The digital transformation has entered in the education system through a small door, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it has gained worldwide proportions. It is necessary to digitally transform higher education through networking and dissemination of best practices and knowledge in order to be ready for the new digital era. The purpose of the project is to create sustainable partnerships of higher education institutions in the EU with the aim of strengthening the ability to introduce (e-)teaching and (e-)learning by developing digital pedagogical competencies of teaching staff, finding innovative solutions to provide high quality and inclusive digital education and by developing and using quality digital content and modern (e-)tools. Achieving this goal will contribute to strengthening higher education institutions to provide high quality and inclusive digital education by supporting professors in developing digital competencies and developing education and training systems to meet those challenges. The target group of the project are primarily professors (Faculty) who need systematic and quality support and improvement of skills and competencies, not only in relation to new technologies but also in developing methodological approaches to understand which technologies and tools to choose for their teaching. When teachers feels competent, they will be more inclined to try to introduce new teaching methods. More than 50 teachers will participate in the project activities. It is necessary to implement such projects transnationally in order to achieve a synergistic effect in the digital transformation at European level and to create high-quality, inclusive and accessible digital education in Europe. The results we intend to achieve are in networking higher education institutions by exchanging knowledge and experiences, improving digital (e-)courses with knowledge in the field of neuroscience, developing digital pedagogical competencies of teaching staff, developing and creating an e-learning platform, analyzing online exams and then developing online exams methodology. By connecting Ireland, Slovenia and Croatia, we create the possibility for completely different views on the same topic, and in this way we enrich the project with different cultural and ideological points of view. Other activities are to analyze the implementation of online exams and then to apply good practices in the methodology that will be used by European countries, thus creating a prerequisite for a fair and quality e-learning system. A multiplier element of this activity will be a round table on the methodological approach in conducting online exams. After the activity of creating a methodology on educating about digital skills, we will hold e-workshops on digital competencies, and the multiplying event of this activity will be a round table on digital skills in higher education. By using the e-Learning Platform as an influential dissemination tool, we actually want to create a strong sustainability of project results, believing that they will be necessary in further European digital progress. During the project, transnational meetings will be held, as well as short-term training of staff of higher education institutions. Another type of activity that we will pay attention to are project management and administration activities. We provide them with quality, security of implementation and continuous evaluation of all steps taken. The third type of activities are dissemination activities with which we want to increase the visibility of the project and its sustainability. The effect we expect on participants and the organizations and target groups are improved competencies and knowledge so that they can adapt to the emerging reality caused by the Corona virus. By acquiring new tools, skills and knowledge to solve the difficulties and complexities associated with digital skills, they will become ready to use new technologies and transfer their knowledge to other stakeholders. Participating organizations will receive new international contacts and partnership opportunities for future activities. The long-term benefit for the participating faculties is their adaptation to the real needs of society, and thus raising their importance in society. The impact on organizations is finding innovative solutions to provide high quality and inclusive digital education through the development and use of quality digital content and tools tailored to local challenges and circumstances. Finally, in the long run, we can expect a great impact of the project on students who will become future professionals and community leaders through high-quality digital education. We also expect an impact on the local community because with competent professors the community becomes more operational, prosperous, more democratic, more inclusive, the faster it develops in a direction that benefits its citizens, the less it is influenced by different interest groups.
With the project, we wanted to digitally transform higher education through networking and spreading practices and knowledge so that we would be fully and on time ready for the new normal. The coming generations are more and more focused on digital technologies and it is necessary to keep up with them, and the issue of introducing quality online classes is certainly of global scale, and we are of the opinion that by connecting European countries and, what is more important, by later spreading the results of the project, a synergistic effect on improvement can be achieved digital skills of key stakeholders. The purpose of the project was to create sustainable partnerships of higher education institutions and other stakeholders in the EU with the aim of strengthening the ability to introduce teaching and learning on the Internet by developing digital pedagogical competences of teaching staff, finding innovative solutions for providing high-quality and inclusive digital education by developing and using quality digital content and tools adapted to local challenges and circumstances.
Digital transformation entered the education system through the back door, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it gained global proportions. The pandemic is the cause of the biggest disruption in education and training in recent European history. According to some estimates, the consequences have been felt by more than one hundred million pupils, students, teachers and educational staff around the world, and many of them have turned to digital education in order to manage to bring the academic year to an end. Some of them had to completely rely on digital technologies for teaching and learning for the first time, and most of them need support in the transformation from classroom to online education. It is clear to everyone that nothing will be the same again and that the world has been changed forever, the question is what to do and what steps to take in order to strengthen education and make it available to everyone.