Crisis caused by COVID-19 pandemic highlighted many old problems of HE that worsened the influence of the pandemic on higher education. In many higher education institutions (HEIs) the move to distance learning has been an opportunity to expand flexible learning approaches. Digital solutions need relevant content, adequate instructional models, effective teaching practices, and a supportive learning environment. Therefore it is necessary to co-create, implement and share innovative pedagogies and aligned assessment for relevant and inclusive digital education in order to deal with the COVID-19 induced and similar crises and to support meaningful digital transformation of HEIs on the EU level. It is the overall objective of RAPIDE project. Needs analysis shows that students from partner institutions were satisfied with the level of their teachers used IT tools during online classes but also call for innovative open pedagogies suitably implemented in an online environment as well as for more communication and interaction, support for student, relevant learning close to demand of their future profession and needs. At the same time, there is a scepticism onthe level of HEI decision makers and educational leaders about valuability of innovative pedagogies. Specific objectives of the project are: SO1: to implement and evaluate innovative and inclusive pedagogies that support student engagement, practical skills development and deep approach to learning in an online environment by digitally and pedagogically competent and confident teachers SO2: to support teachers to use relevant and inclusive assessment methods related to innovative pedagogies SO3: to support students and teachers in the meaningful implementation of innovative pedagogies in an online environment by means of ethical use of learning analytics with special attention given to students at risk SO4: to bust capacity of HEIs for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of innovative pedagogies in online, blended and distant learning and to perform impact analysis of innovative pedagogies on their digital transformation goals. Based on that will be produced the following intellectual outputs: O1. Open educational resources and e-course for flipped classroom and work-based learning for use in an online environment O2. Toolkit for assessment of students in flipped classroom and work based learning O3. Learning analytics for flipped classroom and work based learning O4. Code of practice for HEIs on impact analysis of innovative pedagogies. Innovation capacity is in co-creating the process of designing pedagogical approaches and tools to support teachers in implementation and students in deep approaches to learning in an online environment. Let us use the opportunity to upgrade online teaching and learning as well as to transfer that knowledge and experience in a blended learning environment and f2f teaching and learning. RAPIDE partnership consists of five respectable HEIs from four countries. University of Zagreb as coordinator (Faculty of organization and informatics and School of Medicine) and University of Rijeka (HR), The Open University (UK), Delft University of Technology (NL) and Goethe University (GE). The project has two primary target groups: teachers and decision makers. Ultimate beneficiaries are students. At first, project activities are focused on rising capacities of project partners and then to disseminate and share to wider HEI community in EU and beyond. There will be benefits for the partner institutions because their teachers will participate in train the trainer activities for innovative pedagogies for online learning environment, especially flipped classroom (FC) and work based learning (WBL), assessment methods aligned with them such as peer assessment and student project assessment, use of learning analytics to support students at risks. Trainers will perform workshops for their peers at their home HEIs. Further, the RAPIDE project will produce recommendations for HEIs how to link innovative pedagogies with their strategic goals and measure their impact related especially to the institution's digital transformation plan. This objective will in the first phase engage decision makers and educational leaders within partner institutions and in the second beyond project partners. To support training open educational resources will be produced and a self paced e-learning course will be designed. All materials, supporting tools for students dashboard and peer assessment as well as best practice examples will be open for educators in EU and globally to use and adapt for their own needs and purposes. Innovative open pedagogies and their strategic alignment to HEIs strategic goal,especially those from digital transformation plan, will bust capacities of HEI to counter challenges caused by COVID-19 pandemic and similar crises as well as to prepare HEIs to meet their mission and vision in modern society and economy.
The work was organized around the intellectual outputs, trainings and dissemination that included the development of: open educational resources and e-course for flipped classroom (FC) and work based learning (WBL) for use in online environment to provide teachers and students with research-based practical guidelines for FC and WBL in an online environment and as open e-course; toolkit for assessment of students in FC and WBL to provide HE teachers with unique and very practical toolkit (e-course chapter) which will include assessment scenarios for the implementation of innovative approaches, mainly peer assessment and project assessment (related to both WBL and FC) in different learning environments and within different HEIs; dashboard model that supports inclusive FC and WBL for teachers and students, tips and tricks for teachers on how to interpret data delivered on the dashboard, how to foster inclusiveness and help students at risk and how to ethically use students’ data; code of practice on impact analysis of innovative pedagogies with the main aim to use this unique opportunity to design, describe and test the methodology for impact analysis of innovative approaches in online education.
Unprepared shift from f2f to distance teaching and learning (DTL) during COVID-19 crisis was hard for HEIs. Mostly they were replicating average pedagogical practices from f2f teaching into a digital environment without any prior experience. Many students lagged behind due to lack of equipment and adequate support. The innovative pedagogies can engage students and support their learning in f2f and online environments and teachers and students should be given tools and training to use innovative approaches. To succeed it is also crucial to have a co-creation process in place at the level of HEIs from across the EU. That inspired the design of our outputs and building this partnership. Our goals were related to fostering the development of the necessary knowledge and competencies to use innovative pedagogies in an online environment. Our primary targets were HE teachers at partners, educational policy leaders and students and the specific objectives: to implement and evaluate innovative pedagogies; to support teachers to use relevant assessment methods; to provide support in the meaningful and ethical use of learning analytics and to boost capacity of HEIs for monitoring and evaluating the implementation of innovative pedagogies.