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InclusiveHE – Designing and supporting inclusive practices in Higher…

This project aims to support higher education institutions in the development of innovative and inclusive policies and practices, including:

• Integration of inclusive practices in designing and teaching courses;
• Increase of access, participation and completion rates of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups;
• Increase of the competitiveness of the European Higher Education sector.
  The outputs of the project are:

The outputs of the project are:

1. Toolkit for supporting the development of inclusive policies in higher education, targeting administrators and policy-makers at higher education institutions;
2. Training course on the design of inclusive education programmes targeting learning designers and academics;
3. e-learning platform and a MOOC on inclusive practices for academic and support staff.
   

Experience Lab is involved in project coordination and research together with project leader Emmanuel Acquah from the Minority Research Profile.

The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.

Project Leader and Coordinator: Åbo Akademi University

Project team at ÅAU: Emmanuel Acquah (project lead), Anette Bengs (coordination and research), Kalypso Filippou (research), Yvonne Backholm-Nyberg (communication and coordination)

Project Consortium: Åbo Akademi University (lead partner) Centre for Advancement of Research and Development in Educational Technology LTD-CARDET in Cyprus, University of Pitesti in Romania, University of Latvia, European Universities Continuing Education Network (eucen), Innovade LI LTD in Cyprus

Project webpage: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/2020-1-FI01-KA203-066572

Include Me – Inclusion Through Mediation

The Inclusion Through Mediation Project (IncludeMe) aims to empower learners, activists and migrants to become peer-to-peer mediators in their communities and their wider area. Include Me recognises that the Europe 2020 goals for a more inclusive Europe with higher social integration and community cohesion are more important today than ever in light of increasing societal tension, linked to the economic crisis, immigration & refugee crisis and increasing multi-ethnicity communities etc. Educating migrants and refugees as well as higher education providers, community activists and workers, in mediation skills can play a substantial, positive role in changing social dynamics.

Thus, the project aims to:

• Undertake EU wide research to identify the skills, opportunities and best practices on social mediation across Europe and publishe a Good Practice Guide of the findings.
• Develop a set of Open Education Resources to deliver mediation skills training to learners and volunteers in creative, dynamic ways; allowing them to maximise inclusion through mediation.
• Produce the IncludeMe MOOC which will engage a high number of volunteers, migrants and stakeholders, allowing them to learn in flexible and adaptive new ways.

The main target groups for this project are:

• Refugees/migrant background and other disadvantaged individuals.
• Community workers, NGOs and voluntary sector organizations.
• Education providers and all their staff.
• National education stakeholders.
• EU policy makers and EU global organisations directly involved in the education sector.

includemeproject.eu https://www.includemeproject.eu/

erasmus-plus project: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/projects/eplus-project-details/#project/2020-1-FI01-KA203-066490

REDIT

The project aims to research, design and develop a digital second language learning game that could be used to teach Swedish and Finnish as a second language to newly-arrived immigrant students in Finland.

The vision is that the game will support the preparatory class curriculum and can be used both in school and during leisure time. The game is developed through a user-centred design process, where both teachers, students, reearchers and game developers participate throughout the process.

The research that is carried out in parallel with the game development, focuses partly on the process (the effectiveness of using user-centred co-creation approach), the adaptation of content from the preparatory class curriculum and responsive digital pedagogy as a means to engage 21st century digital natives.

This project addresses the current achievement gap between native Finns and immigrants and has the potential to improve communication, well-being, and social integration in Finland and other European countries that face similar integration hurdles.

The project is funded by Svenska kulturfonden and Högskolestiftelsen i Österbotten.

The project is a collaboration between Åbo Akademi University and Novia University of Applied Sciences.

The project is led by the Minority Research Profile and coordinated by Experience Lab at Åbo Akademi University.

HIPPO – Hybrid Learning Paths

Project Goal: The aim of the project is to understand how teachers and students experience the digital learning environments and educational materials that shape the digital learning paths that have emerged in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. We begin by focusing on the positive experiences and the elements that work well.

The study is conducted at Vasa Övningsskola’s upper secondary school in collaboration with the publishers Otava and Schildts & Söderströms, whose digital educational materials are included in the study.

Using a user-centered perspective, we study the learning paths to gain a research-based understanding and vision of what future hybrid learning paths could look like in a reality where in-person and distance learning are blended.

Based on the results, we create a proof of concept for a successful hybrid learning path, based on the documented experiences of teachers and students.

The concept will be developed through a collaborative process involving researchers, teachers, students, and the publishers.

Project Management: Yvonne Backholm-Nyberg

Research Manager: Fritjof Sahlström

Project Team: Joachim Majors, Antti Paakkari, Verneri Valasmo, Susanne Hägglund

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HIPPO – Hybrida Lärstigar

Projektets mål är att förstå hur lärare och elever upplever de digitala lärmiljöerna och läromedlen som formar de digitala lärstigar som uppstått i covid-19 pandemins kölvatten. Vi tar avstamp i de positiva upplevelserna och i de element som fungerar bra.

Studien utförs i Vasa Övningsskolas gymnasium i samråd med förlagen Otava och Schildts & Söderströms, vars digitala läromedel ingår i studien.

Utgående från ett användarcentrerat perspektiv studerar vi lärstigarna för att få en forskningsbaserad förståelse för och vision kring hur framtidens hybrida lärstigar kunde se ut – i en verklighet där närstudier och distansstudier blandas.

På basen av resultaten skapar vi ett proof of concept för en god hybrid lärstig, baserad på lärarnas och elevernas dokumenterade erfarenheter.

Konceptet kommer att arbetas fram i en samskapande process mellan forskarna, lärarna, eleverna och förlagen.

Projektledning: Yvonne Backholm-Nyberg 

Forskningsansvarig: Fritjof Sahlström 

Projektgrupp: Joachim Majors, Antti Paakkari, Verneri Valasmo, Susanne Hägglund 

IoTXchange

IoTXchange

The project aims to develop digitalization plans based on Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, with the purpose of increasing the quality of life in small and medium cities of the European Union. Experience Lab will collaborate with the town of Nykarleby and local stakeholders to form a local action group that will develop plans and ideas for themes such as road maintenance in winter.

With a total budget of 744,166.92€, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund in 70% to 85%, this project facilitates the exchange of experiences in a process of shared learning in order to enable all partners to address problems identified as common from new perspectives in an attempt to solve them in the future..

The Municipality of Fundão (Portugal) is the leader of this consortium which also includes the municipalities of Razlog (Bulgaria), Dodoni (Greece), Nevers (France), Jelgava Local Municipality (Latvia), Ånge (Sweden) and Kežmarok (Slovakia) and the Finnish university Åbo Akademi University. The first phase began in September 2019 and the second phase will be completed by August 2022.

In the first phase of the project, a set of key issues that can be enhanced with IoT solutions were defined, and once the network defines a common issue for all partners, in the second phase local actors will be involved through establishment of Local Action Groups, which will have the as final result of the elaboration of Local Action Plans. These plans will be important tools for validating a strategy with a impact on the definition of territorial development priorities.

The IoTXchange project application was carried out under the URBACT III programme, where 62 proposals from 525 partners from 29 countries, were submitted. The URBACT methodology, based on transnational cooperation between cities and the involvement of local groups, offers conditions for the development of integrated action plans to guide participants in this era of digital transformation. In total, 23 Action Planning Networks were approved for phase 2 by URBACT’s Monitoring Committee, on May 7th.

Inom URBACT- projektet IoTXchange skapar Experience Lab en lokal aktionsgrupp av intresserade parter för samskapande idéutveckling och uppgörande av en handlingsplan för smarta IoT-lösningar som bidrar till en bättre vardag för invånarna i små och medelstora kommuner. Vi kommer att samarbeta med Nykarleby stad kring projektet.

IoTXchange bygger ett europeiskt nätverk av partners som ska göra upp digitaliseringsplaner som bygger på sakernas internet (IoT eller Internet of Things) för att förbättra livskvaliteten i små och medelstora städer genom konkreta tjänster och lösningar. Projektkonsortiet leds av Fundão (Portugal) och omfattar kommunerna Razlog (Bulgarien), Dodoni (Grekland), Nevers (Frankrike), Jelgava landskommun (Lettland), Ånge (Sverige) och Kežmarok (Slovakien), samt Åbo Akademis Experience Lab, som är den första akademiska projektparten i URBACT-nätverket.

Detta URBACT III-projekt delfinansieras av den Europeiska Regionala Utvecklingsfonden. IoTXchange är ett av de 23 projekt som godkändes bland totalt 62 förslag med sammanlagt 525 partners i 29 länder.

Läs mer om projektet på webbsidan: https://urbact.eu/iotxchange