Nursing education in Europe has been built by guidelines of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Union (EU) (EHEA, 2010; EU, 2005). The main goal is to increase staff and students' mobility and to facilitate employability. Higher education can no longer take place in the traditional way of sitting in a classroom. Nor can prospective students afford of taking time off from work to undertake a period of study. Flexible learning options, including part time study, accelerated programs, bridge programs and work based learning, blended programs are needed to ensure that nursing education is offered and delivered in the most cost-effective and time-efficient way. Therefore, these aspects have to be built into the programs through the delivery of educational technologies such as e-Learning, distance learning and virtual simulation. The growing importance of technology in health care calls for interdisciplinary study programs in which students with various backgrounds work together in exploring and designing new solutions for real-life problems. E-learning technologies have been explored extensively for students of health professionals in an academic context. This terminology involves a variety of electronic, digital or mobile devices used to support learning. E-learning has many advantages: it reduces time, it is flexible and accessible, it can be profitable and it allows students to learn at their own pace and from the place they choose. In addition, e-learning can present a variety of multimedia components such as text, audio, still images and moving images to support the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Results of systematic reviews support that this is an effective alternative way to learn . Some reviews on e-learning used by nurses or nursing students has positive impacts, especially knowledge, level of self-efficacy, attitudes, barriers and facilitators, skills and satisfaction regarding the use of e-learning .For this reason, it is necessary to work on the development of tools that facilitate student e-learning and that are integrated efficiently within the training and educational programs.For all the above, the general aim of the project “Digital Toolbox for innovation in nursing education (I-BOX)” is to design and develop audiovisual materials in open-access format related to procedures and nursing techniques in a simulation environment that will help graduate nursing students to improve their education and training. All this materials will be shared on a digital and collaborative tool that will allow restructuring content in m-learning format. This project will be developed by five higher education institutions from Spain, Slovenia, Russia, Finland and Austria that offers nursing programs working together in a Strategic Partnership. This Strategic Partnership will create a network of universities involved in developing new materials in nursing education, to achieve the following specific goals and related activities:•To develop educational and audiovisuals e-learning material (videos, postcasts..) following ASSURE model related to procedures and nursing techniques in a simulation environment. ASSURE is an instructional design model that has the goal of producing more effective teaching and learning.•To validate and adapt to cultural context the DREEM tool to Spanish and Russian language. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) was published in 1997 as a tool to evaluate educational environments of medical schools and other health training settings.•To develop a virtual space (on line platform) in web format where students and teachers can share the material and information in open access (scientific articles, tools, infographics, news, etc.). In this platform will be a space for virtual debate where students and teachers from different countries can share doubts and raise real situations to solve collaboratively. •To develop recommendations of best practices to implement educational e-learning material within the Nursing Education (theoretical or practical subject). The fact that these audiovisual materials are open-access enables students, teachers and also health professionals to keep updated on the techniques, share knowledge without borders and therefore ease generation of new expertise. It also aims to be a reference tool for all kind of educational organizations and professional individuals that enables to spread knowledge at all levels.The objectives of the I-BOX project are aligned with the horizontal strategy of open education and innovative practices in a digital era, because promotes innovative methods and pedagogies and develops digital learning materials and tools open-access.

VR training simulations (VRS) are on the verge of becoming an absolutely mass product. It is becoming a new way to develop skills in many areas. Previously, people could not fully immerse themselves in the event until they were involved in it. With VRS, we can immerse people in a virtual environment so that they can gain practical experience in their profession before they begin to put their knowledge into practice. Especially in healthcare education VR is a new technology that allows researchers and teachers to simulate different learning scenarios in a less costly and elaborate way. Compared to traditional methods, virtual reality makes it easier to change the smallest parameters of nursing and caretaking training. It also allows the lecturer to use more accurate methods of assessment and result analysis that were previously unavailable. It is crucial for them to be able to practice their nursing skills in a reliable and safe way. VR training gives us the opportunity to safely immerse the students into the process as much as possible so that they are as ready as possible to treat real patients.Problem:Although the new technology has definitely arrived for some time in different areas of healthcare and medical training on the high-end level, its practical implementation in nursing and caretaking educational programs or even the curriculum itself in the European countries is very low, especially comparing to some Asian countries and North America, where it has become a part of many training programs in hospitals, colleges and universities. Most of the technological trials are currently at the level of experimentation and prototype development. A more time-efficient integration of VR applications in the teaching and training practice is partly slowed down by the lack of efficient and convenient testing and optimization environments. The mechanisms of cross-discipline collaboration of subject teachers, media didactics specialists, software developers etc. in the process of VRS design and production has also not been fully worked out in most of the nursing and care education institutions.Main goal:Adoption of advanced digital technology, such as immersive virtual reality, in nursing education and training in Europe. This should be achieved through development of a standardized procedure, including technology, testing protocol, organizational structure, operation mechanism and digital tool set for efficient multidisciplinary collaboration throughout the development and implementation of the modern Virtual Reality Simulators into nursing education and training. Based on the experiences and findings of the project a demonstration and learning courseware on VR applications opportunities in Nursing Tertiary Education will be developed. This shall enhance an effective collaboration between the educational institutions and software developers and close the current gap between the needs of nursing education and training and the great potential of the VR technology.Objectives:1. Mapping the contents of nursing curricula suitable for transfer to current state-of-the-art consumer-grade VR applications to identify digitization potentials.2. Development of the customized collaboration procedure for trainers, teachers and media didactics specialists facilitating co-operative elaboration of concepts and scenarios for instructional design and implementation of VRS in nursing education skills training.3. Development of testing and demonstration toolkit for:- experiencing and understanding of the technology;- bringing up basic operational skills to the teaching and training staff of the nursing education institutions;- selection and adoption of functions and settings provided by VR simulation technology corresponding to the specific requirements of training programs suitable to train particular professional skills in nursing and caretaking.4. Development of a mixed technology VR Simulator, based on 3D graphics (CGI) and 360-degree videos for practical application of haptically tangible learning scenarios in nursing and caretaking based on the elaborated procedure.5. Pilot implementation of the VR-supported application into curriculum and/or teaching and learning practice and empirical study on their impact on skills learning success.6. Development of the up-to-date extensive training course on design, development, adjustment and integration of VR training modules into teaching & learning. Results and impact:Through collaborative project activities of researchers, lecturers, trainers and software developers, joint learning and teaching a Pan European expert network to share skills and experiences of VR applications development and integration in education will be built. Use of synergy effects of the 6 partners with diverse backgrounds from 5 EU countries shall facilitate faster and deeper integration of VR technology in European higher education in the healthcare field in general and nursing training,

<< Background >>The project will enhance the individual and organisational resilience training to improve crisis response and preparedness competences during pandemics. The pandemic has shown how important the functioning of primary and secondary care as well as home and community care is, because they are providing essential health services and directly responding to the outbreak. On the other hand, public health authorities have to develop under time pressure legal and regulatory frameworks to guarantee appropriate frameworks for the services delivered under changing conditions during a pandemic. The addresses target group was confronted with a high workload and psychological stress because of the situational and organisational factors because of the absence of clear instructions and guidance from public authorities, of coordination within the organisations, of supportive management during service delivery but also of shortages of human resources. At the same time insufficient information about Covid19 and risk of infections, fear of contagion and ethical dilemmas, pressure inherent in the professional sense of duty towards patients or the need to reconcile family and professional life were further challenges for our target groups. Finally, the Covid19 pandemic has shown a lack of preparedness on an individual and organisational level. This shows the importance of adequate know-how and competences of professionals and decision-makers to cope successfully with such events, and the need for individual and organisational resilience in dealing in a constructive way with the circumstances. The learning experiences of Covid19 are the foundation to enhance the individual and organizational resilience by offering adequate training programs for professionals and decision makers in this field that dispose of a high level of responsibility in coping with these events. The design of our training program is focused on the needs of our target groups who dispose of limited time available for learning and teaching as well as easy access. The need for flexible, effective and short trainings will be fulfilled by a high quality training program facilitates the access to adult learning and training with the purpose that professionals and decision makers can acquire the skills needed to cope successfully with future pandemic situations.<< Objectives >>The project will enhance the individual and organisational resilience training to improve crisis response and preparedness competences during pandemics. The pandemic has shown how important the functioning of primary and secondary care as well as home and community care is, because they are providing essential health services and directly responding to the outbreak. On the other hand, public health authorities have to develop under time pressure legal and regulatory frameworks to guarantee appropriate frameworks for the services delivered under changing conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown a lack of preparedness on an individual and organisational level and the need for adequate know-how and competences in the field of organisational and individual resilience to deal successfully with interruptions. Based on these learnings of Covid-19 this project intends to define competences that strengthen the individual and organisational resilience first, and second, to operationalise them into innovative learning experiences by using a mix of different learning environments:- An organisational and individual screening will enable the assessment of relevant features. - A blended learning approach that consists of e-learning in form of web-based trainings (modular microlearning units) enable self-determined learning and face-to-face learning intervals.- Simulated real crisis case studies in a face-to-face learning environment support the process of complex problem-solving solutions. The usage of media-based teaching and learning methods allow flexible and individual learning processes adapted to the needs of the target groups. The teaching and learning through this training program will support the development of awareness of crisis risks, force coping styles and recovery efforts that are needed to manage them.<< Implementation >>The key deliverables of this project consists of six Project Results (PR1-6). At the beginning a competence model is developed (PR1) that refers to individual skills and organisational capabilities with the purpose to promote the resilience and to implement them in day-to-day corporate practices during crisis situations in primary and secondary care, home and community care and public health authorities. The implemented activities refer to the development of research templates and research design. A qualitative empirical research is conducted. Based on these activities comprehensive competence model is developed. Finally, different dissemination activities are undertaken by presenting the results in journals and at conferences.In second Project Result (PR2) a digital tool is designed, that teaches professionals and decision makers to assess levels of their organisations’ organisational resilience to enhance their organisations’ organisational resilience. Based on the aforementioned international standards a digital organisational crisis resilience assessment tool for the public healthcare sector on international standards is designed, built on optimum levels of resilience maturity, are developed. A training for professionals and decision makers of relevant organisations within the target countries is delivered. Finally, a network of relevant organisations for the future exploitation of PR2 is built up.In Project Results (P3) a digital individual assessment and intervention tool for individual resilience to understand the individual crisis capacity and to find ways for strengthening is developed. Further, a repository of materials, documents (identified and aggregated information on the topic individual resilience) is constituted. In a next step intelligent accessible search engine, which enhances individual training, also articulated automatically to the repositories and websites of national and European agencies and institutions relevant to the topic (data mining tool for automatic alerts on relevant news, tools and resources in the area) is implemented. Finally, a network of professionals who work in the sector to share experiences is built up.For Project Result (PR4) is to create an experience based approach for developing crisis competences in real life and virtual environment by a case studies and simulations. First, a real case study together with an digital simulation game in a Learn- and Transfer Center is designed. The knowledge system components identified in Project Result 1 (PR1) are integrated into the simulation game. The real case scenario is supported by technical visualization by the project partner Immersive LAB (P5). Finally, a 3 days train the trainer on crisis response training is conducted.A blended learning solution for a resilience training program on a individual and organisational level is developed in Project Result 5 (PR5). Through the identification of critical competencies needed to be suitably prepared in response to the pandemic, as identified and continuously adapted throughout the project, a 8- weeks training by e-learning and face-to-face teaching is developed and piloted to gain these core competencies. The training will be divided into 7 modules, depending on the types of competencies (personal, social and methodological competencies) and based on the identified core topics in PR1-PR4. In the Project Results (PR6) the key learnings and key results of all project activities are summarized and interlinked and will address customized recommendations to all relevant stakeholders to ensure sustainable implementation and change to a better sustainability of the project outcomes by setting up local disaster awareness networks.<< Results >>The COVID-19 pandemic has also shown a lack of preparedness on an individual and organisational level and the need of adequate know-how and competences in the field of organisational and individual resilience of the chosen target group to deal successfully with interruptions. The training will support health professionals and decision makers to analyse the context-specific conditions and organisational impact of the pandemic. Our training will support health professionals and decision makers to analyse the context-specific conditions and organisational impact of the pandemic. They will learn to become more resilient as organisation to learn of how to balance the allocation of resources for routine health services and pandemic response and how to create innovative solutions for service delivery during a pandemic. The learning experiences have also shown the burden of missing knowledge and competences in the field of risk identification and of communication with relevant internal and external stakeholders. The target group will learn about the needed organisational structure and how it defines the conditions and results of actions by the professionals and decision makers. It is also essential that they improve their individual resilience by developing their competences in the field of solution orientation, selfregulation, assuming responsibility, network orientation or future planning with the objective to react more flexible, adaptable, creative and confident on environmental disturbances. Further, the project will provide educators with new competences to reinforce their teaching practice in the field of how to strengthen the individual and organisational resilience to better cope with pandemics. They will learn about the specific conditions of primary and secondary care as, home and community care and public health authorities and their dependances with internal and external stakeholders. They are getting trained in to deal with an innovative learning environment of learning activities that allows individual dispositions of learners by using the potential of digital technologies.The project training course will be integrated into the training offers of the project partners, associated partners and other competence centers across Europe. In this context an important role is given to the universities that will integrate the validated training modules into own, already existing learning programs, especially in the field of continuing education programs. This allows the transition of our specific vocational education program to tertiary education; learners have the possibility to an access to higher education. Additional, single modules of our training course will be integrated in national and international training co-operations with other VETs and HEs focusing in crisis trainings.

"The project aims to support VET-Providers, Caregivers and the final beneficiaries, the elderly people, to find solutions in preventing and coping with loneliness with the help of dedicated Training, Counselling and digital Tools.Loneliness is widely recognized as among the most significant and entrenched issues facing our aging society, which is sadly proofed by the actual CoViD-19 Crisis. The social isolation from the current COVID-19 pandemic triggers an ethical dilemma, especially for institutionalized older people who may be visited by a carer twice a day. Its importance is shown by the fact that this public health measure reduces the risk of infection, but that loneliness is the answer to emotional, social and existential isolation. The effects of loneliness can also be seen in negative health-related outcomes.Loneliness is a negative emotion associated with a perceived gap between existing relationships and desired ones. The effect of loneliness is harmful to health and increases the risk of disability.Through the development of a blended learning solution, caregivers will be empowered to identify and reach lonely individuals, to measure and to understand the nature of an individuals loneliness and to support them to access social contacts and appropriate services.A partnership of 7 organisations (VET Provider and HEIs with continuing Training programmes) came together from 5 partner countries (Austria, Cyprus, Italy, Lithuania and Spain), all of them with longlasting expertise in the field of elderly care to develop a holistic approach to identify and intervene against loneliness.Main products of the project will consist in five Intellectual outcomes:IO1: Country Research reports on loneliness, specification book for diagnostic- and intervention-tools; including Country specific adaptationsIO2: Prevent-Loneliness Networks (real-life and virtual) and Policy RecommendationsIO3: Digital Diagnostic Tool on Identifying LonelinessIO4: Digital Tool on Preventing LonelinessIO5: Curricula for blended training programme on prevention of lonelinessTarget groups and final beneficiaries are initial and continuous VET-Provider in the field of elderly care, (including HEIs with continuous VET Training programme for ""in Service staff""), Elderly Care Centres, vocational educators in these centers, caregivers (nurses, social workers, etc) and elderly people themselves.Within this project, also 14 head trainers will participate in a short term staff training to receive needed competences to deliver train the trainer programmes in their countries, at least 60 VET-Trainer and HEI lectures and will be facilitators of the blended learning programme and at least 125 caregivers get trained to use the tool. This will lead to a countable number of elderly people who will be supported toovercome their loneliness.As long term impact, this project pilots ""Loneliness prevention Networks"" as good practice for sustainable implementation, it enhances competencies on the use of digital tools in the elderly care sector and for elderly people themselves and to mainstream different efforts to combat the huge challenge of a lonely aging society. And, not to forget the extraordinary importance of the projectoutcomes in times of quarantine caused by pandemics like in early2020."