Digital technology is changing people’s lives and is having a massive impact on education, on the labour market, and on the type of skills needed in the economy and society. Over the past decades, some initiatives have emerged on using digital technologies to provide education and training, but they were limited in scale as there was not a clear incentive for a systemic change and only few educators took the opportunity to use digital technology to support their teaching and to adapt pedagogy. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the change and exposed the shortcomings that need to be tackled in order to reach effective digital education. The pandemic has not only limited the way people can relate to each other and perform their most basic every-day-tasks, but has also had a significant impact on the regular delivery of education and brought new challenges. On one hand, it makes us rethink the actual education and training systems to fit in the digital era and on the other hand it makes us rethink to which extent they meet the demands of a rapidly changing and increasingly digital world. Besides that, the D2S@UlyssEUs partners are involved in the European University “UlyssEUs” which committed in its Mission Statement to be fully engaged in Digital Transformation and specially in Digital Education transformation through the development of a European Virtual Campus. Considering all these factors, the D2S@UlyssEUs project, proposed by the UlyssEUs Alliance, aims to modernise education, adapt pedagogies and upgrade educators’ digital competencies by harnessing digital technologies for learning. It seeks also to equip all learners with digital transversal skills to live, work, learn and thrive in a world increasingly mediated by digital technologies, and it uses digital technology for the recognition and validation of these skills thanks to Open Badges. The main target groups of D2S@UlyssEUs encompass: - Academic staff members - Students, including with special needs/disabilities -Partners’ institutions and their ecosystem With a duration of 24 months, D2S@UlyssEUs project will achieve the following intellectual outputs: IO1: Fostering a high performing digital education ecosystem , which seeks to upgrade digital pedagogical competences of educators in order to deliver high quality inclusive digital education and to ensure that all learners can participate actively in digital education. IO2 Enhancing students’ Digital Soft skills, aiming at developing transversal skills that therefore provide competitive advantages for students entering the labour market IO3 Creating the “UlyssEUs Digital Soft Skills Passports” , allowing participants to the online courses to translate their learning experiences into skills and bring to the fore these competences on the labour market Project outcomes and activities will have impact at local, national, european and international levels. They will fully support the agenda of developing high quality and inclusive education and training for learners. Educators will acquire new competences and knowledge about distance learning’ pedagogical tools, therefore facilitating more personalised, flexible and student-centred learning. On the other hand, the project will impact students employability as they will develop key, transversal and digital competences providing competitive advantages for students entering the labour market. Partner institutions will also benefit from the D2S@UlyssEUs project by improving capacities, extending course catalogues, sharing food practices and fostring cooperation opportunities.
The DigitalSoftSkills@Ulysseus (D2S@Ulysseus) project, proposed by the Ulysseus alliance, aims to support higher education institutions in preparing for global digital transformation. Its goal is to harness the potential of digital technologies for learning and teaching. The main target groups of D2S@Ulysseus include: • Academic staff members. • Students, including those with specific needs. • Partner institutions and their ecosystem. To enhance the effectiveness of digital education and training, the project focuses on key actions: • Developing Digital Soft Skills for teachers and students. • Encouraging collaboration and sharing of best practices in Digital Soft Skills and innovative teaching methods. • Creating a more engaging and inclusive evaluation and recognition system through digital badges (Open Badges). • Enhancing the visibility of digital skills by strengthening recognition of Open Badges and creating a specific ecosystem for digital skills passports. These main objectives will be strengthened by the creation of joint international catalogues of digital skills for teachers and students, as well as two main guidelines: digital education guidelines and Digital Soft Skills guidelines. In summary, the following results are expected: • International Joint Digital Soft Skills Catalogue for teachers • Survey to identify teachers’ Digital Soft skills needs • Online teachers’ self-assessment tool • Digital Education Guidelines • Syllabus and contents of 1 introductory MOOC on Digital Soft Skills for education • Syllabus and contents of 5 courses on Digital Soft Skills for teachers • International Joint Soft Digital Soft Skills Catalogue for students • Survey to identify the most relevant Digital Soft Skills for a better student employability • Online student self-assessment tool • Digital Soft Skills Guidelines • Syllabus and contents of 1 introductory MOOC on Digital Soft Skills for better student employability • Syllabus and contents of 5 courses on Digital Soft skills for students • Survey to evaluate the courses • Ulysseus Digital Soft Skills passports leading to the creation of Open Badges • Shared model and awarding criteria for badges • Shared guidelines for future expansion of the badges system
The DigitalSoftSkills@Ulysseus (D2S@Ulysseus) project was carried out by the European alliance Ulysseus (Université Côte d’Azur, France; University of Seville, Spain; University of Genoa, Italy; Technical University of Košice, Slovakia; MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®, Austria; Haaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences, Finland) to modernize education in Europe by improving the digital skills of educators and adapting pedagogies to meet the demands of an increasingly digital world. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to rethink education and training systems to adapt to the digital age and exposed the gaps that need to be addressed for effective digital education. Digital technologies have been widely used to ensure continuity of learning, teaching, and assessment, but this has highlighted the need to improve teachers' digital pedagogical skills in terms of student engagement and inclusivity. Learners also need to develop the necessary skills to effectively use digital learning systems. According to the OECD's 2018 study (TALIS), less than 40% of educators felt prepared to use digital technologies in teaching, and online learning resources and content need to be more relevant, interactive, and user-friendly. Therefore, as announced by the 2020 open public consultation on the Action Plan for Digital Education, it is necessary to improve digital and transversal skills to ensure that everyone in Europe can live, work, and thrive in the digital age. To support the EU's digital transformation strategy, education and training institutions must adopt digital technologies through systemic organizational change. The European alliance Ulysseus is fully committed to the digital transformation of education through the development of a European virtual campus. The D2S@Ulysseus project aims to address the gaps in digital education by modernizing it and improving the digital skills of educators, ensuring that all learners can actively participate in inclusive and high-quality digital education.