The objective of the PROMOTE-project is to provide professionals in the domain of the clinical disciplines Prosthetics and Orthotics (P&O) with continuous training, to bring the profession to an academic level and to train more highly qualified P&Os for the European market. The World Health Organisation (WHO) identified a dramatic shortage of healthcare professionals in the P&O work field, leading to limited access to quality services for people with disabilities in many countries across Europe. Competence guidelines for the profession were installed by WHO while the International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics, ISPO, accredits study programmes that live up to these standards. However, currently, only 6 programs in Europe meet these standards and are accredited accordingly. Even in countries offering formal education in P&O, many professionals in the sector still lack academic acknowledgement and career development opportunities, which in turn leads to low motivation in choosing P&O as a career. Furthermore, the development of this profession demands keeping pace with the knowledge of new technologies and scientific evidence, rendering the academisation of this profession necessary. The current urgent need in the P&O sector is a higher permeability between different European studies and institutes, where a consistent and accessible European pathway in P&O training can be created.The core output of PROMOTE is a comprehensive modular teaching and learning programme, offered to three target groups. The first target group are Bachelor graduates of 180 ECTS-credits programmes, who therefore lack 60 ECTS-credits to reach the entry-level for the European Master studies. The full PROMOTE programme will cover these 60 ECTS-points to bridge the gap. For Bachelor students in related professions who have acquired any number of credits, the programme can add the missing P&O knowledge. Secondly, PROMOTE addresses the professionals without an academic degree who will be enabled to have their competencies validated according to the European Qualifications Framework (e.g. via the ECVET system) and to acquire qualification on the EQF level 6, which will give them access to an academic career or continuous professional development. Thirdly, PROMOTE targets doctoral research students in the field of biorobotics and other rehabilitation techniques (based on engineering master degrees). It offers modular CPD to obtain important practical knowledge and skills in the field of P&O. In detail the following results will be achieved in the three-year project:· a modular learning programme to close the gap between the existing Bachelor and Master programmes in P&O and VET· a competence framework for P&O based on the European Qualification framework· learning outcome descriptions along with ECTS, ECVET validation systems· a competence-based learning and validation approach for the modular study and learning programme· a comprehensive piloting phase for the aforementioned three target groups· a train-the-trainer course for educational personnel· a rich online platform with asynchronous and synchronous learning and collaboration instruments and learning content to support blended learning· an inventory of Continued Professional Development units in P&O for professionals· an online-based Resource Center for P&O, promoting standards and education · a profound implementation and valorisation strategyTo reach these goals in an efficient way, we first need an extensive stocktaking phase to further specify the target groups. Competence frameworks will be developed and modules will be created accordingly. We plan to pilot the project with a group of around 50 students. The new opportunities generated through this project will be made known to schools and P&O service centres across Europe in order to recruit students for the pilot and for the continuation of the programme. For this purpose, members of the PROMOTE team will be present at educational congresses and professional exhibitions throughout Europe. Our own existing and developing networks in educational and P&O associations will be used. PROMOTE will be developed in a consortium consisting of five members. Three of the leading educational European Higher Education Institutes in the P&O sector participate: PFH Göttingen (GER), Thomas More University (BE) and Scuola Santa Anna Pisa (IT). They are three of the six institutions in Europe holding an ISPO accreditation. Then, the consortium is completed by Human Study (HS) as international P&O VET institute and the Blended Learning INstitutions Cooperative (blinc) as an expert in Competence Oriented blended learning and validation.

"PITCH: Promoting and Implementing Training on entrepreneurship, innovation and Creativity in Higher educationThe project aims at developing innovative teaching and learning approaches for entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation education in Higher Education.Even though in the recent years several entrepreneurship courses have been developed in HEI worldwide, a cross-cutting approach is missing to integrate entrepreneurship in an overarching domain-independent approach.Hence entrepreneurship, in most cases is regarded as a discrete domain or is often connected to business studies or economics only. The aim of PITCH is to introduce entrepreneurship, and with it sense of initiative, creativity and innovation as a ""key competence"" in an overarching approach which can be transferred to a large variety of research fields and study domains in European Higher Education. This will be achieved with the help of an innovative, self-directed (blended) learning approach for students and educational personnel at the interface of Higher Education and business.Entrepreneurial competences are hardly to be acquired in frontal teaching lessons or self-learning exercises.The ideal learning contexts to acquire these competences are the informal/non-formal ones such as learning labs, incubators in combination with internships or mobility. Hence, the PITCH project aims at setting up an innovative blended learning approach, which includes experiential and practical learning in different learning environments.However, it is a challenge to set up learning pathways to facilitate the acquisition of relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes in this rather heterogeneous field. Only singular attempts have been made to systematically include the development of these competences in curricular or extracurricular HE courses. The validation (here the assessment and documentation) of these competences requires an appropriate competence framework system to give evidence of students’ development, to connect them to existing certification systems and to offer a European wide validation approach. PITCH will develop and pilot an approach to tackle this issue based on a long-term partnership of academia, business and educational partners.Based on a sound stocktaking on successful approaches on entrepreneurship education modules and courses it will set up a framework of competences on entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, using on the one hand the EntreComp descriptive framework and on the other hand the LEVEL5 validation system. Both systems have been largely applied in previous EU-funded projects on entrepreneurship education.A modular, blended learning and training approach will be developed combining face-to face, e-learning and practical learning in incubators, in internships and learning in mobility, thus creating interfaces to ERASMUS mobility programmes.The learning and training offers will also be delivered on state-of-the-art learning technologies providing contents, courses, e-portfolios and validation interfaces as open educational resources (OER) for 18 trainers who will transfer the PITCH approach in their trainings in HEI; 12-15 students will carry out a specific study mobility in the framework of an intercultural design thinking programme.The PITCH courses and modules will involve 75 students from six universities in five EU member-states and one candidate country.Students of different sciences will develop PITCH projects along an innovative blended learning concept based on transferrable study units that can be integrated in the formal curricula and on an experiential learning approach in European universities.Competences will be validated and connected to European validation and certification instruments.The PITCH partnership is consisting of HEI from DE, GR, LT, PT which cover a large geographical scope and several cross-cutting disciplines from economics, natural, economic and social sciences.The partnership is completed by a young unversiy spin-off working on innovation management (IT) and a European cooperative with a large European network in the field of competence-oriented learning and validation (DE)."

Enterprises and organisations today face rising expectations that they will engage with societal stakeholders and support sustainable development. It is widely accepted that in order to be considered responsible, an organisation must “do well and do good”. This idea is at the core of the most Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) concepts which focus on integrating traditional business concerns with sustainable development concerns, such as impact on societal and environmental issues. Recently, CSR projects, and the challenge of how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into work practices has led enterprises to engage more in societal projects. CSR and SDGs together have the potential to develop an interconnected model for sustainable growth.At the same time, unfortunately, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) relating to social, personal and organisational competences remains at a low level in many European organisations. Despite the necessity to acquire these skills and competences, the uptake of CPD which promotes their acquisition is low, apparently owing to a lack of convincing formats.The Time4Sustainable Development (T4SD) project addresses these issues in unison. It explores how the 17 SDGs may serve as a reference framework that can support organisations in improving their CSR engagement in a way that contributes to the Goals, whilst at the same time ensuring the engagement and development of their employees.The T4SD objectives are:1.To develop an innovative European CPD approach that facilitates CSR initiatives that contribute to the SDGs through the integration of societal projects and personal, team and professional development.2.To develop, test and validate a CSR/SDG based branch for professional development in European enterprises powered by specifically trained Adult Education Professionals.T4SD combines the three themes of a) CSR, b) working towards the SDGs and c) supporting the social, personal and professional development of Adult Educators and employees. It will offer enterprises and organisations attractive and meaningful formats of CPD for their employees and connects it to cultural, social, and environmental projects in which they “donate” the work and CPD time of their employees to serve sustainable societal purposes.The project involves three main target groups:1. Adult Education professionals: Their professionalisation in T4SD will be facilitated by a modular, blended learning approach, based on competence oriented learning and validation.2. Employees who will be offered attractive and innovative CPD and at the same time get opportunities to engage for society.3. Professionals and volunteers from NGOs working in the cultural, social & environmental fields who will be offered possibilities for qualification and professionalisation in educational methodology and innovative instructional design.The concept of combining CSR with CPD was first developed by the organisation in Belgium and realised in an enormously successful project with support from the Flemish government. It has delivered more than 250,000 hrs of CSR in its Belgian association under the title of: Time for Society.In the T4SD project we will build on this successful concept, taking it one step further. Our proposal is simple: during CPD-hours employees give a part of their time to a non-profit organisation in need through the implementation of a project (e.g. cultural, social or environmental) that they are interested in, and they design, plan and deliver a tailor-made project that addresses the SDGs in cooperation with a societal organisation.Through a customised, blended learning programme the enterprises and their teams of employees are attracted to develop a CSR strategy and to regularly create sustainable societal impact together. Through this informal learning and development programme employees will acquire and further develop their skills in a practical and competence based learning approach.In terms of concrete products T4SD will develop:- A stocktaking report on the potential for a combining CSR/SDGs/CPD- The T4SD Competence Framework- The T4SD CPD Methodology- The T4SD Learning Platform- The T4SD Train-the-Trainer Programme- The T4SD RoadmapT4SD will implement a Transnational Training Activity with 18 adult educators who will then pilot the approach with enterprises and employees in their respective countries. 160 more adult educators and multipliers will be informed about the projects outputs and instructed on how to use them via multiplier events and at least 200 employees will be directly involved in the project.The main outputs will continue to be offered after the end of the project and designed in a way to make it easy for Adult Educators to apply the concept in different adult education settings.The partnership is led by Apricot (UK) and has experienced adult education providers from Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy and Bulgaria as project partners.

<< Background >>The VIVA project is aimed at addressing one of the many features characterising the digital transformation our society is currently undergoing, that is the digitalisation of the teaching and learning experiences, especially in the higher education sector. As already recognised by an OECD report released in 2020, due to the Covid-19 health emergency, HEIs had to reinvent their activities to ensure the continuity of education by offering online classes and learning experiences as a substitute for in-class time. However, the same report also highlighted that these institutions (especially universities) were often found unprepared and unable to deliver instruction through new interactive means due to a lack of competences (OECD, 2020).The recent health emergency has certainly accelerated the pace of the digital transformation in the learning and education sector, but all the elements to detect a significant turn to the digital were already there and many related processes were already unfolding. Our project acknowledges the digital transformation described above and wants to contribute to the definition of the teaching and learning of tomorrow by fostering the integration and implementation of design-based collaborative learning practices into HEIs, with a specific focus on universities. VIVA is addressing HEIs but also practice and businesses partners and the following target groups: - HEI teachers, trainers or learning facilitators (in more practical and informal settings);- Designers and developers of educational programmes;- Eventually, students and learners in all stages of HE.All partners have highlighted the urgent need to properly train HE professionals and internship mentors to adopt online collaborative learning approaches to avoid “Zoom fatigue” and low motivation among students, as well as to properly integrate web-based collaborative approaches into their regular teaching practices in combination to classroom-teaching, even after the pandemic period. In general, the needs of our target groups are:- To introduce the method and strategies of web-based collaborative learning into old and new curricula, especially in combination with other 21st century skills;- To prepare lecturers for teaching and learning with technology-based tools and instruments;- To understand the role of a facilitator in supporting learners involved in open learning, distance education, or online learning;- To support learners in the individual and collaborative construction of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, especially in informal learning;- To support learners in moving successfully through the various stages that online learners typically go through;- To support learners effectively through the use of asynchronous and synchronous communication and learning tools;- To use assessments and assignments effectively as learning tools.<< Objectives >>The VIVA project, with its clear European afflatus, would like to achieve an overall objective and a number of specific objectives.OVERALL OBJECTIVE: to increase the effectiveness of online teaching and learning, improving the skills and competences of HE professionals in planning and delivering innovative teaching and learning practices.SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:- Drawing comparison of good practices in design-based collaborative learning and designing an implementation strategy in other geographical and sectoral contexts (transferring innovation starting from our projects);- Developing a common competence framework to assess individual and institution-wide progress as to the acquisition of new relevant digital and educational skills;- Implementing design-based collaborative learning integration strategy (action research reports from pilots, methodology to apply Design learning in HE, quality standards);- Creating a Continuous Professional Development Programme for Educators in HE (concept, material, platform, C1 course).The VIVA project wants to develop the digital readiness, resilience and capacity of educators working in the HE sector by creating a Continuous Professional Development Programme and by designing an effective and comprehensive competence framework to assess progress in the acquisition of new relevant digital and educational skills at the European level. Our aim is also that of increasing the overall effectiveness of online teaching and learning by designing innovative blended learning programmes and methods that combine asynchronous and synchronous collaborative digital tools. VIVA, in line with the National Priorities for Erasmus+ KA2 of the Lithuanian National Agency, will foster the introduction of digital tools and methods to ensure effective learning in remote settings and will help teachers and trainers to create high-quality digital contents and make a fruitful use out of innovative online resources and tools.<< Implementation >>The project is organised along a set of 4 content related work packages, producing the main Results:1.Comparison of best practicesOn innovative design-based collaborative learning offers provided by European HEIs and internship partners. Sub-outputs to be produced:Research designDesk research resultsOnline questionnaireExpert Interviews with selected expertsThe VIVA best practices report2. Competence FrameworkDeveloping Competence framework for:a. HE trainers and programme designersb. HE learners for self-learning competences while using digital learning approaches and devices (digital learning literacy)Deriving operational Reference systems and localising them on respective EQF levels.The resulting repositories of competences will have 2 functions, they serve as an “inventory of reference systems for competences” for validation purposes, and as a “competence framework” as a planning device for the acquisition of collaborative online learning and teaching competences.Sub-outputs to be developed:A competence framework (competence catalogue)Descriptions of sub-competencesReference systems on each competenceConnection to the EQF / ECVET taxonomy3. Design-based collaborative learning integration strategyThis result will provide a comprehensive integration framework to apply the VIVA approach in a direct and modular way on 3 different levels: micro (programme level), meso (organisational level) and macro (trans-organisational and trans-sectoral level). Tools, guidelines and recommendations will be developed in order to ensure flexible implementation in specific professional and learning contexts and high transferability. Action research results will be key in the drafting of such guidelines and recommendations. Undertaking action research local projects and using results to further develop VIVA learning modules and to gather feedback to define recommendations for implementation.Developing integration framework and tools, namely recommendations and guidelines for the implementation of the VIVA approach at micro (programme), meso (organisational) and macro (trans-organisational) level.Setting up an overarching quality approach. Sub-outputs to be produced:Action research reportsVideo testimonialsYouTube channel with pills from expertsMethodological framework (recommendations and guidelines)Quality criteria4. CPD Concept for Educators in HEBased on the competence framework and the action research results, Competence Oriented Learning and Validation course curriculum and modules will be established based on the well proven REVEAL methodology by:Setting up contextualised action and learning fieldsDeveloping didactic framesSequential course plans and learning units that can be delivered in blended learning methodologyThe interactive platform (e-Portfolio, LMS and Validation system) will be adapted and all available learning units and materials inserted. This rich open learning platform facilitates blended learning and provides a seamless connection of e-learning (moodle), validation software (LEVEL5) and e-portfolio (Mahara) functionalities.Sub-outputs to be produced:CPD learning modulesVIVA interactive platformVIVA then includes 2 Learning Activities:Joint transnational learning activity for HE staff (C1): a Continuous Professional Development (CPD) course for 12 educational professionals in HE that will then facilitate the VIVA approach within their institutions.Intercultural blended learning activity for HE students (C2): a course on design-based collaborative learning culminating in an intercultural co-creation week in Greece. Students will then act as Ambassadors of the approach within their institutions and beyond.The VIVA Final Conference will close the project by bringing together European stakeholders from different sectors. It will be connected to the VIVA award, a price given to innovative projects in the field of Competence Oriented Learning in connection with validation.<< Results >>VIVA aims to make full use of the potential of rich, open educational resources in asynchronous and synchronous learning to enrich traditional teaching and learning in the HE sector. The project will develop high quality digital learning and focus on learning formats which have not yet (or just very rarely) been tackled in web-based learning:- Collaborative learning in connection to creativity and innovation. VIVA seeks to explore available online learning instruments and develop didactic learning arrangements with a special focus on design thinking; product and project development.- Competence Oriented Learning and validation to foster learning arrangements which differ from traditional frontal teaching methods and which aim to plan and deliver digitally supported learning in both informal and non-formal settings.- Virtual mobile learning. VIVA aims to develop supportive virtual mobility formats which:promote virtual mobility (distance learning) in collaborative projects of students, trainees and apprentices participating from different European countries;and will (after the end of the pandemic situation) support ERASMUS students to capitalise more on their experiences abroad and create new joint learning activities during their placements, be it in partner universities or in enterprises.To achieve this, VIVA seeks to qualify the relevant HE stakeholders to design, deliver and apply digitally enhanced teaching and learning. A holistic training programme for HE staff on Competence Oriented Learning and Validation (COL&V) will be developed with a focus on innovative blended learning arrangements.The 4 titles associated to the Project Results are:1. Comparison of good practices in design-based collaborative learning;2. Competence framework;3. Design-based collaborative learning integration strategy;4. Continuous Professional Development Programme for Educators in HE.Concretely VIVA will develop the following products and outputs:- Inventory (growing catalogue) and comparison of available good practices (approaches and instruments) with a focus, although not exclusively, on OER for synchronous and asynchronous tools and instruments, connected to an online voting and recommender system for feasibility in different study domains and for different purposes.- Competence framework for HE professionals to plan and deliver high quality digital teaching and learning based on a competence oriented learning and validation approach to cover both learning delivery, assessment and validation (Project Result 2).- Inventory of suitable didactical models, both instructional models and informal learning patterns to support digitally supported teaching and learning.- Development of an OER infrastructure with a growing pool of synchronous and asynchronous tools to be used by European HE institutes. This platform shall be maintained by project partners (especially blinc) since it is used for several Erasmus+ projects and joint activities.- European Continuous Professional Development course for HE personnel.- Action research findings on the innovative teaching and learning approaches with groups of learners from different HEI in different learning environments and contexts, including the practical application of competence validation (identification, documentation, assessment and certification) based on the online systems developed under point 4.- Guidelines, recommendation and quality criteria to integrate the VIVA approach at programme, organisational and trans-organisational/trans-domain level.

<< Objectives >>In DISC, 4 HEI (from Education, Tourism, Economics) and 2 VET Education providers from DE, IT, LT, PT and EL intend to develop an innovative approach to introduce Sustainable Development (SD) in European universities and practically via student projects in business management and local communities.It aims to create a transferrable, design based collaborative learning approach for students and a CPD for educational staff on SD education which will be largely valorised in the European HE sector.<< Implementation >>Based on a stocktaking of existing exemplary approaches on HEI SD education, DISC will develop competence frameworks on SD for students and SD facilitation for HE educators.It will develop transferable certified academic courses and learning modules for students from Cultural, Educational, Touristic, Business faculties and a CPD for educators. It will develop an open learning platform which facilitates remote transnational collaboration & research and connects to business and civic projects.<< Results >>DISC will produce 3 certified courses and > 100 transferable learning units on SD which will be piloted with 60 students in innovative design based collaborative learning and research formats. 24 educational professionals will be trained as facilitators.15 concrete pilot projects which will be developed in civic, business and academia collaboration.The project is embedded in a University alliance and other European networks and ends with a large scale conference.