August 6, 2020 | BEHIND THE SCENES #1
WP1 - Project management | Project partner leader: Nursing School of Lisbon
This WP has been very busy since the project outset. The first challenge was to organise the kick-off meeting in Lisbon at the beginning of November. We attempted to balance work activities and opportunities to know each other better. We felt rewarded by the team’s positive reactions on the organisation and outputs of this meeting.
One of our key initial tasks was producing the Train4Health Management Handbook through iterative feedback from consortium partners. This handbook encompasses, for example, governance tools, common document templates, plus the Quality Assurance and Risk Management plan. We believe this resource “hub” optimises time management for all partners, whilst contributing to high-quality standards and smooth processes.
The main focus now is monitoring the project execution, based on indicators and milestones to successfully deliver intellectual outputs!
WP2 - Paving the way to the development of key educational products | Project partner leaders: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
The first activity to be undertaken as WP2 involves consensualising a European competency framework to support self-management in chronic disease. This is being conducted through a Delphi study involving experts and stakeholders both within and affiliated with partner institutions across over 10 European countries. This study has received ethical approval from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Panellists have been asked to rate their agreement with various competency statements and the exercise will be repeated to achieve consensus. The study will result in the development of a competency framework that will be applicable to nursing, pharmacy and sports sciences students.
Another on-going activity is the preparatory work for deriving learning outcomes based curricula.
Additionally, an ethics application was filed for a focus group study, to define requirements of the educational products with students and educators.
WP3 - Key Educational Products Development | Project partner leaders: University of Lisbon & University of Maribor
The WP3 team started to work on our three educational products: case studies, the e- learning course (MOOC) and the simulation software. Two activities commenced before scheduled, to facilitate dependencies between activities.
For the case studies activity, a literature review is being performed alongside brainstorming meetings. The MOOC arrived at a general model for its structure. Efforts were made to compare different e-learning platforms, both from the perspective of available features and guarantee of sustainability in the post-closure phase.
Taking profit of the knowledge acquired in previous research projects (namely VASelfCare and Narrative Osteoarthritis Approach), the simulation software team has tried and tested the integration of several technological solutions and platforms. As a result, a first prototype of the simulation software was produced, providing a graphical virtual assistant that articulates speech and exhibits facial expressions and depicting gamification principles.
WP4 - Piloting the key educational products & learning outcomes evaluation | Project partner leaders: University of Maribor & InHolland University of Applied Sciences
WP4 started its activities in May 2020. Previous to this date the team planned in greater detail the tasks under each activity and allocated them to a timeline in the project Gantt chart.
During the Kickoff Meeting and the second Transnational Meeting, WP4 leaders presented the purpose of WP4 and tasks and progression so far.
Currently, the team is focused on determining requirements for an instrument to be used for assessment of the case studies, the same exercise will be conducted for the MOOC and the simulation software with virtual humans. When the requirements are formulated, available test-instruments will be identified through a literature review.
WP5 - Dissemination, outreach and exploitation | Project partner leader: European Students' Union (ESU) & Nursing School of Lisbon
The European Students' Union (ESU) is the Project Partner leader for dissemination, communication and outreach plan, counting on the collaboration of the Lisbon Nursing School and the remaining partners.
This WP focuses its efforts on raising awareness of Train4Health, as well as ensuring that the outcomes of the project, the tools and its resources reach out to relevant stakeholders with a high impact.
Momentum is growing since month 1 of the project. A key milestone was launching the website, facilitated by the University of Lisbon as the technological partner in the project. Other activities included defining the communication plan and a Social Media strategy, producing the visual identity guide, planning the newsletter and other materials (e.g. T4H flyer, videos) and supporting events (e.g. webinars).
In addition, an events and communications monitoring tool has been designed to better track the impact of the dissemination project activities.
Dissemination & Communication is a crucial element in all EU projects and ensures the long-term sustainability of the project.
The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
