• The meeting will serve to check the progress made during the project.
• DESTINE bets on an online VET learning system to promote inclusion and diversity

The final meeting of the transnational DESTINE project will be held in Berlin on Monday, September 18 and Tuesday, September 19. The meeting will allow all the partners to come together to analyze the results achieved during the project and the progress it has made in its two years of existence. Over the two days, the partners will present the progress that has been made in the project, with the presentation of the online courses as the highlight. In addition, the partners will update the contributions they have made to the project and the objectives they intend to achieve by the end of the project, as DESTINE will close on November 1.

Since the project was launched in 2021, DESTINE project’s main aim has been to address the challenge of raising the issues of inclusion, diversity and tolerance in the online and distance learning environment. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst of many changes globally, taking the digital transition to the frontline. This transition has boosted other already ongoing processes such as shifts in global economic power, accelerating urbanization and demographic changes, and it has aligned to the process of strengthening of values such as inclusion and diversity at all levels.

Taking into account the confluence of all those phenomena, the project identified a spot to be fulfilled: the promotion of inclusion and diversity through the development of the skills and competences of vocational teachers applied to e-learning.  Moreover, DESTINE also addresses vocational learners, and in particular learners with fewer opportunities, who need a diversity-friendly learning environment. 

The project have had several objectives in its path. First, the development of the competences and capacities of vocational educators, providers and teachers in the deployment of online resources that facilitate a diversity-tolerant e-classroom environment. Second, the promotion of diverse and tolerant environments in the e-classroom using mixed educational methods (formal, informal, creative).. Third, the development of innovative educational activities, tools and methods with a strong focus on diversity, tolerance and inclusion, responding to the needs of the e-classroom. Fourth, the support of transnational educational institutions (universities, colleges, vocational education providers) to adapt to diversity-tolerant e-learning. Finally, the strengthen of the capacity of providers to deliver high quality, diversity-tolerant digital education.

The work done during these two years has been crystallized through the creation of a platform with courses available in several languages. Aligned with the objective of the project, it is an online learning platform containing material focused on tolerance and diversity methods applied in traditional classrooms and its transition to online classroom environment. In addition, toolkits containing all the material developed in relation to diversity tolerance methods and techniques in the virtual classroom can also be found on the platform.

About ERASMUS +

Erasmus+ 2021-2027 is the European Union’s renewed programme in the fields of education and training, youth and sport, offering opportunities for all people and in all education sectors (School Education, Professional Training, Higher Education and Adult Education). This new Erasmus+ is more international, more inclusive, more digital and greener, supporting digital transformation, inclusion and diversity, as well as the environment and the fight against climate change. With a budget of more than €28 billion, it will fund learning-related mobility and cross-border cooperation projects for 10 million people of all ages and from all backgrounds. “This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.”

About DESTINE

The Erasmus + DESTINE (DivErSity and Tolerance IN E-Environment) project was born with the aim of promoting online professional training that ensures support for diversity, inclusion and tolerance, providing the necessary tools for all professionals and students to adapt to the e-learning methodology. DESTINE focuses especially on those vocational training students who need a learning environment adapted to their needs.