To tackle the common problem of marginalization in rural regions in Europe and to address the need of those societies for a highly skilled, competent and flexible workforce, guaranteeing social inclusion, sustainable use of regional resources and environmental protection, the CRISTAL project (Creative Regions for Innovation, Skills, Technology, Accessibility and Learning) represents a new and exciting approach towards VET with the means of innovative STEM "learning-by-making" methods, digital fabrication, innovation and entrepreneurship competence, sustainability in teaching and learning and business know-how. The aim of CRISTAL is to develop a dedicated, dynamic and interactive "open source" virtual classroom in the form of a Knowledge Centre, a platform for innovative VET curricula along with Open Educational Resources for preschool, primary, secondary, upper secondary and adult education followed by a "module" for teachers' training. The project's approach combines formal, in-formal and non-formal education, focusing on the needs of the World of Work in the partners' countries and the methodology appears in the following WP Scheme: WP1: Development of IEE and STEM teaching methods, within a VET framework. WP2: Fostering Innovation and entrepreneurship competence. WP3: Knowledge Centre for IEE, STEM and VET. WP4: Coordination and Project Management. The results envisaged will all relate to positive impacts on the social, economic and political situation of the marginalized rural areas involved in the activities. The main objectives of the CRISTAL project are the following: - To increase students' competence through innovative and creative learning; - To increase students' technological literacy and break down barriers to learning STEM-subjects; - To provide new interdisciplinary VET educational offers and didactic methodologies in the fields of STEM and IEE; - To provide education which is pertinent to the needs of rural marginalized communities in order to foster their competitiveness, enhancing their entrepreneurial and technological skills; - To elevate the status of vocational training; - To contribute to the promotion of environmentally sustainable forms of development for local communities. The partnership has been carefully chosen since each of them bring specific, diversified and complementary knowledge and skills to the project. The coordinator, Husavik Academic Center (HAC), which is dedicated to promoting and facilitating lifelong learning, university studies and interdisciplinary researches, has established an "Educluster" in the municipality of Nordurthing in North-Iceland that will serve as a pilot-community in the CRISTAL project. Teachers at all school stages along with experts in pedagogy and research, will be involved in the activities and testing process of the intellectual outputs, developed within the project. HAC has established the partnership with two universities, which will lead the formal pedagocical approach. University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), which has taken a global lead on enterprise and entrepreneurship education, will involve its International Centre for Creative Entrepreneurial Development (IICED) in the project's activites and University of Akureyri, Iceland, which has built a reputation for academic excellence and good industrial relations, will involve both Department of Education and Department of Natural Resources Sciences in the project. The partnership is then composed by two SMEs, which will lead the in-formal and non-formal approach to the project. The Swedish start-up Lindberg&Lindberg Engineering AB has a wide area of competence in the field of R&D and Eco-Innovation. The Italian eco-innovative farm Azienda Agricola "DORA" brings expertese to the project in form of sustainability, environmental education, rural development, R&D and renewable energy production safeguard. The impact of our project involves critical and creative thinking to give learners the ability to interpret and take part in reconstructing their society; sustainable development of rural entrepreneurship in marginalized areas; recognition of VET as a high quality educative system facilitating youth employment and finally a better and higher cooperation at European level on IEE and STEM within a VET perspective. Long term beneficiaries in the project are rural and regional European communities. The greater impact is aimed to be beyond the project in the dissemination process when a wider range of participants will be reached in the partners' countries and throughout Europe through a dedicated Awareness Raising, Promotion and Dissemination Plan, as a part of the project management and implementation, to guarantee the achievement of the project's objectives and to secure the sustainability of the project. The ultimate Knowledge Centre, which will be the main and ultimate dissemination channel, will continue as a growing network beyond the funding period and maintained by HAC.
To tackle the common problem of marginalization in rural regions in Europe and to address the need of those societies for a highly skilled, competent and flexible workforce, guaranteeing social inclusion, sustainable use of regional resources and environmental protection, the CRISTAL project (Creative Regions for Innovation, Skills, Technology, Accessibility and Learning) represents a new and exciting approach towards VET with the means of innovative STEM "learning-by-making" methods, digital fabrication, innovation and entrepreneurship competence, sustainability in teaching and learning and business know-how. The aim of CRISTAL was to develop a dedicated, dynamic and interactive "open source" virtual classroom in the form of a Knowledge Center, a platform for innovative STEM curricula along with Open Educational Resources for preschool, primary, secondary, upper secondary and adult education followed by a "module" for teachers' training. The main objectives of the CRISTAL project are the following: - To increase students' competence through innovative and creative learning; - To increase students' technological literacy and break down barriers to learning STEM-subjects; - To provide new interdisciplinary VET educational offers and didactic methodologies in the fields of STEM and IEE; - To provide education which is pertinent to the needs of rural marginalized communities in order to foster their competitiveness, enhancing their entrepreneurial and technological skills; - To elevate the status of vocational training; - To contribute to the promotion of environmentally sustainable forms of development for local communities. The partnership consists of five partners. The coordinator, Innovation Center Iceland (ICI) is a leading R&D institution in Iceland. ICI encourages innovation and promotes the advancement of new ideas in Icelandic economy by providing support to entrepreneurs and businesses. The Innovation Center operates several Incubator Centers that offers support and facilities to start-up companies working on innovative business ideas. Their Innovation and entrepreneurship services offers extensive internet information services, workshops and courses for SMEs and the general public. ICI the pioneer in bringing Fab Labs to Iceland and education in digital fabrication. Husavik Academic Center (HAC), which is dedicated to promoting and facilitating lifelong learning, university studies and interdisciplinary researches, has established an "Educluster" in the municipality of Nordurthing in North-Iceland that serves as a pilot-community in the CRISTAL project.Teachers at all school levels were involved in the activities and testing process of the intellectual outputs, developed within the project. University of Akureyri, Iceland, which has built a reputation for academic excellence and good industrial relations, involved the Department of Education in the project. The partnership is then composed of two SMEs, which will lead the in-formal and non-formal approach to the project. The Swedish start-up Lindberg&Lindberg Engineering AB has a wide area of competence in the field of ICT development. The Italian eco-innovative farm Azienda Agricola "DORA" brings expertise to the project in form of sustainability, environmental education, rural development, R&D and renewable energy production. The main result of the project lies in the establishment of the CRISTAL Knowledge Center on www.cristal.is in four languages. All of the projects results have been uploaded to a toolbox on the website and a functional virtual classroom can be found. The impact of our project involves critical and creative thinking to give learners the ability to interpret and take part and impact their society; enhancing rural entrepreneurship and sustainable development of rural areas. It also involves increased access to digital fabrication methods in schools in the area and increased interest of the teaching environment in the pilot community. Teachers in the pilot community are more interested in IEE, more flexible in their way of teaching and are more innovative. The project has also impacted the university as they have requested a cooperation with ICI to give lectures on IEE in initial teachers education at the university to get their students interested and aware of the matter. Long term benefits may be a change of teachers mindset and already schools in the pilot community have invested in equipment to evolve IEE teaching and increase interest in STEM subjects. Long term benefits, hopefully, may also include students seeing opportunities in their community, both in living there and creating job opportunities for themselves leading to rural development. Long term benefit can also lead to teachers' professional development within communities as they use problem-based methods in teaching.