On the 14^th of October 2021, within the 14^th ALL DIGITAL Summit, a unique platform for the European digital inclusion sector, took place the STEAMonEdu project final conference, gathering more than 400 registered participants. EU policy makers, ALL DIGITAL members, EU stakeholders and private companies, academics, educators, and young people had the opportunity to get to know the results of the STEAMonEdu project by attending the STEAMonEdu – Increasing the adoption and impact of STE(A)M education by the professional development of STE(A)M educators conference. The event focused on three main aspects, all related with STE(A)M education: the results from STEAMonEdu project; the current innovations within STE(A)M education; and the future challenges in the field.

STE(A)M education nurtures critical thinking skills which are crucial in critical phases of societies to overcome problems and innovate thanks to a creative mindset. This interdisciplinary approach integrates the analytical and the creative thinking, stimulates the development of convergent and divergent skills at the same time, stimulating both the right and left side of the human brain. STE(A)M education prepares learners for current and future careers independently from the sector or field of interest and life when dealing with complex situations.

Participants to the event gained knowledge on the latest achievements, EU positions and action plans to support and facilitate an increase adoption of integrated STE(A)M within the educational system. Prof. Achilles Kameas, the scientific coordinator of STEAMonEdu project, gave an overview of the activities of the project, highlighting its important achievements.

Then, during the first session of the event, project partners presented in detail the project outcomes: the STE(A)M educators’ competence framework and STE(A)M readiness Self-Assessment Tool, the STE(A)M education framework and body of knowledge, the MOOC and the online platform that hosts the Community of Practice of STE(A)M educators.

Two excellent keynote speakers educated the audience in the basics of STE(A)M education and the latest policy developments. EU policy officer Dr. Anusca Ferrari, DG EAC, through her keynote speech shed light on the EU objectives and initiatives: “We set STEM as a priority for cooperation projects in Higher Education in the Erasmus+ 2021 Work Programme.” Professor Anastasios Mikropoulos, University of Ioannina, highlighted the need for and importance of combining STEM and STE(A)M education to stimulate citizens in being able to solve real problems, introducing the circular process needed to facilitate the integration.

The brief presentation of projects on STE(A)M-related topics led to a very interesting panel with the participation of experts each representing a different stakeholder’s perspective. The panel was moderated by Prof. Achilles Kameas, who engaged the panelists in discussions about reaching a common understanding of STE(A)M education, designing the policies to achieve its widespread adoption and identifying the means and resources to reach it. The panelists were:

• Erik Ballhausen, E+ Call Manager, European Education, and Culture Executive Agency
• Dr. Agueda Gras-Velazquez, Science Programme Manager / Head of the Science Education Department, European Schoolnet
• Cecilie La Monica Grus, Project Manager, CESIE
• Dr. Sofoklis Sotiriou, Head of R&D Department, Ellinogermaniki Agogi

Integrated STE(A)M sounds the next urgent goal within the field, where disciplines can be merged with a balance between them. STEM and STE(A)M is one of the priorities of the 2030 Digital Compass supported by a variety of initiatives announced as part of the European Skills Agenda, European Education Area and the Digital Education Action Plan with the aim of upskilling educators, facilitate women in accessing STEM careers and train professionals to solve real world problems.

Educators feel the need to tune into a STE(A)M mindset where integrate approaches, blend skills and knowledge into a more dynamic and flexible way of teaching and supporting learners in developing skills. During the panel discussion it has been stressed the strategic understanding of the field to avoid educating only some generations. At the opposite, STE(A)M education should refer to all generations.

The event concluded with the presentation of STE(A)M education best practices by the educators themselves. STEAMonEdu project is significant project not only thanks to the tools and outputs it developed that contribute to adopting STE(A)M approaches and methodologies within education, but also because it placed educators (teachers and trainers) at the heart of its activities and focused on their professional development.

The full recording of the session is available here:

https://summit.all-digital.org/programme-2021-2/

Information about STEAMonEdu project

The STEAMonEdu project aims to increase the adoption and impact of STE(A)M education by investing in the community of practice and the professional development of educators and the pillars of implementation of STE(A)M education policies. Supporting educators’ professional development through the developed blended training programme and the exchange of experience, collaboration and creative work of the community supported by an online peer learning and crowdsourcing platform. The consortium has developed the STE(A)M education framework, Educators’ profile, and Self-Assessment STEAM, including competencies, policies and methodologies. Find out more at:

• Web: https://steamonedu.eu
• Email: SteamOnEdu@cti.gr
• FB: #SteamOnEdu
• Tw: @SteamOnEdu

 Information about ALL DIGITAL

The Summit was organised by ALL DIGITAL – a Brussels-based network of organisations working to enhance digital skills of Europeans. Established in 2007 as an informal thematic network, in 2010 became a formal international non-profit association. Thirteen years later, ALL DIGITAL is a major European Association in the field of digital inclusion and empowerment, but also a family united by one purpose: empower Europe through digital skills.

You can find more information about the conference together with program updates and the links to join in the conference website: https://steamonedu.eu/el/steam2021conference/.

The Conference is held under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Education and is co-organised by the Regional Centre for Educational Planning of Western Greece (PE.K.ES. D.E.), Computer Technology Institute and Press “Diophantus”, (C.T.I.) and Hellenic Open University (H.O.U.).

The Conference is co-chaired by Dr. Achilleas Kameas, Professor of H.O.U. and Dr. Spyridon Papadakis, Organizational Coordinator of PEKES Western Greece. It is supported by the project “STEAMonEdu: Competence development of STE(A)M educators through online tools and communities” (https://steamonedu.eu/).

The Conference is also supported by the Regional Directorate of Education (PDE) of Western Greece, the international teacher community Scientix (http://www.scientix.eu/) and the projects “STEAM-IT” (http://steamit.eun.org/), “CHOICE” (https://www.euchoice.eu/) & “GEMIN” (https://gem-in.eu/en/), which are funded by the European Programme Erasmus+/KA3/Forward Looking Cooperation Projects in the fields of Education and Training, the Hellenic Education Society for S.T.E.M. (E3STEM) (http://e3stem.edu.gr/), the eTwinning Hellenic National Support Service (http://www.etwinning.gr), the Greek School Network (https://www.sch.gr/), as well as 14 Greek Regional Centers for Educational Planning (PEKES).

The Conference is addressed to scientists, teachers and educators of all levels that occupy themselves or are interested in getting occupied with STE(A)M education, researchers and post-graduate students, education executives, professional education and vocational training providers, as well as any person interested in becoming aware of the most up-to-date scientific developments, experience and results regarding the application of the STE(A)M educational approach.

The conference will take place in seven (7) parallel rooms extending over fifteen (15) zones. The programme contains 11 invited talks, 52 presentations of scientific papers, 50 STEAM education practices and 28 special sessions (workshops, panels, round tables etc.). Every day, one room will be fully dedicated to English speaking participants.

Participation to the Conference is free, but registration is required here: https://bit.ly/3rC95je. Join the more than 4.000 people from all 5 continents of the world who have already registered!

To communicate with the Conference organizers, please send an email to steam2021conference@gmail.com

Read the programme of the conference here.

In this context,  STEAMonEdu project has developed the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) “STE(A)M education for educators: Design, orchestration and implementation of STE(A)M education”. The Course is based on the five perspectives of the STEAMonedu Competence Framework for STE(A)M educators, which represent the different roles that a STE(A)M educator can have during the educational procedure:

1. Educator as teacher-trainer-tutor
2. Educator as learning designer and creator
3. Educator as orchestrator and manager
4. Educator as community member
5. Educator as professional

Who is it for

The MOOC is addressed to all individuals who are interested in applying or finding out about STE(A)M education, such as:

• active educators (teachers, trainers etc.) at all levels and settings of formal and non-formal education;
• managers/directors at all levels of formal and non-formal education;
• students or graduates.

Objectives

MOOC participants will gain knowledge and develop competences in the following areas:

• Modern approaches of STE(A)M education
• Design and implementation of STE(A)M educational activities
• Content creation for STE(A)M education
• STE(A)M educational procedure and resource management
• Community building, participation and interaction
• Policies in the context of STE(A)M education
• Competence frameworks and lifelong learning opportunities

Dates and effort

The MOOC will be launched on May 10, 2021.

The effort is estimated to 4 -6 hours per week

Language

English

Participation and Certification

Participation is open and unlimited. The MOOC offers free (no fee) enrollment to anyone anywhere with network access.

In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, the MOOC will provide interactive courses with user forums or social media discussions to support community interactions among learners, tutors, teaching assistants and mentors, as well as immediate feedback to quick quizzes and assignments.

After the successful completion of the MOOC, you will get a certificate on “STE(A)M education for educators” issued by the Erasmus+ STEAMonEdu Consortium.

Are you interested in joining the MOOC?

For more information about the MOOC and for registration, you may visit https://steamonedu.eu/mooc/

During the event, the key activities, findings and outputs of the Erasmus+ KA3 project “STEAMonEdu: Competence development of STE(A)M educators through online tools and communities’, which is coordinated by DAISSy Research Group, will be presented.

The agenda highlights the three aspects of the project, namely:

• STE(A)M education community: In STEAMonEdu project, educators are given a central role as members of a community that is supported by an online platform in collecting best practices, designing educational scenarios, discussing the necessary competences and sharing experience.
• STE(A)M education ecosystem: The STEAMonEdu project has developed the STE(A)M competence framework, which details the necessary educators’ competences for implementing STE(A)M education. Based on this framework, STE(A)M educator profile(s) will be designed, along with the development of a STE(A)M-readiness self-assessment tool for educators and organizations. In addition, the STE(A)M education framework was established, which describes the related methodologies, body of knowledge, OERs and practices.
• Professional development of teachers and educators: The project will deliver a training course, which includes a MOOC that is based on the STE(A)M competence framework, supplemented by a blended course that will result in the collaborative development of STE(A)M learning activity templates and projects.

The event is organized within the  All Digital Week campaign  and it will take place in English.

Registration form and programme of the event can be found here: https://steamonedu.eu/news/steamonedu-webinar-26march/

For more information regarding STEAMonEdu project and other DAISSy activities:

• Website:          https://daissy.eu/,  https://steamonedu.eu/
• Facebook:        @DAISSyResearchGroup, @steamonedu
• Linkedin:          https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter:           https://twitter.com/daissy_research, https://twitter.com/STEAMonEdu
• Instagram:       @daissy_researchgroup
• Email:              info@daissy.eap.gr

To this end, the project drafted a Competence Framework for STE(A)M Educators, which

• summarizes the set of competences needed to realize STE(A)M education,
• provides links to other competence frameworks, and
• can serve as the basis for planning the professional development of STE(A)M educators.

We are inviting to participate in the evaluation of the Framework!

The online survey aims to validate and possibly enhance the Competence Framework for STE(A)M educators. We are looking for responses from:

• educators, researchers, school managers/directors, policy makers and other stakeholders
• of all levels of education
• from different organizations, regions, and countries

The survey is available in seven languages:

 English  |  Català  |  Deutsch  |  Eλληνικά  |  Español  |  Italiano  |  Româna

It should take about 20-30 min to complete the survey, depending on how familiar someone is with the topic. But it is possible to work on it in different sessions because the tool allows you to “save now and continue later”.

Please complete by 21 December 2020

The STEAMonEdu project is co-funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union (Forward-Looking Cooperation Projects Agreement n°: 612911 Project n°: 612911-EPP-1-2019-1-EL-EPPKA3-PI-FORWARD).

More information about the project is available at https://steamonedu.eu/.

The first paper, entitled “Professional Development Of STE(A)M Educators with Online Tools And Communities” summarized preliminary results of the STEAMonEdu project. The overview of the research issues was provided, alongside with the methodology and achievements of the STEAMonEdu project and its expected impact and key results. In the following table, the key results of the project are summarized:

The second paper entitled “A Holistic Framework Of STE(A)M Educators Competences“, focused on the development of the Competence framework for STE(A)M educators. The paper described the different areas and dimensions based on the different role that an educator.  In addition, the potential usefulness of the framework was described. More specifically, the design of the STE(A)M competence framework for educators, has two specific aims: Firstly, it must be usable by educators for self-evaluation and self-regulation purposes as a self-assessment tool in order to educators evaluate themselves and find specific competences that they need to improve. Secondly, it must allow for both the support and professional development of STE(A)M educators, both as a guide for the formulation of the learning outcomes of specific training programs and as an assessment tool for the evaluation of the training program.

For more information regarding STEAMonEdu project and other DAISSy activities:

• Website : https://daissy.eu/,  https://steamonedu.eu/
• Facebook : @DAISSyResearchGroup, @steamonedu
• Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter : https://twitter.com/daissy_research,  https://twitter.com/STEAMonEdu
• Instagram : @daissy_researchgroup
• Email : info@daissy.eap.gr

Achilles Kameas presented the achievements of STEAMonEdu project, which is coordinated by DAISSy research group.

You can find more about the workshop here.

Achilles’ presentation can be found here.

You can find more about the STEAMonEdu project and join its community here.

The IISA (Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications) Conference was the eleventh in a series of international conferences, which offers a forum for the constructive interaction and prolific exchange of ideas among scientists and practitioners from different research fields – such as computers, mathematics, physics, biology, education, chemistry, experimental psychology, social sciences, linguistics, and engineering.

The presented paper summarized a study that compares the outcomes of previous research with the results of a survey of 59 Greek educators, who have implemented STE(A)M-related courses. Based on the responses through the specially designed close-ended questionnaire, the educators’ perceptions were identified and analyzed. Based on these, the authors assessed the importance of different traits and competences that a STE(A)M educator should have. Furthermore, the research showed evidence that there are some differences in educators’ perceptions depending on their academic background, mostly on teaching and professional development aspects.

The presentation led to a fruitful exchange of ideas during the discussion that followed, also causing strong interest of the participants for the activities and future actions of STEAMonEdu project related to the development of the competence framework for STE(A)M educators and the training curriculum to support their professional development.

You can find out more about STEAMonEdu and DAISSy Research Group activities here:

• Website : https://daissy.eu/, https://steamonedu.eu/
• Facebook : STEAMonEdu Project
• Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter : @daissy_research @STEAMonEdu
• Instagram :@daissy_researchgroup

The EDEN2020 is an annual conference organized by European Distance and e-Learning Network and aims to maximise the potential to exchange academic and professional experience, to promote effective navigation in the field, and improve the quality and depth of information available to the sectors concerned. This year, the conference focused on “Inspiring digital education for the next STE(A)M student generation” and took place online, due to the pandemic.

The STE(A)MonEdu Project aims to increase the adoption and impact of STE(A)M education by investing in the community of stakeholders and the professional development of educators. Focusing on the professional development of educators, it aims firstly to compile a competence framework for STE(A)M educators and then design appropriate training offers.

Τhe presented paper summarized, a brief overview concerning the competency-based perspective, in order at first, to identify the challenges of and the current research within this topic for STE(A)M education and then to provide the methodology for the development of the Competence Framework for STE(A)M Educators, based on a modified Delphi technique where educators take part during the development phases.

After the presentation a fruitful discussion was followed, where attendees asked more information about the activities and future actions related to STEAMonEdu project.

You can find out more about STEAMonEdu and DAISSy Research Group activities here:

• Website : https://daissy.eu/, https://steamonedu.eu/
• Facebook : STEAMonEdu Project
• Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/daissyresearchgroup/
• Twitter : @daissy_research @STEAMonEdu
• Instagram :@daissy_researchgroup