PROJECT DESCRIPTION
OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
The primary goal of this two-year project is to promote the development of innovative digital educational approaches that support VET (Vocational Education and Training) instructors and learners in adapting to emerging technologies and reinforcing their future professional success perspectives.
Additionally, Internet of things (IoT), combined with central Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities, will be used to help all learners cultivate a mindset that fosters sustainable agriculture practices and digital literacy therein.
Another objective is to introduce methods that create better opportunities for marginalized groups such as the elderly, disabled individuals, and women, enabling them to actively participate in agricultural processes that were historically considered too challenging for them.
Moreover, efforts will be made to offer a balanced blend of in-person and remote educational practices capable of adapting to unexpected crises like pandemics or factors like geographical distance or gender-related constraints. Lastly, the capacities acquired by the participants will drastically facilitate the understanding of critical physical processes and their relation with agricultural activities, in order to make rational use and preserve natural resources, like clean water or fertile ground, toward a sustainable future.
To achieve these objectives, the following activities will be undertaken:
- Transferring the necessary theoretical and practical knowledge, that explains how agricultural processes can be combined with cutting-edge approaches, such as AI, AR, and IoT. The necessary material will be formed through adaptation utilizing content from the curriculum of the Agricultural University and the MWAPP company, in order the VET curriculum to be enriched with pilot and educationally fruitful examples.
- Designing and applying educational scenarios that facilitate the understanding of AI, AR, and IoT technologies, through training of the VET instructors and VET learners, thus emphasizing the direct relevance that these pillars have to environmental processes and to agricultural activities.
- Validating the skills acquired by all learners by utilizing well-known tools and methods for qualitative and quantitative assessment, by introducing peer teaching presentations among the learners and by participating in competitions.
- Promoting the methods being followed and the good practices being applied to the educational and scientific community, via content upload to cloud platforms and participation in conferences and exhibitions.
TARGET GROUPS OF THE PROJECT
Several Trainees and selected Trainers of the specialisations of “Automation Technicians” , "Renewable Energy Technicians" and “Computer Technicians”. Those persons are with DIEK AIGALEO, a VET provider in Greece, and both groups will be trained by members of the research and teaching staff and selected students of the Dept. of Natural Resources Management & Agricultural Engineering of the Agricultural University of Athens and by three members of the MWAPP SME company in the Software development area, participating in the project as trainers, developers, and project managers.
The key persons from the AUA and the MWAPP will act as facilitators in order selected participants (trainers and trainees) become familiar with pilot innovative solutions efficiently explained and installed in-situ.
The selected students will be selected applying in the project and taking into consideration the "all inclusion" policy that is applied from DIEK Aigaleo, supporting people with disabilities and special needs to participate in the project by encouraging them and giving them the opportunity to explore the new world of AR and AI.
THE MOTIVATION OF THE PROJECT
All partners find very beneficial the idea of participating in such an innovative project, which aims to integrate digital technologies into business processes, with most of the focus to be on the area of agriculture.
Each partner has its particular reasons to get involved with the specific project. More specifically: -AUA will have the opportunity to disseminate the knowledge gained from research conducted on the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT).
Additionally, AUA will select and adapt the most suitable features of these technologies to educate VET trainees and thus to gain useful feedback for further refining its educational curricula. -DIEK Aigaleo will have the opportunity to build capacities to their trainees and selected trainers in high agri-related technologies, using one of the top Augmented Reality (AR) applications, namely that of Matterport, along with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) techniques. Approximately, a number of 40 trainees and of at least 4 VET trainers will have the opportunity to be acquainted with the use of the abovementioned technologies and their applications.
MWAPP will have the opportunity to better communicate their business specialties, via teaching and delivering a high-tech project, using their tools and expertise. In parallel, MWAPP will apply their services in an entirely new area, that of Smart Agriculture.
The combination of an experienced University partner, a large scale VET Institution and a high-tech SME company is characteristic of the mutual interest and ambition; three different partners will contribute in the development of an innovative project, involving AR, AI, and IoT in Agriculture for training purposes.
Funding such innovative projects is an Erasmus+ priority in order to adapt vocational education and training to market needs by connecting European industries with VET training thus creating a competitive and sustainable ecosystem of European technology.
Technological providers in Digital Agriculture technologies focus on developing richer physical and virtual environments applications, new user interfaces and characteristic IoT applications.
With the use of Augmented Reality (AR) technology for the Agricultural sector in an educational Erasmus+ project, the priority of the digital transformation of human activity is better served.
The engagement of the trainees and their trainers in these innovative technologies, only benefits can bring to their future career development and upskilling.
Taking into consideration the digital inclusion and the blended mobility opportunities, some international activities will be done with online meetings, thus widening the means available to engage even more participants than ever before.
The members of the partnership aim to create rich digital content and they look forward to sharing their expertise with their mutual partners.
NEEDS AND GOALS OF THE PARTICIPATING ORGANISATIONS
The SmartAg4VET project addresses the needs and goals of the participating organizations in many ways.
(a) DIEK AEGALEO:
1.To upgrade the VET Institution through the provision of new learning opportunities together with digital tools and resources. VET Institutes are most often the 2nd choice of parents and students, therefore STEAM courses involving Digital and Sustainable Agriculture will open up new career prospects in fields that fascinate youth in the IT field, such as game development, AR&VR, Physical Computing, etc. Also, since VET is one of the most important vehicles for lifelong capacity growing, these trainees, when they become graduates, will be able to meet the expectations and the requirements of the market in a rapidly growing and continuously changing environment.2.To improve the attractiveness and reputation of DIEK Aigaleo as the 1st Foundation in Greece that will gain a pioneering role in Smart Agriculture applications training.
3.To enrich the VET Institution's learning and training methodologies with more interactive and holistic approaches, such as interdisciplinarity, that can attract the trainee’s interest, motivation and engagement, so that they improve their learning attainment.
4.To deliver high-quality training to VET trainers and leaders, such as fostering digital skills (e.g., IoT, AI, and AR) in modern agriculture technologies and adopting effective innovative training methods and workshops with new digital tools.
5.Will significantly aim communities to adopt more environmentally friendly modalities by offering to them members professionals that will be oriented to a more rational use of global resources.
(b) MWAPP, as a representative of the market, will be able to utilize its expertise in terms of digital skills required, whereas benefit from the opportunity to support the upgrading of VET curricula so that better workers/professionals will fit for the IT jobs. MWAPP will train trainers and assist the training courses, along with AUA, for trainees with new high-technologies and digital skills, in order to provide adequate professional development.
(c) AUA, as a representative of the Universities, will be able to utilize its expertise in terms of digital skills required, whereas benefit from the opportunity to support the upgrading of VET curricula so that better workers professionals will better fitting the digital transformation of agriculture objective. AUA will design and deliver courses for trainees targeting to new technology and digital skills acquisition, in order to provide adequate professional development opportunities and open up new career paths for trainees.
BENEFITS OF COOPERATING WITH TRANSNATIONAL PARTNERS
The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has significantly interrupted and influenced worldwide significantly all sector of training, with a major impact on traditional VET training.
The current situation is forcing EU trainees to be moving towards digitizing their classroom, their practices and provision of learning.
Apart from the pandemic itself, the uncertainties in labor hand supply has already placed the IoT, AI, and AR technologies to a key factor for resilience, readiness and adaptability to all challenges.
Its economic and social impacts have reinforced the need for transnational cooperation to deal with the emerging challenges in all fields of life, skills and opportunities for innovation, creativity and sustainable development for a swift recovery, while promoting equal opportunities for all.
The related technologies, under the Digital Agriculture concept are developing fast and open up a new spectrum of opportunities as they are regarded as strategic technology that offers many benefits for citizens, companies and society as a whole.
They offer important efficiency and productivity gains that can strengthen the competitiveness of the EU industry and improve the wellbeing of citizens.
It can also contribute to finding solutions to some of the most pressing societal challenges, including the fight against climate change and environmental degradation, the challenges linked to sustainability and demographic changes, and the protection of our democracies and, where necessary and proportionate, the fight against crime. The cooperation with transnational partners from Greece, Italy, is crucial in order to achieve the objectives of the project and will be achieved through the:
1.The exchange of good practices and sharing of policies, as well as the transferring of knowledge and expertise stemming from the different backgrounds of each partner, their participation in other projects, as well as their role in each sector. This complementarity will support the consortium to meet the aims, develop the products and ensure the impact on the target groups. At the same time, the cooperation will facilitate solving similar challenges faced in each country with matching skills with the market, promoting new skills for new job sectors and restriction of available tools and resources to resolve this issue. VET graduates across Europe can be more prepared for the new digital-related jobs opening up based on Digital Agriculture.
2.The necessity to promote several targets set in relevant reports such as the EU Digital Action Plan 2021-27, the 2020 EU Recommendation on VET for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience and the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan and 2018 Digital Competence Framework. Transnational cooperation will broaden up the capacity of all organizations to comply and contribute towards meeting some of the above targets.