Digitization of Higher Education for Renewable Energy Systems in Europe

"<< Background >>HED-RES-EU vision is to move towards sustainability, which requires fundamental shift and incremental steps in education, training and learning process, and research to support this process with knowledge and innovation. The ultimate long-term objective supported under the project is to turn academia into a rapidly progressing educational and research centers targeted at renewable green energy, bioeconomy and sustainability (incl. but not limited to climate, agrifood safety, urban farming (controlled environment agriculture, waste valorization into bioproducts, sustainable production practice), with a pool of competent and highly competitive experts who are responsive to socio-economic regional and European development needs and capable of stimulating innovation and boosting sustainable growth of the local economy. The immediate results of the talent acquisition and academic excellence at the partners involved have direct impact and synergies in our ecosystems, bouncing to the diversity of stakeholders therein and empowering them as co-creators of innovative products, services and business models in the domain of bio economy and sustainability.<< Objectives >>HED-RES-EU consortium shares joint mission and vision statement to cooperate and work within different environment, in different languages, and across borders, sectors and academic disciplines, and to positively contribute to the sustainable development and green way of learning and living. Our target achievements refer to: changing and complement of the existing educational programs with appropriate knowledge and skills according to business practice and community needs; designing and organizing a tailor-made advanced, accessible and flexible teaching-learning material, and in particular targeting renewable energy resources; implementing modern teaching methods like learning by doing, gamification, flipped classroom, teaching masters and others to reach an active learning; involving into the project qualified academic staff dedicated to their work. HED-RES-EU builds upon the changing emphasis of the environment to the overall learning process by: Introducing innovative educational methods – problem centered, practical oriented and experimental; smart learning using AI techniques; developing new training materials linked to local environment and complementary to the existing research and integrating topics, and sharing experience.<< Implementation >>HED-RES-EU systematically consolidates the knowledge, generated so far and the newly emerging problems, to bring about a satisfactory level of norms and standards in academics, business and society, enhance quality of work and relevance of the education. Within this activity, the project: 1) Embeds innovative approach towards the green culture in the formal education through mainstreaming the development of awareness, proactive behavior and better understanding of renewable energy resources; promoting green agenda and emerging trends, stimulating such ideas through extra-curricular activities and courses, and increasing innovation capacity; 2) Defines and targets economic and social benefits of the multidisciplinary, multi-professional and multicultural approaches to address opportunities for new RES business models and regional development patterns beyond national and European borders; 3) Acknowledges the importance of the project sustainability and therefore incorporates a sustainability and transferability strategy by: i) addressing green economy and renewable energy resources as a topic of high priority not only for organisations and local communities; ii) responding to local needs like youth job security, investments and financial support from private and public sources; iii) addressing community requirements via open dialog with different stakeholders; stimulating green entrepreneurial activities by providing analytical framework and hands-on experiences.<< Results >>R1: Digitally based curriculum for renewable green energy education supported with e-learning, workshops and webinar meetings, incl.:•HED-RES-EU website and E-learning platform with mobile application - https://www.hedres.eu/ and https://www.hedres.eu/lms/HED-RES-EU LMS system is based on the most popular e-learning system Moodle. Moodle is an open-source learning management system. Many of the universities, schools and education organizations use Moodle for online learning systems. Moodle’s interface is simple, friendly and user-centered. In our LMS system educators can create -courses, add assignments, activities and follow the students’ progress. It also allows to communicate with students and participants. Within the course shells, authorized users can create new units, add quizzes, resources or set up gradebooks. In activities users can add documents, presentations, H5P contents, Scorm packages or external web pages such as videos from YouTube. There are 15 types of questions such as multiple choice, matching and drag-drop.Resources: A resource is an item that a teachers can use to support learning, such as a file or link. Moodle supports a range of resource types which teachers can add to their courses. •Book - Multi-page resources with a book-like format. Teachers can export their Books as IMS CP (admin must allow teacher role to export IMS)•File - A picture, a pdf document, a spreadsheet, a sound file, a video file•Folder - For helping organize files and one folder may contain other folders•IMS content package - Add static material from other sources in the standard IMS content package format•Label - Can be a few displayed words or an image used to separate resources and activities in a topic section, or can be a lengthy description or instructions•Page - The student sees a single, scrollable screen that a teacher creates with the robust HTML editor•URL - You can send the student to any place they can reach on their web browser, for example WikipediaActivities: An activity is a general name for a group of features in a Moodle course. Usually, an activity is something that a student does that interacts with other students and or the teacher. There are 15 different types of activities.•Assignments - Enable teachers to grade and give comments on uploaded files and assignments created on and offline;•Chat - Allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion;•Choice - A teacher asks a question and specifies a choice of multiple responses;•Database - Enables participants to create, maintain and search a bank of record entries;•Feedback - For creating and conducting surveys to collect feedback;•Forum - Allows participants to have asynchronous discussions;•Glossary - Enables participants to create and maintain a list of definitions, like a dictionary;•H5P activity - Enables H5P content created in the Content bank or on h5p.com or with the Lumi App to be easily added to a course as an activity;•Lesson - For delivering content in flexible ways;•(LTI) External tool - Allows participants to interact with LTI compliant learning resources and activities on other web sites. (These must first be set up by an administrator on the site before being available in individual courses.);•Quiz - Allows the teacher to design and set quiz tests, which may be automatically marked and feedback and/or to correct answers shown;•SCORM - Enables SCORM packages to be included as course content;•Survey - For gathering data from students to help teachers learn about their class and reflect on their own teaching;•Wiki - A collection of web pages that anyone can add to or edit;•Workshop - Enables peer assessment.Enrolment of students: There are different methods for enrolling the courses. Manual enrolment, guest Access, self-enrolment. For more convenience, you can also divide the enrolled users into groups and cohorts.Grading: Educators can grade activities for courses. All grades are reported automatically. Also, there is reputation system. Students can grab badges for the activities and increase their reputations.Question types: Calculated; Simple Calculated; Drag and drop into text; Drag and drop markers; Drag and drop onto image; Calculated Multichoice; Description; Essay; Matching; Embedded Answers (Close); Multiple Choice; Random Short Answer Matching; Select missing words; Short-Answer; Numerical; True/False.Multilanguage support: HED-RES-EU LMS system has multilingual support. Languages of all partners have been defined to system. The interface of the LMS system automatically detects the user’s browser language setting and loads the user’s language. Otherwise, users can select their own language from the language menu.The HED-RES-EU LMS systems also serves to provide all information related to project and its implementation – consortium, objectives and progress, while also acting as a content repository for deliverables and publications (as and when needed).•National HED-RES-EU workshop(s )to stakeholdersPreliminary preparations for the national level workshops included developing a set of questions to ask the participants in the form of a survey. The formulated groups of questions were reduced to the following:-What is the understanding of the organisation you represent about the European Green Deal?-What would help your organisation to transform itself as more sustainable and greener?-How do these activities relate to renewable energy and green policy/strategy in your region/country?-Does your organisation have a strategy regarding alternative energy resources?-Describe recent/current investments/projects that are associated with green practices and solutions?-What are the required competencies, knowledge, expertise regarding green practices?-And to identify three training topics that would be appropriate for generating necessary competencies, knowledge, expertise on green practices.The national workshop organised and conducted by Trakia University was structured as both informative and discussion-based event. In the opening panel of the event the audience was presented with some information regarding the project’s idea, goals, main findings, and outreach. Participants had the opportunity to introduce themselves and to share their experience regarding the renewable energy systems and the reasons behind their interest in supporting the opportunity for a blended higher education in the field. Trakia University main goal was to reach a larger audience with representatives from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. Having this as a main goal, the workshop was attended by academia, business supporting organisations, NGOs, start-up companies and other organisations related to the main topic of the workshop. Assuring as large audience as possible, in terms of background and experience was seen as a key element for a fruitful discussion and interesting suggestions.The results from the national workshop showed that the areas that would largely benefit could be part of a specific curriculum designed to cover the needs for expert in the field of RES. Nevertheless, as they cover a significant need of characteristically different skills, it is suggested that there is a potential for different categories of qualified training for meeting the future challenges for skilled workers.Some of the most common topics that are: •Implementation of RES production projects - lessons learned, mistakes to avoid; •Regulatory framework of the EU Green Deal; •The impact of the EU Green Deal on Bulgaria •State policy; Environmental management•Environmental performance assessment;•Environmental management systems;•Requirements with implementation guidelines; •Decentralized low-carbon practices; •Production of decarbonized energy; Installations for new renewable sources; •Ecological design, certification systems and product requirements; •Financing of innovative and cutting-edge technologies; •Monetary valuation of environmental impacts and related environmental aspects; •Heat pump systems; •Ventilation and recovery; •Circular economy and opportunities for decarbonization of industry; •VOCs – innovative and energy-efficient ways to neutralize them; •Recovery of waste from composite materials (from different types of films and paper).In Estonia the selection criteria include the profile of senior decision-maker representatives of Estonian companies that are either transitioning to a green energy model or have plans to do so. The discussions during the national workshop outlined the following gaps to be filled: Disconnection between schools and the industry when it comes to green skills; Companies are uncertain to invest in green skills: too big investment, long-term training and not immediate benefit to the production; Easier to attract fresh high school graduates than university graduates: university graduates are less open to learn and have higher expectations about working conditions quality and salary levels; Difficult to upskill workers with an average age of 50+. It seems easier to hire younger workers. Education in green skills should be attractive to investors: company’s own resources and grants are not enough; The role of green auditors is not yet well understood. They are called in when there is environmental pollution but not proactively for them to give feedback on a plan for green transition of the industry.Suggestions outlined refer to: More attention should be given to in-company models for renewable energy skills education. Encouraging companies to share those with each other and collecting them in a data repository could be one of the potential recommendations of HED-RES-EU; and checking if there are green auditors or similar roles in other countries and how effective they are. It can improve their efficiency across countries.The national workshop organized by the University of Pannonia within the framework of the HED-RES-EU project included an online platform to facilitate participation, and thusly offer those partners who took part in it the convenience and flexibility that such an arrangement can offer. The same guiding idea was behind the online format of the questionnaire survey the participants were asked to fill in. The questionnaire and the workshop itself (and thus the whole project) had been widely promoted to have a participant/respondent profile as varied as possible. Both the public and private sectors were represented among the respondents, with several research institutions working in the field of renewable energy, including universities, for-profit organizations, and their representatives, and non-profit organizations that can help businesses go green at a local level with their local activities.The training topics suggested were the following: topics related to the circular economy concept in general (also at household level); topics related to the management of waste; topics related to renewable energy sources in general; topics related to renewable energy technologies specifically; management topics; economic topics; IT-related topics.The national workshop in Italy included participants representing ITIS Marconi, High School Cangrande della Scala, Higher Technical Institutes (ITS RED), Pleiadi Science Farmer, Children's Museum Verona, MU-CH Museum of Chemistry in Settimo Torinese, La Fabbrica della Scienza, Lab Energy Est Energy Educational Project. During the working session the main motive of the discussions was along the lines of how to provide and promote employment among graduate students in the field of green, renewable energy, ecological transition, circular economy. Specific problems identified were the lack of transition from training to employment; the presence of fundamental knowledge that is not complemented by practical skills and experience; and the concentration of unemployment in certain sectors, which has been exacerbated over the years and not diversified. Good practices were shared on organizing/ delivering training courses, incubating business ideas, assisting schools in updating their training programs:•Specialist help desks (school/university information, job information, student help and advice, national civil service, international mobility);•Local, regional and national information networks;•Educational/training guidance initiatives;•Activities, events and projects funded at provincial, regional, national, community level and related reporting procedures;•Multimedia communication tools and networks;•Operational secretariat of the district youth information council staff training and updating;•A system for evaluating the effectiveness and efficiency of the information network and ongoing monitoring of youth users;•ISO 9001 quality system for all services offered.The national workshop was held in Turkey to focus on the opportunities for: •Developing greener and environmentally friendly projects; •Environmental protection projects, protection of forests, grasslands; •Research and education for greener and more sustainable living; Use of solar panels to heat residential and industrial buildings.The identified training topics and potential benefits of cooperation with HED-RES-EU are: •Climate, Agriculture, Industry, Environment and Ocean; •Transport, Finance and Development, Research and Innovation; •Alternative energy systems and energy saving/ batteries; •Municipal/ agricultural/ animal waste management projects;•Wind and solar energy systems.The following organisations/projects were involved in the national workshops:-IDEAM cluster - https://ideam.ie/;-REthinking Sustainable Development in European Regions by Using Circular Economy Business ModelS (REDUCES) - https://twitter.com/reducesproject;-Spatium - https://spatium.bg/;-Çanakkale Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association - http://www.casiad.org.tr/;-Canakkale Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Canakkale – Turkey - https://www.chamber-commerce.net/dir/4267/Canakkale-Chamber-of-Commerce-and-Industry-in-Canakkale;-Emerald European Ventures - https://twitter.com/emeraldeuropean;-Sirkel&Mall - https://www.sma.ee/; -SilvaHunt - https://www.silvahunt.ee/; -ETKA Andras - https://www.andras.ee/; -SMEs from the RES sector;-MEGÉRTI Ltd. - https://megerti.hu/;-Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Nagykanizsa - http://www.nakkik.hu/hu;-Emberfejlesztés Ltd. - https://www.emberfejlesztes.com/;-IMRO-DDKK Nonprofit Ltd. - www.imro.hu;-MJ Kanizsa Consulting Ltd.;-Ivy Technology AMS Hungary Ltd. - https://ivytech.com/;-Renergy Consulting Ltd. - www.renergy.hu;-Nagykanizsai Városfejlesztő Ltd. - https://kanizsaifejlesztesek.hu/;-The Institute of Adult Education of the University of Pannonia - https://felnottkepzes.uni-pannon.hu/intezetunk/bemutatkozas;-ITIS Marconi - https://www.marconiverona.edu.it/; -High School Cangrande della Scala - https://itscangrande.edu.it/;-Higher Technical Institutes (ITS RED) - https://itsred.it/;-Pleiadi Science Farmer - https://www.pleiadi.net/;-Children's Museum Verona - https://www.cmverona.it/museo/;-MU-CH Museum of Chemistry in Settimo Torinese - https://www.mu-ch.it/;-La Fabbrica della Scienza - https://www.lafabbricadellascienza.it/;-Lab Energy Est Energy Educational Project - https://www.energycenter.polito.it/en/energy_center_lab;-BOLSTER - https://bolster-horizon.eu/;-MOL-PE Circular Economy Science Park Nonprofit Zrt - https://www.nemzeticegtar.hu/nemzeticegtar/cegadat/1910500372/MOL-PE-Circular-Economy-Science-Park-Nonprofit-Zrt;-Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy - https://umfcd.ro/;-University of Nicosia - https://www.unic.ac.cy/;-Porto University - https://www.up.pt/portal/en/ .•Guideline of renewable energy for teachers/students/trainers and decision- makersThe structures, practices, and methodologies of the current educational systems in HED-RES-EU partnering countries are not suitable to support the learning needs of the knowledge society. Only a few courses offered in these programmes encompass renewable energy technologies that go together with the indispensable elements related to renewable energy in terms of finance and environmental law. A first-hand experience and information on development trends in business and the labour market, competencies and knowledge required, and available education and research programmes is introduced with the present HED-RES-EU METHODOLOGY.Renewable energy teaching approaches, methods, and techniques, ISBN: 978-954-338-203-3. The material includes the following key topics:•A general framework and analysis of the knowledge and competences needed, including: renewable energy skills; education, curricula, formal/informal education; job opportunities for young graduates in the energy market; business opportunities in the renewable energy sector; green energy perspectives through public support and awareness.•The role of HED-RES-EU in terms of effective learning about renewable energy in higher education; responsibilities when working with renewable energy sources; regulation of renewable energy in Europe; key principles of environmentally sound renewable energy deployment in engineering education; agricultural waste in clean energy production.•Best Practice Guidance for Implementation of Renewable Green Energy for teachers/trainers/students and decision-makers.HED-RES-EU Collection of Best Practices of Renewable Green Energy educational programs, ISBN: 978-954-338-263-7 is primarily to provide best practice guidance on renewable energy sources, systems, management, sustainability, and the environmental management legal framework applicable to renewable energy operations. It is intended to benefit all the role players in the higher education and sector in partner countries.The guideline is principally intended for use by teachers, trainers, students, and decision-makers. Project stakeholders are expected to learn about new technologies and innovative management of renewable energy sources through this guidance.The guidelines aim to help universities and stakeholders understand the renewable energy systems development process and provide confidence in the level of rigor that can be expected from proponents. It serves as a planning practice guide for best practices related to renewable and low-carbon energy.•Piloting of digitally supported Renewable Green Energy curriculumThe HED-RES-EU Validation and Evaluation of the HED-RES-EU Curriculum is to refine the curriculum designed under Q1A3 and to evaluate the effectiveness of our data collection strategies before full-scale implementation across HEIs. Through a series of meticulously designed stages and activities, this framework aims to ensure the curriculum's effectiveness, refine data collection instruments, and ultimately pave the way for a seamless and impactful project rollout.The HED-RES-EU project specifically targets university students pursuing degrees not directly relevant to renewable energy or environmental studies within the European HEI landscape. To foster a diverse and representative sample, participants are recruited from four esteemed institutions: Trakia University in Bulgaria, University of Pannonia in Hungary, and Balıkesir University (BAUN) and Çanakkale University (COMU) in Turkey. A rigorous sampling technique, such as stratified sampling based on year of study or program, is employed to select a sample size of approximately 30 to 35 participants. This approach ensures a robust and diverse pool for piloting the curriculum, fostering generalizability of the findings to the broader student population across these universities.The piloting journey commences with a meticulously planned familiarisation stage. This initial phase happens before the C1 Activity, and serves the critical purpose of introducing participants to the intricacies of the project and the piloting process itself. A curated selection of essential materials is provided, including information sheets that offer a clear and concise overview of the project's goals, the curriculum content, and expected participant involvement. Additionally, participant consent forms are meticulously outlined, ensuring participants are fully informed of their rights and responsibilities.Following this initial groundwork, Stage 2 focuses on pre-testing any data collection instruments. This crucial step is paramount to the project's success, as it allows for a meticulous evaluation of the effectiveness of these instruments, such as a pre-test questionnaire, in gauging students' prior knowledge of RES concepts. Observing their progress allows for the identification of any ambiguities or areas that may hinder clarity or comprehension. Additionally, their candid feedback regarding the instruments' structure, clarity, and ease of use is instrumental in refining them before full-scale implementation.R2: Accredited Online Renewable Green Energy Curriculum for higher education, incl.:•State of the art reportThe HED-RES-EU State of art, ISBN: 978-954-338-213-2 is to synthesize and analyse the status and processes in the education system and the level of training in the field of renewable energy, green energy and related sectors. The material includes current trends in the education system, training models and sharing of good practices, overview of the labour market situation (employment, education and training).The main finding refers to the following:Bulgaria has passable level of educational programs, and they are partially fulfilling current needs in labour sector, still this area is fast changing, and we need to cover all new challenges starting with the methods and content of environmental education. All educational programs in this field must cover the employer’s needs and basic skills in this field must be acquired. Implementation of new practical courses are needed, done directly to the receiving employer institutions. The final goal of better prepared employees can be achieved with close cooperation between governments, industry, social partners and academia.Social awareness on renewable energy and the use of renewable energy have been increasing in Turkey in recent years. In this context, renewable energy sources are increasing, especially wind, solar, geothermal and biomass energy. Renewable energy education at university level is given as an optional or compulsory course in some technical departments of vocational schools. Since the employment of electrical technicians in the renewable energy sector has been increasing in recent years, the issue of renewable energy technicians has come to the fore more frequently. For this reason, employment opportunities are opened for technicians trained in renewable energy. Energy system engineering departments in engineering faculties are increasing day by day. Many universities at the master and doctorate level have renewable energy programs. Education is mostly done face-to-face, but online classes have increased with the pandemic. As research centres, renewable energy institutes and research application centres are becoming widespread.Approaches focusing on environmental sustainability in Hungary have recently emerged more and more in different areas of life, including education. Global environmental and climatic changes require the training of professionals who can identify and explore the problems and solve them in innovative ways.Currently, renewable energy education in Estonia is concentrated in the vocational education institutions, particularly VocEd schools (mostly publicly funded by the state or municipalities) and universities/centres for continuing education. There is no learning in the earlier stages of education, and many companies take the initiative to train their incoming and current workforce about it, in-house and at their own cost. There are two very salient examples - Lääne-Viru College for publicly funded vocational education about renewable energy, and Pärnu bioCHP for in-company training of workers and securing apprenticeships in the countryside area. Many of the challenges about the adoption of renewable energy for the overall transition to a green economy are systemic failures of the domestic economy, its over-dependence on externalities, need for deep restructuring and reforms towards a zero-carbon, resources efficient model. This requires a combination of complex measures for education and employment for renewable energy-based economy across multiple industrial domains.Global warming and climate change are challenging governments and businesses by demanding rapid and concrete action. The ecological transition and the latest technological innovations in terms of RES require trained and experienced professional figures with specific skills in the field of sustainability. In response to these necessities the Italian Government is working to adjust and improve the higher education system to reduce the competences mismatch in this field and support innovations.•Pedagogical methodology Planning: Pedagogical methodology for Renewable Energy Curriculum DevelopmentHED-RES-EU is operationalized within both specific and cross-cutting categories: Technology: level of infrastructure and implementation; Social: technological skills and education; quality of life and household impact; technology and social inclusiveness; impact on inequalities; employment, entrepreneurship and migration; Economic: markets and value chains; competitiveness, productivity and efficiency; financing of digitization, investment profitability; Environmental: sustainability; climate change mitigation and adaptation; management and preservation of natural resources and rural areas; and Governance: governmental support; transparency and e-government; policy and regulation; data ownership.HED-RES-EU pedagogical approach is towards major focus on process of delivery; student-dominated learning / discovering/sharing; lecturer acts as facilitator/ fellow learner; emphasis upon ""know how"" and ""know who""; students discover and generate knowledge; sessions flexible and responsive to needs; learning objectives negotiated; learning from mistakes; emphasis upon practice; and multidisciplinary / cross-functional focus. HED-RES-EU offers:•Catching up with the fundamental changes in knowledge production in the field - socially distributed, application-oriented, trans-disciplinary, and subject to multiple accountabilities. Education is built on essentially different circumstances, moving away from the strict division of disciplines.•Reorganization of the teaching and learning processes; making research relevant and accessible; and enhancing graduate employability and educating 'enterprising' individuals.•Implementation of trans-disciplinary approaches and innovative pedagogies such as student-centered learning, inverted learning, and research-based learning which support the acquisition of transferable forward-looking skills, developing, testing, and implementing flexible and modular course design (online or blended) and appropriate forms of assessment.•Renewable Energy CurriculumHED-RES-EU Renewable Energy Curriculum includes the following disciplines/ programmes:Renewable Energy Overview - Definition of energy, energy supply and demand, Types of renewable energy resources, EU renewable energy targets (target 2030), European Green Deal, Renewable Energy Directive, REPowerEU and RE policy, Renewable energy, environmental impact, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change and sustainable development, EU renewable energy sector, innovations and trends, Energy and cleaner production Energy utilization, conservation, storage and management, RE economics and entrepreneurship skills Renewable energy education in European HEIs.Solar Energy: Photovoltaic Systems-Solar Hot Water-Solar Electricity; Solar energy; Properties of Sunlight; Semiconductors & Junctions; Solar Cell Operation; Design and manufacturing of Silicon Cells; Modules and Arrays; Characterization; Material Properties; Batteries.Wind Energy: What is Wind Energy Why We Need it; Definitions and basic terms, principles of wind energy gain and use; Description how the wind energy works; Types of Wind Energy; Advantages and disadvantages of wind energy; Wind energy and the environment; Use of wind energy in agriculture; Wind Technologies and Next Generation wind Technology; What is wind Turbine; Types of wind turbines / classification of wind turbines; Wind Turbine generator types; What are the types of wind stock investments? Future outlook for wind energy.Geothermal Energy: What is geothermal energy? Defi"