COWEB
COWEB – Promoting and Facilitating Collaborative Virtual International Learning in the Western Balkans’ Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).
Funding Programme
ERASMUS-EDU-2022-CBHE
Project Number
101083013
Duration
36 Months
Overall Budget
660,906.00 EUR
Countries
Albania, Germany, Slovenia, Italy, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro
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COWEB
COWEB (Promoting and Facilitating Collaborative Virtual International Learning in the Western Balkans Higher Education Institutions) aims to build capacities in the Western Balkans (WB) Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) for international virtual collaborative learning (VCL) as an innovative pedagogical approach in teaching and learning, with a focus on co-creating virtual/blended learning spaces and course content that will boost 21st-century skills and competencies for students and address the low cross-border collaboration among HEIs and students in the WB region. The virtual exchange activities planned in the framework of this project will further improve the digital culture among academic staff and students of the region. The outcomes of COWEB will have a significant and long-term impact on the targeted HEIs beyond the projects’ lifetime and as such benefit society in general.
Objectives of the project
- To build capacities in the Western Balkans Higher Education Institutions for international virtual collaboration as an innovative pedagogy in teaching and learning, with a focus on co-creating virtual/blended learning spaces and course content that will boost 21st-century skills and competencies and address the low cross-border collaboration among young students in the Western Balkans region.
- Improving the quality of higher education in third countries not associated with the program and enhancing its relevance for the labor market and society.
- Improving the level of competencies, skills, and employability potential of students in HEIs in the third countries not associated to the program by implementing new and innovative pedagogical approaches to the education programs.
- Stimulating cooperation of institutions, capacity building and exchange of good practice between project partners.
Expected Results and Outcomes
- A Western Balkan region wide focus, with a greater geographical involvement of 70% new partners in the project, involving new European and Western Balkan countries, which will generate richer research and will facilitate a wider dissemination and exploitation of the project results, as they are based on 7 different countries.
- The composition of the VCL courses will be with transnational student groups, where they will have to work with peers of other participating countries in the WB or/and EU, which will generate an innovative model of cross-regional collaboration and transnational work and cooperation at the European level.
- Experience/Knowledge exchange will be horizontal, not simply one-way stemming from Europe. The project will therefore enhance overall academic collaboration in a multi-direction fashion, geographically among WB HEIs and between EU & WB HEIs, and across HEIs at different development stages
Project Activities
- Prepare and publish a Cross-country Report on Virtual Collaborative teaching and learning practices in the Western Balkans
- Developing a standard VCL module
- Provide E-Tutor qualification trainings
- Training for the academic staff on delivering VCL classes at three levels: local, regional and international
Project Partners
- Epoka University – Coordinator, Albania.
- Technical University of Dresden, Germany.
- International School for Social and Business Studies, Slovenia.
- University of Salento, Italy.
- European University of Tirana, Albania.
- University of Business and Technology, Kosovo.
- Business College, Kosovo.
- International Burch University, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- University of East Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- University of Montenegro, Montenegro.