According to the United Nations publication, August 2020 “Relatively few countries are monitoring the effective reach and use of distance learning modalities. However, estimates indicate variable coverage: distance learning in high income countries covers about 80–85 per cent, while this drops to less than 50 per cent in low income countries. This shortfall can largely be attributed to the digital divide, with the disadvantaged having limited access to basic household services such as electricity; a lack of technology infrastructure and low levels of digital literacy among students, parents, and teachers.” This crisis demands to prioritize safety and remote learning is the most feasible solution to keep the school's community engaged in learning away from the classroom. Innovative practices that enhance students’ soft skills in a distance learning environment. Coding activities, quizzes and puzzles aiming to the development of 21st century skills (such as problem solving, time management, algorithmic thinking) combined with team building activities to enhance social skills. Priority will be given to develop materials that enable teachers to provide online classes that introduce students to innovative subjects and simultaneously focus on students’ personal development in a social distancing environment. Furthermore train the teachers to become more confident and independent in using the tools. As the COVID 19 crisis has impact to the teaching reality of every country, this includes international synergies to exchange ideas and also share good practices in order to be accessible to all countries Achievement of relevant and high quality skills and competences: supporting individuals in acquiring and developing key competences to be resilient and able to adapt to the new challenges that will arise after this crisis. The Programme will also support actions that develop or disseminate technological tools, as well as actions that apply the "learning outcomes" approaches in carrying out education, training and youth activities or assessing their quality and relevance. The key objective of the project is to develop a complete and concrete toolkit for the teachers to help their students acquire new skills while enhancing their social skills in a day and age of a remote reality that sometimes weakens social interactions. To meet its goals the project will have specific deliverables during the phases of implementation. Good practices already tested along with new activities designed to be held remotely will be gathered at a transnational training guide. The guide will also include training content for the teachers - methodologies and examples on how to teach coding and all the content including papers, videos etc. – that will be uploaded in an online platform. The platform will be designed by a mixed team consisting of teachers and IT staff so as to be easily used by educators. A specific coding curriculum including sessions with detailed activities that can be implemented remotely will also be provided for the teachers. There will be a specific section for the developed activities aiming at the social skills’ cultivation and also a forum to give an interactive aspect and allow users to share good practices and create networks. An app will also be designed providing students the opportunity to train independently even without internet access in remote areas. Activities – Management and Coordination – Training Content for Teachers – Tools Development (Platform and App) – Educational Content Development – Quality Control and Evaluation – Dissemination and Testing Target Groups: The direct target groups of the project are teachers and students in the 13+ range. We will also include minor students facing social and financial difficulties. In addition, Public and Private Education Organizations and Institutions, Teachers, Trainers, Students 13+ , VET providers, Civil Society Organizations, Community Associations, Innovation Hubs, etc. Robotiikka is an NGO focusing to increase interest in and understanding of Science, Technology and robots with long experience in developing tutorial material for both teachers and pupils Eduact is an NGO also develops innovative educational projects of high quality emphasizing in the 21st skills development and collaborating with the Greek Ministry of Education for the addition of Robotics in school curriculum. Robootika is the NPO, the first to start Robotics Projects in Esthonia. UTH is a state University, having 8 schools offering undergraduate and postgraduate programs and like FYG they both have long experience in Erasmus+ programs. All of the partners have experience in Erasmus+ and most of them have already collaborated with each other in different projects. The platform is desinged fot totally remote learning, will be tested by local VET Organizations and can be also for future challenging situations.
High quality educational content and training material for educators to help them make learning inclusive, engaging and sociable. All the material are offered online through a portal (and through YouTube) that will be designed based on teachers’ and students’ needs. Furthermore, learning is becoming this way more personalized and students’ progress at their own speed. By using this toolbox, students can lead their own learning and become more confident on their learning journey, take on initiatives and enhance their 21st century skills. We wanted to develop a complete and concrete toolkit for the teachers to help their students acquire new skills while enhancing their social skills in a day and age of a remote reality that sometimes weakens social interactions. We want that the local social community within the boundaries of this project to grow, and that Finnish, Greek, Estonian and Spanish social media platforms have more high quality material to use. Before this project it was difficult to find high-quality Scratch based game programming material.
The largest need is to create and deliver practices that enhance students’ soft skills in a distance learning environment. We employ coding activities and puzzles aiming to the development of 21st century skills combined with team building activities to enhance social skills. Furthermore, to train the teachers to become more confident and independent in using the tools. Achievement of relevant and high quality skills and competences: supporting individuals in acquiring and developing key competences to be resilient and able to adapt to the new challenges that will arise after this crisis. The remote situation led to unexpected needs on behalf of the students, which definitely should continue their learning habits and education and on behalf of teachers and the Educational Systems in general. Teachers are facing big challenges in an attempt to stay on track of the normality in their students’ learning procedures and to be flexible and adapt their teaching methods, the educational content in a remote era. To develop a complete and concrete toolkit for the teachers to help their students acquire new skills while enhancing their social skills in a day and age of a remote reality that sometimes weakens social interactions.