Digital transformation in Higher Education (HE) is a major priority for the European Union (EU) and in the years to come there will be a reconstruction of the Higher Education Institutions (HEI) at all levels of their operation. With the adoption of the Digital Education Action Plan (20212027) on 30 September 2020, the EU sets the target of a high-quality, accessible and inclusive digital education supporting the Member States for their entry into a digital era.
A pioneer of these radical changes is the ECOLHE project which through its research tries to contribute in enhancing and promoting e-learning with high-quality standards. For that purpose, during the past three years extensive work took place which led to five high-quality Intellectual Outputs (IOs) summarised in this report. In specific, IO1 analyze six case studies in partner countries focusing on how Universities develop their strategic approaches to digitalization. In IO2, online training was implemented to empower teachers and researchers’ skills in online and blended learning, aiming to the qualitative dimensions of human interaction. In IO3 new online environments and the gamification logic implementation in HE were examined followed by the introduction of the Symbiotic Learning Paradigm (SLP) in course design in IO4. From all that extensive work useful outcomes were extracted, which will be presented in the following sections of the final IO5: Recommendations and Guidelines for Academic Bodies.
These recommendations and guidelines are formed in consistency with all previous ECOLHE IOs and European directives with the ambition to form a useful guide for the Academic Bodies in their way to the digital transformation of their services.