During February 2021, the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (FOI) received positive evaluations and decisions on the financing of strategic projects applied for the autumn deadline of the ERASMUS+ call for strategic partnerships for digital education readiness - RAPIDE and eDESK. Both projects were submitted under the guidance of Blaženka Divjak, Ph.D., motivated by the recent confrontation of the education system with the crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic and the provision of support for the digital transformation of higher education institutions.

RAPIDE project (Relevant Assessment and Pedagogies for Inclusive Digital Education), which starts on Monday, March 1, 2021 and will last for 24 months, aims to develop and implement innovative pedagogies (learning and teaching methods) harmonized with student evaluation. It will be fully funded by the European Commission from the ERASMUS+ program, in the total amount of 219,085 EUR.

FOI will, as a coordinator, implement the project in partnership with the School of Medicine of the University of Zagreb, the University of Rijeka and renowned European universities - The Open University (United Kingdom), TU Delft (Netherlands) and Goethe University (Germany).

Work on the project will include the organization and holding of 3 large international workshops and 9 smaller local training workshops for university teaching staff, 4 conferences and 5 consortium meetings.
Among other things, the project expects 4 major outcomes:
- Open resources and a reverse classroom and online-based learning course
- Online Student Assessment Manual
- Control Panel Model for Reverse Classroom Learning and Teaching-Based Learning
- Handbook for the Analysis of the Effects of Innovative Pedagogies.

The first results of the project are expected in May 2021, and more information will soon be available on the official website: rapide-project.eu.

FOI has a partner role in the eDESK project (Digital and Entrepreneurial Skills for European Teachers in the COVID-19 World), which was approved by the Spanish National Agency within the same ERASMUS+ call. In addition to FOI, the UC Foundation for Study and Research in the Financial Sector - UCEIF Foundation (coordinator), the University of Cantabria (Spain), the University of Lisbon (Portugal) and the Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology - LUT University (Finland) are participating in the project.

The goal of the eDESK project is to raise the digital and entrepreneurial skills of European teachers in the (post) covid era.

The FOI research group will most intensively participate in the development of the concept and content of the platform for learning digital competencies in interactive teaching for teachers, as well as in piloting these platforms at four European universities involved in the project.

The 24-month project starts on March 1, 2021, and is financed in the total amount of EUR 237,085.00.

RAPIDE and eDESK projects are significant because they provide a unique experience of international cooperation in the development of competencies of scientific and teaching staff and the introduction of innovations in the teaching process, thus enabling FOI students to internationalize and study modernly.


 
Resource: https://www.foi.unizg.hr/hr/novosti/foi-ju-odobrena-dva-nova-europska-strateska-projekta-rapide-i-edesk