The COVID-19 outbreak has impacted every aspect of our lives and digital skills suddenly in an overnight became a requirement for many. COVID-19 highlighted the critical need for the acquisition of digital skills as every daily routine for millions of people became digital. Physical work became telework, education moved online, and the business sector is trying to use more innovative approaches to survive. The unknown future after the end of COVID-19 outbreak and the possibility of future pandemic situations make the need for digital skills and out-of-the-box thinking more imperative than ever. In this context DIGITALIS project has the vision to promote the cultivation of digital skills from a young age, focusing on primary education students. By providing a novel pedagogical and methodological framework empowered with new and innovative technology-based approaches and particularly serious gaming, the partnership will address the cultivation of key 21st-century competences including creativity, innovation, teamwork, collaboration, problem-solving, and critical thinking for young students. DIGITALIS project aims via using a combination of in-class assignments and a game-based learning tool to provide young students, aged 8-12 years old, a unique learning experience that will form the basis for outside of the box thinking that can result to future innovative initiatives. Another goal for DIGITALIS project is to address the cultivation of entrepreneurial mindsets from a young age that is considered to be critical to economic growth. Now more than ever there is a need for creative people that can boost the global economy with creative ideas and initiatives. After all, the global pandemic situation constrains the business world to shift to digital to ensure their survival. Equal important for DIGITALIS project is upgrading the digital skills of teachers. Teachers are the key actors of every education system, shaping the future generations of citizens. School closure due to COVID-19 forced them to go online posing a great challenge for those with low digital skills that must support hundreds of students. Moreover, the possibility of a future pandemic outbreak that could lead once more to possible lockdown measures highlights the significance of addressing the lack of digital skills of teachers. In this context DIGITALIS project aims to enhance teacher’s digital skills and also equip them with new innovative and digital teaching methods and tools to support digital native students and dynamic, diverse and digital classrooms. DIGITALIS project is dedicated to primary education starting from the preparation of young students for the world of work, where digital literacy is essential. The innovation of the project stems from the learning methodology that will combine in-class assignments with game-based learning techniques aiming to foster the development of a range of digital competences and also the cultivation of entrepreneurial mindsets. Combining theoretical and practical training will allow the students to connect theory and practice and conquer knowledge. The methodological framework of the project will offer both teachers and students high-quality training and will be implemented in five different European countries Greece, Cyprus, France, Romania, and Spain. Through Open Calls 25 teachers will be selected and be trained in the proposed methodology, acting as ambassadors and implementing the methodology and tools of the project in their classroom. In the long run, the active participation of teachers aims to foster future initiatives using the methodological framework and tools of the project ensuring also its sustainability. The partnership consists of five countries and five partners with significant expertise in the field of education and training. The coordinator, The University of Thessaly (UTH) and its Department of Primary Education, with great experience in training primary education teachers, will shape the pedagogical framework to be used in class. The second partner is Kalys Solutions LTD (KS), a private company in Cyprus, active in the field of funding consulting and business planning. Interactive 4D (I4D) has significant expertise in the design and development of serious games and gamified educational tools. FyG Consultores, a private high-level training enterprise in Spain with great experience in running a wide range of training courses and mentoring programmes on innovative concepts, business creation, employability basic skills, entrepreneurship, soft and hard skills training. The last partner, Arad County School Inspectorate is a local public body in Romania responsible to inspect a great number of schools and providing the framework for personal and professional development for all the educational staff in the county, promoting innovation.

"The BEWARE project! is the result of a cross-sectoral partnership between SEP (applicant organization), IFOM, 4D INTERACTIVE, AcrossLimits and Yout Net. The purpose of this project was to raise awareness among young people and to teach them how to protect their personal data in the online environment and how to protect themselves from online harassment. In order to achieve this goal, the partners set out to develop the skills of the youth workers in order to be able to develop and use in the workshops with young people a non-formal learning tool: ”BEWARE!” We have established this transnational partnership because the identified problem is a common problem of young people, and the solution could come only through transnational cooperation. Addressing the common problem from different perspectives and experiences has led to an increased applicability of intellectual output. The project has achieved its purpose by fulfilling the 3 objectives: OB1: Developing the skills of 13 youth workers in the field of online safety through 2 transnational learning activities to create and use the ”BEWARE!” learning tool in youth work OB2: Improving the skills of 75 young people with reduced opportunities in the field of online data protection and cyberbullying through non-formal learning activities using BEWARE! OB3: Improving the level of knowledge of security issues in the online environment by 1000 young people through 25 non-formal learning sessions coordinated by 75 young people with reduced opportunities. In order to achieve these objectives, we followed an implementation plan that had 3 main components1. Training of youth workers through 2 transnational learning activities in the first 6 months of the implementation period. These activities contributed to the increase of the quality of the work of the youth workers in the activities that they subsequently carried out with the young people and were the basis of the creation of the intellectual output. 2. Creating the intellectual output ""BEWARE!"" was consistent with the results obtained from the questionnaires identifying the specificity of the online activities of young people. The transnational learning activities were followed by the elaboration in the IV-VIII months of the 2 chapters of the guide: ""Protection of data placed in the virtual environment"" (elaborated by AcrossLimits and SEP) and ""Cyberbullying between gambling and misdemeanour"" (elaborated by IFOM and YouNet). INTERACTIVE 4D realized during the 8th-15th months of the project a digital educational game (BEWARE!) https://www.bewareproject.eu/download/ . That completes the guide and increase the interest of the young people for the addressed subject. The output was tested by the target group to obtain feedback on its quality through the workshops that took place during the XV-XVII months of the project. 3. All previous activities have led to the valorisation of the results through awareness events, information and guidance of young people in order to adopt a conscious and safe behavior in the use of mobile devices. The target of these events that took place during the sixteenth-eighteenth months of the project were about 1000 young users of mobile devices. The implementation plan was monitored throughout the time by collecting information on the stage of the activities, from the local coordinators. They (reunited in the Steering Committee) participated in the 3rd, 9th, 15th months of the project at Skype information conferences, and in the 6th, 12th and immediately after the completion of the project, they sent to the General Coordinator official reports on the local activities carried out by each organization. The results of the project have been carefully monitored by the Quality Commission so that they meet the requirements of the standards imposed by Erasmus +. The results of the BEWARE project! have had a major impact on young people who used the created products to became more aware and alert to the dangers of the online environment, less vulnerable to cyber attacks. By involving in the G2 target group of young people with fewer opportunities, the project also responded to the priority of Social inclusion. The ""BEWARE!"" toolkit (the Guide and the game) has proven to be a modern and useful tool in working with young people.An important role in increasing the impact of the project was the dissemination campaigns carried out by the partner organizations by involving the members of the G2 group and the multiplication events of the eighteenth month.The intellectual output elaborated within the project will not end its life cycle once the financing period is completed, but will continue to be sustainable thereafter. During the multiplication events a network of partners was created to whom the project results were transferred and they will continue to use and popularize them."

Covid- 19 has signaled the closure of many schools globally posing a stress test to the education system and its smooth continuity. The need is global and all countries should implement emergency plans in order to effectively address the unprecedented situation with the minimum possible losses in the effective continuity of education. To achieve this, teachers should be trained and provided with digital learning opportunities on how to use digital training resources effectively and create educational scenarios.As the personal development of the human capital is at stake, the problem should urgently be addressed. While confronting the second wave of the pandemic, national Governments put a lot of effort so that the schools will be able to deliver the curricula even in the event of a second lockdown. To this end, human capital has been engaged in developing training material for blended learning or for e-learning. The main effort is to put on the core subjects of the school curriculum, like mathematics, grammar, history, physics etc. Due to the forced digitalization of education, not all educational aspects are effectively covered and especially the thematic that is not considered mandatory. The situation is urgent and there is no precedent for that, not all needs can be simultaneously addressed and with success.The project aims to deal with the prohibition of cultural visits to museums and other culture and science exhibition areas in the Covid- 19 era, even now that the schools are open and proposes its digital integration in the school curricula. The purpose of the current effort is to foster students’ intercultural awareness and conscience through a virtual educational process. The objective is to fill in this gap through the effective use of:a)a digital museum exhibits content aggregator and toolkit,b)a digital application for virtual tours, exemplar use cases including citizen science and related resourcesc)the appropriate training for the school community in order to unite the digital material made openly available by museums and virtual tours providing an Education and Entertainment solution (Edutainment) to school teachers to design novel structured learning experiences.The project goes beyond the state of the art and will train the teachers on how to make the most of the digital technology in the interest of the school community and exploit the resources that are at the disposal of education. The pandemic has forced the museums to be quickly digitized, so technology advancement offers the opportunity to provide integrated knowledge to the student through experiential learning and in parallel a tool to be exploited by the school community.The objectives are to:•upskill and support teachers•support school community to adapt to the new era•empower the dialogue and cooperation between different specialties•create innovative training material and e-tools•fill the gap of outdoors cultural activities and provide a holistic knowledge experience to the students activitiesThe project will develop and provide to teachers:•An aggregator of the digital museums exhibits for all partner countries•A text-based game will be made available in the form of a freely distributable application that can be downloaded•Guidelines and use cases on how to set up and use additional digital tools for developing digital stories using mainstream technologies adopted in different levels of school education like scratch or other block-based coding•Exemplar use cases of the digital museum exhibits and citizen science resources•An innovative training course for school teachers that will support them to deliver virtual visits to museums.•A repository of archiving appropriately categorized digital content, stories and projects plans Expected results•Integration of effective tools in Education that will be sustained•Integration of innovative and inclusive pedagogical techniques•Equal access to cultural treasures•Upskilled teachers•Integrated knowledge for the students that develop cognitive and emotional skills.•Virtual Unity of the European Digital Culture Target group•School teachers of Primary and Secondary Schools•Cultural Organizations Long-term impact & benefitsThe students will gain the power to:•get motivated, as there is a final product that is constructed by them•work on the subject without restrictions based on their abilities and aesthetics•approach the learning content through a multidisciplinary procedure.The project is promoted by 5 partners from France, Greece, UK and Belgium, representing Open Universities, educational technology and e-learning companies and skills development/ inclusion experts, with an extended European network that will be mobilised for the promotion and sustainability of the project.

"<< Background >>Parkinson's disease is possibly one of the most complex and varied pathologies, which difficult their treatment. Its neurodegenerative nature means that individuals living with the disease and their loved ones have to cope continuously and over many years with different symptoms and difficulties associated.In this sense, it is crucial for members of multidisciplinary care team of Parkinson to have the most detailed knowledge of the pathology as possible, of the advances in its treatment and the applications that new technologies make possible in this field.Therefore, ""Improving the availability of high quality learning opportunities for adults"" is a deeply thought-out choice and aims to reflect the need to provide professionals with quality knowledge in the field of Parkinson's disease and to facilitate their access by taking advantage of the opportunity that new teaching methods (e-learning) offer us, thus being able to reach a wider and more diverse audience (different countries, cultures...).<< Objectives >>SUPER project aims to provide digital multidisciplinary training to effectively face: 1) The expected increase of PPD (estimated high prevalence). 2) The progress of PD (due to ageing population) which has an economic impact on the health and care systems, society, professionals, caregivers, PPD themselves. 3) The lack of knowledge on IC models adapted to the real needs of PPD and their relatives/caregivers, through providing training for members of multidisciplinary teams. 4) The PPD’s poor digital skills related to health and care management which has a direct link with their autonomy. In such way, SUPER project is expected to have a positive impact on the triple-helix actors involved in PD: improving the work life of multidisciplinary care team’s members by providing them useful tools and knowledge to implement in their daily work routine; enhancing families’ with Parkinson’s health and social care outcomes increasing the QoL and autonomy, building their digital skills at the same time.The main objective of SUPER project is to build knowledge, competences and skills of multidisciplinary care team members on the IC approach for PD through a co-designed training course and e-learning platform. Additionally, the specific objectives are the following: - Design co-validated content and methodology of the training course to deliver support through an integrated approach. - Increase knowledge on the IC models of care and their design, application and delivery. - Encourage the collaborative work among social and health care professionals and PPD by developing innovative online resources and tools.- Promote families’ with Parkinson’s empowerment in the management PD. - Increase visibility of PD and the associated effects - Increase the QoL of families living with Parkinson’s. - Promote PPD’s autonomy and digitalization increasing their QoL. - Enhance SUPER partners’ capabilities to develop and deliver relevant training.- Raise awareness and skills of communities, organizations, and other stakeholders on the newly produced training and create relevant networks across the EU.<< Implementation >>The main activities that will be implemented are the following:- Development of a deeper understanding of the exact training needs, gaps and requirements of health and social care professionals have regarding the IC on PD (R1). And also, to create the basis of the training curriculum (R2) and e-learning platform requirements (R3) by co-design sessions with main actors. The report will highlight shortages, needs and good practices and will discuss the training requirements that professionals need and should be taken into consideration when designing the training course. For this aim, the main activities will be: 1) Review of available training opportunities and programs for professionals in each partner country, and 2) Focus groups with professionals and PPD/relatives and caregivers. - Development of the contents and materials of the training course about IC for PD addressed to health and social care professionals. Based on the R1 and a literature review carried out by the consortium, the training course will be provisionally structured under the following learning modules: 1) Knowledge on the Parkinson’s disease; 2) Transformation towards IC. 3) Professional competences to provide IC; 4) Care delivery from an integrated approach; 5) Digitalization in the healthcare sector. -Design of an e-learning platform containing the training course for health and social care professionals (R3). It will also include resources, news, links to interesting information as well as evidence-based practices related to IC and PD. In this regard, the R1 and R2 will be also uploaded in this platform, understanding them as a valuable resource for different stakeholders. In addition, a space of interchange between interested stakeholders on how to generate the change towards IC will be available. Another interesting space will be created where professionals will have the opportunity of being in communication with PPD, relatives/informal caregivers. Professionals could prescribe activities, reading material, etc. and being in contact with PPD even monitoring them.<< Results >>The SUPER project will produce the following results: - A map of person-centred, integrated care programs for families living with PD in Europe and beyond. An ecosystem mapping and training methodological framework: Integrated care in PD (R1). This will be carried out by exploring the existing training and specific needs as well as knowledge gaps as perceived by social and health care professionals, and families living with Parkinson’s. This project intends to develop on-line training, the report will include shortages, needs and good practices concerning IC and digital skills in PD. In addition, this result will be accomplished by completing participatory sessions with members of multidisciplinary teams, and families living with Parkinson’s in four different European countries (Spain, Netherlands, Italy and France). SUPER project will encourage the empowerment and the sense of responsibility of the target groups through the participatory method, and it will allow care teams to focus and meet perceived and objective needs.- SUPER training course about IC for PD (R2): The training course will be developed on the basis of the aforementioned result and meeting the needs of all target groups. It will include comprehensive training content mainly delivered through presentations, and supported by other sort of tools such as a common glossary for all the professionals, videos, case studies, exercises, and/or reading material. Specifically, the course will provide knowledge on PD, transformation towards IC, professionals competences to properly deliver IC, and care delivery from an integrated perspective. This course will be innovative for different professional profiles across Europe since there is a lack of training and learning opportunities for health and social care professionals on IC for PD. In addition, specific guidelines for the implementation the training course (R2) allowing transferability and scalability of the course to other health and social care contexts will be developed. - SUPER e-learning platform (R3) including the training course for members of multidisciplinary care teams, project results, and also it will contain a section dedicated to the communication between professionals and PPD/informal caregivers across Europe. This constitutes an added value as it will allow professionals to suggest activities, recommended readings or resources to PPD/informal caregivers. In addition, this e-platform will be a valuable asset by the chance of learning from each other allowing the creation of networks between stakeholders who could be interested in the field of IC and PD. The e-learning platform may be useful for a wide range of professionals, patients and caregivers in the partners' countries. In addition, other stakeholders from European countries (and beyond) facing the burden of PD not represented in the consortium will be benefited.- A co-validated training course (on-line modality). To this aim, at least 170 health and social professionals (50 APM, 40 ISRAA, 50 IFIC and 30 France) will be trained on IC in PD and will give their feedback on the effectiveness, utility and quality of the materials and results produced as well as any possible modifications or improvements. Validations will allow the applicability, transferability and scalability of the SUPER products across Europe. - Awareness raised on the PD and IC model through the development of several dissemination actions at national and international level mainly addressed to all those people linked to the disease and other chronic/neurological conditions, integrated care or healthcare services policy and/or research. At least 50 policy-makers, 100 PPD and families/informal caregivers, 500 professionals and researchers will be reached out by the dissemination activities of SUPER project, particularly through IFIC’s world-wide network of over 30,000 members."

<< Background >>In Europe, informal caregiving contributes to more than three quarters of all long-term care provided, around 80%, (Petrini et al., 2019) and according to Eurocarers (2017) statistics, informal carers number more than 100 million. The Covid-19 pandemic situation has shown how essential their contribution is for the sustainability and resilience of European long-term care systems and at the same time has exacerbated existing inequalities between women and men in almost all areas of life, rolling back on the hard-won achievements of past years (European Commission, 2021). Indeed, an open issue to be highlighted concerns the specific gender difference in caregiving. Worldwide there are many more women than men providing informal care. In OECD countries, including France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Slovenia, 61% of informal carers providing daily care are women. About two-thirds of these care for a parent or spouse, but caregiving patterns vary across age groups (OECD, 2019). A large body of evidence indicates that women suffer more than men from the negative consequences of providing care (Petrini et al., 2019). Informal caregiving is argued to have all the characteristics of a chronic stress experience; it creates physical and psychological strain over extended periods of time, is accompanied by high levels of unpredictability and uncontrollability, has the capacity to create secondary stress across multiple life domains such as work and family relationships, and often requires high levels of vigilance (Vitaliano et al., 2003).All these data highlight how necessary it is to prevent and work on the psycho-physical health of informal carers, not only through adequate and certified laws or regulations, but also through a multicentre action that supports them and enables them to acquire new skills and competences.<< Objectives >>Considering the data described in the previous section and the needs planned to address, the RESIL4CARE (RESILience FOR informal CAREgivers) project aims at improving the coping skills of informal carers and empowering them in their role through the use of social media platforms capable of creating specific online support groups. Throughout the project, social media platforms will facilitate the creation of new links and friendships, promote the sharing of experiences and knowledge, resulting in more resilient and responsible informal carers across Europe. In fact, Facebook, with 2 billion monthly active users, has the potential to partly address this societal priority and to deliver impactful and cost-effective online family carer support (O’Sullivan, 2021).Furthermore, in order to ensure the quality and sustainable management of these platforms, a training manual for a group of facilitators will be prepared, together with other innovative materials and tools for different groups of informal carers (young carers, elderly carers, working carers, male and female carers, carers of people with dementia and other chronic diseases, etc.). In conclusion, special attention will be given to tutorials to bridge the digital divide, especially for older carers and those reluctant to use social media platforms. All related ethical issues, GDPR and European and national regulations and guidelines that will allow for full respect for the privacy and preferences of end users will be respected.<< Implementation >>The RESIL4CARE partnership includes 6 participants from 5 European countries: France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Slovenia.Istituto per Servizi di Ricovero e Assistenza agli Anziani (ISRAA), Corporation for Succor and Care of Elderly and Disabled (FRODIZO), Institut Antona Trstenjaka (IAT) and Institut Valencià d'Atenció Social-Sanitari (IVASS) are care provider partners and have significant expertise and experience with the informal carers in their organizations. In Valencia (Spain), IVASS will strongly collaborate with FUNDACION DE LA COMUNITAT VALENCIANA PARA LA PROMOCIÓN ESTRATEGICA EL DESARROLLO Y LA INNOVACIÓN URBANA (LAS NAVES), a very active organization who has a vast knowledge in social inclusion and participation, well-being and health of citizens. Interactive 4D (ID4) has been chosen due to its technological background and capacity in developing multimedia content.The activities planned include:A report that will deliver the determinants that partners will define as the most relevant for the promotion of positive attitudes and overall resilience of informal carers. A training course manual on how to set up and run social media support groups and online materials for informal carers that will be used on social media platforms.A ICT training toolkit that includes video tutorials and Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) to facilitate the creation and usage of online support groups in the social media platforms.A document that contains the RESIL4CARE evaluation method and toolkit used for the ongoing assessment of the quality of the product and for evaluation of the competences acquired by core group facilitators and informal carers.Sustainability and promotion actions that include guidelines on describing the strategies and the procedures on how to utilize RESIL4CARE final outcomes and the consultation with local stakeholders related to carers.<< Results >>The final expected project results and outcomes are:To produce new data, to review and extend previous knowledge about the resilience of the topic of informal carers, with a particular focus on the use of social media platforms as a psychosocial support channel.To support, reach, connect, and empower the resilience of a few hundred informal carers thanks to online support groups set up by local core groups of facilitators.To overcome the digital gap and promote e-literacy among all ages of informal carers, enabling them to participate in online support groups and other social media platforms, with the help of video tutorials and MOOC.To improve the overall situation of informal carers in Europe thanks to the sustainability actions.Furthermore, the impact of the project on the informal carers is expected to produce: Creation of useful learning contents that will improve the quality and range of services and interventions provided;Increased skills, competences and knowledge that could potentially improve their quality of life by strengthening their social inclusion;Development of crucial networks with other informal carers (nationally and across Europe) to share knowledge and experiences;Creation of opportunities for EU collaborations and for the co-creation, adjustment and accessibility of innovative material inspired by the experiences;Innovative methods for the implementation of RESIL4CARE best practices in other countries and organizations (other than those that were initially conceived and implemented) via shared knowledge and expertise between all partners and stakeholders involved;