"The new hybrid threats challenge the world, and Ukraine in particular, on every level:- new threats result to unknown and dangerous vulnerabilities of the societies- currently societies lack sufficient knowledge and skills to cope with new threats- present academic curricula do not even remotely prepare to complex hybrid threats.- Ukrainian state officials, regional administrations and ministries dealing with reality of hybrid war, are lacking the knowledge and skills to recognize, classify and counter hybrid threats with required efficiencyThe analysis of Ukrainian curricula in fields of business and administration, information and communication technologies, social and behavioural science, arts, education, journalism and information showed that current curricula tend to be discipline based and do not address hybrid challenges adequately.The project aims to renew the above listed curricula by introducing unique content that builds awareness of hybrid threats and innovative gamified teaching methods that provide skills and competences to tackle complex threats proactively. The upgraded contents, based on newest EU partner curricula, together with new gamified teaching methods based on AI-inspired adversarial learning, will be used both in MSc degree education and in LLL to train ""positive change agents"" in diverse professional fields. The change agents will learn to adapt proactively to new complex, hybrid challenges, and to disseminate their knowledge to the society. International community of educators and alumnae (WARN network) will be created to guarantee the sustainable development of the educational content, teaching methods and dissemination after the project.The project will link to diverse stakeholders (ministries, state officials, local authorities, companies) for developing the content and to create real life scenarios as teaching materials for both degree education and LLL intensive courses, and for training them to counter hybrid threats."

PEA@CY-UAM is a partnership project between Amadou Mahtar Mbow University (UAM; Senegal), CY Cergy Paris University (CYU) and ECAM-EPMI. This project aims, first, to accompany and accelerate the development of the civil engineering undergraduate and postgraduate programs at UAM and, second, to contribute strongly to the development of approaches related to green construction in the building industry of Senegal. For this purpose, PEA@CY-UAM will set up a complete sustainable construction university program, in Technical University logic as deployed by CYU in France (active teaching, worked based alternate learning, social responsibility, fundamental and applied research). The project includes the reinforcement of UAM's civil engineering undergraduate degree, the implementation of three vocational bachelor degrees (Energy Efficiency in Construction, Design Offices and Digital Design, Management of Construction Works) and three master's courses (Design, Construction and Building Engineering, Design, Construction and Public Works Engineering, Green Building Design). The project also intends to start an engineering education program. At the end of the 4 years of the PEA, these developments will contribute to doubling the number of civil engineering students at UAM compared to the original forecast without the PEA (250 students enrolled are targeted at the end of the 4 years of the project). A part of the diplomas will be implemented within the framework of CYU / UAM double diplomas. In terms of pedagogy, the graduating years of the planned programs will be based on the pedagogy of worked based alternate learning that CYU is developing in France and that the project proposes to adapt to the Senegalese context. This pedagogy will be implemented in partnership with construction companies in Senegal who are already very interested in the concept. The project plans to operate a joint digital platform and a digital bridge between UAM and CYU in order to share resources and educational tools and to offer distance learning and interaction to students of both CYU and UAM. At the doctoral level, the project foresees the establishment of an international doctoral school, which will include a program to support innovation and entrepreneurship, and the establishment of a joint CYU / UAM research program to develop sustainable construction materials and processes. This project will also include a coaching and training program for UAM’s young teacher-researchers. Finally, programs to promote higher education to audiences traditionally not concerned by higher education will be deployed, based on mentoring and scholarship supplements provided with the help of companies. These programs will help to expand the recruitment pool of UAM. Specific actions to promote the participation of women in higher education programs and in the construction industry will also be carried out.

<< Background >>The ever-increasing use of technology in all aspects of modern life has made the youth to be dependent on online activities while interest in offline learning activities is lost. For students to engage in school subjects and develop related competencies, educators should provide them primary with the proper stimuli and secondary with supporting knowledge and skills (https://www.edutopia.org/st-college-career-stem-research). Considering how the whole education procedure was forced into distance learning in virtue of COVID-19, it is certain that skills, such as problem-solving, critical thinking and teamwork, are slowly being neglected (https://www.futurity.org/stem-education-equity-covid-19-2438882-2/), while subjects that require a hands-on approach are becoming less attractive (https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-pandemic-changing-stem-education). As a result, distance teaching is becoming less engaging and motivating, while thought-provoking experiential learning is becoming obsolete and antiquated.Teaching STEM usually involves hands-on work either from the educator’s side while showcasing experiments, or from the student’s side while experimenting. With the global pandemic forcing distance learning, subjects of STEM lost the hands-on or experiential teaching side, and are currently losing students’ participation and engagement, especially at young ages (https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/how-pandemic-changing-stem-education), when children require additional activity and stimulation. In addition, the lack of direct support from a tutor along with students’ feelings of isolation and technological gaps (https://www.tutordoctor.com/blog/2015/may/problems-and-solutions-for-distance-learning/) have endangered STEM education to lose its uniqueness of building things.SCRAPY wants to address the following target groups:Direct:- Teachers/educators of STEM subjects in secondary education to whom SCRAPY aims to educate on digital education practices (experiential learning, game-based learning) in order to teach STEM-related lessons in an engaging and stimulating fashion either in a classroom environment or via distance learning.- Students (8-14 years of age) to whom SCRAPY aims to educate on physical computing, programming and simple DIY electronics in order to foster STEM and increase their interest in related fields.Indirect:- Parents, educational community (trainers/academic staff), who can use the hardware and software to offer informal education to their children/students.- Policymakers, ministries of education and academic bodies, who can take into consideration initiatives such as SCRAPY when designing new education policies and frameworks.<< Objectives >>The project SCRAPY has as primary objective to strengthen educators' competencies for distance STEM learning by offering a state-of-the-art solution of custom-made hardware and software in order to teach young students physical computing, programming and DIY electronics development.In terms of specific objectives, we can identify the following:- Providing educators with a hands-on experiential approach to physical computing and programming which is engaging for young children without necessarily increasing screen time.- Developing an effective educational package that integrates STEM subjects and can be utilised in either a classroom environment or through distance learning.- Strengthening educators' capacity to offer engaging and stimulating lessons to their students by using digital tools and technologies.- Incorporating gamification and experiential learning in the teaching procedure of STEM-related and other subjects.- Creating a community of practice for educators and learners, through a virtual academy, which ensures continuity and further development of project outcomes, as well as promotes collaboration and constructive discussions.- Creating evidence-based policy and research recommendations for the use of hands-on educational play in primary and secondary education curricula.- Reinforcing the ability of educational institutions to provide high quality, inclusive digital education.<< Implementation >>First of all, the partnership comprises an engineering graduate school, a primary school, two STEM education centres, a company offering bespoke software development services and game-based training and a technical consultancy designing and developing hands-on training tools. Through the cooperation of such a diverse and experienced consortium and in order to achieve the project objectives, the following activities will take place:- Design and develop an educator's manual for using the SCRAPY KIT to teach students physical computing, programming, circuit basics, physical blocks and hands-on constructions;- Elaborate a glossary, explaining terms used in STEM, physical computing, programming, electronics, engineering, etc;- Design and develop the SCRAPY KIT powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller, complemented by custom-made sensors and electronics to simulate and experiment on physical computing principles;- Test the educator's manual and kit with educators from the educational organisations of the partnership;- Design lesson plans in support of the educator's manual to build kits and use electronics and peripherals in an educational hands-on play approach;- Design and develop an online drag & drop coding platform in order to program the provided hardware by following simple programming scripts;- Test, validate and finalise the SCRAPY tools and resources with the direct target group through piloting activities organised in partners' countries.- Support the final outcomes through a dedicated virtual space (SCRAPY Academy) providing access to all project results and infrastructure for supporting the growth of a community of adopters/practitioners/enthusiasts.An iterative methodology will be followed: three versions of the results are produced, one in each iteration. After each iteration, the results are tested/validated and based on the conclusions the next iteration is planned and executed.In addition, the project foresees the organisation of three transnational project meetings in partner countries, a learning/teaching/training activity as well as the organisation and execution of four multiplier events aiming at the promotion of the project outcomes and finally, another two multiplier events focused on the sustainability of the project and exploitation of project results.<< Results >>The project SCRAPY will develop educational content, a drag & drop coding platform and a do-it-yourself electronics kit to enhance distance STEM teaching and develop competencies of educators in delivering highly motivating and engaging lesson related to science, engineering, technology and mathematics. Educators will learn how to build and configure the electronics kit, how to utilise the software and how to deliver the lesson plans to their students in either a classroom setting or via distance learning. Ultimately, educators by using the project outcomes will be able to arouse students’ interest and increase their motivation to learn physical computing and programming.Expected outcomes comprise the following:- The SCRAPY KIT comprising of a Raspberry Pi Pico, custom-made sensors and electronics, and other necessary peripherals.- The SCRAPY Coder, an online drag & drop coding platform based on Google Blockly to program the hardware.- The SCRAPY Guide containing detailed instructions on how to use the suggested hardware and software along with lesson plans to implement.- The SCRAPY Academy, an online space where educators, students and STEM stakeholders in general, can meet online, discuss, showcase their projects, build synergies, access and further develop the project results.

The problem Industry 4.0 was a hot topic already in 2018 when this project was at the application phase, and it is even more the case today in 2021. The need for robotics and computerization is growing. While this will reduce the number of jobs in assembly and production, a significant number of jobs particularly in IT and data science will be created. However, children have less and less interest in such engineering or technical careers as they believe these subjects are too difficult for them to succeed and not suitable for women. The target groups Main target: STEM teachers Sub target: their students (secondary level) Others: relevant stakeholders, among which career counsellors, educators, trainers, policy makers, representatives of business sector. The solution The DIRECTION 4.0 (D4.0) project has developed a set of didactic materials that will help STEM teachers to introduce and promote the concept of Industry 4.0 among students through a Compendium. A 4.0 Career Roadmap serves as a professional career roadmap, encouraging students to choose more technical fields of study. The project also facilitates the building of a network of teachers through Space 4.0 - toolbox for teachers which contains all deliverables built during the project and helps teachers to meet and share experiences. Main objectives D4.0 aims at promoting the concept of Industry 4.0 and related technologies among secondary school students and encouraging them to choose technical careers. This is achieved by providing teachers with updated didactic materials, researching the 4.0 skills profile and giving the target groups a better understanding of the concept. The partners The partnership comprises 7 partners from 7 countries: a higher education institution focused on training operational engineers, a secondary school, a higher education institution providing courses on robotics, an expert in new technologies related to Industry 4.0, a consulting bureau dedicated to promotion of cutting-edge technological solutions, a consultancy offering services ranging from business development and public funding acquisition to custom implementation, an IT training provider and e-learning solutions developer. Methodology Thorough research has been done by all partners on selected topics of Industry 4.0 in order to prepare the Compendium which gives a good idea of the state of implementation especially in Europe, the economic and social factors, expected trends and challenges. The topics were: Smart Factories, Augmented and Virtual Reality, Cloud Computing, 3D printing, Robotics, Cyber security. For each topic the subjects required for a career in the area have been added (general science, ICT, mathematics, physics, biology and chemistry). An annex was also developed with the methodology to create a workshop. A job market analysis has been conducted next with a field research to determine the Model Skills Set that would be developed. After a skills verification done with students, the 4.0 Career Roadmap report has been prepared. Meanwhile, all deliverables were uploaded in Space 4.0 - toolbox for teachers with the Compendium transformed as e-courses, the Skills verification tool set and pilot testing done to validate all developed content in the project for it to be finalised. Results The outcomes of D4.0 comprise the: - Compendium 4.0 - 4.0 Career Roadmap Report - Skills Verification Tool - Space 4.0 - toolbox for teachers Long-term benefits With the support of the Space 4.0 - toolbox for teachers, a virtual space developed for sustainability of the e-course and deliverables, teachers will be in position to present their students updated content and tools about Industry 4.0 to ensure young people are better aware of what Industry 4.0 is, what kind of skills are needed to work in the fields described, and encourage them to choose technical and engineering careers to be part of Europe’s workforce to build the future. (Even though the course of the project has been affected by the Covid-19 sanitary crisis, partners ensured the high quality of the project, as planned in the application.)