7th project meeting

WP8

Description

Project management will focus on how the project is progressing in terms of expenditure, use of resources, implementation of activities, delivery of results and the management of risks. In order to achieve defined goals of the project, the project team will systematically collect, analyse and use relevant information about project progress. Regular reviews will provide an opportunity to reflect on progress, agree on the content of progress reports and follow-up action required. Intensive communication is the critical factor in efficient and effective leadership.

Project management structure will be defined and organised on 2 separate levels with intensive and defined connections and interfaces between these two levels in order to achieve proper project management.

The major decision-making body of the project will be the Steering Committee (SC). Steering committee will consist of one of most experienced representative of each EU and Partner countries institution in management.

The SC and Project Management Board (PMB) will make organisational and operative decisions. PMB will coordinate day-to-day management with local managers. In this way it will be possible to achieve appropriate balance between delegation of responsibilities and maintaining overall control of project staff performance. It is obvious that management of the project will have matrix organisational structure appropriate for the effective and efficient management.

PMB will meet four times a year, while SC will meet twice a year. Between "live" meetings, online meetings will be held whenever necessary.

Special attention in project implementation will be given to risk management. Risks will be identified, prioritised, managed and controlled in every phase of the project.

This WP also includes reporting and communication with national and international ERASMUS offices.

Work on this organization and coordination of project activities will result in reports.

Estimated Start Date

01-02-2021

Estimated End Date

15-11-2023

WP6

Description

Work package 6 (WP6) is focused on two types of activities: promotion of the project and its results and raising awareness of society, governmental and non-governmental bodies and other organizations about the potential benefits of the project results. One of the first tasks in this WP is to create a website of the project. Special attention will be paid to promoting the project on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, to cover as many potential audiences as possible. Within the created website and social networks, all activities and results of the project will be presented. Promotion of the project will also be made through media appearances on TV, radio, newspapers and other web sites. The implemented modern online learning platform will be one of the main promoters of project results.

Promotional material will be produced in various forms, which will be distributed during the organization of dissemination events. Each Partner countries HEIs is obliged to organize at least 4 dissemination events (info days, promotions at conferences, education fairs, round tables and more).

Within WP6, special attention will be paid to promoting the development of new teaching pedagogical approaches, multimedia online learning platforms and their implementation on benefit to target group – students with disability, economic and geographical obstacles. Visits to high schools in the country will be organised in order to promote the developed teaching methods, multimedia online learning platforms and smart labs to potential students especially in isolated areas. Promotions will be held by teachers and students. Visits to higher education institutions will be captured and displayed on the website of the project.

All project results will be printed in the SMARTEL publication in local and English language and will be available to other HEIs as well as to all interested organizations and individuals.

At the end of the project, a final conference will be organised to present, discuss and disseminate the project results.

Activities in WP7 will be implemented by a working group composed of representatives of all partner institutions in the project consortium. The working group will be managed by the Project Management Board (PMB).

Estimated Start Date

15-11-2020

Estimated End Date

14-11-2023

WP5

Description

Quality control and monitoring of project activities and results will be carried out continuously throughout the project and it will be evaluated at several levels. At the highest level, the quality of all phases and activities of this project will be monitored by the Steering Committee (SC).

In the kick‐off meeting, the Project Quality Monitoring and Control Team (PQMC) will be established for internal evaluation processes. They will be responsible for preparing the guide for quality control and monitoring activities. The team will consist of one representative from each partner institution involved in the project. The members of the team must not participate in any other activities of the project. The guide and procedures for quality control will be developed and will be discussed and adopted by the SC.

PQMC members will continuously monitor project activities and will hold a PQMC meeting every four months on which they will define the internal control reports of the project. Members of PQMC will regularly cooperate with local Erasmus + offices.

In order to ensure quality control and monitoring, written documents will be produced on each project activity in line with the best practice and quality of the plan defined in ISO 9001: 2008. In this WP it is very important to address different aspects of quality assurance in this project:

- Processes and activities during the project realization, and after as part of the project sustainability;

- Quality of outcomes;

- Stakeholders and user’s satisfaction of developed project results;

- Quality of management and quality of financial management.

Quality assurance, control, monitoring and management are essential for high quality of project deliverables. All deliverables will be evaluated, their quality tracked and monitored and improved if it is necessary.

A special activity within the WP6 will be dedicated to quality control of the realization pedagogical approaches, multimedia learning platforms and smart classrooms. Developed models will be reviewed by at least two external experts from institutions that do not participate in this project.

Financial audit will be organised according to the Erasmus + programme rules.

Estimated Start Date

15-11-2020

Estimated End Date

14-11-2023

WP4

Description

In order to use new online learning platform and smart labs, teachers from Partner countries’ HEIs will have to be trained how to use it and how to create own contents: e-courses, learning materials, live lectures, and other services that will be implemented in the platform. That is why the training of teachers and staff from Partner countries’ HEIs will be performed. The training session will be held by UM.

After the successful training the trained teachers will start to create the online learning material, prepare the lab exercises for smart labs, capture digital lecturing content, etc. firstly for project target groups (students with disability and economic and geographical obstacles) and then for the other students. The learning material could not be prepared in the short time frame (couple of months) but during the time gradually. Some teaching material will be prepared jointly with the partners from a business where a real case examples will be created.

The teachers and/or staff trained by teachers from Program countries’ HEIs will also share own knowledge to colleagues from own institutions in at least two training sessions per Partner countries’ HEIs (and thus produce at least 8 reports on internal trainings – one report per institution).

The exchange of e-content between the HEIs institutions will be carried out in local languages and in English and will be available on the platform.

In WP4, a teaching process will be monitored and detailed statistics on usage of new platform (in teaching, learning, evaluation and examinations) using different platform modules on target group and other students will be calculated and result processed and published. Each Partner country’s HEI will select a study program, teaching subjects (courses) and a level of study that will cover the online learning platform and smart labs. Results of the monitoring will be presented in the report on the completed teaching process in one school year (2022/2023).

During the teaching process, a survey of students and teaching staff about the quality of the teaching process will be performed, which includes the new online platform and smart labs.

At the kick-off meeting, a working group will be formed to coordinate activities in WP4, which will consist of one representative from each partner institution. The work group will be supervised by the Project Management Board (PMB).

Estimated Start Date

15-05-2022

Estimated End Date

14-11-2023

WP3

Description

Within work package 3 (WP3), the hardware and software necessary for the implementation of distance learning platforms and smart labs will be purchased. The necessary hardware and software equipment is defined within the WP2 and according to defined models for the development of modern distance learning platforms and smart labs. Each Partner country’s HEI will acquire the necessary equipment for themselves. Procurement of equipment will be carried out in accordance with national procurement laws.

Purchased equipment will be set-up and operating systems installed, appropriate software components will be downloaded and ready for installation. The server and appropriate computers will be connected to the network. The purchased equipment will be set-up initially by HEI technicians and staff. IT experts from the Programme countries’ HEIs will help in initial setup and launching the core functionalities of a modern distance learning platforms and smart labs in Partner countries’ HEIs. Selected staff from the Partner countries’ HEIs will participate in the interfacing the software components the platform consists of. Because not all software components can be easily interfaced one to each other, it is planned that more experienced experts from Programme countries’ HEIs will train the selected staff on developing and building the interfaces between components of the platform. The training of developers from Partner countries’ HEIs to learn how to develop interfaces and enhance functions of existing open source components of distance learning platforms and smart labs will be held in UL by experts from UL.

The distance learning platforms and smart labs initially configured and set-up will have to be maintained, upgraded and administered by system administrators. During the life-time of the new platform the users of the system should be maintained and several profiles created: students, teachers, associates, etc. The special training for system administrators will be held about maintaining the system. This training will be held in UM by experts from UM.

The initially set-up platform will not have all functionalities until the developers and administrators start to connect all components by developing and implementing the interfaces. Until the end of the project, all planned interfaces between components should be built and implemented.

At the kick-off meeting a working group will be formed to coordinate activities in WP3, which will consist of one representative from each partner institution. The work group will be supervised by the Project Management Board (PMB).

Estimated Start Date

15-05-2022

Estimated End Date

14-11-2023

WP2

Description

Within work package 2 (WP2), the models of modern distance learning platforms and a models of modern smart labs will be developed for each Partner countries’ HEIs. Based on results of the outcome (1.3) the participants of Partner countries’ HEIs will create user requirements fitted to the environment of own HEI. The requirements will include: structure, content, design, technical support, proposal for maintenance and future upgrade and enhancements. It might consist of preferred software components and proposals how those components will result in helping students with disability and economic and geographical obstacles. The team created by experts from the Programme countries’ HEIs and leaded by UL will study the requirements and existing technical feasibilities of each Partner countries’ HEIs and will propose the solutions. The resulting report will consist of proposed solutions (hardware and software components based on requirements and existing needs) and a roadmap for integration of proposed components. In parallel, because the using of modern distance learning platforms and smart labs will impact on change in teaching methodologies, new teaching methodology will be developed. The institution in charge for this task will be CESIE.

After finishing the report on proposed solutions, the workshop for acceptance of proposed models will be held (in UL).

The quality of proposed models after the workshop along with the Teaching methodology developed will be verified by external expert who will evaluate that proposed solutions and methodology are feasible to be implemented, to result in achieving the project aims and goals and to be sustainable.

After receiving the positive report on quality of proposed models, each Partner country HEI will select a level of study, an existing study program and a group of courses, for which the modern distance learning platforms and smart labs will be implemented. For selected courses appropriate changes will have to be implemented in existing syllabuses related to: tools used, learning outcomes, the way of collecting the points, the teaching methodology implemented, etc. It might occur that the Faculty or University council will have to approve the changes in syllabuses in some Partner countries’ HEIs.

The new teaching methodology will be developed in terms of the application of modern distance learning platforms and modern smart labs. A special emphasis will be on defining new teaching methods that would apply to students with disabilities and economic and geographical obstacles.

At the kick-off meeting, the WP2 working group will be formed, which will consist of one representative from each partner institution. The work group will be supervised by the Project Management Board (PMB).

Estimated Start Date

15-04-2021

Estimated End Date

15-12-2022

WP1

Description

Work Package 1 (WP1) will analyse the models of existing distance learning platforms and smart labs at higher education institutions (HEIs) in the Programme and Partner countries. Special attention will be paid to the applications that will help vulnerable groups (people with disability and with economic and geographical obstacles) to attend lectures in an appropriate way for them. The analysis will be done for each institution in particular, and then the results will be integrated into: one joint report for models in the Programme countries and one joint report for models in the Partner countries. The reports will also include information of laboratory structure and classroom settings for teaching, distance learning, application of hardware and software in a modern presentation of teaching materials, ICT application for students with special needs.

The differences in applied models will be studied and recommendations for improvements in setting up the appropriate models will be generated for each Partner country HEI. The similarities and differences between the teaching models will be presented in this comparative report. It will be analysed which key elements from distance learning platforms and smart labs model for teaching in the Programme countries HEIs should be applied in models for teaching in Partner countries HEIs in order to meet needs of students that belong to vulnerable groups. Comparison of these teaching models will be presented in a joint report.

In this preparation phase after the comparative analysis report will be created, the participants of Partner country HEIs will be able to perform study visit to one by one HEI of the project Program country HEIs and thus acquire knowledge and experience needed to set up the similar models in own HEI. The initial study visit will overlap with regular project meeting at UPM where all existing e-learning platforms and their usage will be presented (http://serviciosgate.upm.es/gate/). Then, study visits will be performed to the other Programme country HEIs (UL, UM, CESIE) in time frames of regular project meetings. These models will be basic guidelines for defining and developing new or enhancing existing models of distance learning platforms and smart labs for teaching at Partner countries HEIs.

At the kick-off meeting, a WP1 working group will be justified, because this WP start with activities before at kick-of-meeting, which will consist of one representative from each partner institution. The work group will be supervised by the Project Management Board (PMB).

Estimated Start Date

15-11-2020

Estimated End Date

14-08-2022

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Title	Producing the project Final Report
Description	The final report will be prepared during the project implementation. The Final report will be prepared by each institution involved in the project about the activities performed during the project life-cycle. This report will be presented and discussed during the SC meeting before submitting to the EACEA. Financial reports will also have to be prepared as a part of these report. Project Quality Monitoring and Control (PQMC) team will also be involved in the preparing these reports by analysing the quality of reports.
Due date	15-11-2023

Title	Preparing the project progress report
Description	The regular project progress report will be prepared by inputs of all participating institutions and consolidated by the coordinator.
Due date	30-09-2022

8.4.
Title	Day-to-day coordination of project activities
Description	The PMB and the local leaders will perform daily activities by assigning the tasks, reviewing the results, synchronising the activities between partner institutions and within own institution and planning next activities.
Due date	14-11-2023

8.3.
Title	Regular Steering Committee (SC) meetings
Description	The Steering Committee (SC) will be the major decision-making body of the project. Because the members of the SC will be the most experienced team members in management of all partners (rector, dean, department leader or similar), it will guarantee that project members of each partner institution will have to fulfil the tasks set by this body. The progress, tasks timings and eventual conflicts will be analysed on these meetings. In total 6 MoM will be created.
Due date	14-11-2023

8.2.
Title	Regular Project Management Board meetings
Description	The planning of all activities, synchronising the parallel activities, monitoring of already completed tasks and operational organisation of the project will be held by Project Management Board (PMB). On the regular meetings will be analysed completions of already planned tasks, agreements on organising next tasks, the ways how to overcome eventual problems operatively and if some larger problems occur to escalate to the SC. Because the PMB members will be the leaders of WP PMB will be informed on execution and timing of all operational tasks. Six regular SC meetings and 12 regular PMB meetings are planned. Reports will be made for all meetings. Almost each partner institution will host one PMB meeting.
Due date	14-11-2023

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