EFEU - Additional Resources
Exemplary Projects
The EFEU team has recognised the significance of referencing past projects to foster learning and capacity building within our respective campuses and improve the quality of our planned activities. Therefore, the team has identified several exemplary projects showcasing sustainability, carbon footprint assessment, and digital learning, three pivotal elements of the EFEU project. A list of these projects is provided below:
Erasmus+ Key Action 1: Learning Mobility of Individuals
Project Number: 2020-1-BE02-KA101-074582
Project Period: 12.2020 – 11.2023
Background
The main objective was to empower teachers to create the best learning opportunities for students, assess their learning needs for this challenge, and take responsibility for their professional development. Teachers participating in mobilities disseminated their observations and findings to the team and the classroom. This project contributed to the quality of their profession, motivation for change and openness to European thought.
Objectives
Within the program's strategic action plan, several important choices have been made in the context of internationalisation. For this project, four priority objectives were set. These objectives are based on the learning needs of the school.
1. To understand the different approaches to the concept of diversity and to improve the management of diversity and inclusiveness in school, classroom and internship settings.
2. Improve quality approaches and further implementation of quality thinking.
3. Gain insights about new teaching methods and adequately respond to future changes to adjust the pedagogical process and further develop alternative learning paths (e.g., organisation of distance learning).
4. Gaining insight into the different types of leadership and optimising leadership and soft skills.
Implementation
Starting from the four action points, a search for international training courses was done. Eight relevant trainings were selected that were directly linked to one or more action areas. Employees participated in a course in pairs.
Achievements
The 16 mobility activities brought positive results for involved teachers, students and others who indirectly benefited from shared Erasmus experiences. Participants developed language skills, cultural enrichment, networking and motivation for educational innovation.
Through the presence of externals at Erasmus activities (Erasmus+ Talks, awarding Europass certificates), results at the meso-macro level were discussed. However, assigning these results to this project was challenging.
Participation in European activities contributed to the school's reputation, making it stand out both inside and outside the school community. Participation in mobilities supported a more substantial commitment to blended learning and promoted the institution's image as a flexible 21st-century healthcare educator. Building international contacts promoted alignment and information exchange with European schools and strengthened cooperation with campus and internship partners. Tangible results included an inspiring project website, invitations, photo reports, and the distribution of materials such as PowerPoints, mobility diaries, and videos, as well as the decoration of the Erasmus classroom in the school.
Website: https://www.atlascollege.be
Erasmus+ Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education
Project number: 2019-1-DE01-KA203-005038
Project period: 09.2019-08.2022
Background
The INSYSTED project was realised through the partnership of four universities: CentraleSupelec, Politecnico di Milano, Technische Universität Berlin, and University College London. The project addressed the needs of various target groups on multiple levels.
It aimed to enhance the quality of education and teaching in the Management/Industrial Engineering Area in a European context through the creation of an innovative, integrated and replicable learning digital and non-digital environment; enhance the skills and competences of professors and students using complex digital learning tools and their ability to interact digitally with peers and professionals in the learning community; support the development of a skill set able to respond to the needs of graduates that prepare for an increasingly complex European labour market.
The cooperation with industry partners that accompanied the development of the integrated digital learning model ensured that the learning outcomes fit the needs of the industry. The project also foresaw a deeper cooperation at the European level in co-creating high-quality digital content and tools through a better synergy among academic staff, e-learning services, and International Relations Offices.
Objectives
INSYSTED aimed to foster soft and digital skills development and internationalisation in higher education through MOOCs, serious games, and online learning communities. To this end, it produced a set of resources (intellectual outputs) targeted primarily towards industrial and management engineering education but meant to be transferable to any other university context.
Implementation
The INSYSTED project created and developed four intellectual outputs:
- IO1 an instructional booklet containing the pedagogical approach of the INSYSTED project,
- IO2 a serious game platform which can be embedded into learning management systems at universities by standard connections to connect to learning resources such as MOOCs and other material and student forums,
- IO3 a manual for the usage of the serious game platform of intellectual output 2 and how to implement it in one’s teaching based on the pedagogical approach of intellectual output 1 and
- IO4 a series of webinars for university teachers interested in implementing the pedagogical framework and the serious game platform.
The outputs were tested and implemented in two rounds of staff and student Learning/Teaching/Training activities held online.
The project results were disseminated through a series of 5 multiplier events in Berlin, London, Milan, Paris and Espoo.
The partnership held six transnational partner meetings, two conducted at the present and four virtually.
Results
The project produced a “ready-to-use” toolbox for teaching staff, especially from industrial and management engineering faculties.
Erasmus+ Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships for School Education
Project number: 2020-1-FR01-KA201-080576
Project period: 09.2020 - 08.2023
Background
The last ten years have been notable due to the advent of civilian rallying regarding climate issues. The youngest has been particularly involved in climate marches. The Clicks on Project has been developed to satisfy the growing interest of the last generations, focusing on secondary schools.
Its aim was to provide teachers and their students with the useful tools and knowledge to tackle the GHG issue in their own schools. Thus, the youngest could benefit from the challenging Clicks on project to support their committed actions.
Objectives
To reach carbon neutrality goals and related objectives, the consortium has decided to develop some innovative methods. This means applying design thinking to secondary school students, their teachers, heads of schools, and non-educational school staff. Those methods should trigger a significant change in favour of a low-carbon transition.
The Clicks On project aims to make target groups, meaning secondary school students, teachers, and non-educational staff, more sensitive to climate change issues. The learning focuses on carbon accounting for everyone to get involved in reducing GHG emissions.
The leading consortium’s objective was to create a pedagogical toolbox allowing teachers to carry out an autonomous project with their students over a school year. The toolbox focuses on the fundamentals of climate change, counting the carbon footprint, and elaborating an action plan to reduce GHG school emissions.
Implementation
To reach this objective, the consortium has:
Studied the needs and knowledge of the target group, including teachers and students ;
- Developed some adapted templates for courses with students (PowerPoints for each project stage, ludicrous activities, etc.) ;
- Developed digital tools: one to calculate schools’ carbon footprints, an online game teaching possible reduction actions in schools, a web platform gathering all resources;
- Developed some resources to lead stakeholders in its implementation (general guides, specific ones about some stages of the project, frequently asked questions);
- Used a forum through the eTwinning tool to connect schools ;
- Guided involved schools to carry out the project: collective webinars, phone or online support, individual assistance for schools;
- Organized many online and physical events to promote the project.
Achievements
The project has provided the opportunity to develop a pedagogical toolbox about climate change, which is available on the Clicks On website: www.clickson.eu. More specifically, pedagogical resources about energy, climate, human activities, and carbon accounting can be found on the website.
Complementary documents to familiarise oneself with and implement the project properly are also available on the website.
Moreover, it hosts an online calculator to help calculate the school's carbon footprint, with access for teachers and students, as well as a serious game created to raise awareness about the choice of actions to take in a secondary school framework. Between 2020 and 2023, all these resources have been tested in three countries: Italy, Spain, and France, involving between 1150 and 1300 people.
Website: https://www.clickson.eu/it/
Erasmus+ Key Action 2: School Exchange Partnerships
Project number: 2020-1-BE01-KA229-074944
Project period: 09.2020 - 08.2023
Background
Our ‘COPNAT’ project was born in the context of the European Green Deal (#EUGreenDeal) presented at the end of 2019 by the new team at the head of the European Commission and on the 20th anniversary of the Natura 2000 network. The project ran for two years (2020-2022) with four partners: Belgium, Finland, Portugal, and Greece.
Through a scientific, cultural, geographical, environmental, socio-economic and historical approach, it aimed to raise people’s knowledge and awareness of Climate change and the role played by the Natura 2000 network in the fight against these climate changes.
One of the aims was to make people aware of the importance of maintaining and restoring natural environments (areas) across Europe in reducing human carbon footprint. The final result of this project was an escape game on the topic of Natura2000 and its positive impact on climate change. This educational game consists of at least four different rooms about ecosystems in each country to allow students to learn about the positive effects of the network: the Atlantic Bio-geographical Region in Portugal, the Boreal Bio-geographical Region in Finland, the Continental Bio-geographical Region in Belgium and the Mediterranean Bio-geographical Region in Greece.
An internet site devoted to the project was created, and a photo contest was held on the landscapes of each country. The project primarily involved students in upper secondary school and their teachers, which provided a good foundation for education and training.
Through all dissemination activities (information sessions in the partner schools, articles on websites, social media, the eTwinning platform, and the escape game being available for other schools and public organisations…), the project reached school communities and external stakeholders.
Through a scientific approach, multimedia technologies, developing ICT skills and mobilities, and using the English language as a means of communication among member schools, the partnership aimed at reaching a common scientific, cultural, social and human reflection not only on the importance of fighting climate change but also on the importance of the restoration, maintenance and promotion of the Natura 2000 areas.
The approach adopted for this project was learning by doing: participation in seminars with experts on the topics, roundtables, visits, field activities, workshops, and cooperative work on the escape game. Students wrote and posted articles about the subject areas of climate change and Natura 2000 sites, preparatory activities, reports, evaluations, etc., on eTwinning, on social media and the internet site dedicated to the project.
*The project descriptions were sourced directly from the projects’ websites.
Suggested Literature: Part 1
To facilitate the development and implementation of the EFEU project, we have identified the following resources as valuable guides. These resources offer pertinent strategies and ideologies to support the sustainable transition of educational institutions.
Editors: Katie Leone, Simeon Komisar, Edwin M. Everham III
Published: 2021/2022
Summary:
This book documents strategies for universities engaging sustainability challenges through the education of global citizens on topics such as climate change, habitat alteration, species loss, resource depletion and contamination, food access and sovereignty, economic equity, and energy use. Different disciplines and operational units often have disparate ideas in mind when they work toward advancing sustainability. For example, some disciplines focus on environmental challenges (identifying impacts to ecosystems, mitigation and remediation strategies), some on the greening of industrial and commercial practices, while others address social equity - often, there is little effort to connect these pieces, especially while considering economic impacts. This book examines how Florida Gulf Coast University has attempted to infuse sustainability across curricula and operations as an integrated concept and our successes and shortcomings are instructional for sustainability practitioners on college campuses and other industries in a wide audience.
Author: Dr Denise Summers; Dr Roger Cutting
Published: 2016
Summary:
This book will enable teachers and managers in the post-compulsory sector to consider a range of approaches to embed Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in their practice in the post-compulsory sector. There will be the opportunity to consider key debates, useful links and suggested reading to encourage further investigation and development of practice. Fundamentally, this book aims to empower teachers to critically analyse ESD through their own subject specialisms, engage in the debate and learn with their students. The democratic and participative approaches introduced will help readers to question traditional transmissive styles of teaching and learning and move on to the radical and transformative approaches required to embrace ESD. Therefore, this book, whilst including illustrative examples, will encourage the reader to look at their own subject specialisms, practices, interests and those of their students to co-construct a curriculum that embeds ESD.
Editors: Prohlad Roy, Afazuddin Sk, Sk Rashidul Haque
Published: 2021
Summary:
Sustainable Development is one of the paramount challenges of our times. In the present era, the world grapples with a multitude of issues, such as illiteracy, poverty, hunger, malnutrition, epidemics, violence, political polarization, extremism, environmental degradation, and climate change. These concerns deeply trouble scientists, educators, philosophers, and environmentalists who tirelessly seek solutions.
Education for Sustainable Development emerges as a holistic approach to equipping individuals with the knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes necessary to foster a safer, healthier, and more prosperous world. Rabindranath Tagore, a revered figure on the global stage, emphasized the multifaceted role of education, which is evident in his thoughts, ideologies, poetry, music, drama, and his renowned institution, Visva-Bharati. Tagore demonstrated a profound awareness of socio-cultural, economic, and environmental phenomena, placing significant emphasis on education as a means of addressing these issues.
*Summaries provided by the books’ publishers.