The COVID-19 pandemic, which is a biological disaster, is defining global health crisis of our time and the greatest challenge for the world since World War 2. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, education sector has changed dramatically, with the distinctive rise of e-learning whereby teaching is undertaken remotely and on digital platforms. Due to the complexities involved in and due to peculiar nature of disaster situations, even before COVID-19, there were consensus among researchers that lifelong learning is an appropriate way of ensuring continuous education to the various stakeholders of disaster management. To support lifelong learning, a number of online, distance learning opportunities emerged in the field of DRR in the recent past. As such, many countries have launched remote DRR education activities, however, these opportunities possess many challenges. To tackle these challenges, our proposal entitled INCLUDE (INCLUsive Disaster Education) aims to reimagine online distance learning education so that it better supports the diverse DRR community. INCLUDE will develop a University-Industry digital learning platform to provide high quality inclusive digital education in DRR. INCLUDE consortium is composed of 5 partners from 4 different countries (3 programme counties and 1 partner country), representing HEIs involved in research and development of DRR with specific experience on online delivery. Partners were strategically selected based on a baseline assessment, considering the expertise that they can bring to the project, from their country perspective. INCLUDE begins with identifying the currently available online, distance learning strategies in DRR, their success factors and associated issues and problems (O1). This will help to understand exactly where the gaps in remote learning exist, and how educators are coping, and their predictions for the future. To tackle the problems identified as part of O1, a framework will then be developed to reimagine online distance learning education that can support the diverse DRR community. It will outline different strategies to remote learning which suit different types of content and community groups. These strategies are guided by a concern for equity and inclusion and the need to ensure the design and delivery of distance learning do not exacerbate existing educational and social inequalities. Adopting new digital communication tools will be a key driver of change for strengthening collaborations across greater distances, as remote working has now become the new ‘normal’. Based on the framework that will be developed as part of O2, INCLUDE will strengthen university-industry collaboration in DRR in each participant country through the development of a digital learning platform (O3). It directly contributes to the objective of improving the quality of education and the relevance it has for society at large. INCLUDE will build and maintain a robust and a sustainable digital learning platform for University-Industry collaboration based on MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) principle. The priority of the INCLUDE project is to make the student-centred learning more personalised so as to enhance the quality of students’ experience, enabling interaction with a wider range of cultures, personal encounters, knowledge systems, and beliefs. Accordingly, as part of the O4, case studies will be developed to explore the opportunities of the use of disruptive technologies [AI, AR/VR, IoT, drones, big data, Robots, blockchain] in online distance learning education in DRR. Validated case studies will then be integrated into University-Industry digital learning platform developed as part of O4 to provide high quality inclusive digital education to DRR community. INCLUDE will also develop an online research repository with open educational resources (O5). Finally, a digital competence framework (O6) will be developed for DRR educators to help develop digital pedagogical competences which are responsive, adoptable and flexible. All these outputs will be developed through a rigorous scientific process and will directly contribute to the scientific theory of the domain. Based on these outputs, it is intended to produce a number of peer reviewed conference and journal papers and a journal special issue which will further enhance the knowledgebase of the DRR educators and scientists. Two stakeholder seminars will also be organised, first, to disseminate the findings of the survey of online, distance learning strategies used in DRR education (O1) and the framework to reimagine online distance learning education that can support the diverse DRR community (O2); second to disseminate the digital competence framework for DRR educators to develop digital pedagogical competences (O6). In doing so, reach to target audience can be further ensured. In addition, the inclusive University- Industry digital learning platform developed as part of the O3 will be launched in Japan.
To achieve the said aim, the project had the following project objectives which were mapped against its main outputs: • To understand online, distance learning strategies currently used in DRR education and their effectiveness, by taking into consideration in promoting gender equality and sensitivity and also in addressing differences in relation to the access and use by underrepresented groups. • To develop a framework to reimagine online distance learning education so that it better supports the diverse DRR community, also in addressing both natural and biological hazards and their integration • To design an innovative University-Industry digital learning platform to provide high quality inclusive digital education to DRR community • To explore the opportunities of the use of disruptive technologies in online distance learning education in DRR • To propose a digital competence framework for educators in building capacity to implement online and distance teaching and learning in DRR
The COVID-19 pandemic, the contemporary biological hazard has been a turning point that has changed the landscape of contemporary society in terms of various aspects such as human lives, social inequality and the economy. Apart from the said impacts, the education sector in fact had to go through a dramatic change as in order to prevent major disruption in the education sector, there was a significant increase in e-learning where education was converted to be delivered remotely via digital platforms. In this context, online and distance-based education in the field of disaster became prominent during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the emergency shift of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) education from a physical classroom setting to an online set up was no stranger to several challenges. Further, this change was not a smooth transition for some of the learner communities, and these challenges have excluded some of them from receiving equal opportunities in education. The need for solid preparedness in converting a physical classroom into an online was further highlighted. To tackle these challenges, this project aimed to reimagine online distance learning education so that it better supports the diverse DRR community.