The project Rural 3.0: Service Learning for the Rural Development will set a framework for an integrated transnational approach of academic teaching and learning that contributes to the development of rural areas, meeting their needs and boosting innovation in these areas through an innovative methodology and creating community-university partnerships.The goals of the Rural 3.0 project are to:● help develop the core skills and entrepreneurial capabilities of the rural community (for which such development is not easily accessible)● improve the quality of education for a sustainable development and promote university-community partnerships in the rural areas through the innovative service-learning methodology● increase the relevance of universities as their students aim to fulfil a service that is in line with the demands of the rural businesses and social needs in rural areas● establish a virtual Hub with a broad network of academic and rural stakeholders that will offer teaching and learning content (dedicated transnational academic module with courses on service-learning and social entrepreneurship, community training materials and digital collaborative & learning tools) and will promote interactions between universities and rural community stakeholdersThe main benefits of the project are:● creation of international university-rural community alliance that promotes education and entrepreneurship of people in rural areas, bringing HEIs and rural community enterprises together to work on the common issue - development of the necessary knowledge and skills needed to make change in the rural communities● strengthening the skills and the innovative capacity of adult rural social entrepreneurs (SE)● providing practical service-learning and social entrepreneurship experiences to university students in the specific rural settings● development of the core skills and rural SE amongst high potential rural community in a sustainable, ecologically, and socially sound
Analyse in which way rural communities can be given access to services that students can provide; Evaluate the extent to which SL occurs in rural areas,in which forms and how effective it is; Establish a structure of rural SL education shared and developed by HEIs and rural partners; Promote education that improves lives of people in rural areas and their communities; Strengthen skills and innovative capacity of adult rural SE;Provide practical SL and SE experiences to students in rural settings
The results of the Europe Engage project, in which consortium partners participated, showed SL as a pedagogical approach that offers students academic credit for the learning that derives from active engagement within the local community working on a real-world problem, yet in an urban context. Rural 3.0 project will implement the SL approach, not in an urban context but in rural communities, that make up over 90 % of the territory and are home to more than 56 % of the population.
<< Background >> The results of the Europe Engage project, in which consortium partners participated, showed SL as a pedagogical approach that offers students academic credit for the learning that derives from active engagement within the local community working on a real-world problem, yet in an urban context. Rural 3.0 project will implement the SL approach, not in an urban context but in rural communities, that make up over 90 % of the territory and are home to more than 56 % of the population. << Objectives >> Analyse in which way rural communities can be given access to services that students can provide; Evaluate the extent to which SL occurs in rural areas,in which forms and how effective it is; Establish a structure of rural SL education shared and developed by HEIs and rural partners; Promote education that improves lives of people in rural areas and their communities; Strengthen skills and innovative capacity of adult rural SE;Provide practical SL and SE experiences to students in rural settings << Implementation >> RURASL consortium involves 16 partners from 8EU countries (Croatia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy, Lithuania) where HEIs and community organisations are equally represented. Academic students will engage in SL in rural communities, with appropriate educational content and tools that promote education that improves lives of people in rural areas and their communities.The 3-year project will build on the knowledge of existing SL models to support their rural implementation. << Results >> Report on the needs and the gaps of the main target groups from 8 participating countries; Final report on the "State-of-the-art of rural SL education”; Module with courses on rural SL and rural SE; OER and MOOC for HE teachers on rural SL; best practices; case-based learning materials; Digital Collaborative and Learning tools (HUB, Online World Café); Hackathon; e-book; newsletters; Community Organization Guide on SL and SE; Exploitation Strategy Plan.