SocialBlend – For better student achievement
The SocialBlend project has been ongoing since early 2022, but the fruits of the hard work and gained knowledge are soon to be revealed.
The Erasmus+ project SocialBlend began in early 2022, the focus of the project is on the development of transversal skills, through blended learning for elementary school children from the ages of 6 – 12. The project is carried out by partners from seven different EU countries. The partners consist of organizations and educational institutions with expertise in diverse fields, related to education, digitalization and communication.
The partners contributing are:
- Catholic Education Flanders – Belgium
- VitaComm Education – Cyprus
- Satakunta University of Applied Sciences (SAMK) – Finland
- The Association for Hungarian Digital Education (MDOE) – Hungary
- University of Bielsko-Biala – Poland
- Radio Romania – Romania
- Impact Games – Slovakia
In the early stages of the project, it was determined that there is a vast number of themes and skills in connection to transversal education and therefore it was decided to focus on 10 core transversal skills, to develop both discussion and learning toolboxes to guide the educators in how to approach the education of transversal skills.
The 10 core transversal skills:
- Compassion
- Democratic Participation
- Respect for the Environment
- Communication Skills
- Ability to Study independently
- Self-Discipline
- Flexibility & Adaptability
- Ability to think independently
- Resourcefulness
- Appreciating a Healthy lifestyle
Transnational Project Meeting in Finland
The project team has already had three Transnational Project Meetings (TPM), The first meeting took place in Brussels, Belgium. The meeting was hosted and organized by the partners from Catholic Education Flanders, this meeting was the starting point for the first phase of the project which was to create the framework for the project and to plan the work ahead until the second TPM.
TPM two was organized and hosted by the Hungarian team from The Association for Hungarian Digital Education, and it took place in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. This meeting centered around the results of the framework research and data gathering, which were documented and presented by the team from University of Bielsko-Biala.
The third TPM was held in Finland in the beginning of June, the meeting started off on the cruise ship Viking Glory, which sails between the Swedish capital of Stockholm and the city of Turku located in Finland. On board the ship the team had a meeting about the content of the TPM and enjoyed the beautiful scenery as the sun was setting.
On the second day the project team headed to Rauma, where Satakunta University of Applied Sciences’ (SAMK) has two campuses as well as their Maritime Research Center from which the Finnish partners are connected. The second day of meetings was in good spirits, as the teams presented the work, they had done for the work packages of the project and the future of their work yet to be completed. The last day’s meeting took place in Pori on the main campus of SAMK. The core of the last meeting was to discuss the future multiplier events to be held by each partner, as well as the deadlines for upcoming outputs. To mark the end of the third TPM the partners enjoyed lunch together and discussed the future TPM which will take place in October 2023, and it will be held in Cyprus.
Going forward – Knowledge and tools to be shared!
In the near future, the partners will all host multiplier events, which will be targeted towards educators and those studying to become educators, the events will be available on site and online. More information on the schedule, place and time of the events will be published soon.
The first of sixteen episodes will be streamed on the 23rd of June, via the YouTube channel “SocialBlend Project”, the first episode will be the introduction to the project, the partners and work packages. The future streams will be published one to two times a month. The episodes will stay on the YouTube channel and can be viewed by anyone.