The aim of our project was the development of both an innovative webpage with CMS (Content Management System) and the development of Social entrepreneurship projects in a Portuguese and in an Estonian Schools, as a key element of the respective vet courses of education, namely Organization of Events and Marketing and Public Relations, in Portugal, and Multimedia, photography and ICT, in Estonia. In both schools, virtual companies were founded, which planned and implemented social events and activities. In both places, groups of students had to decide on the type of activity, content, target public and aims. They were involved in the planning and implementation of the events right from the beginning. Cooperation between both institutions will be based on information exchange and production of usable contents from the area of organization of events, multimedia and IT by the students using Web. 2.0 tools.Both countries were responsible for the organization of the events (two joint ones, one at each exchange period, and then one at each partner country, in an individual scale, for preparation of the joint one), dissemination of it and for the communication process / webpage with Content Management System platform. The events then: - Informed about each partner city, region, country (traditions, history, teaching-learning process, social responsibility in the respective region, etc)- Promoted intercultural communication (language, music, art, literature, etc)- Involved partners outside school- promoted social responsibility- Used resources efficiently- Were properly disseminatedThe teachers and students used Project management methodology for the development of the projects. The conditions were created and support was given to student in the company foundation by the teachers. There were training activities on project methodology and 2.0 web tools. One at each project year.Students and teachers/trainers from the referred VET areas decided on a common content structure of a Wordpress platform and developed together and progressively the content. Students knew how to work with web and wiki platforms and used them in order to find information. Competencies were developed in activities. Our concept was stimulating students to be active, to discuss and to create learning content which was stored in the Wordpress Platform and which is of practical use for further training and application in the further professional carrier.The use of SKYPE also allowed direct oral discussion. This way, the four main activities to develop foreign language competencies were addressed: writing and reading (in the Wordpress) and listening and speaking (by using SKYPE), linked to contents which address language (glossary, active use of profession related terms for content production, development of the language of communication (English), intercultural competencies, professional knowledge (content directly related to the students learning subjects), computer skills (active use of WEB 2.0 applications ) and skills for promoting life long learning (getting to know and practice of media based learning scenarios – the two last mentioned also important for the involved trainers in both institutions.Two training activities for the teaching-learning and practice of 2.0 web tools and Project Management Methodology were organized, one in each country which allowed for the successful development of the whole project.Two exchange periods of 10 days each in both countries allowed to the joint organization of the chosen real event and for the discussion of further development and results, getting to know each other by face to face contact as well as to focus on the practical experience of the other culture.Both countries were aware of the present economic situation and of high rate of youth unemployment and recognise it a challenge for schools and employers to train young individuals and to bring employement.

The partnership of this project, composed of 5 partners, from 5 different countries, was a well balanced and strong one, as it involved vet schools, university and as a supportive partner Estonian Association of Photographers. All partners were well aware of the respective responsibility in accepting working together in this project and knows what their role is, during the 2 years of project development. Tallinn Polytechnic School is the only vocational school in Estonia that teaches photography. Due to that we find that it is a good opportunity to exchange our teaching methods and ideas with other vocational schools in other countries and get new methods, ideas and possibilities to improve the education in our country but also in our partner countries. We want to give the students and teachers a wider view to photography internationally. This project gives not only a change to share methods and ideas, but also for all the partners opportunities to actually meet for gathering new ideas and inspiration. In addition it gives opportunities for students to take photos in the environment that is not possible in their home school. This project gives our students and teachers a good opportunity to show our competitiveness in the international labor market. Experience from the previous mobility projects shows that students having opportunity to participate in these activities has given them wider skills and broaden their mind in photography business and culture in Europe. This strategic partnership will be the next step in popularization of this area. The idea of the project comes from the workshops that we have had for our school from the guest teachers who have had very successful master-classes. This has given our teachers and students opportunity to experience learning from foreign teachers. Their skills in using professional English language have also improved. One of the guest teachers was planned to be the partner of this project (Bruce Tanner), unfortunately his documents and situation in his home country did not allow him to be an official partner. But still he worked with us as a volunteer and supported the project with his ideas and masterclasses. Activities within this project resulted in an e-book and a paper book and co The project was also comprised the creation of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), which is as a portal giving information on career areas, the curricula of technical areas, examples of career opportunities within each area, professional profiles, possibility to upload or download documents, etc. The project also allowed to improve partners’ linguistic, management and organization skills, reinforce possible future partnerships between schools, Universities, Enterprises and other Stakeholders. Ultimately, the partnership contributed to a fairer local labor market regarding unemployment and employment, helping students better plan their future.

The organizations involved in the project “MakIN Teach – MAKerspaces for INnovation in TEACHing practices” share the mission of supporting students/learners in their path of growth, education and inclusion into today's society. All project partners have educational underachievement (especially in theoretical disciplines) and early school leaving of their students as common problems. The objectives of this project arise from inquiries that teachers/educators of each organization have carried out at local level on the two aforementioned issues. The teachers/educators involved have found worrying rates of educational underachievement and early school leaving (the results per country are: IT 22% and 27%, ES 20% and 19%, BG 40% and 13%, EE 12% and 11%). In addition, they have found that this worrying situation is linked to the didactic methods currently used, which are often static and not adequate to involve the students/learners with educational difficulties. The teachers/educators involved believe that it is crucial to develop more attracting teaching methods and more real-life related learning environments. They also believe that Makerspaces and FabLabs (and the rapid prototyping technology used in these spaces) can support the teaching staff in this change. In detail, the project “MakIN Teach” integrates the Do It Yourself (DIY) philosophy, typical of these spaces, with the Activism theory and the related ideas of “experience learning” and “active learning”. By implementing these concepts, the consortium wants to exchange good practices in using rapid prototyping techniques, tools and spaces in the fields of education and training with the purpose of supporting teachers/educators working with students/learners showing poor educational results in theoretical subjects (e.g. mathematics, biology, geography, history, language, communication etc.).In detail, “MakIN Teach” has the following target groups:- teachers and educators working with students/learners showing poor educational results in theoretical subjects, which will be directly involved in the training events and other project activities;- makerspace/FabLab staff, which will be involved in activities aimed at introducing the “rapid prototyping technology” in education and training;- students/learners with poor results, which will benefit from inspiring and innovative learning environments.To reach the project objectives, the partners have planned three short-term joint staff training events and one student learning activity, which will provide the opportunity to have practical experiences in Makerspaces/Fablabs both to teachers/educators and students/learners. Here the titles of the transnational activities:- first training activity: “FabLab/Makerspace 101 – modelling of teaching artefacts”;- second training activity: “How to create teaching artefacts by using rapid prototyping tools and machines”;- third training activity and first student learning activity: “Turning the FabLab and Makerspace into the new classroom”.The consortium consider these transnational activities as the starting point to build a fruitful and durable network of Education Institutions and Makerspaces/FabLabs both at a local and European level. Through the transnational activities and the related local work teams’ activities, the partners will collaborate in generating ideas, materials and experiences and in collecting them in an interactive e-book containing tutorial video-clips, pictures, texts, exercises, artefact designs and information about rapid prototyping technology and the integration of the FabLab/Makerspace into the traditional teaching practices.At least 35 teachers and educators and at least 12 students/learners will participate in the transnational training/learning activities. During the local work teams’ activities, at least 100 teachers and educators and at least 90 students/learners with poor educational results will be involved.“MakIN Teach” has the following expected results:– increased teachers and educators’ ability in integrating the rapid prototyping technology into the traditional teaching practices and in using innovative and more involving learning environments;– to have opened the classrooms by fostering networks between education institutions and FabLabs/Makerspaces both at an European and local level;– to have Increased students/learners' ability in developing new forms of practical reasoning for theoretical subjects and notions;– to have provided elements, information and expertise to reconsider the current and traditional educational environments;– an interactive e-book providing information and material to facilitate the integration of rapid prototyping technology and FabLabs/Makerspace into the traditional teaching practices;The project partners are AFP Patronato San Vincenzo (IT), I.E.S. Juan Ciudad Duarte (ES) Tallinn Polytechnic School (EE), Transit Projectes (ES) and Center for Creative Training Association (BG).

Global economy is currently fuelled by rapid development of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). STEM fields have experienced continuous growth since the 1990s, and jobs in STEM are expected to grow around 20% in the next decade. However, one of the biggest obstacles to this process is the lack of employees with STEM skills. According to the European Commission, one of the solutions would be to tap into largely unrealised potential of women in this area. In the EU only 24 out of 1000 female graduates come from ICT—related studies, and women constitute just 13% of all graduates of ICT subjects. To address both of these problems – lack of employees with STEM skills, as well as gender inequality in this area, we came up with the project Full STEAM Ahead! It is directed at secondary school students (particularly girls) as well as teachers (especially STEAM teachers) from partner organizations in 6 countries: Slovakia, Poland, Greece, Finland, Estonia and Spain. The project aims at combating the gender inequality gap existing in the field of STEM and promoting STEAM (STEM and Arts for a full and integrated approach) education among students. The project’s objectives are: increasing motivation of students, particularly females, to study STEAM subjects; fighting stereotypes regarding female role in STEAM world; raising awareness of STEAM studies as career opportunities; improving knowledge and capacity in STEAM area, implementing more active, hands-on methods while teaching STEAM; making STEAM teaching and learning fun and exciting; strengthening the profile of teachers by exposing them to innovative teaching and motivating methods. We also want to make our students aware of their European cultural heritage through familiarizing them with famous scientists (particularly women), whose discoveries and historical achievements constitute the basis of modern science and development. We are planning 1 LTT event for teachers only, STEAM Guides, to help them become well-versed in teaching STEAM subjects, show them how to motivate and inspire their students. There will also be 5 LTT events for students: 1) S (Science) - Science Explorers! - activity focusing on Science, including workshops and seminars for students on real-life science applications and experiments (e.g. building photovoltaic systems out of solar cells, molecular cuisine, physics challenges etc.). 2) T (Technology) – Code Breakers! - focusing on Technology, particularly ICT, covering elements of „Introduction to Coding/Programming/App Development” with seminars and workshops focused on coding, programming and app development led by professional experts from ICT area (Learn2code).3) E (Engineering) – Future Engineers! – LTT event focusing on Engineering and Robotics. Participants will practice creating engineering projects, such as building real-life devices. They will also take part in Robotics workshops. 4) A (Digital Art) – Digital Artists! – mobility during which students will focus on the Arts and Creativity. They will work in mixed groups, scripting a story, acting it and filming and finally editing it using software like Photoshop Pro and Adobe Premiere. They will also design and edit graphics and take part in 3D printing workshops.5) M (Maths) – Inspired Mathematicians! – LTT event during which students will develop a new approach to Maths by studying Thales´ circle, Archimedes´ principle or even Pythagorean Theorem with creative, engaging methods like case studies, experiments, field trips. Apart from seminars and workshops, we are planning to introduce students to important female scientists, tech professionals and artists, both past and current, from each partner country, to serve as inspiration, motivation and role models for young people. There will also be STEAM-oriented trips during and between LTT events to technical schools and universities and various Science and Research facilities. STEAM participants will conduct STEAM lessons for their peers. Partner schools will organise STEAM Days to promote STEAM education and disseminate the project and its outputs among local communities. Virtual mobilities for students and teachers will take place around each LTT event to give project participants a richer, more extensive experience and prolong their involvement.Tangible results of the project will be: multimedia materials (instructional videos, slideshows, guides, presentations etc.), STEAM-oriented lesson plans that will be added to school curricula, multimedia newsletters that will include tangible outputs, LTT activity descriptions, photos, etc. The project website and STEAM Clubs will be created in participating schools to implement and disseminate project activities and results. The intangible results will be: increased knowledge and skills of students and teachers in STEAM areas, changed attitude of students, particularly girls, towards STEAM subjects, increased interest and motivation to learn and study them.

The project “Exchange knowledge for future innovation” aims at revisiting an old problem and to solve it by regarding it from a new perspective. The old problem is: the gap between the companies and organizations -the world of work- and its needs and requirements for well educated people and the education world with their study programs and curricula. Closing this gap effectively can be reached by merging the 2 worlds with innovative ICT applications. The main application will be the innovative Map&Match web-based Platform for the enhancement of learning in the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI). Context/background: The CCI is evolving further with structural changes. The subsectors: media, visual communication, print&publishing, arts, design, advertising, gaming, film/photography, internet and (up to a certain degree) packaging, are changing rapidly and the educational material changes accordingly. Objectives: The present project intends to investigate innovative approaches for scanning needs and requirements for knowledge, skills and competences of the CCI and matching them with suitable existing research&learning material based on learning outcomes. Main objective is to create an Exchange platform to facilitate the availability of innovative learning&research material, to map the competence needs and match those needs with the appropriate learning/research module(s). The web based tools&applications run on the platform. The Exchange platform can be applied for the project target groups: VET&HEs, SMEs, entrepreneurs, sector organizations and social partners in the CCI. It will operate as a set of ICT-applications): a database of existing learning&research material (from various sources) will be created by uploading educational material to an Exchange platform(O1). Uploading will be supported by the Intake application(O2) where the learning&research material will be described and has to meet certain educational standards and formats in order to pass the entrance requirements. Also a value will be determined and assigned to the uploaded material using the Barter system. The Search robot(O4) facilitates the user to map the competence needs and match these needs with suitable learning/research module(s). The download facility for the material uses the Barter system purchasing application(O3). The Barter is an exchange system where goods are directly exchanged for other goods without using money for instance, as a medium of exchange. In the project we develop the criteria for uploading and downloading the materials and how the value of the uploaded materials will be determined, likewise the value at which materials can be downloaded will be settled. The Barter system will work with a kind of credit system. In the testing phase of the ICT application, we will use the research on developments and new competences and developed learning material (on 5 subsectors of the CCI) of a running Erasmus+ project (Thrive!). Also research will be done to map existing material with the potential to upload. The Platform as a transparent database of existing material makes it possible to cover present and new demands for education in the CCI. By using the material in more schools, major benefits can be achieved: companies and countries can use the improved material (also the uploader), lower cost for materials, efficiency by not reinventing the wheel, learning material available in the own language (translations). Impact: The project outcomes -in particular the establishment of the platform with its applications- will have a significant and positive impact for a wide range of stakeholders in the CCI such as VET & HE teachers and students, curricula developers at educational organisations, entrepreneurs, companies and sector organizations. The project outcomes can also be beneficial directly at sector level for regional, national, European and international establishments and organisations. The ‘reach’ of the Exchange platform and its applications can be extended by making it available for other sectors, whose needs for new competences could be matched with the learning process in an innovative way. Potential longer term benefits: The Exchange Platform can be used by more countries and the respective education organizations, companies and entrepreneurs. It can be expanded or copied to other sectors. Once established, the Platform can be further developed as solid base for improvement of competences of the human capital. It can also be used further to standardize learning outcomes to be applied for the restructuring of (VET&HE) curricula and blended learning activities. Partners in the project: Coordinator 1: Stivako (NL) VET, Partner 2: HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY (EL) HE Partner 3: Escola Antoni Algueró (ES) VET/HE Partner 4: Artevelde University VET HE (B) Partner 5: Tallinn Polytechnic School (ESTONIA) VET Partner 6: Muldis (NL) – consultancy & information technology.