During the preparation of the Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027), extensive stakeholder consultations highlighted the need for reinforced cooperation and dialogue between stakeholders in the area of digital education.
The fragmentation of digital education policy, research and implementation practices at the European level were also raised as important issues slowing progress. Several structural issues related to digital education extend beyond context and sector.
To address these issues, the European Digital Education Hub brings together the community working on digital education and provides a dedicated space for its information-sharing and cooperation needs.
Objectives
As announced in the 2020 Communication on the Digital Education Action Plan, the European Digital Education Hub will
- support European Union (EU) Member States by setting up a network of national advisory services on digital education to exchange experience and good practice on the enabling factors for digital education
- link national and regional digital education initiatives and strategies, and connect national authorities, the private sector, experts, education and training providers and civil society through various activities
- monitor the implementation of the Action Plan and the development of digital education in Europe, including through results from EU-supported projects
- share best practices by contributing to research experimentation and the systematic collection and analysis of empirical evidence, in part through peer learning
- support cross-sector collaboration and new models for the seamless exchange of digital learning content addressing issues, such as interoperability, quality assurance, environmental sustainability, accessibility and inclusion and EU common standards for digital education
- support the agile development of policy and practice by acting as a ‘think-and-do-tank’ for digital education and engaging stakeholders in user-driven innovation through the Digital Education Hackathon
How will these objectives be achieved?
To achieve these objectives, the European Digital Education Hub provides:
- a community for cooperation on digital education;
- a network of National Advisory Services (NAS) for cooperating on the implementation of digital education polices;
- a new Support, Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities (SALTO) resource centre for digital education;
- opportunities for proposing solutions to digital education issues through the Digital Education Hackathon.
The Community of the Hub offers:
- a cross-sectorial space – a community that shares its expertise, best practices and solutions for digital education across education and training sectors; promotes discourse, co-creation and action
- knowledge-sharing and mapping – encourage exchange and cooperation, information-sharing and mapping
- the acceleration of digital education practices and solutions – accelerate the uptake of digital innovation in education
The NAS network brings:
- link ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches to digital education issues by stimulating dialogue among member states and across education and training levels
- promote peer support for digital education
The SALTO for digital education provides
- guidance and training for National Agency staff
- identify, exchange and collect examples of best practices – either at the project level or in implementing bodies and issue practical publications
- guidance and tools for beneficiaries and applicants
Key activities
Stakeholder consultations (2021)
The Commission has extensively incorporated the feedback received through the open public consultation on the new Digital Education Action Plan (2021-2027) for the proposal for a Digital Education Hub.
In addition, in line with the approach adopted for the development of the Digital Education Action Plan, the Commission consulted a wide number of stakeholders concerning the conceptualisation of the Hub. This was done through three dedicated online consultations targeting the following groups:
- the ET 2020 Working Group on Digital Education: Learning, Teaching and Assessment (WG DELTA) – 25 February 2021
- stakeholders that participated in the open public consultation on the Digital Education Action Plan – 1 March 2021
- stakeholders interested in the Digital Education Hub – 5 March 2021
Stakeholder consultations included open conversations on the main features of the Hub, stakeholders’ needs regarding support for digital education and efforts to understand how different stakeholders could contribute to the objectives of the Hub.
The development of a community (2021-2022)
In 2021, the work to establish and develop the community of practice started with the opening of a call to procure support services for the moderation and curation of the community.
The work to establish the community of practice began in February 2022. After a short piloting and testing phase, registration to the community of the European Digital Education Hub is now available through the EEA portal.
If you want to collaborate, exchange best practices and develop solutions with stakeholders from all sectors of education and training, you can register for the community of the European Digital Education Hub.
Network of National Advisory Services
From October 2021, the Commission supported a dialogue within the creation of a network of National Advisory Services – national or regional bodies working primarily on the implementation of digital education policies.
This includes executive agencies, departments/structures within a national ministry that have a clear mandate for implementation on digital education, or national and regional bodies implementing digital education policies.
The network promotes the exchange of experiences concerning digital education and ensures cooperation between countries.
SALTO
As from 2022, the Commission launched the preparatory work for a new Digital SALTO resource center (Support, Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities), which will develop as a resource centre working to support Erasmus National Agencies in the digital dimension of the programme. The National Agency of Finland was appointed for implementing this new network of SALTO, which will be operational from August 2022.
Timeline
- March 2020 - March 2021 – stakeholder consultations including an open public consultation
- October 2021 – first meeting of the network of National Advisory Services
- February 2022 – work began to establish the European Digital Education Hub’s community of practice
- June 2022 – opening of registrations for the Hub’s community of practice
- August 2022 – start of the activities of the SALTO
Funding
This action is funded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme.
Get in touch
To find out more about this action, get in touch with us by email at EAC-DIGITALEDUCATION@ec.europa.eu and EACEA-DIGITAL-EDUCATION-HUB@ec.europa.eu.
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