"<< Background >>DIGI LIVES gathers research, public and private organisations from Denmark, France, Latvia and Italy in a consortium who will take on a new, innovative digital approach towards inclusion and diversity to prevent student dropout, including newly started students during covid-19 lockdown as well as those at risk of drop out before the pandemic lockdown. In this project the three participating VET institutions from Denmark, France and Italy all have immanent needs to strengthening inclusion and diversity among students at study start and prevent dropout, which is a problem that all three organisations struggle with. Acute needs The national drop out rate from VETs in Denmark is approx 50 % https://rn.dk/regional-udvikling/analyser-og-rapporter Leading partner in “DIGI LIVES“, TECHCOLLEGE states in relation to the drop out statistics and the student consequences of distance learning:”TECHCOLLEGE has a slightly higher drop-out rate of students during the basic programme compared to the national average. With this project, we therefore wish to focus on initiatives and digital tools that can contribute to increased retention as early in the educational process as possible and also to help students starting their studies during covid-19 lockdown as well as those in the risk of drop out before the pandemic.” (Line Vinterberg, TECHCOLLEGE)VET-partner, IAL FVG, experiences the same needs in their home country. Italy is in the top 5 of countries in EU with the highest % of ELET. With almost 14 % Italy is over the benchmark of less than 10 % to be achieved by 2020 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Early_leavers_from_educationIAL FVG faces the problem with first year students drop outs and the effects of distance learning: “The problem of dropping out in the first years is high in general even if we often welcome students who ""leave"" the paths of education .. we welcome them in the first years. With COVID 19 this problem has increased,” (Marianna Muin, IAL FVG)At partnering VET in GIP–FTLV de Bourgogne in France as well as nationally, the need is present. In France the national drop-out rate in the VET-system all trainings combined, was 13.71%. The Dijon academy (GIP) is slightly below the national rate at 13.25%.http://ijse.padovauniversitypress.it/system/files/papers/2016_3_14.pdfThus, GIP-FTLV needs the prevention of ELET still to be a priority. As part of the dialogue between the Ministry and the academy, the General Inspectorate (national level) would like to see the prevention of school dropout in the vocational system remain a priority and is particularly interested in the creation of learning communities on this subject.https://www.ac-dijon.fr/mission-de-lutte-contre-le-decrochage-scolaire-mlds-121920Meet the needsThe consortium partners have teamed up to meet the needs above. In this rather unique consortium of experienced, diverse partners there is a strong and firm believe that we can “make a difference” for European VET-students by creating and produce an innovative Digital Toolbox to be implemented and used by the future generation of students at the participating VETs and in Europe. Now more than ever is it important to reach out to the target group in “DIGI LIVES” and addressed in the Digital Toolbox: •First-year students including students starting their studies during covid-19 lockdown as well as those at risk of drop out before the pandemic•EducatorsWe will be innovate throughout the project. From co-creation methods and accompanying research (UCN) to inclusive content of tools (NLP Aalborg/ Center for Unges Livsmestring) that focusses on supporting and strengthening students’ life-coping skills and competencies at study start, along with VR/AI technology partner VIVIDLY delivering design, architecture and tech-solutions. This will meet the needs in innovative digital ways made for VET-students of the future generation.<< Objectives >>The following objectives for “DIGI LIVES” will be achieve by implementing the project and will positively contribute and have an impact in a longer term. The “DIGI LIVES” project aims at having a main objective and six additional subobjectives:The project’s main objective is to develop an innovative digital toolbox with a focus on study start, providing an online space for 16-24 yr. old students including students at the risk of dropping out of education to help them remain in education/ training, to acquire unformal qualifications as well as to integrate into education structures and to assist with socialization and life-coping skills building an inclusive, diverse social and educational school climate. In regards to the main project objective above, the project will also have the following subobjectives:•Develop and provide digital teaching materials and methods for students to strengthening competences in the form of life skills to better cope with personal, interpersonal and social challenges to further inclusion and diversity and prevent mental health issues and drop outs from the very start of VET•Provide solutions to tackle immanent problems at the VETs with students dropping out, especially by focusing on strengthening the “school climate” at study start to be including and diverse at the participating VETs in a Covid-19 age•Actively co-create and develop with educators and students a more inclusive unformal educational curriculum that will support digital student and peer learning at VETs •Give all students knowledge and an unformal educational digital toolbox from which to face issues, often refer to as “soft skills”, at school that is not a part of curriculum but never the less play a crucial role in students’ daily life•Strengthen educators’ digital competencies and skills and to provide educators with more inclusive user-friendly and easy-accessible digital tools that will reach a diverse range of participants with all backgrounds•New transcultural cross-country competencies and best practice exchange between VETs.<< Implementation >>""DIGI LIVES"" has three phases that will lead to the overall project result of a digital toolbox:1, Development and production2. Testing and assembling3. Implementation of the digital toolboxThese are the project activities that will lead to the implementation of the digital toolbox:WP 2Digital toolbox – Development of cross-country methodological framework gathering tools (co-creation)Responsible: NLP Aalborg/CFULWP 2.1 Establishment of Stakeholder panels (students and educators) at each VET to explore and co-create on the methodological framework gathering tools WP 2.2Stakeholder panels co-creating on cross-country methodological framework gathering tools in online workshops (NLP Aalborg/CFUL, UCN, Vividly) WP 2.3Production of materials and content of methodological framework gathering tools to be integrated in the digital toolbox.WP 2.4Development of “Educators’ manual” for use of the digital toolbox.WP 2.5Assembling the digital toolbox – integration of W.P.2 & W.P.3WP 3Digital toolbox - Digital design/architecture of tools and software development (co-creation)Responsible: VividlyWP 3.1 Establishment of Stakeholder panels (students and educators) at each VET to explore and co-create on digital design/architecture of tools and software development WP 3.2Stakeholder panels co-creating on digital design/architecture of tools and software development in online workshops (Vividly, NLP Aalborg/CFUL, UCN) WP 3.3.Development and production of digital design/architecture of tools and software; an easy-transferable, responsive CMS-based website to be used on multimedia devices, WP 3.4Create a graphic multimedia design and easy-accessible functions for toolbox. Control of European standards for GDPR-protection and standards in all digital contentWP 3.5Assembling the digital toolbox – integration of W.P.2 & W.P.3WP 4 Accompanying research, youth perspective report and research evaluation (co-creation) Responsible: UCNWP 4.1: Process, facilitation and data collection guide for panel discussions design and distribution WP 4.2: Panel discussion, results documentation in accordance with the data collection guideWP 4.3: Youth Perspective Report (baseline) based on coding and analyzation of panel discussion results/data sets from VETs. WP 4.4: Design of 2 questionnaires for quantitative evaluation based on the Youth Perspective Report. WP 4.5: Distribution of questionairres amongst participants in the testing phase of project result 1 & 2 (Cf. project results)WP 4.6: Accompanying research evaluation report. Data from the questionnaires is coded and analyzed with the Youth Perspective Report as baseline. WP 5Testing, Sharing & promotionResponsible: IAL WP 5.1 Testing of cross-country methodological framework gathering tools & digital design/ architecture of toolsWP 6 Implementation of the digital toolbox Responsible: GIP-FTLVWP 6.1Pre-preparation of strategic implementation plan at each VETWP 6.2 Pre-preparation: Collection of data from the partnering VETs with timeline, educators, starting classes etc.WP 6.3Discussion and exchanging practices to secure implementation locally (Pre-implementation transnational meeting at GIP-FTLV)WP 6.4Set up and coordination of 3 local planned multiplier events at the participating VETs (Results and findings in 6.3. implemented)<< Results >>Results during the project: • Youth Perspective Report (Research baseline). Based on the activities of • Peer learning experiences from workshops with stakeholder panels of students and educators - included in the Youth Perspective Report. • Secure, CMS-based, responsive website for the digital universe/ toolbox. • “Educators’ manual” for the use of the digital toolbox. • Innovative cross-country methodological framework gathering tools. • Graphic multimedia design and architecture of tools. Key Results at the completion of the project1. Cross-country methodological framework gathering tools with focus on students start including newly started students during covid-19 lockdown as well as those at the risk of drop out before the pandemic lockdown; 2.Digital design/architecture of tools and software with focus on students start including newly started students during covid-19 lockdown as well as those at the risk of drop out before the pandemic lockdown;1 and 2 will assembled and combined constitute the Digital Toolbox3. Accompanying research evaluation report The project results will generate the long term outcomes as followed: • strengthened digital capacity of partner VET organisations. • students and educators coownership in the digital toolbox because of the development, testing and implementation process where students and educators are involved as co-creators. (stakeholder panels). • new transcultural cross-country competencies and bestpractice exchange between VETs • higher rate of satisfied students and • higher % of students maintain their educationand graduates. • positive branding for VET education institutions. • Contribution to the Regional strategies of partnerorganisations on reduction of ELET/ESL. Hereby the recommendations from the Region of North Jutland: • Contribution to the EU target of 10% ESL, • Higher attention to tools that strengthen mental health, and reduction of NEET; • A safety net for at-risk learners in general education, offering an alternative pathway and securing their retention in, and graduation from, education and training; • Offer a more practical, work-oriented route towards a qualification, and can attract earlyleavers back to education and training. • Providing a digital toolbox that will contribute with the new innovative cross-country - digital methodological framework to the already existing toolkit to tackle early school leavers from CEDEFOP. This will be done at the end of the project period through NLP Aalborg’s Ambassador of CEDEFOPs toolkit."

WHY: The climate challenges and the digital transformation are two of the main drivers changing the world today and it also changes the way companies do business. Therefore, it is essential to address both drivers for companies in order to ensure a sustainable future environmentally and financially. The skills and competences needed to develop digitalized products and awareness of the environmental challenges are therefore crucial for the European workforce and industry to continue being competitive in a future green economy and to maintain jobs across Europe.WHAT: Although, all the partners are involved in other activities and projects related to digitalizing and sustainable issues, combining the design and development of digitalized products (smart and connected) to sustainable issues is considered a new and innovative way for the partner organisations to work in developing new and better teaching material for their students. Being able to integrate sustainable issues and address some of the climate challenges when designing new products are moreover foreseen to be a competitive advantage in the future for companies. Therefore, the DIGIDEMO project seeks to raise awareness about environmental and climate challenges, making it a natural consideration designing, and developing digitalized products. DIGIDEMO aims at: - strengthen the cross disciplinary capabilities and awareness on sustainable issues among HEI students from primarily mechanical programmes and programmes within the field of electronics/ICT giving the students a more holistic understanding - supporting teachers in planning and executing cross-disciplinary activities at existing programmes/courses and/or new programmes/courses.HOW: The main objective is to develop minimum 20 DEMONSTRATORS (IO2) (4 demonstrators at each partnering institution) and implement them in teaching activities at educational programmes at the partners. The demonstrators will be examples of digitalized products developed based on cases from industry. The demonstrators will work as a ‘boundary objects’ for the teachers to facilitate cross-disciplinary activities and to strengthen cross disciplinary capabilities and awareness on sustainable issues among students working with digitalizing of products. Moreover, to support the teachers, a secondary objective is to create a FRAMEWORK (IO1) for developing the demonstrators, ensuring homogeneity of the demonstrators being developed in DIGIDEMO. The framework will also allow the different demonstrators to be classified and positioned, e.g., on the type of technology used or the expected environmental impact. To ensure the sustainability of DIGIDEMO and the availability of the project results to people outside DIGIDEMO, an ONLINE LEARNING COURSE (IO3) is developed, making it possible for teachers outside the project to exploit the results. The online learning course will make it possible to exploit the existing demonstrators and/or develop new demonstrators using the guideline and thereby scale-up the impact of the results made in DIGIDEMO. WHO will participate: DIGIDEMO is a collaboration between the following educational institutions UCN (Denmark), ESTA (France), FHV (Austria), FTO (Norway), and UEMR (Romania). The main groups of participants involved in DIGIDEMO are: - Teachers from the partnering institutions (25 in total) - Students from the partnering institutions (250 in total) Moreover, the representatives from national stakeholders will also be involved in projects, ensuring its relevance to practice. What will the IMPACT be: The results of this project will primary and directly influence the local and regional level, through ensuring a better match between educational skills and industry needs as well as a greater awareness of the climate challenges and how improved digitalised connected products can help meet these challenges. Students become more attractive for the employment market and educators get also additional skills.

CONTEXTThe Digital Learning Across Boundaries 2 (DLAB2) project addresses the need to align European educational practice with ways in which digital technology is changing how and what we learn, and how we apply this in education. It builds on DLAB1, an Erasmus + project that ran from 2016-2019, by focusing on ways in which the outside world can break down personal learning boundaries and build self-efficacy. DLAB2 is inspired by the changemaker movement, which seeks to build the skills and attributes for individuals to find innovative solutions to society’s challenges. Two key themes are developing changemakers and social innovation education. A third theme is the use of innovative digital learning environments including virtual and artificial reality technologies to blend physical and digital learning environments and provide powerful opportunities for international collaboration. In this way, the project brings together two aspects of the maker movement: digital making and change making. OBJECTIVES:The objectives are to:1. Create playful learning environments that encourage creativity, collaboration, innovation and entrepreneurship facilitated by technologies.2. Enable all of our participants to develop the personal confidence, values, beliefs and skills needed to become digitally literate changemakers.3. Develop a toolkit for sustaining social innovation education and building changemaker attributes based on evidence from the project activities.PARTICIPANTSThe participants of DLAB2 are around 50 university lecturers, student teachers, and school teachers, together with their school pupils across five European countries. ACTIVITIESOver three years we adopt three types of 'learning across boundaries’ challenges, approaching these in an aspirational way by involving local cultural consultants. There is a process of discovering a problem, empathising with the end user, and then designing, developing and delivering a prototype solution.1. Crossing physical boundaries (what my body can do): learning through physical experiences (skills).2. Crossing personal boundaries (my aspirations and confidence): learning through performance, public speaking, or gaining new skills (attitudes).3. Crossing environmental boundaries (changes to where I am in space): learning taking place in unusual or different places (knowledge).METHODOLOGYEach year begins with a 5-day learning/teaching/training event initiating the development of the main yearly theme through CPD run by the lecturers in digital techniques. This is followed by planning changemaker pedagogic strategies and interdependent challenge ideas in cross-national teams, ready for implementation in classrooms. The teams will then develop and test their ideas through three international days in schools between November and January, each accompanied by pre and post phases led by the university students. Each April, the university students and lecturers engage in evaluation and dissemination activities related to the intellectual outputs.In summer 2022 a multiplier event takes the form of a changemaker conference where we will launch a framework for supporting international collaboration days with digital technologies and a toolkit for developing changemakers in initial teacher training. In this way, we are dissolving intercultural boundaries through social innovation activities that support the development of students and pupils as agents of positive real-world change as well as building their digital skills.RESULTS AND IMPACTThere are seven distinct intellectual outputs:1. An open OER website.2. Three eTwinning project kits.3. Three open online courses based on innovative digital technologies such as artificial realities.4. A series of TED-style talks pitching collaborative projects and prototype solutions.5. A set of articles for publication in national and international journals on themes such as participatory action research, entrepreneurship and playful learning, social innovation education, and developing changemakers in education6. A framework for supporting international collaboration days with digital technologies.7. A toolkit for developing changemakers in initial teacher training.As a result of the project, our partners will develop new ways of collaborating supported by a range of digital technologies. The project will have an impact in an international context through the rich learning resources provided by the intellectual outputs and via the co-creation of new knowledge in the field of technology-supported social innovation education afforded by the international online community of practice. LONGER TERM BENEFITSTo provide sustainability, the project activities are designed to enrich the capability and curricula of the partner HEIs and schools to promote international collaborative work by developing ongoing cross-sector communities of practice.

<< Objectives >>TECH2MATCH supports cross-disciplinarity and internationalisation involving nursing-, physiotherapists- and midwifery educations led by DK with partners from FIN, AT & ES. Due to missing technological skills in healthcare TECH2MATCH will educate future healthcare professionals to match and use the right technology for people with pain (PwP) to improve health and quality of life. TECH2MATCH will ensure HEIs strengthen the digital skills and competencies for min 60-80 students & 16-20 lecturers.<< Implementation >>TECH2MATCH implements a 5 ECTS blended learning course. To develop TECH2MATCH desk research, reports on needed skills and identified gaps will be conducted. 4 frameworks will be developed along with 4 focus groups with national stakeholders to inform the blended learning, the real-life scenarios, the training of lecturers and the xMOOC. A pilot will be conducted, and 4 WPs summaries reports will be carried out. Finally, interviews, surveys and events will be used to evaluate TECH2MATCH.<< Results >>TECH2MATCH results in 4 frameworks and a blended learning 5 ECTS course for healthcare students, improving the health and quality of life for PwP. Providing them with skills and competences to match and use technology by involving patients in other situations and disciplines of healthcare, having a constructively critical approach to technology. The innovative digitalisation, development of frameworks, and inclusion of stakeholder groups will inspire the further future development of HEIs.

Building entrepreneurial competence is a key EU policy objective. It is a feature of the Strategic Framework for Education and Training and an element of many recent policy documents including the Green Paper on Entrepreneurship in Europe (EC, 2003), the Small Business Act for Europe (EC, 2008), the Communication on Rethinking Education (EC, 2012), the Entrepreneurship Action Plan 2020 (EC, 2013) and the New Skills Agenda for Europe (EC, 2016). The Council Recommendation on Key Competences (EC, 2018), confirms the importance of “promoting entrepreneurial mindsets” and encourages Member States to think about “nurturing entrepreneurship competence, creativity and the sense of initiative especially among young people”.ForEMLink seeks to address some of these policy imperatives by developing an approach that will offer relevant and practical learning to students in higher and advanced vocational education, increasing their entrepreneurship skills and helping them to start viable businesses.ForEMLink brings together five organisations for whom inspiring entrepreneurial mindsets is a common challenge. Through sharing their knowledge and expertise and working together the five partners will develop three concrete intellectual outputs:•ForEMLink Methodology: this aims to define and describe an approach to co-creation that may be adopted by educators in HEIs to deliver curricula in entrepreneurship (01);•ForEMLink Digital Platform: brings together educators, students and enterprises and provides a matchmaking service, enabling the latter (enterprises) to upload genuine, real-life problems that students will be able to access and attempt to solve as part of their learning (O2);•ForEMLink Handbook: developed using direct inputs from educators and students having made active use of the ForEMLink Digital Platform and/or participated in one of the transnational learning, teaching and training events; this will be an output that serves to support future users of the ForEMLink Methodology and/or Digital Platform as well as acting as an aide-memoire for existing users (O3).All three intellectual outputs will be developed through joint working by the five partner institutions supplemented by appropriate consultation with and inputs from enterprises, students and educators using the two core outputs of the project (methodology; digital platform). Consequently, transnational cooperation is not merely a necessary component of this cooperative approach but also a key feature of the targeted methodology and digital platform.A further tangible output centres on the two learning, teaching and training events, one aimed at educators (C1) and one aimed at students in higher education (C2). These will be attended by participants from all five partner countries and will generate input for the ForEMLink Handbook.Intangible outputs include an increased level of competence and usage of the developed digital resource (digital platform) among educators at the five institutions, increased confidence and competence among students, particularly those aiming to launch their own businesses and increases in the birth rate, and survival rate, of businesses in the five partner regions and countries.Partners identify the following additional innovative dimensions in the ForEMLink project:•LOCATION: the ForEMLink Digital Platform (O2) will support a transnational dimension in problem-based learning across five European countries extending to three distinct user groups: educators, students and enterprises. •PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: the ForEMLink Methodology (O1) and ForEMLink Handbook (O3) will be an asset to educators involved in developing and delivering entrepreneurial education in the five partner countries and beyond; this will be complemented by learning, teaching and training events (C1, C2) providing a space for professional networking and for comparing current approaches.•INSTITUTIONAL APPROACHES: the traditional role of HEIs is being questioned more closely than before by the public at large; the three intellectual outputs of the project and its underpinning rationale - providing real-life learning to enhance the development of students’ entrepreneurial mindsets, engaging with employers on practical problems which confront them and providing professional development for educators of all disciplines for whom the topic is relevant - is a concrete demonstration of how the involved institutions are prepared to embrace the modernisation agenda.