Forth Valley College welcomes international project partners to share IDEAS

Forth Valley College welcomes international project partners to share IDEAS
IDEAS Event

Forth Valley College hosted a major international project visit recently at its Stirling Campus.

Education professionals from SERC in Northern Ireland, Smart Learning in Denmark, Universidade Aberta, Portugal and B+P Emerging Technologies, Malta joined FVC to hold a week-long series of events including a transnational project meeting, evening multiplier event and a 3-day mentor training programme.

The Innovative Digital Education and Skills (IDEAS) project sees education partners from throughout Europe join forces through Erasmus+ to design an open-source digital skills learning platform for educators to enhance their skills, knowledge and practice through bespoke modules. IDEAS has also established a virtual Community of Practice, which will enable professionals to share teaching insights and best practice in order to build an international community of excellence.

Principal Professor Ken Thomson OBE welcomed attendees to Forth Valley College and Kenny Macinnes, Vice Principal Learning and Student Experience, keynoted a well-attended multiplier event on the evening of 28 September, which welcomed colleagues from across the FE sector to learn more about the project aims and outcomes.

Elaine McKeown, Senior International Development Manager with SERC, said, “The week marked a major milestone for the IDEAS project, and the welcome and hospitality shown to partners by Forth Valley College was absolutely outstanding.”

Laurence Ferguson, Learning and Digital Skills Manager, said, “We were honoured to welcome our IDEAS project partners to Forth Valley College. Our involvement with the project has provided enormous boost to our college in terms of building our reputation with international partners through working in partnership.”

Jennifer Nisbet, Learning and Digital Skills Academy Project Lead, said, “It was a great privilege for us to host our international project partners and have the opportunity to lead with SERC colleagues on the design and delivery of the IDEAS mentor training programme.”

To get involved with the IDEAS project, contact the Learning and Digital Skills Academy at digital.learning@forthvalley.ac.uk. Further information is also available from the IDEAS project website, and we welcome colleagues to join us on the virtual Community of Practice on LinkedIn.