Social economy operates a very broad number of commercial activities, provides a wide range of products and services across the European market and generate millions of jobs. Social enterprises and cooperatives are also an engine for social innovation and they are promoters of sustainable development, democratic structure and equitable distribution of economic results.Despite the great weight of this social economy there is still a great need in increasing the number of cooperatives and promote social businesses for a more sustainable development of the society.Besides, the diffusion of cooperatives' model and the social economies are in line with the EU commitment on the implementing of Sustainable Development Goals since the proposed models can contribute to the achievement of the SDGs through a more sustainable development. The promotion of the cooperative model can help aspiring social entrepreneurs prepare new start-up, developing the local economy and contributing to the reduction of unemployment. Among the 7 project partners from Sweden, Italy, Iceland and Cyprus, including a researche center and a University, a transnational network and cooperative association/ federation there is a recognized need in collecting a successful model of promoting the cooperative model and appropriate tools that can be implemented in other similar European realities.The general objective of the project therefore is to contribute to strengthening a competitive social economy in Europe through the spread of new cooperativesSpecific objectives of the project will aim at:1.Strengthening the skills of entrepreneurship trainers promoting cooperative business2.Exchanging experiences on social entrepreneurship education among trainers across Europe3.Developing innovative tools and methodologies to assist trainers in their promotion of the cooperative model among adultsThe target group directly involved in the project are:-trainers -staff of cooperative federations and unions- researchersThe target group indirectly involved in the activities are:-adults-Category associations-Business actors-decision makers in the field of local development The project will develop 4 Intellectual Outputs: 1. A learning model on cooperative entrepreneurship to train the trainers, tailored on their needs; 2. The GAP analysis to map and compare the need requirements within the consortia; 3. the pilot training 4. the Gamified e-Learning PlatformWORK PLAN/ACTIVITIES- 6 Coordination meetings to steer, monitor and evaluate the project activities participated by theproject’s coordinators (2 persons every partner organisation).- 1 Training seminar for “trainers” to promote the model developed in Intellectual Output 1 and IO4 and prepare the trainers for the pilot training.- 4 Multiplier events in each participating country, their organisations and invited organisations in for sharing of information about the training programme developedRESULTSThe expected results of the project COPE are the increased knowledge on Cooperative education and the enforced capability in trainers on promoting and teaching cooperative education. Besides, the project will improve knowledge on other systems to support cooperative business in other European countries and exchange of good practices

The Higher Education (HE) sector suffers globally from a number of flaws which are currently being enhanced by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the Communication of the European Commission it is stressed that “If education is to be the backbone of growth and inclusion in the EU, a key task is preparing citizens to make the most of the opportunities and meet the challenges of a fast-moving, globalised and interconnected world.” (COM(2018) 22 final, p. 3). This document points towards a strong need for enhancing online, distance and blended learning in the EU including support for teachers and learners. This need has been also expressed in the Extraordinary Erasmus+ call to support Digital Education Readiness in response to Coronavirus pandemic.To make the HE institutions ready for Digital Education (DE), the two main project objectives are:A) to synthesize the main pedagogical and technological principles in the development of DE approaches including preparation of the supporting teaching materials, and development of a basic structure for DE recognition,B) to apply, test and validate these principles in different pilot modules/courses targeting different student cohorts at all partner universities.The project consortium is composed of partners with the distinct experience in DE on different levels, ranging from a few months to decades. The consortium partners represent universities with different history and educational profiles, from general to technical and business oriented.The project consortium consists of:1) Brno University of Technology (CZ),2) University Politehnica of Bucharest (RO),3) University of Agder (NO),4) Bifröst University (IS).Two Intellectual Outputs will be developed:(1) Digital Education Methodology, including several case studies with the description of relevant pedagogy, teaching materials, digital learning tools and simulators in DE; each partner university will contribute with two methodological cases for two different study disciplines covering engineering, quality management, mathematics, media studies, leadership.(2) Digital Education Recognition, where possibilities of recognition of higher education achievements will be explored including use of the blockchain technology in digital recognition of ECTS. A needs/gaps analysis will be prepared as well as a case study and a pilot concept for digital recognition based on blockchains.Other project activities:-4 transnational project meetings, one in each partner country,-4 Multiplier Events, one in each partner country,-4 Learning/Teaching/Training activities, one organized by each consortium member.The project is innovative in both methodology and results. The most important innovation characteristic is applying an advanced DE strategy based on the Design Thinking and the Universal Design methodologies to transfer multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge in HE.Anticipated main project results:-8 DE methodologies for HE institutions in 8 different topics,-one case study about application of blockchain technology in DE recognition, including design, implementation and testing of a recognition system.The project target groups:i) students of a variety of study programmes with diverse background and learning skills,ii) teachers involved in DE,iii) education and ICT experts with specialization in online learning.We envisage the following short and long term impact on target groups and institutions:a) Partner institutionsShort Term: increased level of knowledge based on exchange of evidence on DEconcepts, focus groups and results of the pilot training; increased knowledge to be transferred into more extensive projectsLong Term: introduce schemes into daily practices; contribute to changes in economic policies and learning techniques b) Authorities/expertsShort Term: increase knowledge and awareness on circular bio-economy conceptsLong term: stimulate DE concepts schemes policies; developing ideas for further improving modern educational mechanismsc) Academic service providersShort Term: increase awareness levels about the possibility of introducing modern DE concepts / blockchain technology support in their own administrative rules; increase responsibility in promoting modern curricula and coursesLong Term: increased capacity of the involved HEI to cooperate with authorities in designing appropriate DE conceptsd) Students/learners: increased awareness of the potential of DE concepts; increased capacity of learning based on modern practices; increased chances to be enrolled on the unique European labour market based on Digital Education RecognitionAddressing Priority 1: Making better use of digital technology for teaching and learning put forward in the Digital Education Action Plan of the European Commission, the BoostEdU project will provide a solid methodological basis and valuable recommendations for the efficient implementation of Digital Education across European universities.

"Uczelnie wyższe w dzisiejszych czasach najczęściej podkreślają w swoich Misjach potrzebę nowoczesnego kształcenia przystosowanego do rynku pracy oraz transferu wiedzy do społeczeństwa. Podejście interdyscyplinarne okazuje się nieocenione nie tylko dla naukowców, ale przede wszystkim dla studentów i absolwentów. Wzmacnia kompetencje przekrojowe, kreatywność i elastyczność, daje wiedzę i słownictwo umożliwiające lepsze zrozumienie innych dyscyplin, zapewnia niezbędne umiejętności komunikacyjne i przygotowuje do pracy zespołowej pożądanej na współczesnym rynku pracy. Europejskie instytucje szkolnictwa wyższego starają się zmienić swoje oblicze zgodnie z wymogami gospodarki opartej na innowacjach, stąd wzmacnianie interdyscyplinarności i rozwijanie nowoczesnych metod kształcenia i pracy jest szansą na zwiększanie ich zdolności innowacyjnych i dydaktycznych oraz lepsze przystosowanie do dynamicznie zmieniających się społeczeństw, gospodarek i rynku pracy.Głównym celem projektu było podniesienie poziomu interdyscyplinarności na uczelniach poprzez zastosowanie podejścia oddolnego, tj. wspieranie studentów, nauczycieli akademickich i kadry zarządzającej w rozwijaniu ich zdolności do myślenia dywergencyjnego, twórczego, projektowego (zgodnie z podejściem design thinking-DT). Wymienione grupy docelowe tworzą ekosystem każdej uczelni i każda z nich jest równie ważnym elementem całości, bez którego prawdziwa zmiana instytucjonalna nie jest możliwa. Pozostałe cele projektu są zgodne z następującymi priorytetami programu Erasmus +:1. Osiągnięcie odpowiednich i wysokiej jakości umiejętności i kompetencji, takich jak: kreatywność, adaptacja do szybko zmieniających się okoliczności, kompetencje międzykulturowe i wielojęzyczne, rozwój pracy zespołowej, elastyczności, umiejętności uczenia się oraz lepsze postrzeganie własnej zdolności rozwiązywania problemów. 2. Wspieranie innowacji i kreatywności poprzez partnerstwa, inter- i transdyscyplinarne podejście oraz wzmacnianie roli szkolnictwa wyższego w regionach. 3. Promowanie umiędzynarodowienia, uznawania i mobilności, wspieranie zmian zgodnie z zasadami procesu bolońskiego. Sam charakter projektu oraz szeroki skład konsorcjum projektowego wzmacnia per se rozwój procesu bolońskiego poprzez promowanie współpracy europejskiej oraz rozwój europejskiego obszar szkolnictwa wyższego.W trakcie realizacji projektu:- stworzono 5 produktów, które dostępne są bezpłatnie dla każdego w Internecie, - zrealizowano 20 wydarzeń upowszechniających (245 odbiorców), - zorganizowano 3 intensywne treningi z zakresu DT (84 uczestników), każdy skierowany do jednej z trzech powyższych grup docelowych,- zorganizowano 5 kilkudniowych spotkań partnerskich w siedzibach Partnerów (w 2020 r. zdalnie) i kilkadziesiąt spotkań online. Wiedza na temat DT upowszechniona w instytucjach partnerskich stała się m. in. przyczynkiem do zmian podejmowanych w programach kształcenia, jak również wprowadzania przez uczestników projektu metod DT w ramach prowadzonych zajęć oraz w codziennej pracy zespołowej. W UMCS na kierunku Socjologia wprowadzony został obowiązkowy przedmiot ""Warsztaty myślenia projektowego"", w ramach którego poznawane jest w praktyce podejście DT, Uniwersytet Bifrost wprowadził kurs z DT bazujący na IO2 oraz IO4, metody DT są również częścią nauczania Teorii Decyzji na Wydziale Biznesu. Na Uniwersytecie w Amsterdamie doświadczenia z projektu DT.Uni pomogły we wdrożeniu DT jako metody na nowych kursach i doprowadziły do ​​opracowania całkowicie nowego interdyscyplinarnego programu studiów na Wydziale Nauk o nazwie ""Ludzie, nauka i technologia"". W TU Dresden zostały wprowadzone regularne warsztaty DT dla studentów w katedrze Industrial Design Engineering, a do programu nauczania wprowadzono e-book IO2 (Wydział Informatyki), usprawniający już istniejące metody projektowania w nauczaniu. Metody DT są stosowane w dziale „Strategii i komunikacji”, stowarzyszeniu badawczym „DRESDEN-concept”, którego członkiem jest TU Dresden, klastrze CeTI, w administracji Wydziału Inżynierii Środowiska. Zespół STEAMhouse w BCU opracowuje nowy program warsztatów DT dla studentów. Pilotaż będzie prowadzony z udziałem grupy studentów różnych dyscyplin na Wydziale Informatyki, Inżynierii i Środowiska w lutym 2021 r. Ambicją BCU jest wprowadzenie tego typu programu na innych wydziałach, m. in.Wydziale Sztuki i Projektowania oraz Biznesu i Zdrowia, a techniki DT zostały użyte w badaniach naukowych i pracach rozwojowych związanych z eXtended BCU - projektem BCU badającym technologię AR/VR w celu stworzenia wirtualnych przestrzeni edukacyjnych. Również UEBA oraz IPG od 2018 r. wdrażają DT na kursach prowadzonych przez uczestników projektu DT.Uni. Projekt zapewnił dobre zrozumienie narzędzi i technik design thinking, doświadczenie w ich stosowaniu, sposób na wzbudzenie entuzjazmu i szkolenia innych oraz, co najważniejsze, pewność wykorzystania tego podejścia, a tym samym zwiększania interdyscyplinarności w przyszłości."

Understanding and communicating data became critical for companies: lack of data communication and visualization skills, including data storytelling and infographics, lack of knowledge of basic tools to analyses and present data become a serious problem for the modern labour market. Today not only data scientists need data understanding and communication skills, but a wide variety of positions in any industry require this new type of soft skill, that became similar to language skills and digital literacy. The partnership has developed a modular course on Data Understanding and Communication to be implemented in CPD, VET and HE environments. The three modules of 30 learning hours (theory and practice) consists of a problem analysis module, a data analysis module, and a communication modul. Each modul covers 3-5 skills that are thought through units. One unit is between 25 and 60 minutes of self-paced studying. The acquisition of a skill is tested through self-assessment: unit level self-evaluation and skill level self-tests. The full course is available in English, Spanish, Polish and Hungarian. Validation workshops and piloting ensured the relevance and the quality of the course.It is based on a detailed needs analysis and best practices report on the state of the art in DUC (Data understanding and communication) and especially DUC in continuous professional development field. The partners organised 4 focus group meetings with 27 selected participants, conducted 14 expert interviews and used the data collected through 95 completed online questionnaires. For desk research they collected the data and referenced at least 5 sources as requested and provided 2 case studies per country. The full report is available to download from the project website in English. Executive summaries are also made available similarly in English, Spanish, Polish and Hungarian.Our initial survey showed a great need of easily applicable examples that facilitates understanding and provides a good example of data understanding and communication close to one’s own field of work. For this reason, every module of the DUCK course has three mini-project activities. These follow the content structure of the course and provide examples of the different skills on different educational sectors (this way learners and teachers can identify the mini project closest to their professional interests): activities and examples for VET teachers and trainers; for Secondary school teachers in-service training activities and; for continuous professional development (CPD) in the corporate sector and for adult VET trainers. These examples are build in the course structure but can be accessed separately as well, through the Resource Center. All activities and examples are available there as OERs to be freely used, adapted and translated. Participating organizations have all benefited from the teamwork itself which has proved to be productive and very positive for all. Partners have shared knowledge on all the project topics, and shared different ways of critical thinking skills development. All partners have also successfully tested the proposed educational tools, strategies and methodologies being able to reproduce and apply them in their daily activities. Finally, some partners (the Institute of Continuing Education of Engineers of BME and the Faculty of Economics of WUT) are already made steps in applying the project’s results in their organizations in order to promote a new program for VET teachers, university teachers, Engineering further education and intra-university CPD offer via short term training for trainers.An Implementation Guideline was written to help teachers and trainers to plan and implement their own course offer with the use of the On-line content, Resource center, evaluation and methodological tools, written based on the O1 report, development plans and piloting results. A complex methodology is introduced multimedia on-line course content production on DUCK topic, descriptions on how to use the different on-line course elements in the classroom and by using other methods, with special emphasis on blended learning methods like flipped classroom, project work, mini project and collaborative learning.

INTERFACE (Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Fragile Communities in Europe) was a 2-year ERASMUS+ project, which aimed at enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship in selected fragile communities, experiencing economic decline and depopulation over the past years. Three to five fragile communities per country were selected to take part in the project, based on a two-phase methodology to employ both quantitative and non-quantitative criteria. There was the exception in Iceland, with over five communities participating.The objective of the project activities was to support sustainable investment in community training, by means of community workshops and coaches’ preparation to assist fragile community members in becoming pro-innovative and more entrepreneurially-oriented, while generating and implementing actual ideas in areas, related to business start-up, social entrepreneurship, etc. The model worked well in Greece, Bulgaria and Iceland, but in Ireland and Italy the partners had to adapt the methods to fit the local circumstances since it was challenging to get people to commit to the role of coaches as initially planned in the application. The INTERFACE project is a joint follow-up of a project in Iceland, identified as best practice, named “Fragile communities” and implemented by the Lead partner Icelandic Regional Development Institute (IRDI), and of the ERASMUS+ FIERE project, in which majority of the INTERFACE partners leaders were also involved. INTERFACE claims innovativeness in being practically the first effort to transpose the “Fragile community” concept from national (Icelandic) to EU level and to come up with a transnational initiative for the support of fragile communities, covering such communities in different countries, finding themselves in very diverse national contexts. Furthermore, a first-of-its-kind fragile community coaches’ network was established, which was intended to facilitate the exchange of good practices and training delivery to fragile community members and representatives of local administrations. The project’s intellectual outputs (IOs) are four. Competence Gap Analysis conducted by means of desk research, interviews and on-line surveys within participating communities (IO1). Practically-oriented community workshops and pilot training of community coaches were delivered (IO3), using curriculum and training content elaborated, based on the Gap Analysis’ results (IO2). In order to enhance the sustainability and efficiency of the training activities, a fragile community coaches’ network was established and a Learning platform was created (IO4), containing all the developed learning resources and making training content and experience accessible to other communities for adaptation and further implementation. The INTERFACE target group comprised fragile community members and local authorities. The project has directly benefitted people at different stages of its implementation. Amongst those are 16 coaches and over 300 attendees in community meetings and masterclasses in the partner countries. In addition, the partners directly involved over 170 relevant stakeholders (indirect beneficiaries) in the project’s multiplier events (5 Local Info Days and the Final Conference). In Iceland the National Reference Group of around 10 people was active in the GAP community selection process and later through e-mails and newsletters. The limited time at the partners’ meetings did not allow for roundtables in relation to each Partners’ meeting, with the exception of a roundtable with a community representative in one of Palermos’ Fragile communities and at the Final meeting in Iceland, with participation of the coaches in Iceland.The INTERFACE consortium comprised six partners with diverse profiles, all focused on community development, from five countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Iceland, Ireland and Italy). All partners were responsible for the implementation of project activities in their own countries, incl. organisation of a multiplier event and an active involvement in the work on all IOs. Thus, the partnership achieved a good balance and mutual complementarity in terms of experiences/competences possessed and allocation of tasks and responsibilities.The INTERFACE project has had an overall impact on fragile communities and their inhabitants, policymakers, and participating organisations. It is considered to have narrowed the existing knowledge gap and to have equipped fragile communities with the needed tools to support their efforts for mitigating their state of “fragility” and improving their overall situation. Thus, the project’s end goal has been met, namely to put in place a sustainable process of empowerment and self-initiative within fragile communities, which will continue to evolve after project’s completion.