DEDALUS_Interim Report

The activities of the DEDALUS project have been conducted according to the working plan. The main objectives have not been changed so far, even though the lockdown measures applied at different time by all European countries at the beginning of this year, due to the COVID widespread, has delayed the implementation of some activities. An extension of four months to cope with this situation has been already requested and accepted by the National Agency. The activities carried out until now, have been focused on the development of the Intellectual Outputs. In this first year of the project the status of the Intellectual Outputs is the following: IO1 - Research on good practices and competence profile - completed; IO2 - DEDALUS Validation System - almost completed; IO3 - DEDALUS learning platform - initial development; IO4 - Training resources and approaches for HE professionals - preliminary stage. In particular, the "IO1 - Research on good practices and competence profile" is finalized, the main result is a comparative study that analyses examples of data literacy inclusion in European university courses, and collects information on perspectives, concerns and expectations of HE staffs around this topic. The demand of the business sector was also investigated. In order to achieve these results, the following tasks have been completed: - A desk research conducted by all partners on the following European and Non-European Programme Countries: Italy, Portugal, Lithuania, Latvia, Netherlands, Spain, Republic of Serbia, Republic of Croatia, Romania, France, Germany, Austria, UK and Ireland. - Interviews with SMEs representatives and HR managers with the aim of identifying knowledge, needs and expectations of the job market in terms of data competences of future employees. The analysis of the desk research and the interviews has informed the identification of data literacy competences, that were described in detail in the IO2, through the development of a data literacy validation system. The IO2 - DEDALUS Validation System is mostly completed, the list of competences identified in the IO1 were collected, described in detail and integrated in order to define a competence framework, by using the LEVEL5 methodology and tool. The LEVEL5 approach includes a validation tool developed over the last ten years by the REVEAL network (to which the BLINC partner belongs to), and it has been used in several European projects and different learning contexts. The definition of the competence framework integrated into the LEVEL5 validation system, has the advantages of using the LEVEL5 software tool to issue individual learners' certificates automatically generates by the system. Partners under the supervision of BLINC have defined a set of competence frameworks in three different areas: Digital Literacy, Data Processing and Data Management. The main competence identified in IO1 have been structured in sub-competences and combined with other generic social, organisational and personal competences according to the LEVEL5 methodology. After having completed the catalogue of competences and sub-competences, partners have designed the corresponding reference systems that consist of a grid of competences in the data literacy sector. At this stage of the project partners have also started the setting up of the DEDALUS learning platform (IO3). It is an environment that integrates Open Source solutions for e-portfolio (Mahara) and learning management system (Moodle) with the LEVEL5 tool used for competence validation. The process of setting up these platforms is at a preliminary stage. These platforms are made available respectively at the following addresses: https://dedalus-moodle.pa.itd.cnr.it and https://dedalus-mahara.pa.itd.cnr.it These are temporary addresses that can be changed in next releases. In collaboration with BLINC the integration of these platforms with the LEVEL5 tool is under development. Finally, the IO4 - Training resources and approaches for HE professionals is at a very preliminary stage, and the main activities of the IO have been discussed amongst partners during the last online meeting. In this first year, a transnational project meeting has been organized in Palermo on January 2020. This was the Kickoff meeting of the DEDALUS project, in which the coordinator in collaboration with partners introduced the project in all its parts, with particular respect to the allocation of tasks related to IOs implementation, as well as administrative and financial issues. The second transnational project meeting, planned at sixth month of the project in Germany, has been delayed due to COVID restrictions. Different European countries have established different regulations for persons arriving from foreign countries, this condition has led to the decision of postponing the meeting to next year.