Closing the Gap between Smart Learning and Emergency Remote Teaching

The emergency transition to online learning in the wake of Covid-19 was a phenomenon that forced schools to switch to remote teaching overnight. This emergency transition to online learning has not only been a short time solution to the disruption in the global education, but remained over a year, proving itself to be a significant tool for continuous and accessible education. For one side, the Covid-19 educational emergency brought many opportunities for online learning but at the same time highlighted many of the problems that already existed. Transitioning to online learning, especially when university curricula are planned for face-to-face (F2F) teaching and learning, requires careful planning and design processes. In the last spring semester, we experienced a first phase called Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) a term coined to describe the lack of planning, design, and student-centred approaches. However, it is worth noting that this situation has created opportunities for the adoption of digital pedagogy and the development of digital literacy: an absolute majority of academic faculty has already experimented with ERT. Nevertheless, in order to implement online learning, the teachers need constant support and professional dev

The main objective of the project was to support the transition from Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) to Digital Education through evidence-based, open, and innovative practices of teaching and learning. Its ultimate goal was to improve the quality of education of educational systems of European countries, providing equal opportunities for personal development for all European citizens. There was growing evidence that educators did not have sufficient knowledge of cognitive processes to apply this knowledge to learning designs: evidence-based approaches can provide tools and good practice to help instructors face the new reality that has emerged with ERT: in the past, teaching was largely synchronous; the transition to distance learning brings new challenges for both students and instructors. ERT brings with it an increased cognitive load. This project has proposed a holistic approach, building new tools, practices and resources based on a needs-based approach, to help schools making the transition from ERT to digital pedagogy.

The project aimed to develop a comprehensive Framework for teacher professional development through a series of targeted activities. These included: (a) equipping educators with robust scientific knowledge on how learning and memory function, along with insights into innovative digital pedagogies and digital skills through extensive tutorials; (b) creating a community of practice that assisted teachers in applying this scientific knowledge to enhance their existing teaching strategies; (c) providing a variety of tools and platforms designed to support open educational practices. The project's activities encompassed in-depth research, the development of MOOCs, and a specialized training framework. A toolbox was created to advance both digital competencies and expertise in digital pedagogies among teachers. The results and resources were scaled up across Europe, aiming to promote and support evidence-based educational practices on a broad scale.

The partnership expected and managed to have five main project results. These project results include: i) State-of-the-art and current needs to transition from ERT to digital pedagogy; ii) A standardised teacher professional development framework and guidelines; iii) Interactive community-based open educational resources, MOOCs, and tutorials/training including practical and pedagogical tips and support on the Digital Hub; iv) A collaborative platform for learning design and content (re-)design, storing and publishing on the Digital Hub; and v) Design and Implementation of Training Courses. All project outputs were achieved.