Improving Digital Education for All Learners (IDEAL) Erasmus Project

Project Title

Improving Digital Education for All Learners (IDEAL)

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: Disabilities – special needs; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Cooperation between educational institutions and business

Project Summary

IDEAL – Improving Digital Education for All Learners is a project developed by the IDEAL Consortium, led by Cogito Development Projects, in response to the rapid changes that occurred in the education and skills sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cogito observed trends adopted within their network to of overcoming the challenges faced by learning providers as they implemented new practises during the pandemic. In the context of Covid-19 the project will research, evaluate and disseminate national/international good practice and promote new approaches to online/blended learning to deliver academic/ technical qualifications, degrees and post-graduate programmes and high and degree apprenticeship programmes. The project will focus primarily on Higher Education but as there is a similar problem facing Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) provision at lower qualification and skill levels, this will form a wider vocational learning context.

Institutional-level solutions will also be presented, ensuring management has the capability to maximise investment in online infrastructure and training programmes. The project will look to demonstrate that innovative learning environments will better equip tutors and teachers in their support of learners who will need skills to learn independently with pedagogical practices better resistant to future shocks to the skills system and economy. During Covid-19 our partners observed those institutions whose learners grabbed the opportunity to accelerate their learning online, while others did not. We can learn from this.
The projects key objectives are:
• Identifying the scale of the problem
• Fostering capacity building of teachers and institutions
• Promoting effective use of technology practises
• Fostering inclusiveness in the virtual classroom, involving students with additional communication needs, such as those with physical or hearing impairments or learning disabilities such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and others.
• Developing pedagogy, online curriculum, delivery models and learning materials
• Creating guidance in the form of institutional level roadmaps to deliver online infrastructure upgrades and training

The first output from IDEAL will be the research report, which is essential to creating an informed definition of key aspects of the rest of the project. The research report will explore current practises and technologies used by education providers for blended/online learning and the challenges faced during the period of change in Covid-19 reality. Work with our disability specialist partners IDEAL will define and scope challenges faced by learners with learning disabilities and learning needs that put them at a particular disadvantage with a switch to online learning, with a best-practice matrix to identify benchmarks for the design of online work-relevant learning

The second output will be a Digital Competency for Tutors Framework IDEAL will develop a framework of competencies that will guide organisations in developing strategies for embedding digital pedagogy and will guide tutors in the best practice for implementing blended and online learning in the classroom. It will include the effective use and exploitation of key enabling technologies. The framework will also explore implementing inclusive blended learning for those with hearing impairment and other difficulties and disabilities.

The third output will be Digital Pedagogy Toolkit -The partners will identify resources and tools that can be shared more widely. The challenges are to be addressed by the provision of tools and resources for teaching and assessment to understand, adopt, adapt and utilise new approaches to online, work-based and blended learning to promote better integrated assessment, raise the status and value of practice education and encourage a culture of professional mentoring and coaching. The aim is to provide a post Covid 19 definitive set of tools and guides with case studies and associated support and a best-practice matrix to help identify benchmarks for the design of online work-integrated learning.

A fourth output will be a Digital Pedagogy Report – Guidance will be developed on how to deliver engaging, inclusive learning in a blended and online setting. This can be used for teachers and tutors for use in curriculum design, lesson planning, resource allocation and delivery. Inclusiveness will be a key theme explored in the report.

The final and possibly most significant and important result from the project completion will be a tangible roadmap for use by online providers. The roadmap will include a comprehensive set of guidance for evaluation of their ‘Online Ready’ status through Technological Readiness, Tutor Readiness and Learner Inclusivity.

Post Covid 19 skills systems transnationally have a one-off opportunity to develop and embed a new culture that values and places the use of a variety of learning technologies at its centre.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 250680 Eur

Project Coordinator

Cogito Development Projects & Country: UK

Project Partners

• PANEPISTIMIO THESSALIAS
• FE Sussex Ltd
• The Include Project
• NEVSEHIR HACI BEKTAS VELI UNIVERSITY
• KAINOTOMIA & SIA EE
• University Vocational Awards Council
• Fondazione Istituto dei Sordi di Torino ONLUS