSKEM UNIVERSITA DEL LITORALE