Virtualization of Forest Studies Erasmus Project

Project Title

Virtualization of Forest Studies

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; Open and distance learning; Agriculture, forestry and fisheries

Project Summary

The Covid-19 pandemic is pushing European society to transformative changes in technologic, economical and social dimensions. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been crucial for Higher Education Institutions, teachers and learners during the first covid19 wave. However, the forest sector is generally considered as late adopters in new ICTs due to several reasons, including that the economic profitability of the sector is very low and online connectivity in the forests is poor. Both lead to a situation where the incentives for the actors (learners, teachers, ICT services providers…) to develop ICT adapted services for the sector are low. However, the role of forest ecosystems and their management for green development is crucial. By fostering forest education, we are fostering different important objectives of the European Union by (1) enhancing online, distance and blended learning in the forest sector, (2) promoting a rapid socioeconomic recovery with special emphasis on a more resilient rural job market by introducing cutting-edge technology in forest education and, in the long-term, (3) facilitating the transformation of the EU into a fair and prosperous society with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy.
The Virtualization of Forest Studies project (VirtualForests) is a Strategic Partnership involving experts in forestry, geoinformatics and information technology representing four higher education institutions and two non-governmental organizations representing four countries. The project is coordinated by the University of Valladolid, Spain. The overarching goal is to develop and share innovative, digital-based educational tools, platforms, teaching methods and frameworks in forest ecosystem studies.
The specific project objectives are to (1) strengthen cooperation and networking between partners and other relevant organizations and stakeholders, (2) promote the development, testing, and implementation of innovative open educational resources and learning practices, (3) support education and training of professionals at different levels and career development stages to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion in learning, and (4) increase the international visibility and reputation of participating HEIs while simultaneously expanding international student access to open educational resources in a sector under-represented among online studies.
A series of in-person and online meetings, training workshops and intensive learning periods targeting consortium members (i.e. teachers, students and staff) and industry professionals will help facilitate the realization of project objectives. Intellectual outputs of the project represent a significant contribution of open educational resources for students, working professionals and anyone around the world with a stake in forest ecosystems or the topic of (innovative) digital and blended online learning environments. For example, planned outputs include: virtual forest tours integrated with real-life forest monitoring and training plots (marteloscopes) and associated data, 3D point-cloud and other remote-sensing derived data, augmented-reality interfaces and pedagogical framework.; International Learning Locations in non-European forest ecosystems; “Internet of Trees” (a sensorized forest plantation as an educational product); Linked Open Data in modelling and simulation platforms, as well as an eLearning platform and modalities for involvement of “citizen scientists”; and Chatbot development for student information and buddy teaching assistant for leveling students.

Project Website

https://virtualforests.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 276287 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSIDAD DE VALLADOLID & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam National University Hanoi
• HOCHSCHULE FUR NACHHALTIGE ENTWICKLUNG EBERSWALDE
• INSTITUT NATIONAL DES SCIENCES ET INDUSTRIES DU VIVANT ET DE L’ENVIRONNEMENT – AGROPARISTECH
• Institut Européen de la Forêt Cultivée
• FUNDACION CENTRO DE SERVICIOS Y PROMOCION FORESTAL Y DE SU INDUSTRIA DE CASTILLA Y LEON