Context/Background COPILOT stands for "Cooperative Online Peer-assisted and Intercultural Learning in Occupational Therapy". It is a higher educational project designed to facilitate international experience in the field of Occupational Therapy, especially for students who are not able to spend a semester or internship abroad. As is the case generally for European undergraduate education in health-related fields, Occupational Therapy programs have difficulties in facilitating semesters and internships abroad for students because of language issues important in therapists-client relationships, and the tight corset of national laws governing professional licensure which vary greatly from country to country. As a result, only a very small percentage of students in therapeutic fields go abroad as part of their studies, and as a consequence most OT graduates lack sufficient international experience. COPILOT is designed to circumvent this problem by providing the opportunity for an international experience for all students in Occupational Therapy at the participating institutions. Objectives On the student level: • to increase the employability of graduates by strengthening their qualifications and skills (subject-specific, language and IT skills, critical and creative thinking, problem-solving, communicating effectively across national and professional cultures, entrepreneurial and international attitudes) On the institutional level: • To promote innovation within OT programmes and the larger profession through ongoing intercultural and international exchange of good practice and a better understanding and recognition of skills and qualifications in their field in Europe Project Output A transferable COPILOT MODEL of embedded intercultural, OT-related online learning in international teams, with learning goals, competences addressed, as well as curricular, learning management and technical aspects. • Sufficient COPILOT TEACHING E-MODULES to allow students to choose a different module in every semester of their training. Thus, students from universities in different countries can be "Co-pilots" for one another during the duration of one or more modules, and ideally even throughout their bachelor programme. • A COPILOT MANUAL that sums up the intellectual outputs and provides additional elements to facilitate practical application of the model. • A COLLECTION of Open Education Resources. Methods A learning platform not only delivers the modules, it also provides the means to produce them. Project management, the communication between project partners via forums, as well as all project documentation, task reminders and budgeting all is to be found on platform to ensure ready access for all partners to all information relevant to the project in one place. Results, Impact and Long-Term Benefits One of the main outcomes of the project will be a very large number of Occupational Therapists working in many European countries with a much higher level of intercultural competence and more openness for innovations from abroad than is presently the case. A second main outcome is the COPILOT model itself. Its generic framework (organizational, didactic and curricular aspects transferable to other groups of international partner universities) can be easily adapted for application in other health-related fields such as dietetics, physical therapy or nursing. To facilitate such dissemination, the project will be evaluated also by professionals from other health fields. All outputs of the project will be made accessible on public websites. Partners The participating partners in COPILOT are: • FH JOANNEUM University of Applied Sciences—the leading center of expertise in Austria regarding international education in the field of Occupational Therapy (Project Lead). • Howest University of Applied Sciences—a leader in Belgian Occupational Therapy education, with a particular expertise in fostering entrepreneurship and innovative, practically-based research skills among OT students. • "Angel Kanchev" University of Ruse offers the only Occupational Therapy programme in Bulgaria. In addition to their considerable experience in international education, participation of this university permits the creation of a multiplier effect for the project in South-eastern Europe. • Luleå University of Technology is among the European leaders in offering OT education through distance learning. • Zuyd University of Applied Sciences’ Department of Occupational Therapy holds a mediating position between the German and Dutch professional and educational cultures and works closely on research in the field. • The two associated partners in the project are the Zürcher Hochschule für angewandte Wissenschaften (ZHAW), a center of excellence in occupational therapy training and innovation, and the European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (ENOTHE). It serves as the main means of dissemination of projects results.
Context and background To meet unprecedented social, economic, and environmental challenges, today’s young health care professionals need transversal competences (“21st century skills): complex information processing, critical and creative thinking, effective transnational and transprofessional cultural communication, entrepreneurship, and the ability to master adversity. International and intercultural learning is key to stimulating comparative, critical thinking, creative problem-solving, toleration of complexity, and developing communication, cooperation and foreign language skills. Though study abroad is ideal for this, very few Allied Health students can go abroad. COPILOT addressed this problem by providing all students of Occupational Therapy at participating HEIs with an international experience, a model transferable to other health care studies. Objectives The project • enhanced key transversal competences of OT/ health studies students, thereby increasing their employability • promoted innovation, international good practice exchange, and development of a European professional identity within OT. It did this by: • creating a model and online modules that facilitate sustainable subject-specific, collaborative online intercultural learning • providing resources that facilitate its implementation at other HEIs and other health studies • encouraging wide use of project outputs through dissemination and features fostering sustained implementation (flexibility, no or low additional workload, negligible costs). Number and type of participants: OT degree programs were the primary target group. The secondary target group was other Allied Health professions. Other participants included relevant HEI stakeholders (management, international coordinators). The 11 pilot modules included 413 students and 18 instructors from the partner HEIs, as well as 85 students and 9 instructors from other OT programs. 3 multiplier events with 130 participants and other dissemination events addressed several hundred colleagues involved in OT higher education, other health studies programs, and some HEI policy makers. 17 participants benefited from a short-term staff training on digital educational tools. Description of undertaken activities Literature research, needs analysis, curricular and competence comparisons, and the LTTA provided the basis for the joint development of the COPILOT model and teaching and supporting materials. Output quality was continuously improved through testing and adaption with input from 9 external evaluators. Extensive structured feedback was obtained from the target groups through dissemination and training events. The 3 multiplier events explained the use of project results and were used to test transferability. About 20 other dissemination measures (conference presentations, workshops, discussions, website and Facebook blogs / reports, journal articles) were carried out at multiple levels to promote sustainable use of the project results. Results and impact attained The main tangible results are: COPILOT MODEL—a generic framework for implementing subject-specific collaborative online intercultural learning in OT and other health-studies programs. COPILOT MANUAL—9 innovative online modules for OT programs, presented as ready-to-use study guides, adaptable to the needs of other health studies programs. COPILOT LINK-IT—an annotated and searchable collection of open resources that can be used together with the online modules or on their own. COPILOT WEBINAR—comprehensive, interactive information on COPILOT learning, explaining step-by-step how to introduce it at HEIs. Impact attained: Module test run participants reported acquiring intercultural and transversal competences and international perspectives on professional training and practice. Dissemination and training at partner HEIs promoted interprofessional collaboration within health departments and a higher level of digital skills. Dissemination events reached some 600 participants in and beyond Europe, resulting in 5 new COPILOT partnerships in health studies programs; others are actively seeking partners. All project partners will regularly continue to conduct COPILOT modules together based on a shared implementation plan. Expected longer-term benefits Based on the interest at dissemination events, we expect project results to be used by more and more OT / health degree programs. Growing interest in COIL, COVID-induced increase in online learning, and usability of COPILOT products for “Blended Intensive Programs” will encourage this development. Therefore, one of the project’s main outcomes will be a much larger number of Occupational Therapists and other Allied Health professionals in Europe with high-level “21st century skills”. Synergies with Erasmus+ projects INPRO, DIRENE are being used to plan future activities promoting international, interprofessional and digital learning in the health professions.