The Project
The emergency created by COVID-19 pandemic has shown worldwide the importance of digital education for a sustainable future and it has incredibly accelerated the change to virtual learning in secondary schools.
It is estimated that during the highest peak of the pandemic, the shift from classroom-based education to virtual education has interested 1.6 billion students in 190 countries creating an unprecedented threat to the right to quality and inclusive education.
Virtual schooling involves not only the use of digital tools and devices in the pedagogical framework, but a shift in the methodologies, enriching traditional methods creating a dynamic, inclusive, open and participative teaching and learning environment.
The project EUVHS – A framework for the design and implementation of European Virtual ScHoolS (Erasmus + KA2: Strategic Partnership for Schools) develops innovative practice and methods for digital education and aims at creating a training course for school leaders, teachers, and students that will equip them with the knowledge and tools to effectively teach and learn through digital education.
The aim of EUVHS project is to improve the quality and effectiveness of digital education in European secondary schools contributing to reach a standard level of preparedness and quality in virtual learning as set in the Digital Competence Framework for Educators and to contribute to the European Education Area.
EUVHS project is also in line with the Digital Education Action Plan and its two priorities of 1. Fostering the development of a high-performing digital education ecosystem; 2. Enhancing digital skills and competences for the digital transformation.
EUVHS objectives are:
To develop school leaders and teachers’ capacities to design and deliver online education;
To develop a practical toolkit aligned with the DigCompEdu, with practical, step-by-step guides on how to design and deploy virtual schooling;
To develop the digital skills of teachers and learners
Activities
The consortium of EUVHS project will first conduct a research on existing good practices for virtual learning through literature review on the state of the art. This research will look for methods, strategies, learning theories, and tools, that are used in each partner country for virtual schooling on a secondary educational level. The research will also involve 200 school leaders and teachers, identifying their need and experiences in digital education through the administration of questionnaires and focus groups. The collected data will be presented in national level reports. Partners will then develop a checklist for virtual learning preparedness using SELFIE and TET-SAT as reference tools.
All the collected insights and materials will be used to develop a practical toolkit for school leaders and teachers effective virtual schooling.
Based on the emerging needs, partners will structure training courses on virtual schooling for school leaders, teachers and students. Project partner staff will be trained to deliver the course and they will facilitate in turn the training for 20 school leader and teachers and 20 secondary schools students in their national contexts.
All the developed resources, the best practices and the training courses will be freely available online through the eLearning platform created by the project consortium. The eLearning platform will a dynamic tool to improve the quality of virtual schooling in Europe.