New Erasmus+ Project (Press Release)
A new Erasmus+ project coordinated by the University of Copenhagen is to develop a strategy to improve digital competencies for university teaching across Europe. The strategy will serve as a model for other European institutions that wish to improve their academic staff’s digital teaching proficiency.
New project to improve European university teachers’ digital competencies
A new Erasmus+ project coordinated by the University of Copenhagen is to develop a strategy to improve digital competencies for university teaching across Europe. The strategy will serve as a model for other European institutions that wish to improve their academic staff’s digital teaching proficiency.
Universities across Europe are challenged by digital transformation and the need for more digital competencies among teachers. The development of digital teaching skills is, however, a slow process. Too often it relies on individual initiative by teachers interested in digital tools. A more strategic approach is needed, which is what the new Erasmus+ project “Competencies for Universities – using Technology in Education” (CUTE) will provide.
“CUTE is aimed at developing a strategy to improve digital competencies for university teaching at an institutional level based on the based on the European Framework for Digital Competence for Educators (DigCompEdu). Simultaneously we will develop a methodology and toolkit for other institutions to do the same strategic work on digital competencies for university teachers” says project leader Annette Q Pedersen from the University of Copenhagen’s Teaching Centre Humanities.
She adds:
“The project results will include a mapping of the current situation in the partner universities, roadmapping future development using DigCompEdu, and developing and piloting short-term actions in all institutions. Furthermore the project will provide policy recommendations for further development of the EU Framework. The developed toolkit will serve as a starting point for other European higher education institutions wanting to use the DigCompEdu framework to develop their teacher's digital skills and competencies, as university teachers will only need more of this in the years to come.”
Dean Jesper Kallestrup from the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Copenhagen is pleased that the CUTE project targets teachers’ digital competencies from a strategic perspective:
“Universities have traditionally focused more on research than teaching - we need to support the university teachers’ digital competence development to further better education for a digital future. And CUTE will support universities in doing this at a strategic level rather than leaving it up to the individual teachers themselves. CUTE will lay a much-needed strategic and institutional foundation on which other European universities can build their own digital teaching strategies.”
The CUTE partners are: University of Copenhagen (coordinator), University of Akureyri (Iceland), University of Murcia (Spain), AGH University of Science and Technology (Poland), National University of Ireland Galway (Ireland). Technical partner is GTN Solutions GmbH (Austria)
More information about the project at https://cute.ku.dk