The EUTOPIA Alliance held a joint conference on Thursday 2nd July 2020 on the topic of Digital Inclusion and the role European Universities can play in this transition.
The conference gathered about 45 participants and panellists from multiple European Universities such as CIVIS, ARQUS, CHARM-EU and EPICUR. One of the aims of the conference was to share good practices between the alliances in terms of digital inclusion.
During this conference, our colleague Thrasyvoulos Tsiatsos from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who works within EPICUR on the virtual campus, presented the work our project has carried out on inclusion with a special focus on the procedures for students admission and the development of a gamified virtual mobility.
Digital inclusion is a transversal subject in which the issues of student selection and innovative ways of teaching and learning are also imbricated. He explained that upgrading the level of inclusiveness in our alliance is one of our main goals, and that we are currently trying to implement these concept ideas within our future pilot course modules in Multilingualism and in Liberal Arts and Sciences.
EPICUR’s main objective in terms of inclusion is the development of our virtual campus which will offer new ways of selecting students as we will create new procedures preparing the ground for fully-fledged joint modules and joint degree programmes. Certifications will also be part of our project and we have defined 4 “EPICUR credentials and qualifications”:
- “EPICUR Track Certificate”
- Traditional ECTS
- Microcredentials
- Badges (for special skills)
As Thrasyvoulos explained, we also aim to implement a gamified approach in our virtual mobility. The concept of gamification means that game elements are implemented in non-game areas such as Higher Education.
EPICUR colleague Anouk Tso from the University of Amsterdam in charge of the Multilingualism work, also took part in the discussion and explained the EPICUR vision and objectives on multilingualism and inclusive governance notably thanks to the creation of our Language Policy.
One major outputs of this conference was that all the representatives of the European universities alliances realised they have a lot in common and agreed on creating a booklet and a cross-alliance meeting group about digital inclusion in order to further share their experiences and improve the future of European Universities altogether.
The subject of “Digital Inclusion” is a researchable topic and we will learn more about it as we progress and improve in our cooperation.
If you want to see (or see again!) the webinar, click here.
