The EduHack project (Hacking Education through eLearning and Open Education) was created to address the recommendation in the 2013 European Commission's Communication on Opening Up Education to “Support teachers' professional development through open online courses”, a recommendation followed by a number of policy initiatives and actions that have put a renewed emphasis on the creation and pedagogically-sound use of digital resources for education. The research accompanying the Opening Up Education Communication, in fact, found that 50%-80% of students in EU countries never use digital textbooks, software, broadcasts/podcasts, simulations or learning games, that most teachers do not consider themselves as “digitally confident” or able to teach digital skills effectively, and that 70% of teachers would like more training in using ICTs. What these numbers currently indicate is a large and systemic ICT-skills deficiency, also felt within education, which is suffering from an acute lack of teachers with the appropriate expertise to design and develop digital educational resources and run ICT-enabled educational courses.In this specific context, in which an increasingly pressing demand for digital competences related to the massive diffusion of technologies in education does not correspond to an effective possibility to acquire them quickly and easily (a demand that became more and more urgent in 2020 due of the Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent revolution that educational institutions at all levels were forced to face in order to ensure effective distance learning), the EduHack project aimed to tackle this gap by: - Improving the digital skills and competences of higher education teaching staff in developing and delivering content for distance courses, with attention to open education approaches, thanks to the creation of an open and innovative capacity-building program.- Promoting the creation of teachers’ groups from different backgrounds and of other professionals (media-production experts, quality-assurance professionals, web developers, etc.) to share and combine work and to strengthen trans-disciplinary collaboration in the field of digital education.- Creating a network of institutions interested to experiment with new teaching approaches and spread them in their own context, enlarging the potential benefits, and promoting a virtuous circle.- Creating a support network that enabled teachers and institutions to freely and collaboratively explore the co-creation of digital content, greatly enhancing their confidence in the ability to create.In order to reach these objectives, the five partners involved in the EduHack project (Politecnico di Torino, Universidad Internacional de La Rioja, Coventry University, ATiT, Knowledge Innovation Centre), worked together to create a blended and innovative capacity-building program intended for university teachers who wanted to become familiar with the use of digital tools and approaches and to increase their digital skills, competences, and confidence. The program has been piloted in the three partner universities, which involved their own communities of teachers (main target) to test its effectiveness, and it has been (and will continue to be) spread and promoted in a broader context, involving in the process other universities and institutions that have joined the EduHack “extended network”. In particular, the activities of the Edu-Hack project have been:- The creation of a Curriculum of contents and an online course (open, collaborative, active: https://eduhack.eu/course/), composed of four learning areas and nineteen teaching units.- The creation of an online infrastructure WordPress based, made up of a service space (Website: https://eduhack.eu/), collaboration and publishing spaces (Splots: https://wall-it.eduhack.eu/-https://wall-es.eduhack.eu/-https://wall-en.eduhack.eu/-https://polito.eduhack.eu/-https://unir.eduhack.eu/-https://coventry.eduhack.eu/), a smart content aggregator (EduHack Community Hub: https://hub.eduhack.eu/), all preparatory to the three piloting paths realized (and that will be potentially replicated in the future), and useful to make the learning experience more interactive and engaging. - The piloting of the online course in the three partner universities, with the involvement of over one hundred higher education teachers who followed with success the activities proposed. - The organization of three EduHackathons (offline and online: https://eduhack.eu/eduhackathons/) in the three partner universities, in which teachers, but also other professionals interested in participating, worked together on the development of ideas on digital tools and practices potentially useful for distance teaching and learning.- The creation of the EduHack Toolbox (https://eduhack.eu/outputs/o4/the-toolbox-contents-2/), an online book with the guidelines on how to use the materials and the technical infrastructure for all those who want to replicate the experience in their own context, universities or other institutions.- The building of the EduHack Network (https://eduhack.eu/network/), an informal network of practitioners in institutions interested in the project and its approach and contents, a real community that will try to replicate the experience made within the Edu-Hack project in other contexts and continue to collaborate on improving the project and enlarging the number of beneficiaries of the Edu-Hack project.Summarizing, the results of the Edu-Hack projects are:- 1 open online course, with an open digital badge system for the certification of the competences.- 1 multisite WordPress based with different learning and collaborative environments (1 website, 6 Splots).- 1 semantic connected platform (Community Hub), linked to the main multisite.- 3 training pilot online courses (Spain, Italy, UK: 158 participants).- 3 hackathons-pilot events, offline and online (Spain, Italy, UK: 75 participants).- 12 trans-disciplinary groups that worked on 12 ideas for the development of new digital tools and new teaching practices for education.- 1 online “toolbox” (or guidelines) for a collection of the project experience and the full instructions and tools for its replicability in other contexts.- 1 network of 25 members including universities, stakeholders and institutions that worked (and will work) with regard to the adoption of approach and contents developed, guaranteeing a long-term impact of the project.

The main attribute of professional higher education (PHE) is their relationship to the world of work through apprenticeships that represent a substantial part of their curricula. When of high quality, apprenticeships promote a smoother student transition from PHE institution (PHEI) to work, enabling a good start to working careers by providing a good mix of basic competences and job-specific skills and valuable work experience. Employers benefit by identifying and training students adding to their productive capacity and forming their future employees but struggle with the bureaucratic burden, lack of direction and support from PHE institutions (PHEI). The key innovation of Apprentice Track (AppT) lies in the unique 360-degree approach to apprenticeship management by creating a quality framework (IO1) developed into a transparent and comparative response and data driven digital tool (IO2), upgraded by a supportive training raising the pedagogical and digital capacity of mentors (IO3).The Apprentice Track (AppT) project:Strengthened cooperation between students, HEIs and SMEs during the apprenticeships through improved efficiency of cooperation thanks to the provision of the AppT Prototype (IO2) as an online digital tool available on any type of devices (smartphone, tablet, and computer) with all information accessible to all stakeholders with just a few clicks anywhere at any time; offering a collection of relevant data on institutional and national level which allows the identification of labour market needs and gaps to improve curricula and policies. The course for mentors (IO3) was implemented to support employers in integrating apprenticeships into their strategic planning, recruiting, management, and cooperation with PHEIs.Gained a quick, easy, and efficient way to track the progress of students and ensured that learning outcomes which should be achieved through work-based learning (WBL) are attained by providing students and mentors with a list of learning outcomes to be achieved (IO1), enabling transparent progress assessment supported with assessment criteria and showing an overall apprenticeship progress grade accessible and visible at any time to each student and their PHEI in the AppT Prototype (IO2).Obtained a good overview of the role of the student in the apprenticeships for mentors by providing mentors with the insight to all agreed documents at any time and place. For each individual student’s agreement, clear description of agreed role, responsibility, and obligations of the student during their apprenticeship is provided. Gained a quick and easy ongoing evaluation of student progress at apprenticeships for mentors by enabling the mentor the instant insight to student’s competences to be achieved, prepared workplan, assessment of progress and at the end of the apprenticeship the compilation and translation into a final student’s apprenticeship grade and report from the mentor in the AppT Prototype (IO2).Enabled the possibility of a quick and effective response of organizers to lack of students' progression through improved responsiveness of apprenticeships in PHE by the AppT Prototype (IO2) requiring adequate input to each procedure, assuring relevance, consistency, and timely insight into the progress of achievement facilitating the PHE supervisor to follow the students’ progress or lack of progress which enables them to act efficiently when identifying student’s poor or no progress during the apprenticeship contributing to timely problem resolution.Involved students into quality assessment of the apprenticeships by providing student direct access to the regular periodic assessment of their progress in the AppT Prototype (IO2) student can react to assessment, discuss it with mentor and understand or object assessment if it is not aligned with the assessment criteria. The opportunity to follow their own progress assessment motivates the student to even better achievements.Kept the whole process of apprenticeship progression transparent, comparative, and paperless through improved quality by defining a transparent, comparable quality framework (IO1) which was set to offer all actors insight into apprenticeship management at any time anywhere in the AppT Prototype (IO2), by collecting periodically relevant statistical data per country and compare results, by enabling the use of the AppT Prototype (IO2) cross boarders providing transparent and comparable apprenticeship management to Erasmus+ students due to its multilingual approach.Met the needs of employers, students and PHEIs in the field of ICT supporting tools and increased the attractiveness of PHE by creating a use-friendly, efficient, and accessible digital tool for paperless apprenticeship management (IO2) and providing supporting training (IO3), the project enabled apprenticeships to be an easy manageable, meaningful, and pleasant experience making its attributes more evident contributing to the attractiveness of PHE.

"Efforts to curb the outbreak of COVID-19 led to the closure of education and training buildings, campuses and other sites and a forced shift to emergency modes of digital education. In many Member States, most institutional leaders, in particular those in mid-level positions, had little if any experience of organising teaching and learning online or the different infrastructural, human resource and administrative challenges associated with it. The gulf between responses of different institutions to the crisis has shown that leadership is one of the most important enabling factors for a successful move-to-digital. Institutions that had previously invested in building the digital capacity of their management were better prepared to adapt teaching approaches, keep learners engaged, and continue the education and training process. In defining how to move beyond the unplanned and emergency phase imposed on education providers, institutional leaders need to acknowledge that the shift to digital has been permanently accelerated and that institutions that do not embrace it will exacerbate a digital divide in education and the labour market. Students expect institutions to exist within a digital society and recognise that collaboration, socialisation and learning already happen in a variety of physical and digital environments, and to prepare them to thrive in a digital-first economy and society.StrategyHack supports the priorities of the Digital Education Plan, focuses on capacity building on mid-level institutional leaders since a resilient transformation requires strengthening the connecting tissue between the high-level management strategy level and the digital-pedagogy level which these personnel provide. We intend to:• accelerate digital transformation of staff, programmes and institutional processes within Higher Education;• promote and nourish high quality self-directed personalised learning environments with a strong digital component;• lock in gains made to perceptions of digital learning during the COVID crisis, and using these to promote more sustainable models of digital educationOur consortium consisting of 3 Higher Education Institutions with expertise in the topic, two associations of Higher Education and a digital learning consultancy, will work together to take a European Approach to these challenges by creating:Capacity Building Course on Digital Education StrategiesThis will be designed around a set of 15-20 digital management skills, grouped around 5 dimensions of change', namely pedagogical, organisational, technological, economic & political and institutional change. with a micro-module being designed to acquire each skill by following a challenge-based approach that will instruct participants by giving the opportunity to practice and develop the required skill. The course will take a self-directed free flowing approach, to allow participants to personalise their own learning pathways based on their specific needs.Peer-learning methodology for Digitisation Strategy ImprovementWe will describe a problem-based methodology for institutional leaders to cooperate within and across institutions to solve specific strategy problems. Inspired by coaching, design-methodologies and hackathon events, we will design intensive online events, with participants over several sessions identifying a problem, sharing best practice on potential solutions, and then working in small groups to propose solutions. Each event will address a challenge such as ""How do I conduct assessment remotely and securely for my institution?; How do I map staff's digital competence? How do I address accessibility challenges in my department online?"" and aim for institutional leaders to leave the event with a set of concrete ideas to try and implement within their institution. We will:· develop the methodological handbook to run these digital leadership development events;· run six events, focusing on different areas of priority· publish the 'hacked' institutional strategy proposals via the project's website, to inform other actors on insights gainedModel Management System for digital educationThis will consist of a strategy-guidance document, that will give institutional leaders a map to build their institutional strategies and cover:• Leadership documents to integrate digital learning into the institution's identity• Strategic approaches to manage risk and sustainability• Methodologies to manage resources efficiently• Tools and techniques to tackle the most challenging operational activities in digital educationOver the course of the project we intend to reach between 150-250 institutional leaders, each of which will gain additionally capacity to deploy digital within their institutions and communities. We will further carry policy recommendations to regional, national and European levels to inform policies within the Commission and the Bologna Process."

Data at the institutional level as well as regional and European research provide hard evidence that inequality of opportunities persists all throughout higher education (HE). Characteristics such as among others, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, skin colour, religion, able-bodiedness, or socioeconomic class often influence access to and success, and belonging in HE.The experiences of COVID lockdown education show that students in vulnerable situations have been affected disproportionately by the measures taken, putting precisely those groups that were already struggling at an increased risk of exclusion. When students in more vulnerable situations fall victim to a renewed HE in the 21st century, this imposes an unacceptable mortgage on human and social welfare.At the same time, online education has a strong potential to enhance inclusive excellence, because of flexibility, access, diversification, and participation. This has not yet been systematically inventoried, implemented nor validated. In most cases, the transition to online education has primarily consisted of a mere shifting of existing educational concepts, working methods, and assessments of analog education to the digital context. The question of what inclusion means in the context of online education, and how to best establish this in online or hybrid, is yet unclear. And since inclusion often is not even a primary focus of analog education, it is consequently also not written into the core of digitized education. The educational changes necessitated by the COVID pandemic create a window of opportunity in which we should seize the moment to rethink education and to evolve towards an excellent education that is at its core inclusive. The e-Inclusion brings together a consortium of four universities and two policy-focused organisations with leading expertise in both inclusion policy and digital learning to:- support educators in implementing inclusive models of digital education in blended and hybrid environments- assure that the accelerated transition to digital education prompted by the COVID-19 crisis does not exclude vulnerable groups from participation in HE or exacerbate existing inequalities- take advantage of the opportunities of digitization to reduce structural barriers for exclusionIn this project, we develop a research-based inclusive excellence toolkit, consisting of separate building blocks for teachers to develop inclusive online education that is tailored to specific phases, aspects, and contexts of inclusion. Handbook for Inclusive Digital EducationThis will propose a vision for inclusive education that covers contexts of hybrid and blended learning. It will identify drivers of exclusion, which will cover 'traditional' exclusion drivers, but also identify new elements of exclusion which may be new to or exacerbated by the response to COVID-19. We will use desk research and expert-consultation to then isolate a set of success factors for digital inclusion, backed up by examples of good practice. Micro-Learning Modules on Inclusion in Digital Education ContextsThis will be designed around a set of 15-20 skills for digital inclusion, with a micro-module being designed to acquire each skill by following a challenge-based approach that will instruct leaders by giving the opportunity to practice and develop the required skill. The course will take a self-directed free-flowing approach, to allow participants to personalize their own learning pathways based on their specific needs. Digital Inclusion CourseFor those who prefer to (a) experience a course designed with inclusion in mind via a learning management system, and (b) gain all the skills outlined above via a linear pathway, we will also create, moderate, and assess a course based on the modules. Awareness Raising ToolThe foundation of all the above-mentioned tools is an awareness module, which helps teachers explore their own identity and positionality, based on the premise that teachers are not neutral outsiders to the students’ learning process, but are part of the classroom dynamics.The project will offer around 150 educators the ability to further develop strategies that work against the social reproduction of in digital settings. It will enhance universities’ expertise in promoting an inclusive digitally-mediated personalized learning environment for every student, by working towards opportunities for a diversity of students to construct a strong sense of belonging. In the long term, the project will impact a change in organizational culture to create and sustain a more inclusive university by developing a systemic approach that integrates a vision of high-quality digital education and also a vision on supporting diverse students' engagement in meaningful learning experiences.

<< Objectives >>- Increase awareness, knowledge and understanding regarding barriers, challenges and opportunities of inclusive engagement of VET students at European, national and institutional level- Encourage VET institutions to critically reflect on their own policies and practices around inclusive student engagement - Support VET institutions with concrete instruments to increase participation of underrepresented groups within VET institutional formal and informal systems of student engagement<< Implementation >>Activities leading to the main results are part of 3 key WPs:- Benchmarking student engagement in VET institutions - scorecards & self-assessment for making student engagement more inclusive & accessible for underrepresented & disadvantaged students- Action planning for inclusive student engagement policies & practices in VET institutions through self-assessment & student-led review- Online course & supporting resources on inclusive student engagement aimed at student support staff<< Results >>Main results consist of:- Mapping report on challenges & barriers of inclusive student engagement for underrepresented students- Benchmarking framework for inclusive engagement- Self-evaluation tool for inclusive engagement - Methodology & training manual for student-led institutional review on inclusive student engagement policies and practises- Guidelines for institutional Action Planning - Online course & supporting resources - Promotional campaign toolkit - Policy recommendations