The project integrated secondary schools with universities and scientific organizations in order to provide an academic basis for short-term exchanges with students from secondary schools and extract scientific results from the experiences carried out during these exchanges, which were explained in conferences, courses and documents that remained as intellectual results of the project. Project context: The project was requested by three secondary schools that had already collaborated on KA219 and KA229 projects for 4 years. The aim was to maintain collaboration by taking a step forward and to endow their experiences with science-based digital mapping so that the results could be used by other centres in the future. For this reason, three universities were invited to the project, one for each country, which guided the scientific and technological processes in schools. They were scientific tutors of the secondary schools. On the other hand, the universities disseminated the results of the project among their networks. Furthermore, the Association of European Geographers (EUROGEO) was invited to participate, which maintained connections with Geography teachers throughout the continent and worked on the dissemination of the results. Project objectives: a) Raise awareness of the social value of literature as part of the European cultural heritage. It showed that Heritage was a source of wealth and could be a generator of economic resources. This objective was related to the horizontal priority: Social and educational value of the European cultural heritage. b) Promote the use of work methodologies and innovative digital technology in asset analysis: It promoted the work methodology “Digital Map Storytelling” and the technologies of Geographical Information Systems in the Cloud with ArcGIS Online. This objective was related to Horizontal priority: Innovative practices in the digital age. c) Promote the competence development of the students: in linguistic communication competences, when working the digital narration with maps; cultural awareness and expressions, when carrying out literary routes in digital cartography; digital competition through the use of Geographic Information Technologies; and especially the spatial competence (within the mathematical and basic competences in science and technology) for working with digital cartography; In addition to the rest of the competitions, they were worked on as in any educational project. This objective was related to the priority of the school sector: It increased levels of achievement and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Number and profile of the participants: Three schools: There were three mobilities of 10 students and 3 teachers (in total 60 students and 18 teachers). Three universities: There was a teacher who was in contact with the secondary shool of each country and served as support for technological and academic issues. An association: There was a member who participated in the meetings, and in some cases, a second associate member may have attended. Description of the planned activities: Each secondary school selected 10 local authors, and the three universities and the association selected 5 authors each. All carried out their biography through story maps in such a way that at the end of the project they had a total of 52 biographies of European authors through cartography. In each country, a short exchange was organized to carry out a literary route (places related to an author, literary landscapes, etc.), which was carried out with students and mapped in a story map. There was a final meeting held in Brussels to present the results and extend the benefits of using WebSIG to the entire European Union. Project methodology: The methodology used to carry out the project was based on the Digital Map Storytelling methodology, using WebSIG and Digital Cartography. Description of the results: Expected impact as well as possible long-term benefits. a) Internationalized teaching activities promoting the participation of teachers in future European programs. b) Permanently benefit in learning languages and other subjects such as geography or literature by introducing new teaching methodologies that could be used beyond the end of the project. c) As material results of the project, 52 story maps were created with the information on the heritage elements selected by each country that were exposed on the web and social networks. Additionally, an informative report on the employment opportunities of geographic information systems in the secondary education curriculum was produced. The report aimed to create geographic itineraries through Digital Maps Storytelling. d) It fostered collaboration between universities and secondary schools that resulted in educational improvements and development of future projects.
The three main objectives of the project have been: a) Raising awareness about the social value of literature as part of the European cultural heritage. This objective is related to the horizontal priority "Social and educational value of European cultural heritage" b) Promoting the use of work methodologies and innovative digital technology in heritage analysis. This has been achieved through the promotion of the "Digital Map Storytelling" work methodology through the Geographic Information Systems in the Cloud of ArcGIS Online. This second objective was related to the horizontal priority "Innovative practices in the digital age”. c) Promoting the students’ competence development i) in linguistic communication; (ii) cultural awareness and expressions; iii) digital competence through the use of Geographic Information Technologies; and iv) spatial competence (within the mathematical and basic competences in science and technology), by means of working with digital cartography; in addition to the rest of the competences. This objective is related to the school sector's priority "Increasing levels of achievement and interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)".
The three secondary schools participating in this project had already worked together on other previous projects (KA219 and KA229). On this occasion, following a similar line to the ones of the previous projects, in which digital cartography was worked from different areas, protected natural spaces and the use of water, we wanted to go a step further, covering not only mobilities with students, but also the development of intellectual products. To achieve the objectives set, we invited to join us other partners from university educational levels and a professional organization to complete the distribution of tasks. In all cases, they were experienced organisations in participating in Erasmus+. The new theme chosen was related to European culture such as literature, addressing it in an innovative way, through the elaboration of biographies of geographical bases. The project is completed with the mobility of students to secondary schools that prepared a literary route through their countries. This project dealt with the collaboration between different educational levels, improving teachers’s training in digital aspects and spatial representation.