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.

The two-year GUINEVERE project (see our website: http://guinevereproject.eu/) addressed the context of how to use digital games and the principles of gamification in 3D immersive environments to encourage new ways for primary and secondary school children and teachers to learn and teach foreign languages (primarily English, French and Turkish). Though games are increasingly high profile in the media and in education, the debate is often polarised between advocates who perceive games as an aid to creativity and collaborative learning, and critics who perceive them as disruptive, divisive or even catalysts for violent behaviour and addiction. There has been a lot of practitioner research and projects across the EU in the last ten years, but few have closely examined the potential in foreign language learning in a diverse range of languages or developed teacher training courses to help teachers examine these challenges. In this respect the GUINEVERE project was unique, innovative and ground breaking. Arising from this context, GUINEVERE established four main objectives across 14 Intellectual Outputs (IOs): 1) it investigated the findings of existing work on the use of games in schools education through a comprehensive understanding of pedagogical theory, the use of games and simulations, the categorisation of games, and guidelines available to teachers;2) it designed, created and field-tested a variety of games in 3D immersive worlds, particularly in the 3D platforms of Minecraft, OpenSim and Second Life, that also drew on recent work in gamification and learning analytics; 3) it designed, created and field-tested two, free online language teacher training courses which enabled teachers to create their own digital games for use in the three 3D immersive environments (OpenSim, Minecraft and Second Life). The courses successfully integrated the skills which teachers need to master, such as building, coding, adding sound, texture and scripts, recycling 3D objects and designing games, role-plays, simulations and scenarios; and 4) it designed and created a mobile application that integrates the principles of language learning and gamification. In relation to the number, type and profile of participants, the target groups involved primary and secondary school children and teachers in the UK, Turkey and Italy. The children and adolescents were aged between 10 and 15. In Italy partner IUL drew on its existing pedagogical research on the OpenSim environment Edmondo with children from as young as six years old in primary and secondary schools in Milan, Florence and Padova to undertake extensive field-testing with classes including approximately 20 children. The partner and coordinator UCLAN worked with a UK primary school in a disadvantaged area of Preston in the North West of England using Minecraft to teach digital literacy skills and French language learning involving an out of class club of around 6-10 pupils. In Turkey partner IUC worked with over 50 trainee English language teachers, field-testing a mobile application and teaching the principles of games design. The project's main activities reflected those of our objectives and consisted of several interlocking phases of development. Over the life­cycle of the project, activities were divided into three distinct phases: In Phase 1, the project partners met to discuss the creation of example immersive digital games drawing on traditional games with high value for problem-solving, creativity, collaboration and communication. These were contextualised with the aid of an extensive needs analysis with teachers, teacher trainers and learners and as a result of a thorough review of existing good practice. Guidelines for all key stakeholders were produced to guide the next phase. In Phase 2, digital game-based materials were created in the context of project-based learning. These were then trialled among a variety of data partners and adapted where necessary. Phase 3 built on the outcomes from the previous two phases and led to an extensive piloting of two, free online teacher­ training courses (one intended for autonomous learning and one for instructed facilitation) which offered expert advice on the technical and pedagogical approaches used. The courses were successfully offered in the form of a MOOC or massive online training course. Finally, IUC, our partner in Istanbul, developed a mobile application called GISTORY to develop interactive game-based learning which utilised gamification techniques and video-based learning and is available on Android and iOS platforms. GISTORY stands for 'gamified interactive stories'. Overall, GUINEVERE adopted a 'critical advocacy' approach to the use of digital games in language learning and identified several limitations (technical, pedagogical, methodological and institutional) as well as areas worthy of further exploration in future projects in the European context.