<< Background >>In the EU-28, there are 17 million young people who are neither in employment nor in education and training (NEET). The 21st century, characterized by a fast-moving global economy, economic crisis, and many challenges of post-industrial society is considered a risk factor for the new generations to construct their future career paths, to school-to-work transition and social exclusion and marginalization. As the Eurostat (2021) shows, the NEET problem is urgent because its implications are two-fold: on a personal level, young are more likely and to suffer social exclusion; on a social level, they represent a considerable loss in terms of unused productive capacity and a high welfare payments cost.The psychological literature highlights that in this environment adolescents have difficulty thinking of their future: fear, insecurity, anxiety seems to replace the experiences of trust, security, and hope. In this scenario, it is important to support adolescents by promoting a positive vision of the future and to be proactive, stimulating the propensity to manage changes adaptively, with versatility, flexibility and enhancing hope and optimism for a meaningful future. NEFELE aims to impact at an upper level: through new teaching approaches for teachers, the project will promote a pedagogy that considers vocational and positive youth development. Acting on a teacher education level guarantee a relevant snowball effect (teachers and then adolescents). The actions of NEFELE focuses on Teacher Education: teachers are called upon to provide students with the support for developing skills and competences related to the transitions between different stages of education (high school-to-university) and/or school-to-work, promoting flexibility and adaptability, and a vision of the future that goes towards hope and optimism. NEFELE’s actions aim to tackle a crucial period for pupils future planning, i.e. middle school. Early adolescence (11-12 y.o.) is the active precursory engagement to develop initial career adaptabilities, concern about the future and confidence in future career choices. Following this rationale, it is strategic to impact on initial ITE and CPD. Being the teachers as scaffolders of adolescents’ career planning, it is urgent to train pre-service and in-service teachers of middle school, not adequately trained in this sense during university courses, to carry out this pedagogical need.<< Objectives >>NEFELE will model an innovative teaching methodologies for middle school teachers. Studies demonstrate the link between the role of teacher and adolescents career decision, but the teachers are not trained in HEI on these topics. NEFELE will impact on HEI courses through teachers in ITE courses and CPD who can impact on adolescentsNEFELE project fosters synergies between research and innovation in the field of education, supporting effective and innovative pedagogies and promoting new technologies as drivers of improvements in HE. The project aims to impact HE practices by improving innovative teacher methodologies for middle school teachers in supporting adolescents career construction’ based on Massive Open Online Courses, Tangible User Interfaces, and Open Educational Resources. MOOC will allow the implementation of the new learning methodology (first project result, PR1) impacting the pre-service and in-service teachers. Users will also be trained in the MOOC use (second project result) and in the game (NEFELE BOX, third project result) to be used in the middle school curricula, enhancing their digital skills. The game applies the TUI paradigm to enhance adolescents’ 21st-century career skills (e.g., curiosity, fantasy, creativity) and positive future orientation. Thus, the project aims to bridge the virtual environment of most game-based learning tools with the physical and tangible characteristics of real objects. TUIs paradigm presupposes the innovative aspect of the hybrid approach: digital and physical world at the same time. Finally, NEFELE tools will be shareable and usable in an open online repository (NEFELE PLATFORM, four project result). This platform will exploit the gamification principles, sharing OERs, and directly fostering digital skills. The actions contained in the NEFELE project are implemented to take positive and long-lasting effects through MOOCs, TUIs, and OERs in HEI courses. CONCRETE OBJECTIVES - Design an innovative methodological framework for enhancing Teacher Education courses in HEIs to teacher support in adolescents' career construction and producing guidelines and policy recommendation for enhancing HEI courses.- Design, implement and validate a training model in a MOOC based on the methodological framework for enhancing HEI courses.- Develop an authoring tool that allows the creation for the teachers of exercises and games as OERs for middle school pupils based on Tangible User Interfaces.- Develop a shared Platform based on a Gamification Approach to make the OERs. The platform also includes guidelines and recommendations to support career construction through enhancing HEI courses.- Promote and disseminate the project results at institutional, national, and EU levels by fostering a freely and easily adoption to policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and stakeholders.<< Implementation >>NEFELE project aims to reach the objectives with a 30-months project that involves 6 Partners from 5 different countries: Italy, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Netherland.The project involves 4 higher education institutions, 1 company and 1 network of Universities in the field of distance education.NEFELE partnership includes:- UNINA (University of Naples) in Italy, the partner leader, that will bring its expertise in the in the areas of psychological and cognitive sciences, as well as in developed learning platforms and methodologies, including manipulative technologies, game-based learning, gamification and online courses.- UVEG (University of Valencia) in Spain which has a long tradition of Positive Psychology studies to promote well-being and health in adolescents.- HOU (Hellenic Open University) in Greece, which develops and maintenances online platforms and it is expert in the development and delivery of online courses and MOOCs- SUSPI (Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana) in Switzerland, which is recognized as a Teacher Training Professional University (centuries-old tradition) and provide its leading role in career guidance for adolescents.- SM (Smarted srl) in Italy, is a SME that will represent the technological branch of the NEFELE project bringing its expertise in applying technologies and innovative methodologies in education, included the paradigm of Tangible User Interfaces.- EADTU (European Association of Distance Teaching Universities) will bring to the Consortium its evaluation competences and an excellent network to reapply the NEFELE training course in different countries. EADTU is the leading institutional network for innovative online, open and flexible universities and is at the heart of the modernization agenda. These countries constitute a representative sample of Europe and can be replicated across other member states with the effort of the EADTU that is a network of 25 countries covering 200 universities.The project encompasses three main phases:Project investigation: the consortium wants to create an ad hoc, new, and innovative framework for teachers starting from Career Development Framework, Positive Youth Development Framework, and the TUIs Methodology. Specifically, the TUIs are natural candidates to lead a revamping of the classical psycho-pedagogical practices. These activities will be integrated and re-thinking to be useful strategies in teachers' hands. This first project result created a theoretical and methodological framework that be implemented in Teacher Education This prototype framework will be the input for the development of the MOOC, the NEFELE BOX, and the creation of OERs materials available on the NEFELE PLATFORM.ToolsDesign and creation of the tools usable by the teacher training. The consortium intends to create a MOOC through the definition of the Training Approach, and the syllabus based on the outcomes of the first project result.The second tool is the NEFELE BOX based on the TUIs paradigm. The final part of the MOOC will contain practical examples of the use of the NEFELE BOX. The tools will be presented in E6.PlatformCreation of the NEFELE PLATFORM to make the tools of the training model open, shareable and usable. Contents as OERs (produced by the Consortium and the participants during the co-design events) will be shared. The training model available on the Platform will be compliant with the norms of CPD programs and certification systems at stake in each country. The platform will make all the contents of the project shareable, guidelines and good practices for educational practitioners, policy recommendations, and allow the uploading of all contents to those who will use the NEFELE training model.<< Results >>Through the project results, the Consortium expects to enhance HE courses by providing innovation in Teaching Education. NEFELE (from ancient Greek, Νεφέλη) in Greek mythology is a nymph of the clouds. It is the name given to a magic cloud, which was modeled by Zeus guided by the appearance of Era. Providing adolescents with space to metaphorically look at and shape the clouds is meant to be a way to train their aspirations. Teachers can help pupils by developing these tasks. Thanks to its novel approach, the Partnership expects to achieve results at different levels and moments:SHORT-TERM- Sustainable training model for enhancing support adolescents’ career construction in middle school practice.- Enhancing teachers’ competences and digital skills by NEFELE training model. Co-design workshops (E2, E3, E4) are planned also to empower teachers’ digital skills through the implementation of the NEFELE box. Other teachers, teacher educators, and professionals in the field of education not involved in the events will have the possibility to learn these competences using the MOOC. Finally, users then add the OERs elements in the Platform to access digital creativity. Distance and blended learning needs are current topics in Teacher Education policy recommendations and curricula, not usually address appropriately.MEDIUM-TERM- Effect of the platform on other not directly involved in the project. We expect that the NEFELE PLATFORM is used by middle school teachers, educators, psychologists. It would be desirable that other people involved in adolescents' career choice can find inspiration from the OERs and then use, re-use, and adapt those resources.- Impact on adolescents. Teachers will use the new pedagogy in middle school classrooms, impacting adolescents. It will increase several 21st-century future-oriented skills (i.e., curiosity, fantasy, imagination, interests) enhancing career decision-making and future positive vision. The final goal is to bring adolescents to start “shaping their NEFELE”.- Use of NEFELE BOX in guidance practices. NEFELE dissemination and exploitation activities will boost the adoption of the BOX as a useful tool in the orientation practice of students in different settings (e.g., career guidance centers).LONG-TERM-Integration of the NEFELE model in HEI. The HEIs are expected to play a central role in the experience of integrating the project results into their policy and educational activities, internalizing it as a strategy and tools to integrate their activities. The open methodology of NEFELE is useful for this purpose.- Integration of the NEFELE training model in CPD programs. We expect that the open training (available on the NEFELE platform) and certified to users can be integrated into the curricula of in-service teachers and other professionals in the field of education.- Reducing NEET-rate. The pedagogical and technological approach has the final impact of reducing the NEET phenomenon, applying early prevention with actions on teacher education. We expect a long-term impact on career choices and transition points (i.e., from middle school to high school, from high school to university, school-to-work).

The MOOC hype in the media might be over, but investment in and uptake of MOOCs are increasing significantly worldwide. By the end of 2015, approximately 4,200 courses were offered by 500+ universities to 35 million students. This has increased by 2016 to 6,850 courses by over 700 universities to 58 million students (Class Central, 2016). However, these figures exclude many European MOOC offering as Class Central mainly lists MOOC offering of the big (commercial) MOOC platforms. Many European universities have built an own platform or use a regional platform with a limited visibility. MOOCs are becoming mainstream in Europe. Already four independent European studies show a strong MOOC involvement of higher education institutions (HEIs). At least about 45% of HEIs in Europe are having MOOCs or planning to develop MOOCs soon against 12% in the US. Although some differences are observed between countries, it seems that a strong European involvement is widespread. These surveys show that the uptake in Eastern Europe is catching up. However, strongest involvement is seen in those regions with supportive policies and structures.Most European universities are not accepted by the big MOOC platforms in the US by lacking the reputation (in ranking) and finances to become a partner. Consequently, many HEIs in Europe that want to be involved in MOOCs cannot connect to big MOOC players and are potentially left behind or need to invest in platform, tools and services themselves. As MOOCs are for massive audiences and relate to economy of scale – regional support structures and European strategic partnerships are essential.To this end the SCORE2020 project builds a European consortium of regional players in offering support of MOOCs and open education. The partnership will stimulate the set-up of regional support centres for the development and use of MOOCs and open education. These regional support centres promote, stimulate and activate the development and the delivery of MOOCs and other modes of open education as well as use of MOOCs in their region.SCORE2020 partners are: •EADTU•Open Universiteit Nederland•UNED – Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia•Università Telematica Internazionale UNINETTUNO•Dublin City University •Fédération Interuniversitaire de l'Enseignement à Distance (FIED)•Norwegian Agency for Digital Learning in Higher Education / Universitetet i Tromsø•Univerza v LjubljaniThe partnership is representative for the diversity in Europe and has strong collaborations with other regions in Europe to ensure European-wide connections to SCORE2020. The added value of this partnership is that it represents institutions that already have a position in their respective regions in open and online education, and as institution is connected to the supportive infrastructure in their country.They constitute together a European strategic partnership, which is supported by the European OpenupEd MOOC initiative. They valorised the MOOCs developed in different regions in a broader European and global context. It also strengthens each of the regional centres by sharing and developing transnational expertise of which each can benefit.Specific objectives of the SCORE2020 project are-determining the needs of different support structures and create awareness of existing support materials for different target groups-exchange and jointly develop expertise on the design and development of MOOCs-develop a common approach to quality in MOOCs-provide various support to stakeholders (material, events, training weeks, train-the-trainer mOOC)-stimulate policy awareness of the role of MOOCs and on role governments in MOOC support structure-examine various possible regional support structures including possible business models in MOOC provision-create a European partnership of regional support structure in the field of MOOC and open education. In total 13 Intellections outputs were realised tailored to the identified needs of various target groups. Next five Multiplier Events and two training events were organised. Quality assurance frameworks, the different support scenario’s, the financial models on MOOCs and the Business Canvas Models developed in the SCORE2020 project are already re-used and applied by various institutions and even used in the setup of support regions like in Slovenia and Czech Republic.SCORE2020 partners will continue to strengthen the operations of each partners and beyond as part of OpenupEd. They will continue to promote local initiatives such that all are keeping their own identity and where possible strengthen the uptake of MOOCs at European level. Moreover, new partnerships are initiated and a European MOOC Consortium is under development.

This project is on the modularization of continuing education and professional development by microcredentials in higher education (MCE), in particular in the context of the European Commission's Recommendation to the Council of Ministers on microcredentials and the planned steps in 2021-2025 for the recognition of microcredentials in Member States. As a contribution to this process, MCE contributes to the further conceptualization of microcredentials as cornerstones for the expansion of continuous education and professional development (CEPD) and to transformative institutional developments in interaction with national and EU frameworks. Partners will build on results of their existing collaborations on short learning programs and on the Common Microcredential Framework developed with the European MOOC Consortium. Both collaborations have proven their relevance at the micro-level of concept and design, the meso-level of institutional strategies and conditions, and the macro-level of national and EU policies and strategies. In the further conceptualization of microcredentials, MCE adds the learner perspective as a core dimension. The project is thereafter focusing on institutional development in alignment with European and the national frameworks for microcredentials. The objectives of MCE respond to this by:- further developing and operationalizing the concept of microcredentials in European universities, taking into account the learners' perspective;- supporting institutional development for organizing and creating the conditions for developing transformative modular education and microcredentials;- Delivering an evidence-base for the dialogue with policy makers at national and EU level developing policies for CEPD and frameworks for microcredentials.Within the project, bottom-up and top-down processes will therefore continuously meet. The MCE approach is multi-level and multi-stakeholder oriented, looking for impact on stakeholders to realize transformation.

The COVID-19 crisis has made universities switch to digital education and to re-organize their campus. In the May 2020 surveys of the European Commission, it turned out that in the first (semi-) lockdown period, 95,1% of the universities organized online and distance learning and 82,7% even online exams. All institutions set-up massive support for organizing online lectures, tutorials and videoconferencing with diverse pedagogical approaches. At all levels, emergency decisions were made. In the second wave of COVID-19, many universities wanted to keep students on campus for face to face teaching. After a few weeks only, this seemed impossible as Europe coloured red again. Universities allowed only half or one fifth of the students in face-to-face lectures, while others attended online. Now, most universities have to go in a complete lockdown again with online and distance education. Teaching staff feel this as a disruption, requiring an extreme workload to adapt to the situation. Students started to manifest for the right of having “quality education”. Watching a video or following a lesson via zoom is no longer felt as a solution as it was in the first wave. This is where the DigiTeL Pro Strategic Partnership (Professional Development for Digital Teaching and Learning) comes in. It brings together excellent groups of experts from universities, well-known for research and innovation in digital education and having developed good practices in digital solutions during the Corona crisis. They are prepared to valorise their expertise in continuous professional development courses (CPD) in order to reinforce the ability of universities to provide high quality, inclusive digital education. They are at the edge of expertise in teaching and learning scenarios, connecting with main trends in practices observed during the crisis, and in the student learning experience: - synchronous hybrid learning: based on settings that have in common that both on-site or ‘here’ students and remote or ‘there’ students are simultaneously included (synchronous hybrid learning (KU Leuven-imec); - blended learning: based on a course design with a deliberate combination of online and offline learning activities (EMBED strategic partnership, TU Delft, KU Leuven); - online and distance learning: based on a course design with a continuous physical separation between teacher and learner, synchronously and asynchronously (OUNL, UOC, UNINETTUNO);- student readiness for digital learning (NIDL, Dublin City University); - Institutional policies and strategies: based on maturity dimensions in institutional policies and quality assurance approaches for digital education (EADTU, EMBED and e-xcellence partnerships). In the DigiTeL Pro partnership, these groups interact and cooperate for cross-development and improvement. Objectives are: - to explore and forecast educational needs of teaching staff and learners within and after the COVID+ era; -to exchange expertise between researchers and innovators on synchronous hybrid, blended and online distance learning, optimizing models and guidelines for short-term and future CPD; -to design, plan and develop continuing education courses enabling anyone involved in course and curriculum development in adapting to hybrid, blended and online distance learning; -to empower student readiness for digital learning by an online course and integrating the “student voice” in all learning scenarios; - to reinforce the ability of universities to provide high quality, inclusive and scalable digital education. By doing this, DigiTel Pro enables universities and EUI alliances to respond to the unstable reality in which we are living, keeping all learners included and leaving nobody behind in this disruptive challenge. The partnership will design, develop and implement three CPD courses on respectively synchronous hybrid, blended and online teaching and learning for anyone involved in digital course and curriculum development for leaders steering this process. They will optimize models, guidelines and pedagogies leading to mature and high quality education. A course has a modular structure and will be designed in alignment with the needs of universities, strong educational concepts and relevant learning objectives.This will accelerate the Modernization Agenda and the digital transformation of education systems across Europe (the new Digital Education Action Plan and the report on the European Education Area 2025), supporting ultimately the Green Deal.

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND HEIs face high requirements and challenges in today's global world, including internationalisation as a response to globalisation. Virtual Mobility (VM) has a great potential to contribute to the internationalisation, innovation and inclusion in HE. While it is feasible to encourage outward and inward student and faculty mobility in HE, the main limitations are the high costs, socio-economic, political and health-related issues. These barriers can be dramatically reduced by adding the virtual component to mobility, thus making mobility accessible to all. Yet, despite numerous Virtual Mobility initiatives and projects in the past years, the uptake of Virtual Mobility in HE is still low and the possibilities of VM including Virtual Internships/Placements unknown to many educators and students. Virtual Mobility can develop its potential, provided HE leaders, educators, students and other relevant stakeholders, such as International Offices, know about and can/want to use the opportunities of VM. This means HE institutions, educators and students need the necessary skills, confidence and readiness to initiate and implement VM Actions. The aim of this project is to enhance the VM readiness of HE institutions, educators and students through achievement, assessment and recognition of Virtual Mobility Skills. The openVM project addresses the need of creating accessible opportunities for achievement of Virtual Mobility Skills to ensure higher uptake of Virtual Mobility in HE in Europe, by supporting HE institutions, educators and students in acquiring, assessing and recognising Virtual Mobility Skills, i. e. key competencies needed to successfully design, implement and participate in VM actions. OBJECTIVES The openVM project aims at promoting and scaling-up VM in HE in Europe through achievement, assessment and recognition of Virtual Mobility Skills of HE educators and students in line with the Bologna and Open Education principles. The key objectives of the openVM project are: 1. To enhance the uptake of VM in HE by improving VM Skills and in consequence the readiness for VM in HE. 2. To improve the achievement and recognition of VM Skills of HE institutions, educators and students. 3. To create a European VM Learning Hub for achievement, assessment and recognition of VM Skills as a central reference point. 4. To develop a set of innovative tools and methods to enhance achievement, assessment and recognition of VM Skills. 5. To provide sustainable infrastructure, resources and guidelines for enhancement of VM Skills, design and implementation of VM in HE in Europe. 6. To provide evidence about how assessment and credentialing of VM Skills contributes to the uptake VM. APPROACH/INNOVATION To achieve this, openVM applies the principles of Open Education to promote achievement, assessment and recognition of VM Skills. Both VM and OE aim to enhance participation in international knowledge flows, use of digital media, improve teaching and learning by setting international benchmarks, attract and keep talents for the economy and research systems, innovate and build capacity. Key innovations in openVM are: + Online, Open & Flexible Higher Education approach to promoting the achievement, assessment and credentialing of VM Skills + Innovative pedagogies for achievement of VM Skills, such as Open Learning by Design and Crowd Creation of OERs and MOOCs + Innovative approaches/technologies for assessment and recognition of VM Skills: Evidence-based assessment, Open Credentials (Open Badges, Blockcerts), semantic/machine-readable description of VM Skills with links to competency frameworks + Engaging and effective learner experience in a Personal Learning Environment making use of gamification designs OUTCOMES The main outcomes of the project are: O1: Conceptual Framework and Guidelines for achievement, assessment and recognition of VM Skills in HE O2: Virtual Mobility Learning Hub as a central reference point for VM Skills in Europe O3: Semantic Competency Directory and Matching Tool as Smart Tools supporting learning, assessment and recognition of VM skills O4: E-Assessment Concept and Tool for innovative, open and evidence-based assessment of VM Skills O5: Open Credentials and Gamification for recognition of VM Skills and engaging/effective learner experience O6: OER, MOOC and Pilots for innovative pedagogies for achievement of VM Skills and validation O7: Quality, Dissemination, Sustainability for quality-assurance, broad outreach and sustainability of project results EXPECTED IMPACT + Increased awareness of Virtual Mobility in HE in Europe + Established Leadership in assessment and recognition of VM Skills + Increased readiness and confidence of educators and students to participate in and implement VM + Sustainable Learning Hub for the continuous development, assessment and recognition of VM Skills + Enhanced transparency about the distribution and level of VM Skills in HE in Europe