ΗΕΙs communitY for Blended, Responsive and Inclusive Digital Education

At the time of application, Hybrid-e believed that due to the global pandemic higher education entered a transition phase to embrace more permanent forms of hybrid teaching models and deploying online learning technologies. The crisis provided universities across the globe with an unprecedented opportunity to innovate teaching by effectively adopting online, hybrid and blended teaching formats. The question was whether universities had been successful in transferring into this transformative phase and shaping education in a more proactive and sustainable way? At the time, there was little evidence available that institutions were successfully managing to reap the benefits and switch to a more sustainable approach in responsibly steering their communities into the era of digital transformation. In 2022, the first analysis of experiences of teaching staff and students with online learning became available and provided an invaluable resource for reflection and gaining insights into the needs of students in this transformed learning environment. This context provided universities with an opportunity to learn from one another and share resources in the transition to sustainable forms of hybrid teaching and learning.

The global pandemic changed the way universities teach. Higher education institutions across the globe adopted various forms of online, hybrid and blended teaching to overcome periods of lock-down. In doing so, universities inadvertently moved into a state of (accelerated) digital transformation. Hybrid-e’s chief objective was to support universities navigating through this transformative phase and embrace more permanent forms of hybrid teaching models (i.e., a mix of on campus teaching and use of digital technology for online, hybrid and blended components). HYBRID-E focused primarily on supporting teaching staff and professional support staff with the development of necessary skills and awareness of the responsible use of digital technology and data for improved teaching and learning. Ultimately, Hybrid-e helped universities enhance the quality of education by providing guidance on deploying digital technology effectively, based on a clear educational vision.

Through the activities and project outputs, the following direct results were delivered: 1. Actionable Framework for a Responsible Use of Digital Technologies and Digital (learner) Data - The project delivered and presented the (initial) actionable framework during the first Teaching and Training event in June 2023, resulting in a tool for promoting and nurturing responsible use of digital tools and student data for improved learning, learner support and teaching. The framework enabled the project’s partners and the associate partners to address issues pertaining to privacy and responsibly deploying learning analytics amongst Hybrid-e’s respective academic communities. 2 Digital content map - this set of activities was be prepared by a baseline mapping exercise amongst all HYBRID-E institutions with the purpose of identifying relevant existing data sets that could be used as resources to design the structure of the digital content map. The results of the digital content map are twofold: on the one hand it provided a snapshot of current practices at the time and case studies covering Hybrid-e partnership. In concrete terms, this component of the project resulted in an open toolkit for teaching staff providing digital contents and tools, which help improve teaching in the global digital era, thereby benefiting the learner experience. 3. Inclusive Virtual Community of Practice (vCoP) - after preparing the beta version of the platform in the second year of the project, the vCoP provided an overview of digital tools and case studies proposed by teaching and professional staff based at the four Hybrid-e universities. The vCoP is accessible to all HYBRID-E partners, and Higher Education Institutions across Europe. 4 Dynamic Handbook: Recommendations and Practices for Inclusive and Sustainable Digital Education in traditional Universities – the handbook collided all project results in a digital format. The handbook was filled in a stepwise fashion, starting with the description of the actionable framework, the digital contents map and vCoP alongside descriptions of the methodologies depoyed and guidance notes for users.