Unibo structure involved: Department of Psychology "Renzo Canestrari" - PSI
Scientific manager: Elisabetta Crocetti
Unibo Team: Savas Karatas, Monica Rubini, Silvia Moscatelli, Michela Menegatti
Project Web page: https://promis.education/
Erasmus+ Action type: Strategic Partnerships for higher education
Project reference: 2019-1-RO01-KA203-063157
Start Date: 1 September 2019
End Date: 31 August 2022
Budget: Total € 339,106 - UNIBO € 65,239
Coordinator: UNIVERSITATEA BABES BOLYAI (RO)
Partners:
KAUNO TECHNOLOGIJOS UNIVERSITETAS (LT)
ELEARNING & SOFTWARE (RO)
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM – UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA (IT)
UNIVERSITÉ DE BORDEAUX (FR)
UNIWERSYTET KARDYNALA STEFANA WYSZYNSKIEGO W WARSZAWIE (PL)
UNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT (NL)
Summary:
We live in a “post-truth” world, where youth increasingly rely on information from unverified and often undocumented sources, from different social media outlets. Often, misinformation refers to aspects pertaining to the social inclusion of disadvantaged and marginalized groups, like immigrants, people with low socio-economic status or coming from poor communities, ethnic minorities, women. These groups are often presented in social media in a polarized, highly negative manner, backed up by strong statements like “These people are…”, followed by strong negative characteristics attributed to these disadvantaged groups, pointing out to weakness, threat, or danger. Against this background, the project partners, researchers and teachers from 6 European countries, social science experts on core topics related to social inclusion (identity, gender, socio-economic status, migration, rural/urban divide), will elaborate research-based instruments that will help students better understand what social inclusion is and how they can develop their competences when interacting with marginalized groups. In this endeavor, they will be assisted by the expertise of the e-learning partner company. The objectives of this strategic partnership are:
1. To integrate up-to-date theoretical knowledge and research findings with practical case studies of social inclusion and of applied research on social inclusion, in order to develop the course curriculum "Building inclusive societies: Promoting social inclusion and reducing discrimination" (BUILD), which will foster social, civic, and intercultural competences.
2. To use innovative pedagogies in developing learning contents in order to best meet the learning needs and characteristics of digital-native students, through the creation of a gamification manual based on the gamification of the BUILD curriculum.
3. To enable flexible and collaborative learning and the acquisition of digital competences in students and teachers, through the development of the gamified online e-learning platform.
4. To tackle discrimination and segregation issues and develop social inclusion skills through the creation and implementation of a dynamic and modular online course on the topic "Building inclusive societies: Promoting social inclusion and reducing discrimination" (eBUILD).
The project will use transnational, trans-sectoral, and interdisciplinary methods and it will capitalize on up-to-date research findings from large-scale projects on marginalization in different European countries, many of them conducted by the project partners. The project integrates gamification methodologies as innovative pedagogical strategies, in order to increase students’ involvement in learning. We focus on 4 core intellectual outputs: (a) curriculum addressing social inclusion skills and competences in students "Building inclusive societies: Promoting social inclusion and reducing discrimination" (BUILD); (b) gamification manual of BUILD curriculum, addressing learning needs and characteristics of contemporary youth, through game elements in the description of important concepts and research results; (c) gamified online e-learning platform, as a hub for the project curriculum and online course, a dynamic communication environment for students, and an online course development tool for teachers and researchers; (d) modular online course "Building inclusive societies: Promoting social inclusion and reducing discrimination" (eBUILD), integrated in the e-learning platform. The project will directly involve 1000 university students, 10 to 15 university teachers, up to 15 researchers, several online learning and gamification specialists and technicians from the partner e-learning development company. The project will have 2500 persons (students, teachers, researchers, youth workers, policy makers on topics of youth and social discrimination, school administrators, high-school students, social responsibility experts from private companies), as indirect beneficiaries and beneficiaries targeted in dissemination activities.
The project will produce innovative and high-quality intellectual outputs, very useful in universities and for stakeholders in the civil society: a course curriculum, a gamification manual on project topics, and a modular online course, implemented in an online platform. The impact of the project will integrate: support for participants’ non-discrimination and social inclusion skills and competences, of social, civic, and intercultural competences; the strengthening of online course development skills of participating teachers and researchers; an understanding of gamification as a learning tool in participating teachers and researchers; the strengthening of an international learning, teaching and innovative applied research network through the modular online course and platform. Additionally, all outputs will be useful tools for youth workers and social responsibility experts in private companies.