SMARTEN (Serious gaMes for digitAl Readiness of waTer EducatioN) supports the digital transition following the European Skills Agenda accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis. The project focuses on innovative practices based on serious games in education, addressing the water subject in line with the European goals on environment and climate. It also promotes internationalisation as a key priority for building responsiveness, adaptability and flexibility of education against external disruptors. SMARTEN builds digital readiness of water-related European higher education and lifelong learning as well as mitigate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the educational activities of the partners. The project increases share of active digital teaching and lifelong training in the partners’ water-related educational programs; supports lifelong learning instructors and teachers of the partner universities in the development of their digital competences and skills; upgrades water-related curricula of the partner universities with teaching and learning modules that include water-oriented serious games; ensures transferability of the developed curricula to various Learning Management Systems within and outside the consortium; establishes a network-of-networks of European institutions working with water-related digital education for exchange of resources and experience on serious games. The project is designed towards the needs and for the benefit of students of water-related programs, young water professionals, water educators in academia and industry, water society and European community at large. SMARTEN will provide six digital gamified workshops on three water-related serious games, guidelines and assistance tools for facilitators, ICT tools for learning path and experience, instruments of augmented collaboration, a compendium of real-life case-studies for project-based learning, supporting teaching and training digital content, tools for the involvement of regional stakeholders in serious games, six universal eLearning modules. The project will organise three transnational project meetings, two training activities and four multiplier events. “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity” – Albert Einstein. This COVID-19 crisis gives SMARTEN an opportunity to bring value to others in the digital space by using facilitation and digital skills, competences in serious games and social innovation, together with knowledge on Water-Climate-Land-Energy-Ecosystems-Food NEXUS. Therefore, SMARTEN project is designed for a brave new world where all its results will have an even bigger opportunity to make an impact.
The overall objective of SMARTEN was to build digital readiness of water-related European higher education and lifelong learning as well as mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the educational activities of the partners. The project increased the share of active digital teaching and lifelong training in the partners’ water-related educational programs; supported lifelong learning instructors and teachers of the partner universities in the development of their digital competencies and skills; upgraded water-related curricula of the partner universities with teaching and learning modules that include water-oriented serious games; ensured transferability of the developed curricula to various Learning Management Systems within and outside the consortium.
The SMARTEN consortium recognized the opportunity created by the COVID-19 crisis to bring value to the digital space, contribute to the transformation of learning and teaching, and support the European Green Deal and the digital transition following the European Skills Agenda (2020) accelerated by this crisis. Therefore, SMARTEN was designed to address 5 NEEDS distilled from the Choice of Priorities: ND1. Reinforce regular delivery of education and training from external disruption. ND2. Ensure inclusiveness of education considering students with learning difficulties who are in dire need of active learning. ND3. Reduce the skills gap in digital learning and collaboration tools. ND4. Secure mental health, and prevent burnout and “Zoom fatigue” of educators and learners which was highly reported by educators and their students around Europe. ND5. Secure internationalisation through virtual and blended mobility as it was hit first by the crisis.