Challenge-Oriented Collaborative Online Communities in the Paradigm of Sustainable City

<< Background >>The pandemic has forced various educational institutions to adopt an online teaching format quickly. From a technological point of view, this was not hard. A major challenge was the teaching methodology: learning online makes it more challenging to keep the student at the computer for a long time. Months of lockdown, when teachers and students had to work in the format of distant learning, demonstrated that traditional methods are not optimal, it is necessary to change the approach and help lecturers to overcome the challenges posed by online teaching. Moreover, the pandemic has become a real challenge in organizing Erasmus+ studies. Vilnius College of Technologies and Design identified that students do not see the value of starting Erasmus+ studies online. It was very important to show students that even without physical mobility, studying online in the international environment could create value for them – working in an international online team can help students to develop important professional and transferable competencies, to expand their network and still, can create cultural experiences for them.<< Objectives >>The CityGo project aimed to develop methodology and materials that enable higher education institutions (HEIs) to perform quality and engaging problem-based learning in a digital environment. The aim of the active community was to provide peer-to-peer learning, to create common experiences, that gives a sense of belonging, and increase participants’ engagement. Therefore, during this project, the consortium aimed to develop a methodology of efficient teaching/learning in collaborative online communities, where students are able solve particular societal challenges on Sustainable City. Project objectives: 1) to improve HEIs lecturers’ competence in creating an engaging and efficient online learning environment; 2) to advance competencies of higher education students to learn efficiently in international online communities addressing real-world challenges; 3) to create an open-access content library for the modules in the field of Sustainable City that can lay the foundation for effective partnerships between HEIs for Erasmus+ blended mobility; 4) to collect findings and best practice and share success factors and challenges of engaging digital problem-based learning in the various cultural and institutional contexts.<< Implementation >>The project started with a students (330 students surveyed) and teachers (60 teachers surveyed) surveys to develop tools for efficient online communities – Procedures and strategies for setting up effective challenge-oriented online communities (“A guide for online community facilitators” and “A guide for online community participants” (https://citygo-project.eu/outputs/)). Along with that, the consortium developed a platform with digital learning materials (https://citygo-project.eu/courses/). 6 modules (each Project partner created a 6-ECTS-credit Module) in the field of Sustainable City were adopted for online learning. For each Module, a collaborative community was created in the Discord platform; a separate channel for students (Student’s Corner) was created in each community. 217 students (the planned number of students was 180) led by 31 facilitators (the planned number of facilitators was 30) from 6 HEIs were working on real-world challenges and completed the Modules. To consistently gather information and analyse the resulting experience from the perspective of students, lecturers, and institutions, a “Framework for the collection of data for evaluation during the testing phase for students, facilitators and representatives of the administration” was developed. Using a balance of qualitative and quantitative indicators, the partners analysed the quality of modules, adaptation of participants, facilitation of communication, acting as a team, peer-to-peer learning, reaching the goals, transdisciplinarity, and working in international teams. After analysing and compiling all the experiences in the proposal, it was planned to develop Guidelines for HEIs (PR3), which would address the following concerns: choosing a platform that matches institutional/consortium needs, preparing community facilitators, developing guidelines and governance to fit the organization, creating awareness for the community, and the intercultural aspect. However, this Intellectual Output didn’t receive funding and, during last Offline meeting in Patras (Greece), the partners decided to analyse the above mentioned concerns in each institution. The final results of the Project have not been affected.To multiply created knowledge and lessons learned, each partner organised 2 multiplier events (webinar M15, offline event M24) inviting higher education lecturers, local authorities, NGOs, and business representatives from their region/country. It is worth mentioning that 1 Project event (webinar M9) was not funded. Regardless of the fact that 2 events occurred instead of the planned 3, the final results of the project have not been affected, either.<< Results >>The main results and outcomes reached by the consortium evolved from the project objectives: RESULTS 1) Procedures and strategies for setting up effective challenge-oriented online communities (O1: “A guide for online community facilitators” and “A guide for online community participants”) 2) An open-access digital content library on Sustainable City consisting of 6 modules (each Project partner created a 6 ECTS-credit Module) laid a solid foundation for quality Erasmus+ blended mobility; 3) Analysis of collaborative online communities in action. 4) 31 lecturer increased their competence in the facilitation of challenge oriented collaborative online communities at 6 HEIs (LT, DE, GR, CZ, PT, PL); 5) 217 students (including both local and international) from 6 HEIs (LT, DE, PL, CZ, PT, GR) increased their competence of working on interdisciplinary real-world challenges in the virtual environment of collaborative online communities; 6) 300 (LT:59, DE: 53, GR:45, CZ:41, PT:42, PL:60) persons from outside the partner institutions took part in the multiplier events (through webinars/offline events) where they learned about created results and lessons learned. OUTCOMES 1) Advanced HE lecturers’ competence for interdisciplinary engaging problem-based teaching in an online environment; 2) Improved student competence and engagement for collaborative online learning; 3) Created institutional know-how regarding quality challenge-oriented teaching/learning in the digital environment at 6 HEIs (LT, DE, GR, CZ, PT, PL); 4) Laid a solid foundation for quality Erasmus+ blended mobility in the field of Sustainable City; 5) Created new partnerships and strengthened existing cooperation within 6 consortium members (LT, DE, GR, CZ, PT, PL). 6) Developed a learning approach in a digital environment easy transferable and applicable in HEIs across Europe.