SERC Secure Funding for IDEAS Project

South Eastern Regional College (SERC) has secured funding to the tune of €276k for an Erasmus+ two-year transnational project.

The Innovative Digital Education & Skills (IDEAS) project involves SERC in partnership with B&P Emtech Consultancy Lab Ltd, Malta; Forth Valley College, Scotland; SmartLearning, Denmark; and Universidade Aberta, Portugal.   IDEAS was developed in direct response to the EU’s Digital Education Strategy and Action Plan, developed to help tackle the digital skills gaps across Europe.

Elaine McKeown, Senior International Development Manager said, “Helping to develop a high-performing digital educational environment in tandem with digitally competent and confident teachers is the foundation of the IDEAS project.

“Teaching professions face rapidly changing demands and educators require an increasingly broad and more sophisticated set of competences.   This project offers the opportunity for partners to upskill teachers and develop their organisation’s capacity by facilitating innovative learning experiences which will ultimately positively impact learners.

She added, “SERC and our partners bring together the expertise, skills, and experience to develop a 30-hour digital teacher training course using adaptive learning models which will enable teachers, from any curricular area of Vocational Educational & Training or Higher Education, in the partner countries to improve their digital competence. 

“Learning will be recognised through Europe wide accreditation, digital badges and supported through a network of mentors.   The project will build a community of mentors through the development of a LinkedIn Community of Practice where teachers can share best practice pedagogical approaches, culminating in a Best Practice Guide for teachers which will offer a step-by-step guide for developing digital competence in their specific education setting.”

Visit www.serc.ac.uk to unlock your future #BetterOffAtSERC

About Erasmus+
Erasmus+ is the European Union programme for education, training, youth and sport for 2014-2020. It aims to modernise education, training and youth work across Europe. In the UK, it is expected that nearly 250,000 people will undertake activities abroad with the programme.

It is open to education, training, youth and sport organisations across all sectors of lifelong learning, including school education, further and higher education, adult education and the youth sector.

Erasmus+ provides funding for organisations to offer opportunities to students, teachers, apprentices, volunteers, youth leaders and people working in grassroots’ sport. It will also provide funding for partnerships between organisations such as educational institutions, youth organisations, enterprises, local and regional authorities and NGOs, as well as support for reforms in Member States to modernise education and training and to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and employability.

The programme is managed in the UK by the Erasmus+ UK National Agency, which is a partnership between the British Council and Ecorys UK.