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The DIGI-HE project explores different ways higher education institutions can boost their strategic approaches to digitally enhanced learning and teaching and enhance their capacity.
The goal is to encourage and support a reflection on institutional strategy development and enhancement, through good practice sharing and peer learning among university leadership, and to contribute to community building. The coincidence of the Covid-19 crisis has made these activities even more pertinent and urgent.
The project provides:
A forward-looking cooperation project, DIGI-HE is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission. It will run from January 2020 to December 2022.
For further information, please contact digihe@eua.eu.
The DIGI-HE project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Digitalisation is of growing importance at all higher education institutions. Studies confirm increased general acceptance of digital learning and a growing trend towards more strategic and mainstreamed use. This entails the integration and scale-up of learning and teaching innovation, which usually emerges bottom-up, and a gradual transformation of the institution. It requires leadership, participatory approaches and investment in order to establish well-functioning digital learning ecosystems that serve the entire institution and all members and stakeholders and that are able to respond to change. (Trends 2018, p. 60; Changing Pedagogical Landscapes 2018; Digitally enhanced learning and teaching in European higher education institutions, 2021).
This has been demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic and is expected, beyond the temporary push, to lead to a medium- to-long-term enhancement of digital learning.
The DIGI-HE project aims to support these processes, by gathering data and information on the strategic development of digitalisation and organising peer learning for knowledge and experience sharing among institutional leadership from across the European Higher Education Area.
The initiative relates to EUA’s prior work on digital learning and contributes to its ongoing initiatives on learning and teaching.
Activity
Timeline
1
Conducting survey on digitally enhanced learning and teaching in European higher education institutions
April-June 2020
Desk research on self-assessment instruments
April-September 2020
Launch of survey report and desk research report
January 2021
2
1st round of thematic peer groups
March 2021-February 2022
Launch of summary reports from 1st round of thematic peer groups
February-March 2022
2nd round of thematic peer groups
March 2022-December 2022
Launch of summary reports from 2nd round of thematic peer groups
March 2023
3
Three-part workshop series on self-assessment instruments
October 2021 to November 2022
Development and launch of self-paced digital training resource, to be disseminated beyond the project’s lifetime
January 2023 (and beyond)
Final conference and launch of final project publication
January 2023
1) Inception and information gathering (January 2020 – January 2021)
Digitally enhanced learning and teaching in European higher education institutions
The survey maps the situation of digitalisation at European higher education institutions and inquires about their strategic uptake of digitalisation, its impact and challenges in various areas of institutional life, their experiences in this area and their expectations for the future. The survey results are compiled in “Digitally enhanced learning and teaching in European higher education institutions”. They are also presented in a webinar on EUA’s YouTube channel and slideshow.
Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: institutional self-assessment instruments
The analysis of self-assessment instruments focuses on their impact in key areas of higher education institutions’ activities, including governance and management, learning and curriculum, research and innovation, collaboration and outreach. It includes practical guidance on how such instruments could be used in an institutional setting. The results are compiled in Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: institutional self-assessment instruments. They are also presented in a webinar on EUA’s YouTube channel.
2) Thematic peer groups (March 2021 – March 2023)
The project ran two cycles of thematic peer groups on digitally enhanced learning and teaching. The Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Groups have been a very successful strand of EUA’s learning and teaching activities, designed to strengthen a bottom-up approach in engaging European higher education institutions to foster community building around learning and teaching. Institutions take part in a series of online meetings and activities and produce their findings in a report, available here.
3) Validation and dissemination (October 2022 – April 2023)
Workshop series on self-assessment instruments
Self-assessment instruments were further explored through a three-part workshop series in 2021 - 2022, which provided some advice on how to choose the instrument that best corresponds to the institution’s needs, as well as how to carry out a self-assessment and act on its results.
Self-paced training resource on the institutional self-assessment of digitally enhanced learning and teaching
Based on the review of self-assessment instruments and exchanges during the thematic peer groups, the project developed and delivered a digital self-paced training resource (MOOC), “Inside Digital Higher Education”, which includes case studies, best practices and instruments for institutional self-assessment of digitally enhanced learning and teaching.
Validation conference
The validation conference in Brussels (24 January 2023) gathered a mixed audience of institutional representatives, policy makers and any other stakeholder with an interest in digitalisation in higher education. The institutions that participated in the thematic peer groups shared their experience and presented the impact their involvement in the thematic peer groups has had at their institution. Also, as part of the conference, small breakout sessions and workshops on thematic issues are planned.
Final publication
An online publication, “The future of digitally enhanced learning and teaching”, was published at the project’s conclusion. This final report is an analysis of the digital enhanced learning and teaching (DELT) of the past three years including the challenging COVID-19 pandemic period. The document presents the evolution and results of the project in the frame of the European system and its institutions. Therefore, the report also aims to help the institutions to examine this difficult time and how to approach DELT in the future.
DIGI-HE Webinar series: A strategic reflection on digitalisation in higher education
DIGI-HE Workshop 1: Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: strategy and organisational culture, 19 October 2021
DIGI-HE Workshop 2: Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: institutional self-assessment, 24 May 2022
DIGI-HE Workshop 3: Developing a high-performance digital education ecosystem: assessment of institutional approaches and ambitions beyond the pandemic, 14 November 2022
DIGI-HE Final Conference: Digitally enhanced learning and teaching in higher education: enabling factors for success, 24 January 2023
Webinar: Looking inside digital higher education: launch of self-assessment guide for institutions, 14 February 2023.
On 24 January, the final conference of the DIGI-HE project will explore the key findings and unanswered questions which have emerged from the project’s activities. As such, discussions will focus on ...
5 February 2021, 14.00- 15.00 CET ...
The recording of the workshop is now available. What is the future of digitally enhanced learning and teaching in post-Covid higher education? As institutions “get back to normal”, will it be rel ...
The recording of the workshop is now available. The Covid-19 crisis has enhanced practice and fuelled discussion on the digital provision of learning and teaching. Almost 90% of institutions are now ...
This report summarises the main results, insights and open questions of the DIGI-HE project and sets them in the wider context of Europe’s institutions and systems. As such, this final report public ...
This report outlines the conclusions of the Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group “Strategy and organisational culture”, which explored the role of strategy and organisational culture in pro ...
This report outlines the conclusions of the Learning & Teaching Thematic Peer Group “Curriculum and assessment”, which examined how to embed digitally enhanced learning and teaching (DELT) and ...
This report summarises the findings of the EUA Thematic Peer Group ‘‘International Partnerships’’ which explored digitally enhanced internationalisation of higher education in detail. The repo ...
Digitally enhanced learning and teaching is widely used across the European Higher Education Area, with general acceptance growing over the years and institutions widely acknowledging the benefits it ...
In Europe today, almost every higher education institution uses digitally enhanced learning and teaching. Since EUA began exploring this topic in 2013, digitally enhanced learning and teaching has bee ...
Digital transitions pervade every aspect of our lives, but some university teachers still appear reluctant to develop their digital competences. For Barbara Bruschi and Manuela Repetto, it is urgent t ...
Beyond getting the technology in place, digitally enhanced learning and teaching (DELT) in higher education requires considerable resources and engagement, strategy and leadership. In this article for ...
As places of teaching and learning, how can universities tangibly create a culture of togetherness and well-being? Here, Jochen Schellinger explains Bern University of Applied Sciences’ efforts to d ...
Current assessment practices do not reflect what students know, understand and what they can do. A new assessment literacy that emphasises evidence-based instruction and self-regulation in student lea ...
We must fundamentally address how to shape learning in the digital transformation. Breaking down the “Hagen Manifesto on New Learning”, Annabel Bils from FernUniversität explains why now is the t ...
A successful curriculum is interdependent with a successful assessment. Manuel João Costa from the University of Minho emphasises the importance of institutions understanding their own assumptions ab ...
