Doctoral Education for Technology-Enhanced Learning

Doctoral Education for Technology-Enhanced Learning (DE-TEL) project will establish and deepen a strategic partnership for doctoral education in Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL). DE-TEL brings together 9 internationally renowned universities and the European Association of Technology-Enhanced Learning to reflect their expertise in doctoral education into a new internationally validated program in TEL, extended with rich and professionally produced Open Educational Resources. The project grounds the design of the new program in the best practices in TEL doctoral education across Europe as well as institutional and national requirements. DE-TEL will create a new offer in an area of research that finds practical application across Europe as digitisation of education is in an increasing demand to solve multiple challenges. Digitisation requires pedagogical expertise on using and technological expertise in designing technologies for learning, and strategic expertise in policy making and change management. However, stakeholders currently lack combined knowledge from all three perspectives, on how to strategically drive and operationally implement digitalisation of learning and training, envision innovative technologies for learning, and rigorous methods to create evidence for the effectiveness and efficiency of technologies as part of socio-technical interventions. Such expertise is required at all levels and at all types of organisations. There is also a growing, recognised understanding by all relevant stakeholders from EU policy makers to local schools that the potential of technologies with respect to learning is to provide ubiquitous access to learning materials,and an engaging, personalised and scalable learning experience. Doctoral education in TEL aims to develop such expertise in doctoral candidates. It provides knowledge from multiple relevant perspectives and allows taking empirically-based decisions in implementing TEL solutions in practice. The goal of DE-TEL is to bring doctoral education in TEL to a new level with high-quality resources and a new internationally designed program to support better curricular integration and avoid fragmentation of the digitisation agenda in Europe. In order to achieve this goal, the projects objectives are (1) to identify good practices in doctoral education in TEL by conducting a survey of content, topics, teaching methods, and administrative settings, (2) to develop a new program for doctoral education in TEL and OERs available and sustainable via technical infrastructure, (3) to evaluate the new program for doctoral education in TEL in a series of training events for PhD students and teaching staff across Europe and (4) to exchange and spread good practices in doctoral education in TEL across Europe. DE-TEL focuses on producing high-quality educational materials, and therefore applies a common development methodology, consisting of a pre-study, two iterations of development and evaluation, followed by finalisation of the results. This process is supported by management, quality control, as well as extensive Europe-wide dissemination and communication activities. Various participants are considered as the main beneficiaries of the project. Doctoral candidates from participating universities, enrolled TEL programs are direct end-users of the project outputs. However, the project will strongly benefit European universities from the partnership and beyond who currently have or are planning to open doctoral programs in TEL. Instructors and PhD supervisors are also direct beneficiaries of the project, as they will receive an internationally designed state-of-the-art program supplemented with high-quality teaching resources. Eight public events on national and EU levels will be the main activities of dissemination and communication for relevant stakeholders who are essential not only as the target audience, but also as subjects for the pre-study survey, users and co-designers of the program and the materials, multipliers of the knowledge generated in the project, and a source of valuable feedback. Via the European Association of TEL involved as a partner, the project will reach wider audiences across Europe and ensure the long-term availability and sustainability of the project results. DE-TEL impact will be strongest at the EU level, while also providing benefits to society and the economy on local, regional and national levels, along with other Erasmus+ and EU activities. Through intensive cross-border and inter-disciplinary cooperation, the project will trigger processes and produce results that are likely to become self-sustaining and develop further, such as standards of excellence in doctoral education in the field of TEL. The project will have impact on development of transversal skills among doctoral candidates, their supervisors and researchers, with a life-long value in the settings of continuously changing lifelong learning and societal challenges.