NEEDS ANALYSISEffective education and training are the foundations to support growth and employment. The nature of jobs is also invariably changing towards the use of digital technology, requiring for people’ skills and aptitudes to be entrepreneurial, manage complex information, think autonomously and creatively, use resources, including digital ones, smartly, communicate effectively and be resilient.Higher Education system in Europe is facing those challenges. The skilled force of Europe does not necessarily meet the skills Europe needs. There is a certain mismatch as many graduates lack good basic skills and highly skilled positions are facing a shortage. The innovation gap between higher education institutions and their community is growing. Cooperation with schools, vocational providers and adult learning often remains limited.REASON FOR THE PROPOSALThe elements the proposal is based on are:- Develop, test, adapt and implement innovative practices, creative and disruptive approaches and methodologies in the educational system thanks to alternative and successful methodologies and approaches such as Creative Problem Solving, Design Thinking and Human-Centered Design, in order to create a novel system aimed at entrepreneurship-oriented learning: the partners are aware of the lack of an effective system to transfer knowledge and provide learners of skills necessary for self-employment as start-upper or employment- The strong design of products, services and value are essential to successful enterprisesThe PROJECT PROPOSAL is about:- the building up of a MOOC platform integrated with strong elements of gamification of learning in a free online course to anyone is interested to discover interesting emerging opportunities from a creative and design thinking approach;- provide some GUIDES about effective methodologies;- produce some REPORTS about the real needs in terms of innovation in the market and successful cases in European entrepreneurship.OUTPUTS/RESULTSThe project aims to:• Explore and discover from across EU successful GOOD PRACTICE examples about innovation in enterprises coming from Creative and Designed Thinking implementation in Europe;• Produce an EVIDENCE-GATHERING report starting from the emerging needs analysis done by a FOCUS GROUPS via INTERVIEWS (stakeholders from SME, University, students, VET sector) and aimed to the emersion of the needs in terms of education and learning for students, teachers, wanna-be startuppers, VET providers, entrepreneurs (including SME) looking for opportunities for growth;• Promote the development, testing and implementation of INNOVATIVE PRACTICES/METHODOLOGIES thanks to SEVERAL GUIDES and a MOOC platform focused on: Creative Problem Solving, Design Thinking, Human-Centered Design and on sectorial modules about interesting entrepreneurship opportunities e.g. European Cultural Heritage, Social Entrepreneurship, Glocal development and FabLab • Stimulate a change in the Educational System coming from innovative and disruptive METHODOLOGIES and APPROACHES • Transfer the knowledge about the METHODOLOGIES through a series of GUIDES (in digital format and published on ISSUU platform)• Explore the challenge and opportunities from successful European enterprises thanks to a CASES ANALYSIS REPORT• Create a WEBSITE integrated with Wiki, Blog and Social Networks containing a DATABASE OF MATERIALS TRANSLATED into all partners’ National languages to promote and encourage extensive exploitation and dissemination• Disseminate the project outputs and results throughout the EU with a database of OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES available through open licences• Arrange a series of MULTIPLIER EVENTS involving a large number of stakeholders to foster exploitation and dissemination of PROJECT Intellectual Outputs.• Create a professional profile for project partners’ staff as “European Expert in CREATIVE AND DESIGN THINKING”.IMPACT ENVISAGEDThe partnership will bring together partners coming from several countries and their stakeholders, both academic and private, with the synergic power to reach a very large and diverse audience.The double-route to follow in the project is:- Transfer innovative and disruptive methodologies/approaches to:• Actual Students: to enrich and update the knowledge with interesting topics complementary to their own study pathway • Future Students: to attract students to the HE system by providing for free innovative methodologies in a gamified environment• Former Students: to update the knowledge with fresh perspectives coming from live cases but also to discover how to use new methodologies to create successful enterprises•Start-uppers, business sector, accelerators and incubators and all SME: interested in new perspectives and approaches useful to survive and adapt the enterprises.- Recognise and validate the knowledge within partner staff to create a new profile of “European Expert in CREATIVE AND DESIGN THINKING”.

The Covid -19 pandemic is challenging not only our everyday life and interaction but systemic processes and strategies such as the ones related to the health sector or education. And these challenges have a long term impact and will reflect in a more profound change in the way education and training will look like and the necessary abilities and competencies necessary for education and training providers. Quality Essential Skills for Teachers in Online Learning (QUEST) is a 24 months strategic partnership project developed by an NGO (Romanian Angel Appeal Foundation - www.raa.ro), an instructional design company (Newschool - https://newschool.me) from Norway, an university (Autonomous University of Barcelona - https://www.uab.cat/en) based in Spain, a serious games company (Succubus Interactive - http://www.succubus.fr/#/), from France, and one college (Nicolae Grigorescu National College) from Romania.5 partners from 4 countries propose a project aiming at improving the competencies of mainstream teachers from primary and secondary educational levels in using digital learning in education.The project has the following objectives: O1.: Development in an academic and collaborative way of 5 e-learning modules tackling essential competencies for quality online learning (online presence, interaction & dialogue, gamification, instructional design, feedback & assessment).O2.: Creation of an European network of teachers’ trainers for online learning composed of 18 teachers that participate in an advanced TOT composed of 10 training days, feedback loops with end users (students and teachers at local level) and delivery of thematic webinars.O3.: Increasing the competencies of over 2,450 teachers in order for them to deliver higher quality online classes tackling attractivity, interactivity and academic progress of students.The management framework of the project consists of 7 activities, 4 consortium meetings, monitoring and evaluation actions and a consistent communication and dissemination component. This framework will ensure the selection of 18 teachers which will participate in an intensive TOT consisting of 2 5-days modules: Module 1 - “Building self-confident trainers for online communication” and Module 2 - “Gamification and instructional design for online learning processes”, and will implement 2 feedback loops with students and teachers in order for them to give feedback on the e-learning modules to be developed within the project. The 18 trainees, constituting the QUEST network, will support the project team in co-creation, piloting and implementation of 5 high quality Intellectual Outputs in the form of MOOCs containing essential skills of online teaching, which will be made widely available for teachers in the 4 countries and beyond.By the end of the project, 5 Intellectual Outputs will be finalized (in English and the 4 languages of the project - French, Spanish, Norwegian, Romanian) and will be disseminated in the form of freely accessible e-learning courses:IO1 - E-learning “Building Self-confidence for online communication”IO2 - E-learning “Managing online interactive classrooms”IO3 - E-learning “Gamifying the online classroom”IO4 - E-learning “Instructional design for online learning”IO5 - E-learning “Students’ evaluation & feedback in the online environment”The main quality of the 5 IOs is that they approach top priority subjects for raising quality in the online teaching, and, after the end of the project, will be available as a fundamental skills MOOC, but also as stand-alone modules, so that teachers can pick the most needed, if they do not want to get through all the programme.An e-learning platform will host the 5 e-learning modules, and through the dissemination activities of the project (9 webinars, 4 national multiplier events and a complex Communication and Dissemination plan) the QUEST e-learning will reach minimum 10,000 teachers.The project has been designed as a response to the training and digital learning needs of teachers from the 4 partners countries and reflects the interest and strategic approach towards innovation, high-quality learning content development of the consortium partners and to their strategic partnership objectives within the Erasmus plus program.

"<< Background >>With the current reforms of the educational system, teachers are phased with the challenge to provide education to children from a very young age to be able to become ‘workers’ in the field of knowledge (Gruioniu, 2013). Within this context, schools should equip their students with advanced education including the development of high-level skills, essentially required for solving unparalleled and complex problems. Citizens of the 21st century must be able to summarize the essential from a variety of sources, to extract new ideas from the information that computers cannot summarize, to become leaders and be able to make the best decisions as fast as possible. This can be achieved through philosophical inquiry-based learning. Having said this, the proposal of the current project has a twofold purpose, to develop philosophical knowledge but also philosophical inquiry through interrelated results, based on the knowledge taxonomy (originally developed by Benjamin Bloom in 1956 and accepted many alterations and since then). The taxonomy used here comes from the father of Philosophy for children who is considered to be Matthew Lipman. The philosophical knowledge will be developed around 4 main branches including but not restricted to:1.Metaphysics knowledge (reality) e.g who they are, what are numbers, what is world.2.Epistemology (knowledge), e.g How do we know the things we know? Are our feelings realiable? 3.Logic (critical thinking) What is the difference between a good and a bad argument. Last but not least 4.Ethics (values) How can we find happiness? Is it ok to be selfish?The philosophical inquiry per se will be developed via result 4 and 5 (lesson plans and serious game) stepping on result no.3 the philosophical narratives.<< Objectives >>The effort of including Philosophy in the school curriculum as a systematic discipline goes back to 1970s in the American state. The name of Matthew Lipman is widely known as the founder for the implementation of P4C (Philosophy for children) and his high impact book ‘Philosophy Goes to School’. Lipman, talked about the Socratic tradition where one learns to reason and to think for oneself. For a long time, there was a lively discussion in the educational cycle as to which age is more appropriate for the philosophical training to begin. Nowadays, it is accepted from as young as 10 years old due to several studies proving the significant elevation of children’s school performance resulting from the sharpening of their logical skills Radhar et al (2018); philosophical inquiry approach is known to be one of the best approaches to achieve the development of logical skills. Although a World Philosophy Day was established in 2002 by UNESCO (celebrated the third Thursday of November each year) we can only see a minimum number of European synergies fostering this important approach in a number of European countries. Also, we can see some philosophical novels published, some books about philosophy for children but none of the efforts undertaken so far is taking a holistic approach, meaning the development of all sub-levels of the knowledge hierarchy with its relevant material for each step. The material to be found in-so far, especially for the three out of the four participating countries (Greece, Cyprus, Lithuania) for the age range of 10-14 years old students is neither holistic (with the sense mentioned here- to be developed hierarchically and gradually), not engaging high tech digital instruments as proposed within Little Philosophers (e.g Augmented Reality Books and serious game) norto be found in the local languages;despite the fact that it is nowadays accepted that younger students could benefit from philosophical inquiry in many aspects of their academic life and not alone. Recurrent crises at all levels, economic, societal, health and that are due to a large variety of causes and to the global complexity of current times, people are heavily impacted in their abilities to cope with uncertainty and ambiguity. The fast change of technological growth seems to be better absorbed by children who are more receptive in adopting new gadgets that are transforming people’s lifestyles but that have also a potential great impact also on practical needs like administrative issues. However, the same use of these new technologies like social networks can be manipulated and used to spread fake news and harmful content virally across communities all over the world. Youngsters, because of their lack of experience due to their age, are particularly exposed to such risks, and since common educational structures and families themselves have great difficulties in taking up the pace of change, sense-making might be really hard for unprepared minds. This is true in France too. The risks to be seduced and manipulated by opposed extremisms (e.g. populisms vs. religious radicals) are high and cannot be underestimated. Proper tools to mitigate the lack of adequate institutional support are needed in order to make a better prepared society grow.<< Implementation >>The project is divided into Activities, Project Results/ Intellectual Outputs and Multiplier Events.Each activity is led by one partner, according to its proven expertise with the support of the grant requested under ""Project Management and Implementation"" and will have a dedicated time for presentation, monitoring and evaluation in the TMs.Activities: needed processes to complete the goals of the project include: A1. Project Management and Coordination; Led by Succubus.A2. Quality management, Research Validity and Evaluation of Content; Led by Vilnius University A3. ICTs and Innovation Management; Led by CIPA4. Dissemination, Exploitation and Sustainability; Led by DDPA5. Management and evaluation of training Activities; Led by The Grammar school in Cyprus and DISEPI in GreeceSpecific activities under each of the four main Results of the project include:For the PR1, The Guidebook:Setting the structure, exact content, framework, word limit, graphics of the guidebook ,Setting questions for desktop research Desktop research on first sectionResearch on best 12 philosophers to present the 4 thematics Research to justify the philosophers chosen, Translation so as the guidebook to be found in EN, GR LT, FRFor the Augmented reality and e-books, some of the specific activities to eb undertaken include:Creation of stroryboard, Create training course for partners (e and AR books) Piloting, Finalization and Translations, so as to be found in four languagesVoice recording of all books in EN and the languages of the consortium For the third result, the Philosophical Narratives, beyond the prior research and the development of the narratives, pilot testing will precede the finalization and the translations and voice recordings to EN, GR LT, FR.For the fourth output, the development of Lesson plans, similar pattern as above will be followed e.g research and the development, pilot testing will precede the finalization and the translations and voice recordings to EN, GR LT, FR.The final Result of the project, the Digital Serious game will have a workshop as its initial step so as to perfectly capture the content Determining the target, defining the message to be transmitted, and refining it, development of the script, the mechanics and frame will follow. Of course the beta version will be piloted before finalizing it. In terms of the aforementioned activities, we expect: - at least 120 students involved in materials piloting - at least 15 educators involved in outputs pilot and evaluation In terms of dissemination, we expect: - at least 1,500 people reached through the website and social media - at least 10 external contributors involved before the end of the project – at least 300 stakeholders, educators and learners gathering during the 4 multiplier events The four Multiplier events will be half-day events organized one in each country where in all, more than 35 participants belonging to two main target groups will be reached:a) staff from the Philosophy departments of Universities, andb) the voluntary sector, civil society partners and social/education institutions, primary schools from the private and public sector, elementary schools from the private and public sector at large.Secondary target groups are, educators, lifelong learning trainers dealing with philosophical inquiry, community engagement practices, school policy makers and; representatives from Research and Innovation Centers; representatives of public authorities, municipalities and local government employees, with the aim to present to the wide public the project results.<< Results >>(a) The formation of a unique philosophical approach for children age 10-14 and their educators which frames philosophy not just as a knowledge around figures of main philosophers, but as socio-cultural product, as well as a multifaceted educational field, through a journey via the narratives, technology, and the role play via the serious game. Accordingly, the educators will be endowed with alternative pedagogical methodologies and synchronous interdisciplinary best- practices to approachingPhilosophical knowledge and philosophical inquiry-based learning from higher primary (10-12) to lower secondary (12-14), thus helping the students to develop skills related with “Logic, Reasoning, Creative and Caring thinking”.(b) The familiarization of educators with the utilization of digital tools and technological innovations (e.g. Augmented Reality books, e-books, serious game) for the construction of modern material that serve their peculiar educational needs and objectives(c) The design and development of an inclusive educational approach suitable for Deaf/ Hard of Hearing and visually impaired students, as well as for students with SLDs INTANGIBLE RESULTS For educators:●Provide them with a rich guidebook explaining the importance of the implementation of philosophical inquiry from the age of 10 whilst justifying the decisions made for this project (e.g what main branches/ categories it is based on, which main philosophers will be exploited and why)●Offer interactive, electronic material to be used as Open educational resource●Give educators a playful way to introduce children to the hardest/ deepest questions afflicting philosophers for thousands of years●Inducing students progressively into philosophical inquiry, proven to be helpful in many aspects in their educational achievements in all subjects (as it develops their thinking)●Strengthen and broaden educators’ pedagogical skills through the exchange of good practices between partners and associated partnersFor students:●Stimulate empathy, develop open-mindedness and fire an intercultural dialogue leading to a debate (UNESCO chair: https://chaireunescophiloenfants.univ-nantes.fr/)●Provide them with stimulating, fun, interactive means of philosophical knowledge●Enhance their whole academic performance by developing crucial skills such as creative and critical thinking (Lipman, 2011)●Develop caring thinking via the serious gameThrough the collaboration of European public and private associations and institutions and theexchange of good practices between partners and associated partners, we wish to make philosophical inquiry accessible to all European students age 10-14, improve and support the professional practices of educators who wish to teach philosophy but also use philosophical inquiry-based learning in their daily practice. This can be accomplished by tackling reality through Metaphysics, knowledge through Epistemology, critical thinking through Logic but also develop student’s values through Ethics. But also caring thinking; ‘To think caringly means to think ethically, affectively, normatively, appreciatively and to actively participate in society with a concern for the common good’ (Lipman 2002, p. 271)."

<< Objectives >>The project’s aim is to prepare youth organizations and youth workers to identify the early signs and prevent the development of gaming disorder among youth.More specifically, the project has the following objectives:•Raise awareness on the negative effects of excessive gaming.•Provide youth workers and youth organizations with the knowledge to recognise the signs of gaming disorder, disambiguating it from normal gaming behaviour. •Equip youth workers with the tools to identify early sign<< Implementation >>The main work of the project is inGuide for youth organizations and youth workersCapacity Building Programme and toolkit for youth workersPublication : Preventing the prevalence of gaming disorder among youth<< Results >>In summary, the expected results of the project are the following:R1: Handbook for youthR2: Organizational change guide for youth organzationsR3: Capacity Building Program for youth workers R4: Self Evaluation Questionnaire for youthR5: Assessment questionnaire for youth workersR6: Action SheetsR7: Experience RoadmapR8: Policy RecommendationsLTTA: Joint Staff Training