EPIC project successfully developed and tested methods and approaches of problem-based learning in cooperation with universities and companies.
Universities in Europe are facing a wide range of changes: the trend to more digital and self-organised and discovery-based teaching and learning, a more diverse student body in terms of cultural background and existing knowledge as well as the necessity to teach relevant soft skills in order to prepare students for the labour market of the future. The methods and instructions for a more practice-oriented and interdisciplinary teaching in a digital context, which were developed during EPIC are now available online. aconium provided the perspective of a company during the project.
Within Epic, ten project partners from eight European countries developed and tested guidelines and materials for teaching, learning during three annual cycles. The materials will help teachers and decision-makers to facilitate the implementation of the problem-based learning method as well as a more project-oriented teaching approach at universities. The materials for students, teaching staff, decision-makers and companies are now available as eLearning units.
The eLearning unit for students includes an introduction to innovation and entrepreneurship and focuses on soft skills required for the problem-based learning approach such as techniques for digital collaboration and conflict resolution. The eLearning unit for teaching staff prepares university lecturers for the supervision of international and interdisciplinary student projects and addresses methods on how to collaborate with companies on teaching projects. In turn, guidelines and preparation materials to prepare and support companies to efficiently work with teachers and student groups have also been developed. Additionally, the organizational and examination-related aspects are covered in guidelines for setting up and evaluating inter-university student projects as well as in strategic documents for integrating these projects in existing courses or study programs. A knowledge database with inspiration for future student projects completes the EPIC offer. The materials are now available on the project homepage.
The EPIC project ended in December 2020. The positive feedback from students and teachers shows that interdisciplinary and cross-university cooperation with companies in a digital context will continue to play an important role in the field of education.