"Memory Media explored health and social care issues in a consortium of five partners: Dundee and Angus College and Forth Valley College (UK), Centro de Formación Somorrostro (Spain), FoU Centrum, Linköpings Kommun (Sweden) and Gannan Medical University, China. This international partnership aimed to enhance the attractiveness of HE courses in Europe by looking outside of Europe to one of the strongest economies in the world and how they assign resources to the care of older people. Creating an opportunity for convergence of two different cultural approaches (East meeting West) brought benefits to partners’ HE curricula. The project idea arose from research findings that approaches which use art/multi-media are having an impact in dementia care. Cognitive stimulation is a recommended evidence-based intervention for people living with dementia. People with mild-to-moderate dementia should be offered the opportunity to participate in cognitive stimulation activities including informal stimulation through recreational activities and/or more formally via structured programmes which aim to provide stimulating activities based on psychological theories of cognition. Activities can be carried out by health professionals, carers or relatives in a variety of settings. The project undertook comparative research and created new practical and theory-based teaching materials to teach students in HEIs how East and Western approaches work in different ways. The project used techniques from digital media to create a stimulating ""memory box"" app that can be used in health and social care and/or community settings. Outputs include a project website, research findings, teaching and learning material and a series of peer teaching course-plans. The project achieved this through reaching five objectives: 1) To work with a transnational consortium (Europe and China) to create new learning resources for HE learners which adopt innovative approaches to care for people living with dementia. 2) To promote cross cultural learning and better understand how Eastern and Western approaches can converge to create workable practical solutions. 3) To develop teachers’/trainers’ competences to ensure they have the necessary knowledge and skills to use the resources with their HE learners. 4) To draw on existing research from Europe and China to explore a common way forward that meets the changing needs of government health and social care policies and the shift from institutional care to home care from the West, and the growing need for institutional care from the East. 5) To lay the foundations for a Capacity Building in Higher Education Project in the pipeline by building a strong strategic partnership to inform this future development. 247 learners and 93 teachers (higher than the expected 48 learners and 12 teachers) evaluated the resources. Teachers & learners then came together in peer learning events to exchange ideas and carry out practical learning to ensure participation and deep & long-lasting impacts. Those directly involved experienced positive impacts, personally & professionally (e.g. increased motivation, job satisfaction, development of intercultural skills) & a sense of achievement. They gained a more positive attitude towards the EU, and a better understanding of skills levels in other countries. The project brought benefits primarily to students and teachers but also to health and social care professionals who gained valuable new resources for use in practical care settings."

The project '3Es for youths in VET: Engagement, Empowerment, Employability' focused on providing adequate programmes and courses for students who were disengaged by compulsory education and for whom vocational education can be a 'second chance' opportunity. The programmes of study compiled were various in nature tackling both soft skills that would help them in their studies but also other skills directly linked to employment. A total of five organisations took part in this project. These institutions from Malta, Scotland, Germany and the Netherlands have a profile of 'School/Institute/Educational centre – Vocational Training (secondary level)' while the fifth participant is an Institution from England (U.K.) with a profile of 'School/Institute/Educational centre – Adult education'. The project had three main Intellectual Outputs:1. Distinctive Characteristics: Development of customised Communication Programme and Pastoral Care Programme. Indeed this output involved producing the above mentioned programmes targeting soft skills of students. Once produced these programmes were reviewed within the partnership piloted twice and also reviewed to produce the final outcome 2. Curriculum Development: Development of curricula and key competences for specialist programmes related to vocational fields according to the local context, following research and identification of skills gaps, developing of learning content for potential students & lecturing staff and assessment strategies. Through the partnership the following programmes were produced and reviewed within the partnership; MCAST: Three new awards of study in the following areas: (Retail, Hospitality, gardening & pet-care) It can be proudly said that two of these programmes have already been implemented in the scholastic year 2018/19Havering College: One new programme of study called the LINKS programme which deals directly with disengaged students being given a taster of other vocational areas in different parts of the scholastic year within the college to help decide what they would like to study in the futureAFBB: No new programmes were produced but they did give input in the review of the programmes for all colleges and also translated the mcast programmes as well. They also started adopting credit system in place at other colleges.Forth Valley College developed new units in the correct format as highlighted by the partnership3. Development/Upgrade of MOODLE system for students & staff at the Learning Support Unit at MCAST. Through review, design, development and testing & implementation, a MOODLE system was setup to help organise administrative work, facilitate sharing of resources and improve student access. In this case Havering College acted as a consultant to MCAST throughout the project due to its vast experience in using this system.Apart from the above mentioned methods, training events for staff on Attitudes, Teaching Methods & Techniques as well as Design & Evaluation of Curricula were organised. This project is expected to improve student retention rate especially at lower levels, help students develop stronger citizenship skills, multicultural awareness and employability skills hence increasing students' chances of full employment and/or further education. Indeed this project has served as a very good learning curve for staff of the five institutions involved. It has also improved the learning support offered by these institutions and through this project a very good working relationship has developed.

"The innovative IDEAS project will be developed in direct response to the EU's Digital Education Action Plan (2021 - 2027) and, in particular, Strategic Priority 1: ""Helping develop a high-performing digital education system"" - ""digitally competent and confident teachers and education and training staff"". Further, this project will be underpinned by the European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu) which states: ""As the teaching professions face rapidly changing demands, educators require an increasingly broad and more sophisticated set of competences than before. In particular, the ubiquity of digital devices and the duty to help students become digitally competent requires educators to develop their own digital competence."" Indeed, the JRC Science for Policy Report: Digital Education Policies in Europe and Beyond 2017 states: ""The integration and innovative use of digital technologies in education has become a policy priority across Europe."" However, the use of digital technologies in education presents several challenges in relation to digital poverty amongst students where access to reliable internet/hardware/software impacts their ability to participate effectively in their learning. (World Economic Forum 29 April 2020). Therefore, a key objective within this project will be to address some of the practical issues around equity and inclusivity in the classroom environment. All partners are based in Europe from UK, Malta, Portugal and Denmark and is comprised of: 2 VET Colleges from UK - South Eastern Regional College and Forth Valley College; a Danish e-learning/Adult Learning organisation with adaptive learning expertise - Copenhagen Business Academy; a Higher Education Institution from Portugal - Universidade Aberta; a private organisation with expertise in equality, inclusiveness and teacher training - Evolve Global Solutions; and B&P EmTech Lab - a specialist technology company with expertise in Artificial Intelligence. The innovative aspects of the project lie in the development of a micro-credentialed teacher training course offering bite-sized modules that will be flexible and adapted to individual professional development needs. This will be supported by an innovative Community of Practice where teachers from across Europe can communicate, share best practices and help to raise teacher digital competence and skill thereby, preparing them for virtual/online/blended teaching, learning and assessment strategies in a post COVID-19 environment.Objectives:1.Develop a 30-hour digital teacher training course using adaptive learning models which will enable 64 teachers from any curricular area of VET or HE in the 4 countries, to improve their digital competence and skills using a personalised micro-credentialed training package with support from 16 IDEAS Mentors (80 teachers)2.Recognise the learning of those undertaking the course through Europass Mobility, Digital Badges and Certificate of Attendance 3.Establish robust accreditation for the digital training course by Universidade Aberta which can be applied across Europe 4.Pilot the course with 64 teachers in 4 countries with support from 16 IDEAS Mentors ensuring functionality as well as meeting the skills needs5.Build a Community of Practice LinkedIn site for IDEAS Mentors, IDEAS Teacher Mentees and 500 educators from partner organisations to share and collaborate on the innovative results achieved 6.Produce an electronic Best Practice Guide for teachers supported by empirical data and own findings which will offer a step-by-step remote guide to developing digital competence and pedagogical approaches individually and within their VET/HE educational setting Target groups:*VET/HE organisations & providers*VET/HE teachers*VET/HE students particularly those who feel excluded or have additional needs*Policy makers, research bodies & expertsActivities:Intellectual Output 1: Design & develop an online digital training course for 80 VET teachers to improve digital competence & skills supported by digital pedagogical strategies & create a Community of Practice for teachers to share best practiceIntellectual output 2: Pilot programme to evaluate the resources, measure expected outcomes and facilitate continuous improvement launched at a 3-day Teacher Training Event Intellectual output 3: Publish a Teacher Best Practice Guide based on the outcomes of the project underpinned by external empirical research Multiplier Events: Live streamed and targeting 125 selected stakeholders to disseminate the project resultsParticipation in the IDEAS project offers an opportunity for partners to upskill teachers, improve their digital competence and skills and develop the organisation's capacity by facilitating innovative learning experiences which will ultimately positively impact learners. The course will provide access to new materials to support the teachers' CPD, personalised to their individual needs."