"The European manufacturing industry is at the beginning of a new industrial revolution - being called Industry 4.0 - that holds the promise of increased flexibility in manufacturing, mass customisation, increased speed, better quality and improved productivity. Besides the strong use of ICT and automation, manual processes such as welding, still play a large role in the manufacturing industry. Welders represent a traditional branch with almost no ICT training being implemented. The common approach is classroom face-to-face theoretical training and applied shopfloor welding. Such opposition towards modernisation and new technologies requires a clearly stated concept that builds upon real challenges and working processes. To strive in today's digital world, meaning handling the changes in the workspace, trained welders must increase their IT knowledge.The WELD4.0, submitted in 2017 to the UK Erasmus+ National Agency, was an innovative project aiming at the introduction of digital technologies in the context of Industry 4.0 for the existing professional welding profile. The project addressed an actual market need in terms of the skills shortage gap of qualified welding personnel, affecting the broader manufacturing sector in Europe. The WELD4.0 had the following six main objectives:1) To re-define the European Welder Profile in the context of Industry 4.0, according to the new and future job requirements and analyse the digital welding skills and competences in demand;2) Improve the quality of qualification programmes in welding, in terms of transparency and recognition among the European countries (using common EU tools);3) Promote language learning and linguistic diversity through the provision of multinational pilot training, especially in English, German and Portuguese (languages of the consortium members);4) Increase transparency of competences and qualifications in the welding sector;5) Foster the promotion of new learning opportunities, in an easily accessible and career-oriented Welding Profile;6) Implement ICT new learning opportunities, via the development of an innovative ICT training solution.The WELD4.0 consortium was composed of four partners with complementary backgrounds and expertise: 1. HighSkillz is an ICT company with expertise in game-based learning solutions;2. BIBA is an interdisciplinary research institute developing technical and organizational solutions and putting them into practice in SMEs as well as multinational companies;3. ISQ is a welding institute with both sectorial and national expertise in VET and welding;3. EWF is a European umbrella association on welding with its members being VET providers in a total of 31 European countries. The WELD4.0 project started with the evaluation of the existing European Welder Curriculum towards the identification of the market needs and the digital skills gap in welding. The result of this analysis was a report on existing curriculum and digitization needs in the welding sector. The main findings of this report was the identification of gaps in the welding curriculum that led to the need of the update of the existing European Welder (EW) training Guideline. Therefore, WELD4.0 developed of a new Competence Unit on the ""Introduction to Industry 4.0”. As part of the introduced Competence Unit WELD4.0 developed an innovative ICT-based training solution for welders. The WELD4.0 Tool was an interactive training solution for the support of welding training of entry level personnel with two welding scenarios for different levels of expertise, translated in English. German and Portuguese. Due to the transferability potential of the WELD4.0 methodology to other industrial sectors, a Guide for this purpose was developed.The WELD4.0 main outcomes were piloted in a series of national events in the UK, Germany and Portugal, throughout the life of the project. The project’s innovative approach was disseminated to the VET and the welding industry through different channels. The project achieved a great impact at local, regional, European and international level. A number of events were realised throughout the project, including co-creation workshops, multiplier events (hands-on seminars, industry awareness events), a training workshop (capacity building event) and an international conference. The new Competence Unit and the innovative ICT training solution were also disseminated and shared with a number of people through the project’s website and social media at a European and International level. The WELD4.0 had a very positive impact based on the feedback provided by the project’s target groups and the participants that were actively involved throughout the project via their participation in evaluation surveys and events. The received feedback indicated that the project addressed a real need of the industry and a requirement in terms of training and preparation of welding professionals to meet the challenges brought by Industry 4.0."

Context/background of the projectThe RU EU? Project was conceived against a background of ongoing change and division across Europe. Issues relating to National and European identity are highly topical and of fundamental importance to our sense of who we are in the world. A better understanding of these issues is urgently required, given the power of perceived differences between groups to lead to conflict. Another influence on the project was the increasing interest in “the use of ICT as a driver for systemic change to increase the quality and relevance of education”. Serious games provide modern digital approaches to learning that emphasise 21st century skills which prioritize what students can do with knowledge, rather than just focusing on knowledge acquisition. Consequently it was thought that a game-based approach to exploring National and European identity might help to provide students with an innovative approach to understanding this complicated topic.ObjectivesThe Erasmus+ funded RU EU? project aimed to develop an innovative digital game, the RU EU? game, to provide an engaging platform for students across Europe to confront some of the complex issues surrounding National and European identity and to help these young Europeans to develop a better understanding of their own and others’ feelings of belonging to or alienation from the EU. The project also developed support materials for teachers to help them use the game most effectively for their students. The game and support materials can be found at the project website: https://rueu-project.eu/Number and type/profile of participantsThe intended audience for the RU EU? game is social science and business students across Europe who need to know something about European identity as part of their degree course. Games design students will also be interested in the game as a case study in game design, looking at how the learning outcomes were specified and how the game mechanics address the learning outcomes. The game will also be of particular interest to Erasmus students and other international students at university in Europe, as well as staff who teach on programmes and modules where European identity is relevant or who support international students in their studies. Description of activities undertakenThe early project activities provided background information to assist in the design of the game: O1: the literature review of European identity summarised varied approaches to understanding European identity and provided a strong theoretical foundation for the game; O2: the resource review identified existing paper and pencil and learning resources (including games) in the areas of politics and national and European identity, and O3: the user requirements analysis provided empirical evidence from potential players of the game about their understanding of European identity, what they would want to and expect to see in such a game, as well as their game preferences. The findings from these activities as well as extended discussions fed into O4: Development of the game content and decision-making scenarios which provided the initial description of the journalist narrative and the proposed game tools: the interview tools, the discussion tool, the Newsflash tools and Final assignment tools as well as the content for the 5 game scenarios (Brexit; Who is European? Different attitudes between nations; The rights of citizens to work in different partner countries; Changes to European identity over time and Immigration and the rights of migrants). O5: Design specification document for the game provided a more detailed and coherent account of how these would fit together to provide the blueprint for the game development. O6: The game and game platform are the key deliverables for the project. The game development implemented the ideas presented in O5 and the final working version of the game can be downloaded from the RU EU? Project website: https://rueu-project.eu. A full description of the final game can also be found here along with O7: The Support materials for the game that describe how the game can best be used in teaching and training activities. 5 best practice case studies and use case scenarios that describe the varied teaching opportunities for using the game can also be found. O8: Piloting and Evaluation: The final project activity was full piloting and evaluation of the game. Results and impact attainedThe project has been very successful in academic dissemination, via journal articles and conference papers to a diverse audience of learning technology experts, games experts, learning and pedagogy experts as well as social scientists, the content experts. The multiplier events extended this dissemination to a diverse audience of educationalists and technology experts.Longer-term benefits.We have a working game and this will be used in classes where an understanding of European identity is relevant, as well as game design classes.

<< Objectives >>This project result will undoubtedly lead to a better understanding of how to teach and to learn the different topics related to IoT. In addition, it will be possible to take advantage of the experience of various partners to improve the development strategy of new materials on IoT-related topics. Moreover, indirectly, these results will certainly provide an interesting opportunity to attract students or other stakeholders to discover and learn these emergent topics<< Implementation >>All activities in the project will be focused to achieve the final goal, so all planed packages will be finished. We will make guidelines for IoT Fablab development, then we will develop learning materials, make CPD courses for teachers, and at the end we will create a final toolkit.<< Results >>Besides the conveying of knowledge to partner teachers, FabLab operators and students, will get an open access EduFabLab toolkit which will include validated learning materials, pedagogical guidelines and tools aimed mainly for European schools, but also for other stakeholders (Schools, FabLabs, etc.) to use the results for further training purposes.

This project aims to meet the demands of a given population, which growth tendency in a near future is evident. More specifically, it aims to help, on one hand, individuals being +55 years old; on the other, individuals being immigrants and refugees. The common aspect among them is that they find major difficulties in acquiring digital competencies. This specially affects both segments of the older population and individuals originating in rural and technically underdeveloped environments. Additionally, they are also in need of improving other types of competencies, such as geospatial skills, cognitive stimulation (within +55 individuals) or mastering a foreign language (within immigrants), among others. As far as the so-called digital gap is concerned, it is necessary to perform coordinated actions in order to integrate invididuals who are at risk of social exclusion into the world of ICT's. This objective is in line with action no. 61 at the Digital Agenda of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The main aim of this project is to produce a variety of innovative materials and resources that foster the acquisition of these skills. They are mainly oriented to instructors who teach individuals from these population segments, as a way of contributing to improve teaching skills. At the same time, students and learners, as final beneficiaries, will benefit from the outcomes of the project. On a side note, their opinions and feedback were also taken into account when performing the activities that have been planned for the project. Equally important has been the participation of other agents and institutions, public and private, from educational, political and public environments. Therefore, the outcomes will help: - Foster acquisition of digital, geospatial, linguistic and cognitive competences within the groups of students and learners that will benefit from the project (+55 and immigrant individuals). - Contribute to their social integration by an increased awareness to the historic and cultural heritage within a European context. - Stimulate teacher updating in connection with the project's conceptual scope (usage of ICT's and intercultural perspective, among others). In order to achieve those aims, a set of resources has been created, in which motivation is a key driver. To do so, it was planned that the usage of ICT's would be promoted by implementing a playful perspective, i.e., gamification. It implied creating a set of videogames including additional resources and communication tools that promoted the users' active participation. Additionally, a database was included to incorporate information and links to products and results from other national and european projects of the consortium members and from public and private institutions that may be of interest and in accordance with the objectives of this project. All products are available in the languages of the members of the consortium: Spanish, German, Italian, Hungarian, Portuguese and Slovenian, in addition to English. Access to products, which will be published under a Creative Commons license, will be open and free of charge in www.e-civeles.eu. Another perspective we explored deeper into and to serve as a second pillar for this project — together with the use of ICT — is interculturality. We firmly believe that knowledge on European historic heritage and culture can certainly be a channel towards the social integration of foreign groups, the results of which can be enhanced through cohabitation and dialogue with another extremely relevant population segment, namely: people +55, who are likely to value this kind of initiatives as incentives towards active aging. The videogames consist of guidance and problem-solving in four virtual 3D scenarios corresponding to historic centre of different towns with relevant cultural heritage in the partner countries: Antequera (Spain), Évora (Portugal), Udine (Italy) and Velenje (Slovenia). The consortium is made up by a cross-sectional entity of six partners from six countries: UMA (ES), BIBA (DE), Trebag (HU), ULE (IT), USE (PT) and INTEGRA (SI). Each partner also coordinated a network of local participants that will attend the different activities for the promotion and dissemination of the project, thus reinforcing the establishment of synergies and fostering the impact and sustainability of the project, especially through training courses and multiplying events. The immediate impact through these activities has been the transfer of knowledge and the improvement of competences with the use of our products of 120 students and 170 teachers to key agents, possibly achieving, with the additional help of our local supporters a total of approximately 16,000 people in an indirect way by following a snowball effect. Contact with European and national platforms, attendance to Conferences and the publishing of papers may help increase this number meaningfully.