Methodology

Methodology

KEY ACTORS and TARGET AUDIENCE

In terms of the present Erasmus+ Programme, the target groups are both internal and external. Internal target audiences are:

1. IN1 - Teaching staff of all faculties to be actively involved in the teaching activities, in consideration of integrated planning and design methods in their teaching.
2. IN2 - Registered students who actively join the activities. Their feedback will be useful for improving the didactic methodology.
3. IN3 - University principals, deans/international coordinators/e-teaching staff/centres for academic instruction - to be informed about the developments at all stages of the project, about the module’s methods and structure in order to enhance transfer of good-practise within the institution.

External target audiences (outside the organisations) are:

1. OUT1 - National/international teachers from various domains. Motive: raise awareness for the theme, enhance curricular development, support continuing education in the field of ICT-based instruction/learning.
2. OUT2 - National/international learners from various domains. Motive: encourage their participation in the online parts of the course in order to enhance the development of knowledge and skills.
3. OUT3 - The wider general public. Motive: enhance public discourse on integrated planning and design for coastal landscapes and the urban-land interface, encourage participation in open access learning activities.
4. OUT4 - Local and regional authorities: enhance public discourse on integrated planning and design for coastal landscapes and the urban-land interface as relevant driving force for environmental protection, social cohesion and sustainable growth.
5. OUT5 - National/international networks as dissemination hubs such as thematic educational networks and European associations. Motive: raise awareness for project activities and its intellectual products. Amongst others, we will cooperate closely with the European Landscape Network that brings together various actors for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention: Civilscape (network of NGOs), Uniscape (network of universities), ENELC (public and regional authorities). Other important target networks are: ECLAS (the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools), AESOP (the Association of European Schools of Planning), IFLA-Europe (the European branch of the International Federation of Landscape Architects) and, of course, the project partner ISOCARP (the International Society of City and Regional Planners), which has a wide outreach.
6. OUT6 - National/international professionals. Motive: updating knowledge, spreading and sharing ideas, and feedback regarding the intellectual outputs.

HOW, WHAT, HOW, WHEN

The present Erasmus project is composed of two main didactic activities:

1. Online course, hosted on a dedicated web platform.
2. Intensive workshops on site (Intensive Study Programme – ISP).

In both these activities, students and staff members are actively involved. Given the presence of so many partners and students of different cultures, the first phase is the so-called “internal dissemination” to let the partners have a common understanding about the project and to agree on the main strategic activities. The internal dissemination plan should be drafted foreseeing the expected project results, targeting the groups for dedicated activities and tasks, scheduling an efficient calendar, and sharing information about the available resources – both human and financial.

DISSEMINATION ACTIONS:

ACTION no. 1: Staff meetings

WHO: IN1 - Teaching staff of all faculties to be actively involved in the teaching activities

WHAT: setting didactic objectives and methodologies, supporting lectures

HOW: local staff meetings, on-site inspections, web platform for online courses

WHEN: at the beginning of each module.

Referring to the internal target audience IN1 - Teaching staff of all faculties to be actively involved in the teaching activities, the planned actions are:

• Staff meetings in the study areas of the Intensive workshops (ISPs), in order to raise awareness for the theme, coordinating didactic activities, the contents of the lessons, the topics of the workshops and the expected results. Such coordination is necessary to deliver clear communication to the students. Also, it is expected to collect reflections, best practices and other materials for the online course.
• Online staff meetings to coordinate the Erasmus+ planned activities, to monitor their development and to evaluate their advances. These meetings are arranged periodically to provide frequent exchange of information and ideas among the staff.
• Exchange of information and documents on a dedicated web platform, in order to set a virtual space to dwell all together despite the physical distance between the various academic venues.

Figure C.15

ACTION no. 2: Selection of the course participants

WHO: OUT 2 - National/international learners from various domains; OUT 6 - National/international professionals

WHAT: didactic content, online course

HOW: virtual classrooms, wiki and specific online learning management systems

WHEN: at the beginning of each module

Referring to the external audience OUT 2 - National/international learners from various domains, the relevant tools of innovative didactic methods are: virtual classrooms, wikis, and the learning management system. The dissemination should encourage their participation in the online course in order to enhance the development of knowledge and skills. The top priority is disseminating the online part of the module. It is not an open online course for an indefinite number of participants (i.e. 200+ active participants), because the size of the learning groups must be limited according to the characteristics of this learning process, which are: interaction, feedback and peer reviews. However, the online course is also available to the external audience OUT 6 - National and international professionals can attend the lessons as auditors in order to learn a design methodology and improve their professional skills. For instance, professional bodies and associations can encourage the participation of their members in the online course in several ways, i.e. direct notices, website advertisements, grants for training credits to professionals who fulfil the planned activities (continuing professional development plans). The availability of the course will be communicated through various channels such as: project newsletter, press releases in multiple languages sent through the institutions’ distribution lists and the strategic use of social media addressing the related interest groups.

Each academic partner should announce the call for participation to the didactic module directly to its students, also informing the landscape schools regarding the content of the project, in order to widen the internal participation in the online activities. In fact, the aspect of curricular integration is a key factor to enhance the overall programme. This can be implemented with the international mobility part of the blended learning activities (ISPs). Due to the budget, the participation in international mobility should be competitive, by opting for a selection process with specific criteria, to be clearly communicated to the interested subjects since their first registration for the online course. Another advantage of introducing an online course within the academic curricula lies in its flexibility. The learning activities can either be embedded in a blended learning activity or they can be done completely online. Finally, as to be ready for further use, the constant updating of the online contents guarantee a stable basis for continuing the activities beyond the project’s lifetime.

Figure C.16

ACTION no. 3: Course participant network

WHO: IN1 - Teaching staff; IN2 - Registered students actively participating in the teaching activities; OUT 2 - National/international learners from various domains; OUT 3 - The wider general public

WHAT: learning materials produced for the modules

HOW: wiki, social network

WHEN: at the end of each module

It is of primary importance to develop a network of the course participants, as to sustain and disseminate the community experience gained during the blended learning activities. This community can be organised via social networks (i.e. Facebook). It contributes to the post-funding continuity of the course as well. Erasmus+ has an open access requirement for all materials developed by its projects. Open educational platforms are effective means to ensure free public access to intellectual outputs, tangible deliverables, scientific results and didactic methodologies. Wiki is an example of a collaborative web platform to build shared knowledge and to highlight the outcomes of Erasmus+ projects. In fact, the program participants easily upload their materials and the contents can be updated at any time. Such a platform, however, requires a full respect of the copyright and sharing laws on the web. The learning materials produced for each module will be made available under the creative commons license (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike). In addition to their further development, other educators will be able to reuse the materials and adapt them to their specific contexts. As known, experiences play a big role in best strategies. Learning from your own and other experiences supports the achievements of better results. Reports, drawings, images and videos from international learning activities will be available for download from the project website and they will also be found via social media.

Figure C.17

ACTION no. 4: Enrolment of the local community and stakeholders both in the online course and the ISP (Intensive Study Programme) on site

WHO: OUT 4 - Local and regional authorities; OUT 3 - The wider general public; OUT 6 - National/International planners and designers

WHAT: objectives, methodologies and planning results of each module and ISP results

HOW: local meetings, discussion, participation, journals, web, social media

WHEN: before the beginning, during and after each ISP

At a second stage, dissemination must overpass the limits of teachers and learners and it should be oriented towards tailored stakeholders, calling for interaction and cooperation between the research institutions and other institutions such as the mass media, schools, art institutions, communities with various beliefs and voluntary associations. The ISP learning and research activities include the active involvement of a large range of local and regional stakeholders (community members - local population, entrepreneurs; local and regional authorities; representatives of local and regional public social and cultural institutions; local and regional private companies; local and regional NGOs; local and regional professionals and researchers) in order to ensure both a proper knowledge on the study area issues and development aims and their ongoing participation and feedback for defining and outlining the projects and development proposals of the students. Each partner is responsible for informing the relevant national stakeholders about the project activities via its distribution channels and for calling them to direct meetings (including mutual presentations and debates) with the students and teachers attending the ISP. This also includes informing the local and regional authorities. The ISP activities start with detailed presentations of the local and regional public and private representatives, including authorities, institutions, professionals, researchers and companies, on the national coastal area and the specific study area while further meetings and debates take place with the local community and other stakeholders. Also, especially during the ISPs, the project has the chance to develop a wide communication campaign, through newspapers, local mass media, seminars and meetings about the activities carried on both in the workshop and the programme as a whole. The project partners hosting the ISP ought to prepare a written manual describing the aims, contents, schedule, activities, academic participants (students and teachers), local stakeholders. At the end of the ISP, the hosting partner provides a booklet documenting the activities and their impacts on the local community. The format of the booklet has to be composed by the partners, with the coordination of the dissemination responsible. Among the advantages of claiming the stakeholders’ participation in the ISP’s preliminary phase of design and planning, there is a positive impact on the project outcomes. Unnecessary changes during later development stages are reduced; furthermore, early knowledge about the end-users leads to higher customer satisfaction regarding the design functions, usage and customers’ expectations.

Figure C.18

ACTION no. 5: Disseminating experiences/advances/results to the local community and external project partners

WHO: OUT 4 - Local and regional authorities; OUT 3 - The wider general public; OUT 5 - National/international networks as dissemination hubs; OUT 6 - National/International professionals

WHAT: results of each module and ISP results

HOW: journals, books, web, social media, workshops, debates, thematic events

WHEN: At the end of each intensive workshop; In-between each stage of the project

The intensive study programme (ISP) focuses on a specific study area chosen by each university partner responsible for organising such activity (host partner). Local communities are strongly interested in these programmes and their design outputs. All involved stakeholders live in the study area and they expect effective solutions to the criticalities and problems analysed during the workshops. To meet such expectations, the dissemination must include a post-ISP phase with the publication of the workshop design proposals. The ISPs booklets should contain the description of the study area, the workshop activities and its results. The hosting partner has the responsibility of composing the booklet also by involving the local stakeholders. Moreover, the activities ought to be published on local newspapers and broadcasting tv/radio. The dissemination is carried on the project’s website and the social media, as part of the ongoing process of documentation. Also, the host partner uses the ISP outputs to directly disseminate them to the local and regional community and authorities, and to the local and regional professionals, through organising thematic events, workshops and debates with the occasion of international celebrations in the field (such as the World Town Planning Day) and of specific local and regional issues of planning the coastal areas to be discussed for further planning and development. The ISP output may be used as initial planning and development proposals and models for directing the public and professional consultations in the planning and decision-making process of involved communities and urban spaces in the coastal areas. Additional workshops may be organised within the host institution in order to link the students with the local and regional professionals for knowledge, skills and competences exchange and for further debating and enhancing the sustainable development of national coastal areas while working with the ISP outputs as a starting point and as a discussion framework.

Figure C.19

ACTION no. 6: Disseminating experiences/advances/results to the scientific community

WHO: IN3 - University principals, deans/international coordinators/e-teaching staff/centres for academic instruction; OUT 1 - National/international teachers from various domains; OUT 5 - National/international networks as dissemination hubs i.e. thematic educational networks and European associations

WHAT: results of each module and ISP

HOW: text, posters, presentations, national and international conferences, proceedings and scientific journals

WHEN: during and at the end of the project

The scientific community is informed about the developments of all the stages of the project, particularly about the methods and structure of the online courses and the workshops (ISPs), as to enhance transfer of good practises within the institutions. To achieve this goal, the dissemination is pursued with publications – scientific books and journals – and academic meetings such as conferences and seminars. These are completed by mutual workshops and debates with national professionals and networks, and NGOs’ representatives for further translating into practice the project achievements through the participation of the academia members to the European and national policy making processes. The scientific dissemination is also useful to provide the partner institutions involved in the programme with ongoing feedback. As known, building expertise is a constant and never-ending process benefitting from discussions and critique. It cannot be excluded, for instance, that similar experiences might have been carried on by other institutions, hence the exchange of ideas with colleagues can result in a process of implementation of the planned activities.

Figure C.20