Virtual Reality for STEM Entrepreneurship Training Erasmus Project

Project Title

Virtual Reality for STEM Entrepreneurship Training

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 : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

Given the great growth that STEM sector and ICT industry are demonstrating over the last years, the interest of youth people to study STEM, their entrepreneurship skills and spirit has become of strategic importance for the economy and the society of all countries. Demand for STEM professionals is expected to grow by 13% till 2025, while the average growth forecast for all occupations is expected to be around 3%. In addition to the STEM sector development, youth entrepreneurship is vital for creating employment and sustainable growth and has become a priority in the EU policy agenda as a tool to combat unemployment and social exclusion as well as stimulating innovation among young people. However, in spite of the growth of the EU STEM sector, the percentage of youth who decide to study STEM is alarming low. Moreover, In spite of the increasing recognition of entrepreneurship as a source of job creation, empowerment and economic dynamism, there have been no systematic attempts to look at it from a youth angle, towards STEM sector.
So, the scope of VR4STEM project has been twofold. First, it aimed to respond to the need of attracting young people in STEM education, mainly by offering modern and attractive learning technologies, such as the virtual reality, and second to assist them gain entrepreneurship skills, build strong entrepreneurship background and spirit and meet the growing needs of STEM sector. VR4STEM has utilized virtual reality to enhance the efficiency and the attractiveness of STEM entrepreneurship education, attract youth interest and enhance their entrepreneurship skills and competencies. Several courses for STEM entrepreneurship were designed and developed, covering the innovative and special characteristics of entrepreneurship in the STEM domain, and promoted opportunities for youth entrepreneurship in STEM and ICT industry.
Second, an 3D virtual world environment has been developed with innovative educational infrastructure, offering immersive and efficient learning opportunities, engaging the learners in various educational activities and learning scenarios and offering an attractive, entertaining and efficient way to learn STEM entrepreneurship domain.
The partnership consisted of 5 partners, including public and private actors with relevant and complementary experience and skills that have secured the success and the high quality of the implementation and the results of the project. UPB, a long-term leading organization in the field of coordinating youth training in various fields and also in STEM, has coordinated the project. UPAT had expertise in Virtual Reality and intelligent educational systems and has led the development of the 3D Virtual World (VW) educational environment. NewEdu possesses valuable knowledge and experience in entrepreneurship training and has been the main content provider. eTS has great experience in developing educational infrastructure in 3D virtual environments. CTI has great experience in developing educational courses and took over the task of piloting the educational environment, the courses and training activities and also led the dissemination plan.
The project had three main phases: Design, Implementation and Evaluation. Design phase took place during the first eight months with main objectives to identify the needs in Entrepreneurship Training for young people interested in STEM domain and then design a suitable curriculum for addressing them by utilizing state of the art technologies. Implementation of the STEM Entrepreneurship courses took place next, with an aim to prepare the learning material and integrate it in a 3D VW educational environment that will be developed. The final phase regarded testing extensively the developed educational environment through various pilot learning activities, evaluating it and using the results to improve and finalize it.
The main results were:-Requirements analysis report on STEM Entrepreneurship Training and State of the Art reports on the use of Virtual Reality in Education and especially for youth training-A curriculum for STEM Entrepreneurship Training based on the Analysis and taking into account the about state of the art reports and capabilities of Virtual Worlds-Open Learning materials (texts, presentations,multimedia,3D objects) for courses-Project website and Content Repository, hosting all the learning materials-The 3D VW educational environment was the main output of this project, hosting all the STEM Entrepreneurship learning materials as well as the learning scenarios-User’s Guide for using the 3D VW-Plan, Report and Evaluation of The Piloting activities carried out to ensure the quality of the 3D VW, the learning materials and activities. The project has helped modernize and enhance the performance and effectiveness of youth entrepreneurship education in the field of STEM.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 143046 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITATEA POLITEHNICA DIN BUCURESTI & Country: RO

Project Partners

• INSTITOUTO TECHNOLOGIAS YPOLOGISTONKAI EKDOSEON DIOFANTOS
• E-Training Solutions UG
• New Edu,n.o
• PANEPISTIMIO PATRON