The usability analysis of the virtual learning environment of the eEarlyCare-T project will be carried out at the Faculty of Medicine in Rijeka (Croatia).
The eEarlyCare-T Project, co-funded by the European Union, whose objective is the development of materials, virtual learning environments and practical virtual laboratories in the field of early care, has held its fifth meeting. The project involves the University of Burgos, which leads the project, the University of Roma Tre (Italy) and the University of Sveuciliste u Rijeci (Croatia), as well as the Spanish companies Gestionet Multimedia S.L. and Kveloce I+D+i.
During this meeting, the calendar of actions to finalise the validation phase of the training modules and for the implementation of the contents in the virtual learning platform that will be designed for this purpose was specified.
The validation phase involves, on the part of the University of Burgos, 13 early care professionals (specialists in therapeutic pedagogy, speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy and psychology) from the ASPACE SALAMANCA centre, with which a collaboration agreement has been signed. From the Croatian university, 6 external validators with experience in early care, psychology and primary education teachers; and from Roma Tre, 11 external validators with experience in clinical education, paediatric clinic and psychology.
In addition, a prototype of the virtual laboratory structure has been presented, which has been very well received by all participating partners. The prototype includes interactive avatars in a self-regulated learning design and guides the therapeutic intervention in the case of a patient affected by prematurity.
It is planned to design more virtual laboratories to address therapeutic intervention in early care for other conditions (children with visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, language delays, maturational delays, autism spectrum, etc.).
Finally, the promotional video of the project has been disseminated, which can be viewed in Spanish and English and is available on the project's website and YouTube channel. This video and all the progress of the project can be followed on social networks Twitter and Instagram.
Calendar
On 9 January, the testing period of the materials will end and the collection of data on the evaluation of the training resources will begin. From 24 January the evaluation report will be available, which will be carried out by the company Kveloce, and changes to the materials will be implemented if necessary.
From 6 February, the translation of the materials into Croatian and Italian and the implementation of the validated materials on the project's virtual learning platform will begin, which will be carried out by Gestionet.
All the documentation and its implementation in the virtual platform will be tested by experts from the three universities during the Learning Activities days that will be held, in person and virtually, in Rijeka (Croatia) on 5, 6 and 7 April 2023, with the participation of 21 early care professionals from the University of Burgos, the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rijeka and the Roma Tre University.
During the meeting it was also agreed to hold the second transnational meeting in Rome, during the first week of June 2023.
Dr. Sáiz-Manzanares, coordinator of the project, Dr. Marticorena-Sánchez, Dr. Escolar-Llamazares, Dr. Rodríguez-Arribas, Varela Vázquez, Irene González Diez and Yolanda Gil participated in this transnational meeting from the UBU. Lorena Aguilar and Gabriela Munares from Kveloce; Drs. Vincenzo Piccione and Amelia Broccoli from the University of Roma Tre; Drs. Darko Rovis, Vanja Vasiljev, and Denis, Juraga, Lovorka Bilajac, and Tomislav Rukavina from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Rijeka; and Juan David Sánchez from Gestionet.
About eEarlyCare-T
The project "Specialized and updated training supporting advance technologies for early childhood" (eEarlyCare-T) is made up of researchers from three European universities (University of Burgos, University of Roma Tre (Italy) and Croatian University of Sveuciliste u Rijeci), with the participation of the Spanish companies Gestionet Multimedia S.L. and Kveloce I+D+i.
This interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and innovative project is focused on updating the training of practising professionals and new professionals in the field of early childhood care (ages 0-6 years). The training activities will apply innovative teaching methodologies based on the use of different technological resources (avatars, gamification, laboratories and virtual reality). In addition, the entire training process will be carried out within a virtual learning environment (VLE) that will apply different tools that allow the user self-assessment and personalised learning.