Cooperative Online Peer-assisted Learning in Occupational Therapy Erasmus Project

Project Title

Cooperative Online Peer-assisted Learning in Occupational Therapy

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 higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

Context and background
To meet unprecedented social, economic, and environmental challenges, today’s young health care professionals need transversal competences (“21st century skills): complex information processing, critical and creative thinking, effective transnational and transprofessional cultural communication, entrepreneurship, and the ability to master adversity.
International and intercultural learning is key to stimulating comparative, critical thinking, creative problem-solving, toleration of complexity, and developing communication, cooperation and foreign language skills. Though study abroad is ideal for this, very few Allied Health students can go abroad. COPILOT addressed this problem by providing all students of Occupational Therapy at participating HEIs with an international experience, a model transferable to other health care studies.

Objectives
The project
• enhanced key transversal competences of OT/ health studies students, thereby increasing their employability
• promoted innovation, international good practice exchange, and development of a European professional identity within OT.
It did this by:
• creating a model and online modules that facilitate sustainable subject-specific, collaborative online intercultural learning
• providing resources that facilitate its implementation at other HEIs and other health studies
• encouraging wide use of project outputs through dissemination and features fostering sustained implementation (flexibility, no or low additional workload, negligible costs).

Number and type of participants:
OT degree programs were the primary target group. The secondary target group was other Allied Health professions. Other participants included relevant HEI stakeholders (management, international coordinators).
The 11 pilot modules included 413 students and 18 instructors from the partner HEIs, as well as 85 students and 9 instructors from other OT programs. 3 multiplier events with 130 participants and other dissemination events addressed several hundred colleagues involved in OT higher education, other health studies programs, and some HEI policy makers.
17 participants benefited from a short-term staff training on digital educational tools.

Description of undertaken activities
Literature research, needs analysis, curricular and competence comparisons, and the LTTA provided the basis for the joint development of the COPILOT model and teaching and supporting materials.
Output quality was continuously improved through testing and adaption with input from 9 external evaluators. Extensive structured feedback was obtained from the target groups through dissemination and training events.
The 3 multiplier events explained the use of project results and were used to test transferability. About 20 other dissemination measures (conference presentations, workshops, discussions, website and Facebook blogs / reports, journal articles) were carried out at multiple levels to promote sustainable use of the project results.

Results and impact attained
The main tangible results are:
COPILOT MODEL—a generic framework for implementing subject-specific collaborative online intercultural learning in OT and other health-studies programs.

COPILOT MANUAL—9 innovative online modules for OT programs, presented as ready-to-use study guides, adaptable to the needs of other health studies programs.

COPILOT LINK-IT—an annotated and searchable collection of open resources that can be used together with the online modules or on their own.

COPILOT WEBINAR—comprehensive, interactive information on COPILOT learning, explaining step-by-step how to introduce it at HEIs.

Impact attained:
Module test run participants reported acquiring intercultural and transversal competences and international perspectives on professional training and practice.
Dissemination and training at partner HEIs promoted interprofessional collaboration within health departments and a higher level of digital skills.
Dissemination events reached some 600 participants in and beyond Europe, resulting in 5 new COPILOT partnerships in health studies programs; others are actively seeking partners.
All project partners will regularly continue to conduct COPILOT modules together based on a shared implementation plan.

Expected longer-term benefits
Based on the interest at dissemination events, we expect project results to be used by more and more OT / health degree programs. Growing interest in COIL, COVID-induced increase in online learning, and usability of COPILOT products for “Blended Intensive Programs” will encourage this development.
Therefore, one of the project’s main outcomes will be a much larger number of Occupational Therapists and other Allied Health professionals in Europe with high-level “21st century skills”.
Synergies with Erasmus+ projects INPRO, DIRENE are being used to plan future activities promoting international, interprofessional and digital learning in the health professions.

Project Website

https://mooc.fh-joanneum.at/moodle/course/view.php?id=21

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 177095 Eur

Project Coordinator

FH JOANNEUM GESELLSCHAFT MBH & Country: AT

Project Partners

• STICHTING ZUYD HOGESCHOOL
• UNIVERSITY OF RUSE ANGEL KANCHEV
• LULEA TEKNISKA UNIVERSITET
• HOGESCHOOL WEST-VLAANDEREN HOWEST