<< Objectives >>FLER Project aspires at equipping low financial literate adults from rural areas with a digital learning process -the Virtual Escape Room- focused on Financial Literacy, purposed at enabling them to make sound financial decisions in their everyday life and/or their businesses, thus eventually improving their individual financial wellbeing. The Virtual Escape Room will embed real-life scenarios, giving rise to a motivating and emotionally engaging, thus foster knowledge acquisition and retention.<< Implementation >>FLER activities will mainly consist in field research via Focus Groups and collection of good practices for an appropriate development of a Scenario-Based Learning course on Financial Literacy. The selection of topics and Learning Outcomes will lead to its definition. On the other hand, the concrete design and technical development of the Virtual Escape Room will be implemented, and then Alpha, Beta and Pilot tested by relevant stakeholders to gain a high-quality product.<< Results >>FLER Project is mainly expected to produce a Scenario-Based Learning (SBL) course on Financial Literacy, addressed to low skilled adults from rural areas and tailored to the specific learning needs of the target group. The SBL course will include real-life scenarios about 7 different Financial Literacy topics and defined by specific Learning Outcomes. Moreover, FLER will create a digital pedagogical tool, consisting in a Virtual Escape Room, which will embed the scenarios previously developed.

Emotional competence, which characterizes emotionally intelligent individuals, is a basic competence. It includes various skills and abilities, such as emotional self-awareness, emotional self-control, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills. These refer to the ability to influence, communicate, collaborate, resolve conflicts and work as a team, and are applicable to all human interactions.The researchers confirm that young people tend to use ICT and social networks to communicate and express themselves, and companies, for their part, highlight the lack of youth skills for communication and active listening as one of their main issues faced when integrating the new generations into their work teams Therefore, there is a gap that can generate problems, especially when we talk about new technologies.The communication of emotions based on ICT has its own codes and language. The use of visual elements (such as emoticons, gifs, video, images…) and new words (gamer slang, Anglicisms, abbreviations, new meanings of words and idioms…) shape communication. And while emotions are universal, the interpretation and understanding of these elements of language is subjective and can lead to misunderstandings.Within this context, the LoeL project aimed to empower young people so that they can develop their emotional competencies, identifying and expressing their own emotions; communicating successfully with other people, both online and offline; and being aware of the limits and potential of ICT-based communication, successfully managing their emotions in professional settings (including volunteer experiences, in the company field or being entrepreneurs).The specific objectives were to:- Develop empowerment and training resources that allow young people to identify the origin and nature of emotions.- Provide a varied set of activities that combine real communication methods and channels based on ICT with work and personal environment scenarios.- Know the linguistic expressions that in different cultural contexts express basic emotions.- Learn appropriate verbal and gestural indicators to send effective messages in dialogues, negotiations or conflict situations.- Provide companies and organizations that work with young people with training material that allows them to improve the personal and work environment.LOEL's target groups are two:- Young people.- Youth workers. The project produced 2 main results:1. The LoeL APP is an interactive software designed to train young people in the identification, management, communication and understanding of their own and others' emotions. It is available for Android and iOS mobile devices and focuses on developing the emotional literacy of young people. It offers a series of games specially designed to raise awareness and develop specific skills that are highly useful in communicating emotions in personal and professional settings.From a gamified approach, the App displays a total of 10 different types of games, divided into 7 categories. A reward system is included as a motivator, which works by providing the player with experience points and tickets to customize their avatar and room. The level system includes 4 statuses: Beginner, Talented, Expert, and Master.2. The training of youth workers took place in October 2019 in Bilbao, around a 25-hour program, carried out over 5 days, based on the thematic blocks:- Some theories and many practices on Emotional Intelligence. Emotions and their link with other basic skills, such as empathy, assertiveness, and communication.- Informal methods to facilitate learning processes. LoeL concept. Knowing the LoeL APP.- Let's talk emoji. Jargon and the transformation of language in the s. XXI. The influence of ICT.- Audiovisual narrative, the art of telling stories through illustrations, photographs, and videos.The assessment of the LoeL App was very positive, as reflected in the results of the two testing phases carried out with young people and youth workers. Its application in informal and non-formal educational environments was highlighted by the latter, as one of the great added values of this product. The creation of the Guide for Youth Workers, and the availability of the materials and resources generated for the training carried out is also an additional element that facilitates the implementation of youth empowerment initiatives in the field of emotional management.

Over the last decades, social and emotional learning (SEL) has been increasingly acknowledged to impact on competency areas such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationships skills, and responsible decision-making. Mindfulness training is a multimodal intervention informed by the principles of positive psychology, with a central focus on skills that enable more effective coping and stress reduction. The application of mindfulness-based practices (MBP) has been strengthened by the results of evaluation studies that typically report on the positive effectiveness of MBP in terms of SEL. In parallel, research results show that exposure to natural environments arouses positive emotions and stress recovery, and improves compliance to mindfulness training, making it more effective. As such, the role of nature in the workplace is receiving increased attention, and existing theory and research suggest that nature contact can be considered as a workplace strategy for reducing stress, while at the same time enhancing performance and overall well-being. Therefore, Mindfulness-in Nature-based practices (MiNBP) joins together the healing effect of nature and the distressful effect of MBP, with greater benefits. It is therefore essential for company’s managers to understand how MiNBP has the potential to benefit their staff towards a systematic approach to SEL, in particular when considering the perspective of the five-competency-area framework. The Mindfulness-in-Nature Based Training through Virtual ENvironments (MINDLIVEN) project aims to provide an innovative solution to this issue. Building on existing research, partners will identify a required set of needs in terms of preventing and addressing work place stress, leading to the development of a set of MiNBP contents supported by an online MiNBP platform with communication tools and additional resources (like an Android and iOS app to facilitate access to the platform and contents) to facilitate the transfer of learning into the workplace but also to create the MiNBP user support community. This e-environment will raise the awareness for the problem and it will enable owners, managers and decision makers to plan for and to mitigate the occurrence and the negative consequences of work-based stress. After the pilot testing the real impact of the MiNBP in the main competency areas and on the individuals’ life and on the companies’ productivity will be assessed and consequently a policy report and recommendations will also be produced. The project targets:- Employees and owners/managers of SMEs as end users and main beneficiaries. They will be empowered and helped to improve their personal & professional life by being able to prevent and address workplace stress; - VET trainers, HR and Health & Safety consultants will be provided innovative tools for assessing the situation with their trainees and clients;- Professional associations, that have an active role in the sustainability and maintenance of the results of the MINDLIVEN project;- Organizational Health decision makers and governmental entities at regional, national and European levels will be contacted in order to persuade and make them aware of the need for more immediate actions. About 260 direct stakeholders (managers, staff, owners of micro and small enterprises) will be directly involved through direct contacts and other project activities like the MiNBP user support community and another 240 will be involved through the multiplier events. The MINDLIVEN network will also include about 100 HR consultants, health experts and decision makers leading to about 600 stakeholders directly involved in the project. Through a vast set of dissemination and exploitation activities, the consortium expects to reach other 6000 stakeholders (from all the identified target groups). This wide and systematic European intervention, rather than a casual local/national approach, will allow the project outcomes to be tested on different cultural and socio-economic contexts, showing the potential transferability of results across Europe and allowing for a European policy adoption.Note: Bibliographical references for the context and background of the project are provided in an annexed document

Knowledge 4Foot (K4F) project has contributed at fostering the excellence in training for footwear manufacturing by linking the three areas of education, research, and business-oriented innovation and has demonstrated good practices of cooperation and has bridged the worlds of education and work.To this purpose, the project has achieved the following objectives: 1) set-up a new Knowledge Platform for transferring research and innovation for footwear manufacturing where the HE students have received project-based training into a virtual environment by simulating all developing stages of the research projects, having as starting point the real identified needs in leather and footwear companies; 2) developed active collaboration among education, business community and research and had assessed the skills needs on innovation, research, development, and technological transfer; 3) designed a common curriculum and related e-learning content which incorporated creative thinking, problem-solving approach and project-based learning for virtual internship in the Knowledge Platform for transferring research and innovation.Based on the authentic and adequate needs of both actual business environment and learning and training programs for managers, engineers/technicians and designers in footwear sector, the K4F project has contributed at developing sustainable solutions to attuning curricula for placement/internship and has developed skills and competencies in area of project-based work focused on research, innovation and technological transfer. Thus, the K4F project had a significant impact on the development of education and training and has brought added value at EU level.K4F project has proposed, created, tested and evaluated contents and methodological solutions by developing synergies between different fields of higher education and training for educating and training the next generation of managers/ engineers/ technicians/ product and process developers/ high skilled workers that will be able to understand innovation, to perform applied research activities and to transfer the newest technological inputs from research to leather and footwear companies from partner countries and elsewhere in Europe.The online training courses, the virtual internship, as well as the Intensive Learning Activities, undertaken by the target group within the framework of the Knowledge Platform for transferring research and innovation in footwear manufacturing have stimulated innovative and creative mindsets of students, and have allowed the application of their knowledge and research insights.In terms of further sustainability, the universities running courses for managers, designers and engineers/technicians and the training centres running courses for the industry could adopt the virtual internship as a preparatory stage for learners’ placements into a real company. Moreover, the business community (SMEs and research centres) could be in contact with future employees in the early stages of the learning/training process.

"<< Background >>Covid-19 Pandemic gave a push in digitalisation: Processes have been shifted into the virtual space, work was organized remotely, new business models have been created. Increasing interconnectivity generates interdependencies, and vulnerabilities to possible threats. It must be stated, that digital transformation will not success, if the most valuable resources – data, information, and know-how – are not well protected. Information security and digitalisation are inseparable. ""In a world that has become hyper-connected, cybercriminals pose a significant threat to the internal security of the European Union and security of its citizens online. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for more security in the digital world. People have increased their presence online to maintain personal and professional relations, while cybercriminals have taken advantage of this situation... The frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks is rising speedily, while at the same time the use of ICT infrastructures and technologies by individuals, organisations, and industries is increasing rapidly. The needs for cybersecurity knowledge and competences exceeds the supply. European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) underlined the urgency to invest in building competences and talents in cybersecurity at all levels, from the non-expert to the highly skilled professional.""Recent survey, conducted during Corona crisis state that cyber-attacks have grown during the pandemic and are becoming increasingly prevalent. Symantec cybercrime report reveals that data breaches cost US$114 billion annually. Current study “The indelible impact of COVID-19 on Cyber Security”, conducted by Bitdefender (05/2020) in times of Corona Pandemic confirms, that cyberattacks were on the rise during this period (85% of respondents). The Office for Information Security in Germany (BSI), through its recent ""IT Security in the Home Office"" survey of 2020, found that 8% of the 1000 SMEs surveyed were affected by cyber-attacks. PT and IT are facing the same situation. Home working/remote learning and communicating caused specific risks, which were not perceived relevant prior to COVID-19 crises. It is highlighted, that one of the biggest vulnerabilities for cyber threat are staff members, being not aware of CS threats and consequences and not well-equipped with knowledge, skills in this field. Protection cannot only take place on the IT-level but must be incorporated and practiced by all employees /staff members to ensure an a safe and secure navigation in digital space in both areas - living and working.In the regard the topic of cyber security became much more urgent and fundamental changes and adaptions are necessary not only on the organisational level, but also on the educational. Especially VET institutions can contribute to the facilitation of skills and competence highly needs on the labour market. CS go beyond the digital skills are become at least equality important to act and interact in the digitalized global world. VET organisations should provide training contents, tools, and solution, helping to cope with the challenges companies are confronted with. Euipped with appropriate Cyber Security skills. The Pandemic situation has brought an immense change into working life so deficits, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities, became more obvious.<< Objectives >>""The Covid 19 pandemic alone required more digital skills than ever before. 90% of all jobs will encounter the digital world soon. So far, around 35% of European workers still lack the digital skills needed to gain a solid ground in the digital world. The European Commission’s Digital Education Plan aims to support the objective of the Skills Agenda of ensuring that 70% of 16 to 74 year olds should have at least basic digital skills by 2025.” (Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027) . Working in a digital world implies further skills to make the navigation safe and secure and to ensure data and information protection. digital transition can only succeed, if information is protected. Current study “The indelible impact of COVID-19 on Cyber Security”, conducted by Bitdefender in May 2020 in times of Pandemic confirms, that cyberattacks were on the rise during this period (85% of respondents). Home working/remote learning and communicating caused specific risks, which were not perceived relevant prior Covid-19 crises. The Office for Information Security (BSI), through its recent ""IT Security in the Home Office"" survey of 2020, found that 8% of the 1000 SMEs surveyed were affected by cyber-attacks. In regard the topic of Cyber Security became much more urgent and essential – for both employers and employees. In all participating countries common problems and needs have been identified, building the base for this project:•Main emphasis was mainly put to close the existing gap of Cyber Security (CS) specialists by offering study programs and further trainings, much less attention was paid to trainings for non-technical/non-IT staff or VET learners •VET teachers and trainers are not well equipped with knowledge and especially instruments and tools relevant to hold CS trainings for non-technical staff/VET learners in an appropriate and appealing way, also fostering the knowledge retention•Online training programs aiming to raise awareness and train CS subjects mimicking real-life and real-work environments in an engaging way, are still lacking •Especially SMEs don´t recognize the relevance of informing, sensitizing, and training non-technical staff for CS matters. Cyber literacy and generally the awareness is still not on the agenda of many SMEs Europe wide. Status quo is calling for additional actions and measure. Against this background the project idea aims * to improve CS skills among non-technical staff/VET learners by developing an innovative online training by using the “Escape Rooms” approach* to provide the VET trainers/institutions with an approved and evaluated online training as well as learning and teaching tools in the field of Cyber Security* to raise awareness among the SMEs and VET institutions for the importance of CS subject* to contribute to the establishment of a Cyber Security Culture in SMEs and also the VET sector Partners intend to design and incorporate at least six scenarios mirroring real working situations and allowing the learner to gain experiences, knowledge, and skills by making choices, observing consequences, and obtaining relevant immediate input to retain knowledge. Experimental learning is hereby in the focus: through the direct engagement in a real-life, authentic situation replicating a working environment, experiences can be collected. The immediate observation the consequences, own choices and actions lead to makes the reflection and a better understanding possible. Making conclusion and learning experiences will lead to a higher knowledge retention and the transfer of what was learned into the working life. Project partner decided to test CS training by using the Escape Room approach, intending to •Give a better understanding of CS •Increase the engagement and learning experiences though the interactive and emotional learning•Explore of “Escape Rooms” approach for educational purposes•Measure the effectiveness of the online training using the “Escape Room” Mode<< Implementation >>O1 - Activities: 1.A1: Definition of the quality criteria Development of selection criteria necessary to identify and present Cyber Security Cases, and to make them comparable, diverse, applicable and transferrable into the (VET) educational /learning environment.1.A2: Definition of the structure of the compendiumTo make the cases comparable and applicable for educational purposes common structure as well as the methodology to collect data and information will be specified and commonly approved. 1.A3: Selection of Case StudiesAll partners have a strong local and national network, which will be activated in this project phase. All partners will identify companies and organisations, preferably SME, and get in touch with them to gain relevant information and data. Methodology encompasses secondary and primary data collection.1.A4: Elaboration of the CompendiumHaving collected and filtered data from both steps, partners will prepare the compendium. Every partner will illustrate their cases according to the predefined structure, as well as describe the national strategies and situation regarding CS.O2 - Activities:2.A1. Specification of the topics for at least 6 different set of situations. Definition of most relevant topics. Scenario topic should cover preferably different field and areas of Cyber Security integrating more strongly the security issues of remote working models like Home Office.2.A2. Definitions of learning objectives Having determined the topic and areas for the scenarios the learning objectives will be identified. Partners will figure out, what kind of knowledge and experiences learners will have to acquire, gain and possess after the completion of the “learning process”. 2.A3 Definition of appropriate situation for a scenario The prioritization of the situation follows. The principals here are the importance of the situation for the real life and the likelihood they can appear in practice/work environment. 2.A4. Scenario frameAs an innovative type for raising awareness for Cyber Security and training the application and adherence to relevant rules and principles of working and living in a safe virtual environment, the Escape Room Model was chosen.2.A5 Design of the scenariosAt least 6 selected scenarios will be composed. Scenarios have to be engaging and also educationally effective and mimic the working reality. O3 - Activities.3.A1 Specification and design of the virtual escape room platform The requirements for the scenarios in O2 will be used to guide this activity. The characteristics of the platform and its core functionality will include elements of communication (text and video, synchronous and asynchronous) and interaction with the with the scenario for the players to get the clues and submit the solutions.3.A2 Technical / software implementation of the virtual escape room platformThe technical implementation will translate the game mechanics (game rules) into data and algorithms that supports the desired user experience but will also allow to instantiate programmatically the scenarios produced in the previous result into the platform. This will be done in a modular way so that new scenarios could be created and integrated at any moment with minimum effort.3.A3 Alpha and beta testingAlpha test will involve partner s to conduct usability and game experience assessment. Beta Testing will already implicate the participation of end users to test the virtual escape room setup.3.A4 Improvements to the platform and scenariosThe resulting feedback will be analysed and a list of requirements for improvements will be produced to guide further development of the platform and tested scenarios.3.A5 Pilot testingA larger-scale testing will take place 3.A6 Improvements to the platform and scenariosFollowing the evaluation of the pilots, improvements to the contents and methodology. optimization of the output<< Results >>OO1: Compendium of Cyber Security CasesThis output aims at putting together and disseminating Cybersecurity Cases which de facto took place in partner countries, especially SMEs. These Cases bundled in the compendium provide the variety of different situations, describing cyberattacks, frauds, social engineering occurred in companies. The illustration of problems, its origin and possible reasons will be extended by solutions and actions, companies introduced and realized to rectify the security leak. These Cases should serve for educational purposes and deliver content, input, based on real-life examples to VET trainers on the one hand and lay the foundation for the creation of the Output 2 “Scenario Cyber Alertness” on the other.O2 – Scenarios “Cyber Alertness”Inspired by the examples and cases from Output 1 partners will design various set of situations for facilitating knowledge and competences in the field of CS. To make the virtual training more engaging a scenario-based approach was chosen. Since the topic of Cyber Security is perceived as highly complex the aim is to create a well thought out, interactive and appealing scenario -based training strategy, supporting the information reception, knowledge application and retention. Scenarios are effective for learning since they provide realistic context and emotional engagement and can increase motivation and accelerate expertise. Especially, in field of Cyber Security the reference to realistic situation might have a very positive effect and additional value since learners can better comprehend the situation, observe the consequences, reflect and transfer it into working environment. Having made these experiences, it can foster and accelerate the learning process, enhance the skills and knowledge and lead to a better performance in the job. The target groups the scenarios are suited for are persons from different professions with non-technical/non-IT background in the continuing VET sector. The Scenarions contain set of situations, relevant for the improvement of the CS awareness and skills, enabling VET learners to act and react in the digital working and living environments.O2-1 Apart from the scenarios partner will work out a methodological guide for the conceptualization and the implementation of Escape rooms as didactic tool in the context of CS. Incorporated will be also the experiences of the participating trainers and learners. O3 – Virtual Training Escape RoomDeveloped scenarios (O2) are the base for the development of the virtual platform and training. The characteristics of the platform and its core functionality include elements of communication (text and video, synchronous and asynchronous) and interaction with the scenario for the learner to get the clues and submit the solutions. Therefore, design includes the core mechanisms that create experiences and build the expected knowledge that is transferable to the real world through active learning practices that simulate problem solving in the real world. The virtual platform incorporates tested scenarios for CS and will be made openly available to the target group and all potential stakeholders.O3-1 A user guide will be a part of the project to inform them about the concept of the training, and the handling.Further results1) Project Webpage2) 4 Multiplier Events3) Dissemination strategy: dissemination of project results for their sustainable use also beyond the partnership is a core task of the project. A comprehensive dissemination staregy will therefore be established for all partner organisations4) Quality plan and reports: the assurance of a high product and process quality is an important factor for the success of the project. Therefore Effebit (P4) will be especially responsible for the quality management in the project."