STAY IN TOUCH Erasmus Project

Project Title

STAY IN TOUCH

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 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Quality Assurance; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

The objective of the project „Stay In Touch” was the modernization of the curricula of Tischner European University in Cracow, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Athens School of Fine Arts and University of Information and Technology and Management (the UITM joined to the partnership in December 2016) through the development, pilot testing and implementation of an innovative course on Socially Responsible Projects (2 editions), addressed to Bachelor and Master degree students of Graphic design (and related disciplines), aimed at increasing students competencies in response to the needs of the labour market and the socio-economic environment. The achievement of the objective introduced changes on the institutional level resulting in substantial quality improvement (teaching contents, teaching methods, richness of the educational offering curriculum, methodology, offer), on the level of an individual student (new competencies, tools supporting designer’s work, increased awareness of social responsibility) and on the level of social environment (promotional materials, packaging, visual identification, public space – designed with bigger awareness and more user friendly)

The project was attended by 47 students of graphics and fine arts who participated in the second edition of the International Summer School held at partner universities and 10 academic teachers (3 people from UCLM, TEU, UITM and 1 person from ASFA) who participated in an International Faculty Development Academy. There were 115 participants (including 10 from TEU) including representatives of education and higher education sectors (students and graduates of schools of fine arts, academic staff), representatives of government and self-government, NGOs and creative sector experts who attended two meetings during which the results of the project were announced.
Dissemination: The Project has been made public via activities such as Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, partners’ newsletters were targeted to reach a realistic number of 20.000 people (access to information, resources, seminars, etc.). Intellectual outputs were directly accessed by 1000 people (through watching films, completing e-learning courses, downloading publications, etc.).
Within the project, a database of good and bad practices related to socially responsible projects was created. It is available online as a website. A teaching methodology is developed along with a teacher’s guidebook supporting the didactic process and the achievement of the teaching outcomes. The project envisages the development of didactic resources including a casebook – a publication presenting 12 socially responsible projects, 10 e-learning courses, 2 multimedia lectures and 6 podcasts. A dedicated „Stay In Touch” application was developed, based on a self-diagnosis system (checklist – question and answer), allowing a designer to assess his/her product in terms of social responsibility.
All project results, including Stay In Touch application, are available in English (some – additionally – in languages of the partnering countries) and are accessible as Open Educational Resources in order to expand their exploitation range and increase project impact.
The new course devoted to “Socially responsible projects”, developed in the course of the project, is integrated into the teaching programmes of participating universities and is provided as the basis for further curricula development (English language offering, postgraduate programmes, specialized training courses). Project outcomes including teaching programmes, methodology and tools are available for other national and international universities reaching beyond the consortium. Introducing the new programme (a practically oriented course) increased competencies of university graduates and future employees of the creative sector related to planning and implementing socially responsible projects. The Stay In Touch application can be used both in an educational context (class simulations) and in a real professional work of a graphic or a designer.
The project created sustainable foundations for international cooperation and transfer of know-how in the sphere related to socially responsible projects between universities in Poland, Spain, Greece and Romania, in time embracing new European and global institutions.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 214294 Eur

Project Coordinator

Wyzsza Szkola Europejska im. ks. Jozefa Tischnera & Country: PL

Project Partners

• ANOTATI SCHOLI KALON TECHNON
• UNIVERSIDAD DE CASTILLA – LA MANCHA
• UNIVERSITATEA DE ARTA SI DESIGN DINCLUJ-NAPOCA
• WYZSZA SZKOLA INFORMATYKI I ZARZADZANIA Z SIEDZIBA W RZESZOWIE