<< Background >>The crisis caused by COVID-19 has imposed, on the one hand, social isolation in different degrees depending on the evolution of the pandemic and, on the other hand, the adaptation of the universities' education system and learning processes to a digital model. On the one hand, social isolation has caused the disappearance of inter-university networks which under normal circumstances would have been strongly cohesive. The aim of this project is to re-establish the university network that allows the strengthening of connections between European universities, focusing on the teaching staff as intra- and inter-university anchors which facilitate the constitution of a knowledge transfer network related to good digital and flexible teaching practices. On the other hand, serious deficiencies have been observed while adapting the education system to the situational needs that have been demanded by a digital and/or blended model. Sixty percent of universities claim to have adapted their systems to a digital model, but few had the capacity to respond fully to the crisis (Multirank, 2020). One of the mistakes committed during the pandemic because of the urgency of the situation was to make decisions without a clear idea about what type of distance or blended learning model to implement. This led to the launch of stopgap measures and adjustments. In many cases, attempts were made to replicate the in-person model, onboarding digital environments but without any stable or consistent pedagogical design. It is unsurprising that, given the situation, institutions were caught short in providing a coherent and stable response. One of the reasons for this difficulty has been the lack of teachers digital training in flexible digital methodologies and pedagogies that might respond to these new needs. The project will provide an answer to a common need detected across all the partner countries, i.e., the introduction of a learning programme specialising in online teaching methods that teachers can implement and adapt to their subjects and students. It will introduce innovative resources, tools and methodologies for a quality digital university education. Why focus on teachers? Because we believe that the relationships established among university teachers act as weak ties (connections between acquaintances) that are the best source for acquiring new information. They are much more effective than if we rely only on strong ties which are formed by closer connections, with a greater degree of overlapping between members and, therefore, less likely to provide different information. Weak ties are fundamental for the growth and existence of groups. They constitute essential links for disseminating information, managing groups and building relationships. The project will provide a database of teachers with common interests (training in digital pedagogies) to the EPALE platform (community of practice and collaborative space), which will be configured as a communication tool and collaborative workspace in the construction of new quality pedagogical practices. This process will be complemented by digital networking and the expansion of the already initiated ReCoIn-TaD network (https://bit.ly/3g5FPiJ).In short, the training of academics in innovative flexible pedagogies (Connected, Collaborative and Investigation, Active and Flipped) and in the creation of accessible and inclusive contents, through a methodology based on microlearning (microlessons and NOOC, NANO Open, Massive and Online Course) will facilitate the constitution of a network for the transfer and exchange of good practices capable of responding to different scenarios depending on the circumstances that may arise.<< Objectives >>The main objective of the project is the digital training of academics in digital pedagogies, and the involvement of this community in building distributed but cohesive network of cooperation for the exchange of good practices and digital transformation:The specific objectives are:Objective 1: Reinforce the design and outreach of flexible teaching practices that harness the resilience of university institutions to different pedagogical scenarios and facilitate educational access to disadvantaged groups.Objective 2: Provide online training to lecturers on flexible digital teaching practices (connected, collaborative and research, active and invested) and the creation of accessible and inclusive content. To do so, we will harness a methodology based on microlearning (microlessons and Nano Open Online Courses) and on a critical, social, and network pedagogical model.Objective 3: Cement a model of European inter-university cooperation by creating a cohesive and distributed university network where teachers are posited as intermediary connection nodes (anchors) within and between universities for the exchange of practices in flexible digital teaching methods. Objective 4. Generate added value for the Erasmus+ programme by offering an online training programme in innovative digital methodologies that is multilingual (Spanish, French, English, Italian and Portuguese) and based on microlearning techniques (NOOCs). This will shore up lifelong learning and the recognition of official credits, and facilitate educational access to disadvantaged groups.<< Implementation >>Project execution will be collaborative and all partners. Alignment between partners is expected and the project objectives will be achieved in a collaborative manner. The different supported activities are inter-related and will in some cases be developed in parallel and in others be the basis for implementing the next ones. The project will develop six activities: Activity 1: Pedagogical design and preparation of the training programme. Led by Savoir*Devenir (France). The entire consortium will partner on specifying methodological, contents, objectives, technological resources, .... This activity will result in the plan training programme on digital skills (R1). This activity is the basis for the further development of the NOOCs (R2) and the guide to good practices (R3).Activity 2: Content development, digitisation, integration and production of the OERs. Led by the MAG Uninettuno, MAG S.R.LMAG will lead the coordination of this phase in which the OERs will be developed. The remaining partners will collaborate on development according to the technical instructions from the MAG. These will be interactive and accessible resources (virtual reality, augmented reality and/or simulations) with open and multilingual access (Spanish, French, English, Italian and Portuguese). Each NOOCs will have several OER: 5 interactive and 5 descriptive OERs. MAG S.R.L will be responsible for developing and updating the consortium’s responsive open website (https://recointad.com/). Activity 3: Content development, digitisation and NOOC integration and production. Led by UNED.The content of the different NOOCs will be digitised and integrated onto the OPENMOOC platform (Led by ECO Digital Learning) in line with the training programme. This work will be tasked to the ECO Digital Learning startup. Each NOOC will be developed in a different language and a different partner will be responsible for it: Spanish (UNED) French (Savoir*Devenir), English (Burgas Free University), Italian (Università degli Studi di Catania) and Portuguese (UAb). Each partner will also be responsible for a different NOOC and spearhead its development: 1 (S*D), 2 (UNICT), 3 (UAb), 4 (BFE) and 5 (UNED)Activity 4: Microlearning Programme Implementation. Led by UNED with the aim of delivering on project objectives 1 and 2. Each partner will also be responsible for a different NOOC. The training plan will be developed online through the OPENMOOC platform (Led by ECO Digital Learning).Activity 5: Microlearning programme evaluation to be led by UAb (Portugal), which will carry out the design and development of the course validation plan. This activity will include the integration of all partners. Activity 6: Creation of a network of inter-university cooperation to generate flexible and innovative practices, will be carried out. It will be led by UNED. This activity is cross-cutting throughout the project and related to integration with project management activities. The project will respond to a common need detected in all partner countries of the partnership and is the introduction of a training program specialized in digital pedagogies aimed at training teachers in its implementation and adaptation to their subjects and students. The project will introduce innovative resources, tools and methodologies for a quality digital university education. In addition, the project will generate a distributed transnational network that will strengthen a European interuniversity cooperation model, where teachers are configured as intra- and interuniversity connection nodes that will progressively increase throughout the life of the project and beyond.The open and free nature of the project results, as well as the distributed nature of the network, guarantee the sustainability of the project.<< Results >>The tangible results are the intellectual efforts that come together to achieve the main objective of digital training in flexible pedagogies and in the creation of the cooperation network between academics. These outcomes are: R1. Training Programme on digital skills in Flexible and Innovative Methodologies: A microlearning programme in digital training in flexible and innovative pedagogies, which will consist of five multilingual NOOC (NANO Open, Massive and Online Course) (English, French, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish).R2. NOOCs (NANO Open, Massive and Online Courses) in flexible methodologies: 1. Connected and critical; 2. Collaborative and research; 3. Active and gamified; 4. Inverted or Flipped; 5. Design of flexible learning digital programs R3. Guide to good practices in flexible digital pedagogies. Based on the objective results, a guide to good practices in flexible digital pedagogics will be developed.R4. European network in D-flexible teaching: The main project goal is to develop an international distributed network of cooperation where teachers are configured as nodes that make inter- and intra-university connections possible and the dissemination of good, digital and innovative teaching practices.R5. Effectiveness research of microlearning based on NOOC which allows to advance a new way of learning through microlessons and in open environments. It will make it possible to reinforce new teaching methods on the basis of reliable scientific results.The main intangible result is the generation of added value to the Erasmus + programme through the offer of this digital training programme. Participating academics will have improved their ability to work in teams, to organiza themselves autonomously and to solve day-to-day problems of the teaching practice.

<< Background >>The COVID-19 health emergency has generated an educational emergency. Schools in most OECD countries have stopped their classroom activities by making significant educational and organizational efforts to continue distance learning, as they have been hit at their greatest weakness: the digital transition (OECD, 2019).Teachers have had to adapt to online learning which, in most cases, coincided with the use of a simple remote video lesson or pre-packaged training product, NOT conceived and created by placing the student at the centre of the teaching process, encouraged and required to act as an individual who learns in a self-regulated way, questioned and involved as a co-designer of the learning process. The plurality and heterogeneity of learning needs should not, in fact, be standardized and flattened but intercepted, read and interpreted to prevent the risk of drop out (THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON EDUCATION INSIGHTS FROM EDUCATION AT A GLANCE 2020, OECD).In other words, the crisis has revealed many challenges for teachers and students such as the weakness of distance learning systems, the inadequacy of pedagogical methods and the insufficient ability of teachers to deliver and evaluate high quality online courses while safeguarding educational equity (Second Amendment - 2020 annual work program - Erasmus + C (2020) 5495 of 14th August 2020).Even before the crisis, teachers reported ICT skills for teaching purposes as one of the highest professional development needs (18%) but only 36% took part in professional development courses for digital upskilling (OECD, 2019).These weaknesses are also attributable to the downward trend in investments by EU countries in education and teacher training (Eurostat, 2019) with IT, EL, ES, TR, MT and PL recording significant contractions.In response to these critical issues, digital technologies, if properly used, allow not only the adaptation of the teaching experience to meet the personal learning styles of students but to evolve teaching/learning methods, raising the role of teachers from mere knowledge transferors to knowledge co-creators, as mentors, orchestrators and facilitators in learning processes and, with a view to professional development, to act as role models for lifelong learning.<< Objectives >>o To encourage the methodological and technological upskilling of EU teachers from 6 countries (IT, TR, ES, PT, PL, MT), to conceive, design and deliver integrated digital teaching and personal empowerment courses by valorising resilience skills, flexibility and adaptation to change essential for a motivated and conscious evolution towards the role of Educational Innovation Advisor o To increase and maintain over time an articulated set of distinctive and emerging skills of a didactic, digital and design nature of the Teacher 4.0 called to work with a high degree of autonomy and continuityo To encourage the systematic adoption to approach technical DDI methods and tools with the development and dissemination of a Toolkit to inspire and guide the professional action of future Educational Innovation Advisorso To generate a process of sharing and didactic uniformity in didactic and methodological approaches in a pool of partnership teachers, involved in a LTTA, on Instructional design and edutainment to create a DDI palimpsest for classes of students of different disciplinary fieldso To establish lasting agreements and synergies between schools, methodological and technological innovation training poles and public bodies to set up the train-the-trainer framework developed by the project and support sustainability and the search for excellence in the development of learning and teaching .<< Implementation >>Here follows the project logical framework showing OBJECTIVES, ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS:OBJECTIVE 1: Encourage the methodological and technological upskilling of EU teachersWP4 IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES1.1 Field analysis with the holding of Focus Groups (M1-4)1.2 Definition of the Training Programme (M1-6)1.3 Definition of the organizational-managerial aspects of the training programme (M14-17)1.4 Piloting of the programme (M18-23) with the realization of the following sub-activities:1.4.1 Classroom Piloting (M20)1.4.2 Fine-tuning (M21)1.4.2 Train the Trainer Activities (M22)RESULT: A TRAIN THE TRAINER PROGRAMME SET UPPR1: QUID TRAINING PROGRAMME: BECOME AN EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION ADVISOR FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PILOTING ACTIONS, THE ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN PREVIOUSLY:OBJECTIVE 2: Increase and maintain over time an articulated set of distinctive and emerging skills of didactic, digital and planning nature of the Teacher 4.0WP4 IMPLEMENTATION ACTIVITIES2.1. Creation of Learning content (M6-10)2.2. OER development (M10-13)RESULT:OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES JOINTLY CARRIED OUT, in the form of interactive training video pills; PR2: OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR DIGITAL UPSKILLINGOBJECTIVE 3: Encourage the systematic adoption to approach technical DDI methods and tools with the development and dissemination of a Toolkit ACTIVITIES OF WP4 IMPLEMENTATION3.1 Co-elaboration of the QUID Toolkit (M12-17)RESULT: SHARED AND CO-APPLIED EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION TOOLKITPR3 QUID TOOLKIT: METHODS FOR EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONOBJECTIVE 4: Align a pool of partnership trainers and consultants involved in two transnational mobilities to acquire the methodological references of instructional design and edutainmentWP5 LTTA ACTIVITIES 4.1 Organization of the LTTA (M15)4.2 Delivery of the LTTA (M16)RESULT: A TRANSNATIONAL NETWORK OF EUROPEAN TEACHERS ESTABLISHEDOBJECTIVE 5: Establish lasting understandings and synergies between schools, methodological and technological innovation training centres and public bodies to set up the QUID framework 5.1 Drafting of the MoU5.2 Stipulation of the MoURESULT: MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING SIGNED<< Results >>o A TRAIN THE TRAINER PROGRAMME SET UP, responding to the needs of digital transformation of educational courses, which allows teachers to acquire and help acquire the articulated set of skills of the Educational Innovation Advisor (PR1 - QUID TRAINING PROGRAMME: BECOME AN EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION ADVISOR)o OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES JOINTLY CREATED, in the form of interactive training video pills, using Chroma Key techniques combined with motion graphics, to enhance, for a wide audience of teachers from European schools, a set of skills related to digital upskilling and role empowerment (PR2: OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR DIGITAL UPSKILLING)o SHARED AND CO-APPLIED EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION TOOLKIT (PR3 - QUID TOOLKIT: METHODOLOGIES FOR EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION) focused on methods of) instructional design to design articulated and complex didactic architectures to create communities and interactive and transmedia virtual spaces ii) the latest generation of edutainment, which exploits game-based, immediate and direct ways, through which today's young people access and exchange knowledge, to stimulate them to learn through multi-channels, immersion, interactivity, relocating evaluation at the centre of the training process as an opportunity to become conscious of areas for improvement based on a detailed and shared evaluation processo A TRANSNATIONAL NETWORK OF EUROPEAN TEACHERS CONSTITUTED which will lead the synergic action of trainer training through the social media and platforms of eTwinning and School Gateway over a medium-long term horizon, extending the network to other teachers to reiterate the experimental methodological approach in other scholastic, geographical and cultural contexts. (LTTA)o MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING UNDERSIGNED to formalize multi-actor cooperation and PROVIDED FOR additional stakeholders to ensure continuity and longevity in the implementation of the project results to multiply its impacts.

"<< Background >>The world of Higher Education has undergone a process of digitization in reaction to the epidemiological crisis from COVID-19 which has forced education to push even harder on the accelerator for the adoption of digital technologies which, if properly capitalized, can constitute the basis for improving the training offer.After a first phase of ""emergency remote teaching"", which simply replicated lectures using digital technologies, it has now become necessary to switch to quality online learning, which requires the involvement of students, promotes collaboration and creates community (Lauren S. Schlesselman, MA Ed Psych, PharmD, Perspective from a Teaching and Learning Centre During Emergency Remote Teaching, 2020).The emergency use of e-learning teaching methods has, in fact, created greater flexibility within the world of education, but at the same time, has highlighted some gaps, especially in the context of laboratory teaching. A structural digital divide has emerged in terms of technological equipment between STEM and non-STEM courses that could have a great impact in the medium- long term on the perception and appeal of STEM disciplines and professions for students.Starting from this reactive as such emergency experience, the project intends to face the digital challenge of HE in STEAM, making the teacher evolve from a mere content provider to a producer of higher education paths that alternate virtuality and immersion, creating a bridge between various technologies, between theory and practice, making knowledge more and more practical and expert and not impoverishing the scientific and artistic paths of essential laboratory and empirical activities.Universities are, therefore, called upon to develop comprehensive strategies for the full integration of electronic learning (e-learning), mobile learning (m-learning) and ubiquitous learning (U-Learning), involving the didactic mission and the entire academic body.<< Objectives >>In light of the context highlighted and the needs identified, the Project intends to establish a stable and multi-actor European network aimed at:•Encouraging a change in the mindset of university teachers to evolve into the role of Adaptive Teacher, with co-design and the provision of a training programme that allows them to acquire and help acquire the articulated set of skills necessary to design, deliver and evaluate learning processes of STEAM students conceived, conducted and implemented remotely by combining virtuality and laboratory skills through the use of learning by e-doing.•Stimulating concrete changes in university pedagogical practices by favouring the access of teachers to (i) Open Educational Resources that will support and expand over time the learning of the didactic contents foreseen by the training programme by further investigating issues related to the training techniques of trainers and the innovative methodologies proposed (ii) a methodological innovation Toolkit focused on learning by e-doing and on adaptive teaching between virtuality and laboratories, accompanied by case histories related to STEAM and support tools.•Encouraging a methodological, technological and didactic alignment of a pool of lecturers benefitting from a LTTA on innovations to be introduced in university contexts, on an experimental basis, for a panel of students of STEAM disciplines and subsequently, systemically, through the transfer to the teaching staff, to have a significant impact on the evolution of university teaching in the European partner regions.•Experimenting the methodologies acquired through (i) the provision of virtual laboratory lessons in partner universities for student classes to test their effectiveness (ii) the conducting of train-the-trainer sessions for other teachers to make them evolve to the role of Adaptive Teacher.<< Implementation >>To achieve OBJECTIVE 1 ""Encourage a change in the mindset of university teachers to evolve into the role of the Adaptive Teacher"", a training programme will be co-designed and implemented by the partnership, whose teaching structure will be the result of a desk and field analysis process, which will be the first project result (PR1 - TEST Programme: trainers training for Adaptive teaching, Task 1-2-3)To achieve the SECOND OBJECTIVE ""To stimulate concrete changes in university pedagogical practices"", the following will be designed and implemented:(i) OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES which will support and expand over time the learning of the didactic contents foreseen by the training programme by further investigating issues related to the train-the trainer techniques and the innovative methodologies proposed and which will constitute PR2 - Open Educational Resources for learning by e- doing(ii) a methodological innovation TOOLKIT focused on learning by e-doing and on adaptive teaching between virtuality and laboratories, accompanied by case histories related to STEAM and support tools that constitute PR3 - TEST Toolkit: the Adaptive Teacher toolboxOnce the first two objectives relating to the elaboration of the Training Programme (PR1) accompanied by the didactic support instrumentation (PR2-3) have been achieved, the partnership will organize a 5-day full immersion LTTA that will allow the fulfilment of OBJECTIVE N. 3 “Promote a methodological, technological and didactic alignment of a pool of teachers”.In fact, during the LTTA, the teachers involved will be the protagonists of a first in vitro testing of the 3 PRs in a fine-tuning perspective. As a result, they will form the first core of the TEACHER NETWORK which will gradually be alimented by the awareness raising and dissemination actions of the partnership through media and non-media channels.Partners will then start the multi-level testing action, reaching goal 4 ""Experimenting the methodologies acquired"" which will allow the partnership to finalize the Tasks 4 and 5 of PR1.This will take place through: (i) the provision by 40 teachers selected by the partnership of virtual laboratory lessons in the partner universities for classes of students to test the effectiveness of the model (ii) the conduction of train-the trainer sessions for other teachers to make them evolve in the role of Adaptive Teacher.As a result of the testing phases, definitive PRs will be released.Transversely to the project activities, UNISI will guarantee a planning, direction and control action and EFMD will ensure qualitative supervision to guarantee the correspondence of the results achieved with the planned objectives in line with the expected quality standards functional to the large-scale transfer and dissemination action.<< Results >>1 Creation of a stable and multi-actor cooperation partnership between universities, consulting and training centres, international networks for quality assurance, to innovate the HE offer system with the systematic adoption of blended learning by e-doing by filling an evident and common didactic gap in response to the needs of students of STEM + A courses and to the current and future needs of the labour market.Deliverable:•Memorandum of Understanding•Map of the opportunities foreseen by regional, national and community calls, to implement and transfer the results in new contexts.2 Systematic introduction of the framework developed by the project for the evolution of the teacher to the role of Adaptive Teacher in HE at European level and in teachers' skills reference frameworks Project Result:•1 Training programme for trainers for teachers of scientific and artistic faculties co-designed, tested and finalized (see PR1 - TEST Programme: train-the-trainer for Adaptive teachingDeliverable• 40 teachers involved in the testing of the programme (10IT, 10ES, 5EL, 5HZ, 5AU, 5FR)• A further 200 teachers involved in the train-the-trainer actions conducted by the trained teachers• 200 students involved in the experimentation of the virtual laboratory teaching sessions3 Systematic adoption of a European model of adaptive online teaching between virtuality and flexible, interactive and innovative laboratoriesProject Result:•10 interactive video training pills to further investigate the training techniques for trainers and the innovative methodologies proposed, including 2 with narrative branches, dedicated to empowering the relational, communicative and team leadership qualities of the Adaptive teachers essential in running virtual labs allowing them to access one or more branching scenarios, that, thanks to the use of small video clips, shot in first and third person, allow them to make choices that will influence the course of the story, thus being able to verify the consequences of the behaviours enacted/chosen in a cause/effect logic (see PR2 - Open Educational Resources for learning by e-doing)•1 PILOT Toolkit accompanied by case histories related to STEM + A and support tools (See PR3 - TEST Toolkit: the Adaptive Teacher toolbox)4 Methodological alignment of a pool of teachers on the innovations to be introduced in university contextsDeliverable:•1 5-day LTTA •1 Network of university teachers involved in STEM + A disciplines•Creation, through online socialization spaces, of networking opportunities, to aggregate ideas, experiences and skills"