Location: Old Main Academic Building, Room 1030
Time: Saturday, May 7th, 2:40pm - 3:40pm
Title: Actual Challenges for International Higher Education, Research and Innovation as part of the Digital Transition Policies
Abstract:
The digital transition is influencing large parts of society, including universities. Digital communication, the sharing of data and information, digitally enhanced learning and teaching, as well as research, digital skills and many other topics are high on universities’ agendas. These developments require infrastructure and competences from staff, as well as providing opportunities for innovation and better management. Moreover, they require policy and funding frameworks that reflect universities’ interests, both as adopters and developers of digital technologies and approaches.
Digitally enhanced learning and teaching has increased during the pandemic with universities quickly pivoting to remote learning. However, the topic had already been on the agenda for more than a decade. In 2013, EUA – European Universities Association published a report on the development of massive open online courses (MOOCs), and in 2014, its e-learning study – the first-ever report gathering comparative data from digital developments at higher education institutions across the European Higher Education Area.
A second study conducted in 2020 showed some new and recent developments: the development of short online courses (micro-credentials), open access to data, Open Science and Open Innovation policies, including the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC), skills to ensure Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) data, universities’ innovation activities for the digital transition.
Education’s digital transition allowed students to study and researchers to work remotely throughout the pandemic. However, we need to ensure technology is not abused and access is open to all. This also means that we need to provide the necessary digital skills to the large public, according to the Dig.Comp 2.1 - Digital Competences Framework for Citizens.
The talk will present examples of recent developments through different international projects.