The overarching objective of implementing the CISCOFY project was to enhance the digital readiness, resilience, and competences of university users. The project aimed to achieve this goal by addressing three main pillars: - Digital Transformation: Develop digital readiness, resilience, and capacity among university lecturers through a smart "train the trainers" toolkit. This toolkit would blend various approaches, including DigComp, inclusion, gender considerations, and neuroscience principles, along with the innovative "Goal Setting Methodology" of EUR. - Inclusion and Representation: Build skills to foster inclusion and representation in digital education. This involves addressing gaps in pedagogical strategies for boosting student happiness, motivation, engagement, and performance, especially in the context of online delivery. - Excellence in Teaching and Skills Development: Promote and reward excellence in teaching and skills development through the implementation of training webinars and a certification framework. The webinars covered topics such as open educational resource (OER) development, the ""Goal Setting Methodology," and neurolearning as a behavioral tool for online education.
The primary motivation for applying for the CISCOFY project was rooted in the observations and experiences gained from participating in the ongoing Erasmus+ project, EU-TeachPaaS. This Erasmus+ project, financed under the COVID-19 call, focused on developing certifications for digital skills for lecturers, students, and university administrators based on DigCompEdu. Through engagement in digital education, the consortium partners recognized that digital skills alone were insufficient. Several gaps were identified and deemed crucial to address in order to enhance the effectiveness of online education. These gaps included limited pedagogical strategies, high drop-out rates, inclusion and personalized education, brain plasticity and emotional responses, and limited engagement with educational product providers.