International award on Innovation in Blended Learning in times of COVID-19 Erasmus Project

Project Title

International award on Innovation in Blended Learning in times of COVID-19

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: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Open and distance learning; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic hit European Higher Education in the first weeks of the second semester of 2019/20. Italy, Portugal and Spain suffered heavily the effects of the pandemic. Most Higher Education Institutions (HEI) closed their facilities in February or March 2020. Face-to-face classes stopped, and synchronous distance online classes were the adequate solution. The adopted technologies in each case were on one hand those available, and on the other hand, what instructors were able to use. This was the possible temporary solution for the beginning of the pandemic. However, with the start of the new academic year, HEI needed to be ready for the new uncertainty. Such a complex setting requires a creative, flexible solution, that encourages collaboration and learning from peers, and finally, that promotes a culture of sharing. This project presents a model that helps responding to the challenge described above.
The project BLA aims to implement the COVID-19 International award on Innovation in Blended Learning, the fastest way to learn from a crisis. Through this award, the consortium wants to increase the quality of Higher Education by promoting fast inter-institutional learning and collaboration. In a moment of scarcity of resources, through the award, the consortium wants to grow the engagement of all stakeholders, change their mind-set to a culture of self-innovation and increase the impact of innovation by rapidly disseminating international best practices. More specifically, the objectives of the BLA project are:
• to create awareness for the importance of keeping the focus on quality and excellence when creating blended learning courses
• to increase the number of faculty actively involved in the production of high quality blended learning courses
• to create opportunities for sharing best practices at international level, while receiving relevant feedback from peers
• to develop learning courses that relevant as tools for international education

During the project, there will be two editions of the award, focusing on three areas of knowledge: health and well-being, social sciences and humanities, and STEM. The competition happens separately at each University, with an international jury; there will be a final event, joining the awardees of the three universities. The main result expected is to have a large number of faculty members engaged in the production of high quality blended learning courses, suitable for an international audience. Putting both editions of the award together, if there is at least one participant for each scientific area from all three universities, at the end of the project there will be a catalogue of 18 blended learning courses shared by all the institutions. However, we do expect a larger number of blended learning courses, as this is a competitive process with both an international dimension and a strong institutional dissemination, benefiting students in all three institutions.

The international dimension of the award includes the exploitation of the results and impact of the BLA project. The internationalization of the Education process was highly affected by COVID pandemic. The creation of a Catalogue of Virtual mobility learning opportunities, including the awarded courses and other high-quality courses, will contribute to increasing the opportunities for students and faculty to engage in international learning opportunities. This is enriching to all parties involved. The Catalogue of Virtual Mobility courses is aligned with the current educational policies of the European Commission, increases the visibility of the courses, and reaches a larger community of students, while contributing for the internationalization of the universities. This output will have a strong impact outside the Consortium and after the projects ends.

The main stakeholders of this project are the Faculty of the three partners of the Consortium. Any member of teaching staff may apply for the award. The dissemination tools of the project will reach them. The mechanisms underlying the competitive process of the award will select them. The multiplier events of the projects will reach an additional number of faculty members. Even non-active members in the project will benefit from sharing the best international practices in blended learning.

The secondary target of this project are the students of the three universities. Students will benefit by having courses that are better suitable for online distance education. Students will have the opportunity to attend courses prepared by other international universities and actively interact with students from different countries. These opportunities are formal international learning opportunities, with full academic recognition and credit award.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 149530 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA & Country: PT

Project Partners

• UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DE MADRID
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA TOR VERGATA