UP2U, BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES THROUGH INFORMAL EDUCATION

Up2U its a recent European project that focuses on a specific learning context and very formative period represented by secondary schools that in most European countries provide education to secondary students.

The aim is to develop an innovative ´solution based on a ecosystem that facilitates more open, effective and efficient co-design, co-creation and use of digital content, tools and services specially adapted for personalized, collaborative or experimental learning for students preparing for university.

The project entails the provision of educational applications, project-based and peer-to-peer learning scenarios and the facilitation of international interaction for secondary schools in Europe.

We believe on creative teachers that will be placed on the process to encouraged others to provide and innovative experience to others and expect their inputs and ideas for implementation.

We are inspired by organic educational initiatives, such as Google for Education, Khan Academy and the like, Up2U creates a flipped virtual ecosystem where students can learn at their own pace supported by social interactions, federated access and are able to exchange documents and other project-related multimedia content in a trusted and privacy-protected environment.

The initial phase of Up2U will focus on the adoption and customization of a learning management system that will implement basic functionalities and standard Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) interfaces.

During the first year the new platform is expected to create an environment for creative student projects across Europe whose results will be shared with other schools and made publicly available. Personalized learning analytic's, peer reviews and community-driven digital recognition systems - using Open Badges and block chain technology - will also be investigated.

Some educational experiences will be performed with some groups of teachers from some schools on the pilot countries. Teachers will be encouraged to change the process and promote distributed learning initiatives as, for example, lecture recordings, and learning activities mediated by technology.