COLIBRI (Collaboration and Innovation for Better, Personalized and IT-Supported Teaching) was the first Erasmus+ project the Agency for Technology and Networks (aconium) took part in. Last week, the European Commission honoured the project as “Success Story”. That way the Directorate-General for Education and Culture acknowledges the high quality, innovation power and guiding character of the project. COLIBRI aimed to improve the quality of academic offerings with innovate teaching methods while at the same time enhancing the orientation of the curriculum towards the labour market needs. ICT, Open Educational Resources (OER), mixed learning and virtual mobility aimed to support joint learning within the project.
During 2014 and 2017 students from seven European universities worked on the topic “Future Internet Opportunities“ for one semester in a blended-learning-course. As a result they gained experience for the labour market. The courses were continuously optimized with the insights of each preceding one.
Beside the seven universities a research institute, the Spanish company Talaia Networks from Barcelona and aconium provided support for COLIBRI. The non-academic partners mostly helped to establish a connection to the labour market, for example with providing case studies. After each semester, the teaching material was available as OER for everyone interested. Steady quality controls, monitoring the impressions of the participants, assured the success of the project. At the end of the last of three semesters, COLIBRI was seen as a full success by students and teachers. The Erasmus+ project EPIC (Improving Employability through Internationalisation and Collaboration), another project with participation from aconium, follows up on these accomplishments.
Featuring COLIBRI on the Erasmus+ project platform serves other European wide initiatives as a good example. It belongs now to eleven successful and transnational projects. Additionally, COLIBRI will be spread on the social media channels of the European Commission and presented on conferences as well as at Erasmus+ events.