This two year KA2 project aims at making digital education technologies accessible to all offering open access to a wealth of information, education and training resources while also offering guidance on how to evaluate and make efficient use of them even in times of crisis such as the COVID – 19 pandemic. It has been recognized by the partnership that in STEM Fields such as educational robotics the transition from physical to virtual has been particularly difficult. 

Therefore, in accordance with the new requirements of the VET sector and EC’s Digital Education and Action Plan (2021-2027) this project has been designed in order to:

a) Identify the tutors’ specific needs during the COVID-19 period

b) Distinguish from other free relevant digital tools that are of poor quality

c) Navigate them on how to deal with the social repercussions identified mainly on youngsters because of the lack of actual contact

d) Prepare a new training curriculum for tutors and develop innovative digital support materials

e) Train the tutors on how to make effective use of the above, assess the educational content and receive feedback

f) Create an open distance learning platform with online courses, webinars, tutorials, evaluation based on electronic badges, etc.

Through this multifaceted approach and set of activities, the results of “Going the Distance” will foster both the short-term (for dealing with the current conditions that are expected yet to last) and long-term development (equipping our target groups with digital tools and soft skills that will be valuable for their future success and employability).

In this regard, the consortium includes 6 partners from different EU countries (Netherlands, Greece, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Italy) with all of them representing organizations focused on STEM capacity building, mainly through educational robotics, providing them with the opportunity to cooperate, exchange best practices and create outputs that will allow them to enrich their existing VET schemes in regards to STEM learning and related technological challenges. Nevertheless, since the educational challenges are similar for all stakeholders today in this new reality, the project’s results will help tackle common gaps of deficient digital learning and online engagement of tutors and students alike, not only in the partners’ regions, but will in other countries and contexts too. For this reason, all the outputs and materials developed during “Going the Distance” will be shared freely and as widely as possible with stakeholders of various profiles on an international and country level, to encourage and facilitate their augmentation, replication, up-taking and mainstreaming.

Erasmus+ project Form ID: KA226-B868EC58

Partners: