Abstract:

The paper presents an educational network in technical sciences, which assists students in developing their innovative projects, thus increasing the access to high technology and intensifying the learning process.

The main goal of this educational network is to increase the learners’ motivation, shortening the path from the idea to the practical projects.

In the proposed vertical approach there is a working prototype which is gradually complicated by adding more functionality (features) on each iteration of the development process.

The project implements some ideas of dual learning, where government or business representatives set the necessary requirements for knowledge and competencies that learners need to acquire. Those chunks of knowledge are then distributed in the various projects in order to allow real integration between education, science, business and economics.

The project aims to overcome the problem that the common educational systems are obsolete in the context of the digital transformation.

There are many factors preventing a person from learning the required knowledge and skill, such as lack of interest and motivation, lack of documentation and learning materials and a very long learning curve before the real experiments.

Because of the above statements, too many people, especially teenagers just waste their time on a computer and then hardly find a good job. This is a drawback for the whole economy as well.

There are many initiatives supporting smart cities, smart factories, smart agriculture, personalized medicine, etc., but only a critical mass of highly educated people can bring the ideas into reality creating a better environment and life.

The solution is a suite of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) based courses using a unique methodology in order to enable continuous learning and improvement.

The methodology combines different learning principles for creating and providing educational content. Thanks to the vertical links and advanced project the course fits well for interdisciplinary education and allows personalization according to learners’ level of knowledge and interest.

The proposed solution provides a number of advantages to customers such as increased motivation and confidence, dealing with practical and advanced projects, saving time and reducing costs, more personalized learning and support from experts.

The ambition is to create a tailored platform in order to provide high quality products and services and to promote the network across the EU and all over the world, providing free content and paid services for special requirements.

The proposed methodology has been validated against different audiences from best high schools and university students to teenagers from orphanages and shows very promising results.

Keywords:

Online education, STEM, teaching methodology.