E-learning Platform
Main part of the material developed within the project is the e-learning MOOC Course under cerebrum.gr platform of I.R.T.E.A. on the topics of the project.
The “VR in School Education & Civic participation” is a 24-months project, starting back in September 2019, funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union for School Education, Key Action 2, Strategic Partnerships, through the State Scholarships Foundation – IKY (Hellenic National Agency).
Within the project’ lifecycle 100 students and 20 teachers from 4 different European countries were directly benefited, and engaged on the development of the material of the project and/or participated on the testing phase, of namely:
- The e-learning online MOOC Courses developed on the 7 thematics of the project under cerebrum.gr platform
- The Virtual Reality Game of a digital simulation of the European Youth Council
- The Intellectual Outputs of the project, the Study Visit activity in Athens and the Multiplier Events in 4 EU countries
As all partners are from different countries and have a variety of professional backgrounds, they succeeded to bring to the project their expertise, their knowledge of good practices from their national educational system ending up in outputs and materials that can – and hopefully will – be broadly used at European level. The project developed methodology and material for an affordable and flexible way to acquire new skills, advance careers and deliver quality educational experiences for both teachers and students.
During the project, both participating students and teachers followed via the cerebrum.gr e-learning platform the on-line MOOC courses and were given guidelines and informational material so that they got well prepared before the real-time Virtual Reality Game playing. The aim of the project results was to familiarize themselves with the innovative and non-traditional learning tools which are being applied in the nonformal learning, while the aim of the on-line courses was to prepare themselves on the topics that they will discuss during the game. These seven topics have been carefully selected as they are trending in the daily life of the students and will also bring an added value on their perspective as European citizens.
Apart from the direct effect on the students in terms of enriching their skills, attitudes, knowledge and their European identity, the project seeked to influence the teachers as well by exposing them to new, innovating learning models. The project identifies and covers the need for accelerating the digitalization in the education field through an innovative way by providing an inclusive, costless and open tool for the teachers to use in their classrooms. However, the project does not target only the students and their teachers, but it aims to affect all possible stakeholders in the education and training field to acquire such digitalized methods of learning and include non-formal learning tools on their educational procedures. The consortium of the project consists of 7 partners, among which are Experts in the field on non-formal education and the educational activity of the simulation, Schools of secondary level from 4 countries, an SME expert in the digital tools of VR and the Laboratory on Bioeconomy and Sustainable Growth of the University of Piraeus, as an expert in the topics of sustainable growth, environmental behavior.
The Virtual Reality Game that is developed concerns a digital simulation of the European Youth Council where all participants will express their opinions and make proposals on the issues of:
- Safe usage of the Internet and of Social Media
- Bullying at schools and Cyber bullying
- Human Rights and a multicultural environment in Europe
- European Citizenship and Rights
- Environmental Behavior
- Sustainable Growth in the European Union
- Circular Economy in the European Union and abroad
The teachers that were involved in the project on behalf of the School Units, were trained by the project team on the tools developed, as well as the Virtual Reality game, using the VR technological equipment.
The consortium consists of 7 organizations:
- Institute of Research & Training on European Affairs (Athens, Greece)
- BOLT Virtual Services and Productions (Athens, Greece)
- University of Piraeus Research Center (Piraeus, Greece)
- Peiramatiko Geniko Likio Panepistimiou Kritis (Rethymno, Greece)
- Escola Secundaria Domingos Rebelo (Azores, Portugal)
- Lykeio Aradippou (Aradippou, Cyprus)
- Ecole Europeenne D’Ixelles (Brussels, Belgium)