Eastern Mediterranean Regional Training Partnership

Eastern Mediterranean Regional Training Partnership

The main objective of the EastMed project has been the development and delivery of an open HEI-level Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in accordance with ECTS/ESG in order to focus on the region of the Eastern Mediterranean, with such MOOC, entitled as "EU and the Eastern Mediterranean: Prospects and Challenges" giving an emphasis to the concurrent refugee crisis and energy security. The Eastern Mediterranean region presents political and economic challenges that have recently relaunched the debate on Euro-Mediterranean integration and cooperation. In this context, the EastMed MOOC aims at promoting the development of new modes of teaching through exploitation of new technologies within the scope of learning about the Eastern Mediterranean.
EastMed MOOC's design, development and delivery has been feasible through the exploitation of international partnerships between University of Piraeus, University of Cyprus, Ca' Foscari University of Venice and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, with all partners contributing to the Intellectual Outputs for the development of new training methodologies and tools addressing the specific needs of the target group. The MOOC delivery was first pilot-tested and then took place in two rounds, with Eastmed MOOC having been taught on the basis of the design and development of four (4) Modules in total, with at least 400 undergraduate students having participated to it during project's lifetime. Specifically, the implementation of of the EastMed MOOC includes the following six (6) Intellectual Outputs:
(1) IO1 - Current Situation Analysis & Needs Assessment
(2) IO2 - Design and Development of the EastMed Course
(3) IO3 - EastMed Moodle Platform and website
(4) IO4 - EastMed educational material and digital content (OER)
(5) IO5 - Delivery of the EastMed MOOC
(6) IO6 - EastMed Policy Recommendations
The aim of the MOOC has been to raise awareness among students and future scholars on the strategic importance of the Eastern Mediterranean area and to educate on relevant policy matters, targeting audience interested in studying in-depth the specificities of the Eastern Mediterranean, thus gaining a deep understanding of the concurrent challenges and prospects of the region, in enhancing their knowledge in regional politics based on ECTS/ credits, in upgrading their digital competences by attending a MOOC and in participating in a transnational project overcoming geographical or cultural obstacles.
The impact of the EastMed project has been the following:
(a) The project has created a broad network of interested parties, spanning from the local to the international level. All geographical levels have been benefited from the promotion of the MOOC's concept through networking, synergies and exchange of best practices.
(b) It has presented an opportunity for the EU, national and regional levels to improve their knowledge on the region's dynamics and on the potential of digital, innovative methodologies in Higher Education, by also offering an opportunity for a better understanding of the EU's neighborhood through exchange of views and multiculturalism.
(c) The EastMed MOOC has advanced overall the MOOC practice, expanding it to more Social Sciences subjects.
(d) The project, as an example of a regional project of international reach and as a tool of internationalization, has promoted agreements on scientific cooperation between academic institutions and participation in international programs for mobility, research and training.

The Partners:

UNIVERSITY OF PIRAEUS RESEARCH CENTER, Greece - Coordinator

BEN-GURION UNIVERSITY OF THE NEGEV, Israel
UNIVERSITA CA' FOSCARI VENEZIA, Italy
UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS, Cyprus