"<< Background >>The COVID-19 pandemic, the fear of its spread in the community and the closure of VET centers brought distance learning to the forefront. Some European countries, which had already included distance learning in the educational process found themselves in an advantageous position over other countries that are now seeking to learn how to use these tools and are working to establish such mechanisms (Huffpost, 2020). According to Glushko, Romanova and Romanova (2020) 90% of VET centres all over the world had to terminate on-site activities and start applying digitalised strategies to continue delivering trainings. The same authors are highlighting the significant disparities that were present among VET centers in different national contexts, as high-income countries had the essential technological and economic capacity to utilize and incorporate digital practices that can facilitate and enhance the quality of the distance-learning experience, while low-income countries were merely delivering the learning material in a broadcasting way, where VET learners had less opportunities to interact with the deliverable teaching materials and consolidate the knowledge through the experiential learning process.The current consortium strongly agrees that distance learning is an outstanding teaching methodology, but a mere online streaming teaching approach is not effective as more online interactive methodologies should get applied. In all training centers of the current consortium there is a high need for interactive distance learning methodologies that will sender the learning more enjoyable and prevent drop outs, and another need is also present for specialized training on interactive distance learning skills addressed to VET educators. For that reason, d-ICT project aims at creating an innovative gamified asynchronous eLearning experience addressed to VET educators to strengthen their distance teaching skills and enhance the distance learning experience, in order to prevent drop outs.To sum up, the current partnership tried shed light on the COVID’s lockdown implications on the VET education and found some significant gaps that led them to apply for the project. The fast-moving transition to the distance learning education caught the VET educators unprepared as many of them have not built the capacity to provide interactive lessons online so far. For that reason, the current project seeks to deepen its knowledge about the needs of VET educators, through a second-stage bottom-up analysis and address those needs by compiling, developing and disseminating interactive digital educational experiences and tools.<< Objectives >>Through the current project, the consortium partnership aims to achieve the following objectives: -To meliorate the digital skills and competences of VET educators in the field of distance learning-To create an innovative gamified asynchronous eLearning experience-To combine the assets of gamification and distance-learning -To boost the interest and curiosity of VET learners and keep them captured in the process of teaching, thus, reducing the phenomena of drop-outs due to the boredom non-interactive distance-learning creates-To empower interaction and teamwork with classmates under distance learning circumstances-To raise awareness about the significance of facilitating the distance learning methodology through interactive approaches like digital gamification<< Implementation >>The activities planned can be categorized under 4 classifications: MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES that include:•All activities organized by the Coordinator, such as the Transnational Project Meetings, the Work plan settlement, the Project Management Kit establishment, that are ongoing processes to which the consortium needs to pay the appropriate respect. These activities will ensure fair collaboration among all partners, as well as regular communication. Moreover, risks are going to be identified and been kept to the minimum, while all partners will feel free to discuss their problems at any time.MONITORING ACTIVITIES to ensure KPIs, milestones and results have been reached, t include:•The subcontracting of the External Evaluator (EE) to unbiasedly assess the project•The establishment of the Quality Action Plan by the EE•The establishment of the Internal Evaluator which is University of Peloponnese and will collaborate with the EE to provide feedback to the Steering Committee •The overall assessment of the project and its Project Results in three phases: a) at the begging (FIRST) b) during the project/project results (INTERIM) and c) at the end of the Project/ Project Activities (FINAL) PROJECT IMPLEMENTAION ACTIVITIES that include:•The production of 3 Project Results a) Lessons Learned: Exploring the taken resolutions aimed at facilitating distance learning in the COVID-19 era (PR1), b) “d-ICT e-Toolkit”: Introducing distance learning practices and digital tools to facilitate the e-Learning experience and prevent drop outs (PR2) and c) Gamified asynchronous eLearning Experience (PR3)•The implementation of 7 national piloting of PR2 & PR3 toward VET educators who will utilize the aforementioned materials in real e-classroom circumstances and provide meaningful feedbacks•1 C-Training Activity that will be hosted by the technical partner of the Project, ISQe in Portugal, and partners will test and validate the PR2 & PR3 resultsDISSEMINATION ACTIVTITIES to achieve the maximum dissemination/exploitation of the results, include:• 7 National Multiplier Events with at least 20 participants per partner (ISQe is excluded as will be the technical partner)•Dissemination plan construction by the Leader•Construction of Project’s Social Media accounts•Design of e-flyers and other dissemination materials•Translation of products and materials for dissemination and exploitation purposes•Posts of the project through social channels of partner organizations •Participation in European wide dissemination activities conferences and/or in-network meetings by all partners•Involvement of Associated partners to the project<< Results >>With regard the Project Results:PR1: Lessons Learned: Exploring the taken resolutions aimed at facilitating distance learning in the COVID-19 era vPR2: “d-ICT e-Toolkit”: Introducing distance learning practices and digital tools to facilitate the e-Learning experience and prevent drop outsPR3: A Gamified asynchronous eLearning experience With regard the project outcomes:-The video-recording of Digital Storytelling interviews by 5 VET educators, as a significant experiential and educational material through the distance learning engagement with their learners. Through these interviews, VET educators can talk about their struggles during the lockdown, the digital resolutions taken per country, while they can also clarify points for improvement. The participants-storytellers of the Digital Interviews will play the role of ""Role Models"", who will influence others having the same concerns and facing similar barriers, in order to initiate a journey through their personal and professional development in VET distance learning innovation.-One “d-ICT e-Toolkit” translated in consortium country languages (Excluding the technical partner language Portuguese [ISQe] who will use the English version) from English, as an introduction to the world of distance learning innovation including:1.An e-Currculum:•With e-Units•Learning Outcomes of each e-Unit, in terms of Knowledge, Skills and Responsibly & Autonomy•hours of learning and acquired ECVET points 2.an e-book with: •Practical interactive distance learning techniques •Introduction to Digital Gamification and its applications in distance learning•Digital gamification techniques•e-Tips for VET educators•Techniques to make e-Classrooms more enjoyable•Techniques to prevent VET drop outs due to distance learning •The theory behind the aforementioned•Assessment methodology3.an e-tool with:•Interactive educational tools•Digital gamification tools•Tools to facilitate distance learning experience-The construction of the Gamified asynchronous eLearning experience that will incorporate the products and deliverables of PR1 & PR2 as an example of the interactive distance learning innovation. The Gamified asynchronous eLearning experience will be available in .scorm format, while stakeholders will also have the chance to download the format as it can be easily recognized by almost any Learning Management System (LMS)-The “d-ICT Website” that will act as an Open Educational Resource (OER):•Providing access to Digital Storytelling Interviews •The deliverables of d-ICT e-Toolkit•Gamified asynchronous eLearning experience compiling the PR1 & PR2 materials in .scorm format-Piloting sessions in 6 countries, by 7 organizations to 20 target users per partner that will test and validate the produced material with a 5 beneficiaries each (per VET educator) in real e-classroom-7 national Multiplier Events"