<< Background >>Laboratory education is the cornerstone of chemical sciences. In laboratories, students develop their practical skills and gain deeper, hands-on understanding of the concepts discussed in lectures and textbooks. Laboratory skills are crucial for successful transition to working life as professionals in chemistry, chemical engineering, and many other fields of science. The ongoing transition towards renewable and sustainable energy solutions requires higher training capacity of skilled chemists with versatile laboratory experience. At the same time, traditional laboratory education faces severe threats in many universities in Europe and world-wide. Laboratory education is relatively expensive compared to for example lectures and whenever universities face budget cuts, the quality and extent of laboratory education may be in danger. Furthermore, during the COVID-19 crisis, educational programmes with laboratory training have been among the hardest-hit sectors because in many countries students have not been able to access labs due to university lockdowns.<< Objectives >>We want to promote high-quality laboratory education by providing digital solutions that increase the resilience, quality, and financial sustainability of laboratory education. We will develop open, accessible, and scalable virtual materials chemistry laboratories for training students in the field of sustainable energy solutions such as light-emitting diodes or Li-ion batteries. BSc and MSc level virtual laboratories will be integrated with state-of-the-art materials modelling platform, bridging experiment and theory in unforeseen ways. The developed virtual laboratories will be integrated in our curricula, either as completely new course offerings or integrated to existing laboratory courses. The project results make it possible for higher education institutions to offer students more versatile laboratory education around the Europe and globally.<< Implementation >>Our project involves four major Project Results related to the implementation of virtual materials chemistry laboratories and virtual materials modelling platform integrated into the laboratories. The work on the Project Results is supported by shared digital workspace, regular transnational project meetings, and training activities for teachers. Dissemination of the project results to wider teacher community beyond the partner universities is also a major activity in the project.<< Results >>The expected Project Results are: (1) laboratory virtualization guidelines, (2) virtual general chemistry laboratory, (3) virtual inorganic materials chemistry laboratory, and (4) virtual materials modelling platform integrated with the experimental laboratories. The developed results will be licensed with Open Access license and open to all interested educators. Overall, the project builds new capacities in European higher education by implementing and disseminating novel digital solutions for laboratory education. Working-life skills of students will be boosted, providing stronger innovative capacities for their professional life. Our work strongly supports high-quality chemical education in Europe and contributes to development of sustainable energy technologies of the future.

Successful transition into higher education is considered crucial both for the student as well as for the educational institution (Tinto, 2015). It is regarded more as a complete phase, rather than a single event (Coertjens et al., 2016). This transition may become a stressful period for many freshman students, while they have to deal with a number of serious challenges, such as the need for developing novel learning patterns and also the adaptation of the already existing learning strategies in the new academic environment (Vermunt, 2005). Students show difficulties in academic adjustment that mainly are due to ineffective learning strategies and unsatisfactory self-regulation (lack of ability to monitor learning progress, difficulty to adapt behavior to the demands of the new learning situations, Zimmerman & Schunk, 2008). Also, students have a difficulty to understand the difference between studying at University and studying at an upper secondary school or the demands of the university level teaching-learning environment (Haharala-Muhoven et al. 2016).Current research emphasizes the need for further investigation of the variables contributing to students’ well-being, learning and persistence in studies as for some students transition phase may be challenging and for others full of stress (Coertjens et al., 2016). Some of these factors are: motivation (Deci & Ryan, 2000), executive functioning (Gioia et al., 2000), individual characteristics (self-efficacy; Bandura, 1997), personality dimensions (resilience; Cassidy, 2015), sense of coherence (Antonovsky, 1993), anxiety (Spielberger, Gorush, & Lushene, 1970), other factors as academic emotions (Schutz & Pekrun, 2007), explicit and implicit emotion regulation (Gyurak, Gross, & Etkin, 2011) and mental-health factors. In line with the need for further exploration of the relations underlying the above variables to enhance students learning, this project aims to develop an on-line diagnostic tool/platform that comprises cognitive/learning and psychological constructs contributing to students’ psycho-educational profiles and academic success. According to their scores, students will be given feedback followed by guidance and coaching guidelines will be available to teachers on demand. The design of the platform will be based on modern web development tools following previous experience in Flanders (Vanthournout et al., 2012). It will be a new improved tool developed and tested in three different countries and languages ensuring the transferability of it. It will enhance students’ awareness of their pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses, increasing their resilience and self-development that will enable them to engage with learning and regulate their progress in order succeed. The ultimate goal at policy level in higher education is to develop a supportive learning environment for better quality of mental-life, well-being, learning and academic success in a highly complex society (Barnett, 2000).

<< Objectives >>Sharing experiences and learning from and with local leaders how community organizing could foster political engagement in Europe.<< Implementation >>Local leaders will get togehter three times and new materials on community organizing will be produced. An European Organizing Committee will be formed to do the project management.<< Results >>Local leaders improve their abilities to engage politcally and soldarize with other leaders from all over Europe.

<< Background >>The Covid-19 pandemic sparked the uptake of digitally enhanced learning and teaching environments, providing an urgent reason for acceleration. According to the DigiHE report published in January 2021, most European institutions were able to respond rather rapidly by extending already existing strategies and policies for online and blended learning. Similarly, the E+ EVOLVE project reported that the Covid-19 pandemic made reinforcing the need for implementing Virtual Exchanges due mainly to the drastic drop in physical international mobility. The INVITE project aims to develop teaching and learning competencies for designing and implementing new virtual and blended modalities of international collaboration in European Higher Education Institutions, an objective aligned with several ambitions of the European Commission agenda for Higher Education, especially with the directions indicated by the recent Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 aiming at enabling digital skills of educators to improve the quality of digital practices in education, the new Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programs priorities, the green agenda for internationalization among others. INVITE complements other Erasmus + program funded projects addressing virtual exchanges and digital competencies in higher education, with its innovative perspectives not covered by other projects so far:It builds bridges among digital ecosystems and international and cross-border collaborations to enhance the teaching and learning process. It creates a strong educational basis for organizing high-quality and meaningful international virtual and blended academic programs and modules. It considers the “student-centered” and active-learning approaches as the basis of teaching and learning to propose solutions to global challenges.It extends the participation of disciplines not usually concerned by intercultural exchanges such as engineering, agriculture, health, and others, increasing the possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration. It gives teachers and students the needed skills to develop creative international blended and virtual programs, adding value to their careers. It will identify approaches to bridge bottom-up innovation with institutional strategies exploring ways to create opportunities for strategy development.It will have a considerable impact on cross-border teacher collaborations and the involvement of institutional staff to support such innovations.<< Objectives >>The INVITE project aims to develop teaching and learning competencies for designing and implementing virtual and blended modalities of international collaboration in European Higher Education Institutions. To this aim the project will pursue five specific objectives:Map the current institutional and educational approaches to the different cross-border and international collaboration in virtual and blended learning environments adopted by Higher Education Institutions in Europe underlying the practices that make a meaningful and sustainable contribution to teaching and learning processes. Develop an active-learning design framework applicable for different international virtual and blended modalities that enrich the teaching and learning process with proposed pedagogies, didactics, and toolkits. Design and implement an action-training online program targeting interdisciplinary teachers and institutional staff from HEI institutions to build capacities to design, implement and sustain innovative international virtual and blended programs/initiatives.Develop an open interactive digital ecosystem that will host the action-training program and also support the organization of international competition hackathons bringing together institutions and teachers in the design of innovative international virtual and blended collaborations addressing urgent problems aligned to the SDGs and the Green agenda. Identify Higher Education policies and strategies for innovation in teaching and learning aiming to establish and sustain cross-border virtual and blended programs.<< Implementation >>The INVITE will develop several activities to achieve the proposed goals:Map the current institutional and educational approaches to the different cross-border and international collaboration in virtual and blended learning environments adopted by Higher Education Institutions in Europe. Selection of good practices and case studies explored in depth through interviews, underlying the factors that make a meaningful and sustainable contribution to teaching and learning processes.Engaging HE academic staff with expertise in innovative educational methodologies (e.g. problem-based learning, adaptive teaching, and assessment, computer-supported collaborative learning, learning-by-doing, problem-solving, etc.) in the systematization of international virtual and blended initiatives in order to support their pedagogical value. This framework will encourage creativity, skill development, and knowledge dissemination among learning designers in a pedagogically sound way.Guidelines on innovative methodologies adaptable for virtual and blended modalities. From R1 and R2A1, it will be identified, classified, and published a menu of active methodologies and didactics suggested to be applied in different kinds of international virtual and blended modalities, such as Collaborative Online International Learning projects, Project Oriented Learning Environments, Co-design virtual exchanges, Blended Intensive Programs, etc. Design and implementation of open online interactive training modules for the development of digital competencies for educators, with the aim of enabling them to implement effective international virtual and blended learning environments. Specific modules will be dedicated to institutional advisors and educational developers to promote awareness and mechanisms to support, scale up and sustain international blended and virtual mobility initiatives.Organization of the competition days -hackathons- with the participation of an international jury composed of undergraduate & postgraduate students, teaching, learning, and innovation experts as well as guests. The “hackathon” will bring together institutions and teachers internationally in the design of innovative international virtual and blended collaborations addressing urgent problems aligned to the SDGs and the Green agenda. Develop an Open Interactive Digital Ecosystem in the form of a platform that will host the action-training program and facilitate the organization of hackathons. Furthermore, the platform will contain a shared space for teachers to contact peers and design projects. Develop guidelines and technical specification for adapting the open interactive digital ecosystem to training and innovation activities in educationReview of the evidence on institutional policies, instruments, and processes, their impact, including unintended consequences and risks. The evidence will be reviewed, focused on the most relevant European experiences. Four main drivers will be systematically explored: strategy and policies, facilitating structures, support instruments, and the role of international collaboration.Develop policy recommendations based on a deliberative dialogue with institutional stakeholders to validate the evidence collected aiming to identify enablers and drivers for sustainable innovation.<< Results >>Through the INVITE project, we expect to achieve several outcomes and resultsOutcome 1. Understanding the innovative ways for international collaboration in virtual and blended modalities in HEI through developing R. 1.1 An overview of existing and emerging international virtual and blended modalities for teaching and (T&L) identifying its key characteristics, scope, and specific contribution to the improvement of teaching and learning process in HE; and R. 1.2 Selecting good practices and case studies to draw a profile of the most innovative and adaptable methodologies that are currently being used in HE for implementing international collaboration in virtual and blended learning environments. Outcome 2: Designing, implementing, and assessing student-centered international virtual and blended modalities. Through the development of R. 2.1 A learning design framework proposal for student-centered activities in cross-border blended and virtual environments and R. 2.2 Guidelines on innovative methodologies that could be effective for improving T&L in international virtual and blended modalities. Special attention will be given to methodologies such as problem-solving, problem-based teaching, collaborative learning, and others applicable to such environments. Outcome 3: Teachers and Institutional staff equipped with the skills, and resources for designing, implementing, and sustaining international virtual and blended programs. Through R. 3.1 Online interactive training modules and micro-credentials to build teachers’ capacities and institutional staff to implement effective virtual and blended environments for T&L in international settings and R.3.2 Repository of open materials to share tools and guidelines to support the design of international virtual and blended programs.Outcome 4: Mobilize teachers and institutional staff for designing innovative international virtual and blended projects aiming to solve global and societal challenges. Through the development of a digital learning ecosystem (R.4.1.2) that will host training modules and hackathons bringing together teachers to design innovative international collaborations addressing urgent problems such as the SDGs and the Green agenda (R4.1.1&R4.1.3). The whole ecosystem will be offered as OER so other interested parties can adjust it for their own use. Evidence-based guidelines on the design, implementation, and evaluation of such days will support the uptake of such activities by others. Outcome 5: Linking bottom-up initiatives with institutional policies and strategies. Through the development of R.5.1 Evidence-based report on institutional policies and strategies for enhancing teaching and learning innovation for virtual and blended modalities. And R.5.2 Policy recommendations based on a deliberative dialogue with stakeholders on barriers and enablers for virtual and blended modalities. Furthermore, it is important to mention results such as:- Initiating a new form of cooperation between partners by creating joint virtual and blended programs that could benefit from external Erasmus + funding for BIP - Blended Intensive Programs. - Increasing the scale of virtual and blended programs between partner organizations- Creating a digital learning ecosystem across borders and among different HEIs, which is composed of a transnational learning community that collaborates, and that hosts the activities and the shared resources. - Getting to know the national cultures of participants taking part in the project.- Captivating the interest of HEIs from outside the partnership in the field of the project such as those of the European Universities where partners belong to.

"<< Background >>PLURIMATHS is an innovative project that will develop a range of teacher training materials and resources underpinned by pluriliteracies to support and enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics by considering active innovative methodologies (game-based learning (GBL), cooperative learning (CL), problem-based learning (PBL), and attention to diversity and inclusion), which at the moment do not receive enough recognition in teacher training programs.Pluriliteracies or “new literacies” must be understood as the use of digital technologies and environments in general, and how technology has changed both individuals’ lives and society, allowing them to do things in a way that was not possible before (Lankshear, & Knobel, 2011). Furthermore, Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castek and Henry (2013) identified eight principles of New Literacies common across literature, namely: “1. The Internet is this generation’s defining technology for literacy and learning within our global community”, “2. The Internet and related technologies require additional new literacies to fully access their potential”, “3. New literacies are deictic”, “4. New literacies are multiple, multimodal, and multifaceted”, “5. Critical literacies are central to new literacies”, “6. New forms of strategic knowledge are required with new literacies”, “7. New social practices are a central element of New Literacies”, and “8. Teachers become more important, though their role changes, within new literacy classrooms.” Considering their changing nature, teachers willing to include new literacies in their lessons must be prepared “to handle diversity, unpredictability, and change” (Hauck, & Kureck, 2017, p. 9). In the specific case of mathematics teachers, they should be to open up their students’ exposure to diversity, supporting them in developing literacies to engage positively with current “multilingual, multicultural, multimodal, multigenre, and multiuser contexts” (Kureck & Hauck, 2014, p. 123). PLURIMATHS, aiming at developing training modules combining pluriliteracies and mathematics by integrating active teaching methodologies, aims at bridging this training gap for both pre-service and in-service teachers.To date, there are some partially related projects dealing with specific aspects that PLURIMATHS will address, including:- Pluriliteracies Teaching for Learning (PTL), developed by the European Centre for Modern Languages of the Council of Europe, which shows teachers and materials developers ways of fostering deep learning by paying attention to the development of students‘ subject specific literacies as well as their conceptual understanding and automatization of subject-specific procedures, skills and strategies.- Framework of Digital Literacies, developed by Dudeney et al. (2013).- Digital literacies revisited, developed by Pegrum et al. (2018).What these highly useful resources and projects do not offer yet is the use of pluriliteracies for mathematics learning and teaching, by considering innovative active methodologies. In this light, PLURIMATHS aims at building up on these reliable materials that deal with pluriliteracies, mathematics and innovative active methodologies, and delivering innovative research-based teaching materials for teacher education programs and professional development courses.The main objectives of this transnational project are to equip mathematics teachers and teacher trainers with comprehensive research-based modules that provide adaptable, flexible and sustainable resources for including pluriliteracies in mathematics teaching and learning by including GBL, CL, PBL and attention to diversity and inclusion. In this light, this project aims at highlighting synergies between pluriliteracies and mathematics, as well as proposing guidelines to implement different methodologies in the mathematics classrooms in and beyond Europe.<< Objectives >>The main objectives of PLURIMATHS are to equip mathematics teachers and teacher trainers with comprehensive research-based modules that provide adaptable, flexible and sustainable resources for including pluriliteracies in mathematics teaching and learning by including game-based learning (GBL), cooperative learning (CL), problem-based learning (PBL), and attention to diversity and inclusion. In this light, this project aims at highlighting synergies between pluriliteracies and mathematics, as well as proposing guidelines to implement different methodologies in the mathematics classrooms in and beyond Europe. The modules will consist of:-Specific thematic content on the different learning approaches considered: using pluriliteracies to teach mathematics, by including GBL, CL, PBL, and attention to diversity and inclusion. For this, relevant theories, frameworks and updated state of the art will be presented and discussed.-Guidelines to implement the different learning approaches (GBL, CL, PBL, and attention to diversity and inclusion) considering pluriliteracies applied to mathematics. -Interactive and collaborative activities and materials applicable to the different contexts.-A self- and shared reflection toolkit for professional development, considering all educational professionals, in order to monitor the learning process of the modules target audiences.Secondary objectives of PLURIMATHS include:- To provide open access to high quality teaching modules dealing with pluriliteracies and mathematics, driven by different learning methodologies (GBL, CL, PBL and attention to diversity and inclusion) for all learners, reducing the numeracy, gender and attainment gaps.- To raise awareness of the value-added benefits of combining pluriliteracies and mathematics by means of GBL, CL, PBL and attention to diversity and inclusion, in relation to the EU key competences: communication in the mother tongue; communication in foreign languages; mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology; digital competence – learners as digital natives and learning to learn.- To contribute to the internationalization of tertiary teacher education and lifelong teacher training through active search for solutions to narrow the numeracy gap present in all international classrooms as well as through the creation of settings that require international cooperation.- To create local, national and international networks of education professionals (i.e., pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, teacher trainers) interested in the teaching and learning process of mathematics by using pluriliteracies.- To increase teachers’ and learners’ knowledge and understanding of pluriliteracies, and the potential to enhance the teaching and learning experience, resulting in a more ‘work ready’ population.- To increase confidence and self-esteem among learners with anxiety and previous negative experiences of mathematics; for learners who have previously displayed difficulties in understanding of mathematical concepts and for learners who have previously encountered different types of learning barriers.PLURIMATHS’ transnational cooperation will allow the participating institutions to bring into teacher training opportunities for authentic interaction by connecting communities of education professionals from different language and cultural backgrounds.<< Implementation >>PLURIMATHS will develop a range of teacher training materials and resources underpinned by pluriliteracies to support and enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics by considering active innovative methodologies (game-based learning (GBL), cooperative learning (CL), problem-based learning (PBL), and attention to diversity and inclusion). In order to pilot, test and assess the Project Results (PRs), two multiplier events and two learning, teaching and training activities are planned, which aim at serving different functions:1. To provide the target groups (education professionals, including pre-service teachers, in-service teachers and teacher trainers) with a relevant teaching and learning opportunity in international contexts. Education professionals will benefit from unique learning and teaching conditions not available in a single institution, and will obtain new ideas on pluriliteracies and mathematics from different learning perspectives (game-based learning (GBL), cooperative learning (CL), problem-based learning (PBL), and attention to diversity and inclusion). More specifically, learning, teaching and training activities will ultimately result in the development of transversal skills, including intercultural competence, global citizenship, intra- and interpersonal skills, foreign language competence, or critical thinking among others.2. To serve as a means of implementing, piloting and testing the training modules (PRs 1-4) among the target groups (education professionals, including pre-service teachers, in-service teachers and teacher trainers) and in different schools with students aged 8 to 14 years old from various EU member state institutions and the United Kingdom.3. To serve as a means of disseminating the training modules (PRs 1-4) and the case studies (PR6), as well as the overall project outcomes in different contexts, including those beyond the consortium.More specifically, the learning, teaching and training activities are: C1: ""PLURIMATHS Intensive Program: Pluriliteracies, Mathematics and Active Methodologies"", a 5-day teaching event for pre-service teachers during the development of the training modules PR1-PR4, which will be carried out by the four project partners and implemented in a multinational context.C2: ""PLURIMATHS Training Event: Workshop on Pluriliteracies and Mathematics"", a 3-day training event targetting in-service teachers and education professionals, and aiming at involving them within the modules themselves, leading to reflect on their teaching performance and raising awareness in the importance of using pluriliteracies in the field of mathematics all over Europe. The real use of the modules for teaching and learning purposes of student teachers will contribute to the empirical evaluation of the modules, helping improve them for the final versions. The involvement of these participants will allow the project consortium the opportunity to pilot and test the developed materials in different contexts and languages, which will guarantee the high-quality of the final materials.Moreover, the multiplier events are:E1: ""Bridging the Numeracy Gap with Pluriliteracies"", to familiarise these stakeholders from outside the consortium of the project outputs, and to share best practice, demonstrating how fusing pluriliteracies and mathematics teaching can lead to a narrowing of the attainment gap and gains in learners' numeracy and digital skills and competences.E2: ""Pluriliteracies and Mathematics"", final academic conference in order to present and disseminate the results of the finalized teaching modules and the case studies.The international set-up of the multiplier events (E1 and E2) and of the learning, teaching and training activities (C1 and C2), considering the above-mentioned functions, guarantees that the training modules and the case studies are versatile and relevant enough to be applied and discussed in a wider context beyond the consortium.<< Results >>The main result worked towards during the development of PLURIMATHS and expected upon its completion is the design, production and assessment of high-quality versatile training modules which focus on the application of the pluriliteracies approach in mathematics teaching and learning by considering active innovative methodologies (game-based learning (GBL), cooperative learning (CL), problem-based learning (PBL), and attention to diversity and inclusion). These modules will be documented as project results/outcomes PR1-PR4 and will:-address specific thematic content on the different learning approaches considered: using pluriliteracies to teach mathematics, by including GBL, CL, PBL, and attention to diversity and inclusion. For this, relevant theories, frameworks and updated state of the art will be presented and discussed;-contain guidelines to implement the different learning approaches (GBL, CL, PBL, and attention to diversity and inclusion) considering pluriliteracies applied to mathematics;-include interactive and collaborative activities and materials applicable to the different contexts;-contain a self- and shared reflection toolkit for professional development, considering all educational professionals, in order to monitor the learning process of the module target audience;-be available for use both by teacher trainers and teachers both as intensive workshops and as individual units/topics, facilitating its sustainable and systematic integration into different teacher education settings and structures;-be developed collaboratively by researchers, teacher trainers, mathematics teachers, applied linguists, education professionals, pre-service teachers and in-service teachers from partner countries;-be based on research findings and existing resources, combining then theoretical paradigms and theories with practical solutions for teaching mathematics under the pluriliteracies approach considering active innovative methodologies;-be empirically piloted and assessed in different transnational settings in order to have final high-quality materials which are reliable, sustainable and adaptable to different contexts and media (on-site and on-line learning);-be available on the project website (PR5), grating open access to all interested parties beyond the consortium.During the development of PLURIMATHS, the project team will test the modules, piloting and assessing them in the different contexts, which will lead to the creation of case studies (PR6). These case studies will showcase best practice in new methodologies and knowledge exchange in order to bring about change to teaching practices to help teachers address EU priorities.PLURIMATHS will implement the modules in different training events addressed to pre-service teachers (C1: PLURIMATHS Intensive Programme: Pluriliteracies, Mathematics and Active Methodologies) and in-service teachers (PLURIMATHS Training Event: Workshop on Pluriliteracies and Mathematics). The real use of the modules for teaching and learning purposes of student teachers and in-service teachers will contribute to the empirical evaluation of the modules, helping improve their final versions. The involvement of these participants will allow the project consortium the opportunity to pilot and test the developed materials in different contexts and languages, which will guarantee the high-quality of the final materials.Throughout the project, efforts will be made to disseminate information about the project and the training modules, especially during the dissemination event “Bridging the Numeracy Gap with Pluriliteracies” (E1) and the conference “Pluriliteracies and Mathematics” (E2). The expected outcome is raising the awareness of the relevance of pluriliteracies for mathematics learning and teaching as a topic among stakeholders involved in teacher training and teachers’ professional development: teacher trainers, university staff, researchers, policy makers, and authors of materials."