Re-thinking active learning for distance education Erasmus Project

Project Title

Re-thinking active learning for distance education

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: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Environment and climate change

Project Summary

The European countries have been particularly hard hit by the Covid 19 pandemic, and they are currently at the beginning of a second wave. Most Universities had to close their doors and to face many challenges. With the closure of the Universities and the confinement of the populations they had to massively switch their teaching to digital technology. Despite a lack of preparation, the absence of adapted tools and experience in digital pedagogy, they have been able to adapt remarkably well.
Concerning students, studies highlight a very negative impact of lockdown and distance learning on moral and the appearance of disorders (sleep disorders, anxiety,…). Moreover, while students underline the responsiveness of their teachers and the quality of the work provided, a majority of them consider that the general quality of their teaching has deteriorated. In addition, they suffer from a lack of collaboration with their peers and lose interest in the courses. In an IPSOS survey conducted in France, 84% of students felt they had dropped out of university.

The main objective of the RALDE (Re-thinking active learning for distance education) project is to develop and use innovative and free educational resources, to develop an inclusive digital education of high quality, focusing on the implementation of hybrid, innovative, distance and online training to address the problems of HEI revealed during the epidemic crisis.
The second objective of the consortium is to develop the digital skills of teachers and educators. Firstly, the work aims at identifying, at the European level, the pedagogical approaches implemented between March 2020 and now, and analyzing them, through benchmarking and surveys in several European universities. Finally, the strong changes brought about by a rapid and massive migration from face-to-face to digital pedagogy require teachers to review their system of evaluation of students and the quality of their own teaching. Thus, it also aims to promote the implementation of strategies and a culture of quality to encourage excellence in teaching.

The project has several specific objectives and target audiences:
– critically analyze the pedagogical practices put in place to deal with the crisis and their effectiveness, and specify the needs of the 3 main target groups (HEI, teachers, students)
– develop and use innovative and free educational resources (online PBL, virtual practicals, serious games…) in order to develop high quality digital education
– limit school dropout by putting students back at the center of teaching through the use of active pedagogies adapted to digital practice to recreate interactions between students, between students and teachers, and by stimulating their motivation through playful approaches.
– to develop the digital skills of teachers by creating tutorials on the different pedagogical approaches of the project so that each teacher can develop his or her own digital tools adapted to his or her teaching and context.

The consortium is innovative in its constitution associating a wide range of teacher-researchers and researchers with various scientific specialties and very involved in innovative pedagogies, researchers in educational sciences from the Teaching and Learning Centers of the HEI partners (INP, UM, UNAV, UNED), specialists in distance education (UNED), a scientific company involved in applied pedagogies (Adict) and a company specialized in communication (Tom’s Content Shop), thus ensuring a transdisciplinary approach to the project, linking education with research and innovation, and enabling the development of new practices based on research and creativity in education.

The expected direct and tangible results are
– an European study on the pedagogical practices of HEIs during Covid
– the analysis of good practices during the crisis
– development of a guideline on student evaluation and course evaluation
– Creation of online innovative pedagogical contents (150H of student workload): virtual practicals, online PBL, serious game
– a series of tutorial for teachers to develop their own innovative online learning content
– a training on digitalisation of presentation skills

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 299065 Eur

Project Coordinator

INSTITUT NATIONAL POLYTECHNIQUE DE TOULOUSE & Country: FR

Project Partners

• UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
• UNIVERSIDAD DE NAVARRA
• UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE EDUCACION A DISTANCIA
• Adict
• Tom’s Content Shop