SEnDIng final conference

The Final Conference of the SEnDIng project took place online on Saturday 21 November 2020, at 09.00 am EET.

Session 1 – Keynotes: Prof. Cleo Sgouropoulou (Standardization Expert, Hellenic Organization for Standardization) discussed the Competence Frameworks and Standards for IT Professional Development. Dr. Luis Fernández-Sanz (CEPIS Board member) gave a talk about CEPIS and the IT Professionalism on Data Science and IoT. Mr. Dobroslav Dimitrov (Member of the Management Board of the Bulgarian Employers Association "Innovation Technologies" and Chairman of the Bulgarian Association of Software Companies) talked about the jobs of tomorrow and the needed employees’ skills. Mr. Sebastiano-Toffaletti (Secretary General of The European DIGITAL SME Alliance) presented the European DIGITAL SME Alliance and the importance of IoT skills and data for SMEs.

Session 2 – The SenDIng project: Dr. Maria Rigou (University of Patras) presented the SEnDIng project and its results. Mr. Pavel Varbanov and Mr. Ivaylo Gueorguiev (European Software Institute – Center Eastern Europe) explained the design of the Internet of Things and the Data Science outcome-based curricula produced by the SEnDIng project.

Session 3 – Eramsus+ projects for skills development at Data Science and Internet of Things: Mr. Riccardo Paci (Loccioni), presented the Da.Re. project experience on bridging education and business needs. Prof. Giorgio Saio (Geographical Information Systems International Group), talked about the EO4GEO project and the innovative strategy for skills development and capacity building in the space geo-information sector supporting Copernicus User Uptake.

Session 4 - Special Session Education and training on Data Science and IoT @ the 24th Pan-Hellenic Conference on Informatics (PCI 2020)

Final Conference presentations can be found at http://sending-project.eu/index.php/en/final-conference

Project current status

The project is currently at the last 2 months of its lifetime and all major outputs have been produced. The only crucial activity still under progress is the certification examination which will follow the completion of the work-based learning and the submission of the required documentation by the trainees. Certification will be done in several rounds to ensure all trainees will be able to find a slot of convenience and each trainee will be given two efforts to pass the exams. The SEnDIng consortium expect (and hope) that certification exams will have a high success rate.

Another current task is the preparation of the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) that will be signed among all project partners to define the joint efforts towards the sustainability of the main outputs of the SEnDIng project. It is a mutual statement of commitment among the signing parties to make every reasonable effort to sustain the main outputs of the SEnDIng project including the support and update of the SEnDIng MOOCs and the training material they contain.

Boost your Data Science and IoT skills and win a cash prize!

The SEnDIng project has developed a MOOC for Data Science and IoT that is freely accessible to everyone interested to boost their skills at these two cutting-edge domains. SEnDIng organizes a competition for all those that will register at the MOOC after 21/12/2020 and will complete the courses of the Data Science or IoT training program before January 31st 2021.

What you have to do by 31st January 2021 is:

  • Create an account at http://mooc.sending-project.eu/
  • Attend the 6 Data Science or 6 IoT online courses and complete the self-evaluation quizzes inside each course. The 2 tr

The 2 trainees that will achieve the highest average score at the self-evaluation quizzes of the Data Science and IoT online courses respectively, we will win €200.  In the case of a tie, a draw will take place to select the winner for each training program (Data Science and IoT).

Important note: Those who have already attended the MOOC (i.e., they have been registered to the MOOC before 21st December 2020) are not eligible to take part in the competition.

The DTAM project

Digital Transformation in Advanced Manufacturing: An Integral Training Curriculum for EU technicians to deploy and manage digital tools in Smart Manufacturing or DTAM in short, is a three-year Sector Skills Alliances in VET project, funded by the Erasmus+ program of the EU.

The DTAM project comes in answer to an ever-increasing need for the upskilling and reskilling of technical workers and students in the EU to help improve their employability in a skills intensive fast evolving labour market i.e. advanced manufacturing (AM). The project will also address other multiple other needs which have recently became even more evident because of developments such as the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. Among those needs are the (1) digital and technical skills mismatches in demand and supply of labour, (2) demand for sector-tailored industrial workers, (3) lack of recognized VET programs on the topic and a practical training through access to developed IoT (remote) labs and WBL and last but not least (4) the need for an updated training for low or under-skilled adult workers threatened by replacement or obsolescence due to technological advances.

Therefore, DTAM will deliver a new curriculum in digital transformation dedicated to the quality training of mid-high-level technicians in key enabling technologies for Advanced Manufacturing. The curriculum will help grow a workforce of technicians capable of understanding, installing, configuring, monitoring, analysing, transferring data and maintaining digital systems in advanced manufacturing environments so meeting a critical skills gap in EU Industry 4.0 and addressing partners’ regional RiS3s.

The project is set to achieve this through the following key activities:

  • DTAM teaching methodology and training program. The partnership will create a Digital Transformation Skills Index in the field of digital transformation, a training methodology and a training curriculum, including a dedicated Trainer's manual.
  • Preparation of DTAM Training course. In this key project activity, learning materials will be developed together with a dedicated online learning platform and a tool for self-assessment of digital and transversal skills. Possible training topics are: digital skills, cybersecurity, transversal competencies, cloud technologies, artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data. The training course will be available in 6 national languages: English, Spanish, Dutch, Italian, Greek and Bulgarian.
  • Creating a DTAM IoT Hub. The idea behind this activity is based on the need to have a centre for sustainable cooperation for various stakeholders, including students and teachers, entrepreneurs and professionals developing IoT products and services, buyers from private organizations or public administration, and end users. Creating the DTAM IoT hub, will allow access to training content and materials to both national and international stakeholders.
  • Pilot testing. Prior to the official presentation of the DTAM training course, a pilot test will be conducted to validate the training methodology, the training curriculum and the training content.

Coordinator of the DTAM project is POLITEKNIKA IKASTEGIA TXORIERRI S.COOP (Spain) partnering with a total of 10 other organisations from 5 European countries of which University of Patras is proud to be part of.

We invite you to take part in the project and get notified about its activities by subscribing for the official DTAM project newsletter here.

Should you have any queries related to the DTAM project, please feel free to contact Dr. Maria Rigou and Dr. Vasileios Gkamas

A European approach to micro-credentials

In spring 2020, the European Commission established an ad-hoc consultation group with experts on higher education from various European countries to propose a common definition and recommendations for a European approach to the development and uptake of micro-credentials in Europe.

A micro-credential is a proof of the learning outcomes that a learner has acquired following a short, transparently-assessed learning experience. They are awarded upon the completion of short stand-alone courses (or modules) done on-site or online (or in a blended format).

The group was composed of practitioners working at national authorities, in quality assurance agencies, higher education institutions and other relevant stakeholders from higher education. This group held three virtual meetings between 26 May and 17 September 2020 and proposed a common European definition, common characteristics and a roadmap of actions. This roadmap puts forward suggestions from this expert group for actions and timing needed at a European and national level to develop and implement a European approach to micro-credentials. The suggested actions focus mainly on the higher education field, as per mandate of the group, but also address elements of a broader scope to cater for the other education and training fields.

For more information, please refer here.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute endorsement of the contents which 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.