Project objective
SAPIENS strives to strengthen the capacity of education and training institutions to deliver quality and integrative digital education by providing lecturers with an innovative digital competency-based assessment tool capable of supporting online and blended learning training pathways, which is increasingly important given the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in education.
Project consortium
Coordinated by Loyola Andalucía University, the SAPIENS consortium unites five institutions from Spain, Germany, and Austria that, as experienced actors in the field of education and training, are strongly committed to enhance the assessment of competence acquisition in higher education programs in both exact and social sciences (particularly physics, mathematics, statistics, and economics).
Research results
3 main intellectual outputs have to be implemented throughout the project life-circle:
- O1 – Define a competence framework describing the proposed cognitive routes for the different study areas targeted by SAPIENS, integrated, based & built on identified specific micro-competences (and corresponding knowledge, skills, and attitudes)
- O2 – Develop a personalized online competency assessment tool to identify and assess hard-to-acquire competencies for both individual students and the classroom, allowing teachers to target and adapt teaching programs appropriate to their needs.
- O3 – Define and implement the SAPIENS online training course for lecturers to help build the capacity of lecturers to implement and use the SAPIENS automated assessment system to promote quality and integrative digital education.
Project activities
The 2-years project SAPIENS has specific objectives, that will be achieved through several activities:
- Develop, pilot, and implement an innovative tool to identify and assess learning deficits and gaps across individual students and the whole class
- Enable professors teaching physics, mathematics, statistics, and economics to use new competency-based assessment methods and tools in online or blended learning courses in higher education
- Improve the ability of lecturers to design and implement high quality curricula for students that meet their learning needs and are based on the results of the SAPIENS competency assessment tool
- Promote greater customization of curricula and training programs by introducing a competency-based assessment tool to make qualifications easier to understand
- Empower higher education institutions to improve their capacities to offer online or blended learning pathways, while also promoting their competitiveness in an increasingly more digital world and fostering transnational cooperation.
Target groups and actors
SAPIENS intends to address and fully engage the following target groups & stakeholders:
At local, regional, and national levels:
- Higher education institutions: 1) Professors with expertise and currently teaching Physics, Mathematics, Statistics and Economics, either online or through blended learning opportunities, in HE studies; 2) Higher Education students enrolled in the previous courses, especially those that currently being implemented wither exclusively online or through blended learning as a result of the COVID-19 crisis
- Local and regional authorities
- Policy & decision-makers (especially those engaged in education and training, digital education, skill development, youth and employment/employability),
- The relevant public and networks and associations of HEIs, institutions, and associations supporting educators and/or students.
At the European level:
HEI networks, Professors and Researchers in Physics, Mathematics, Statistics and Economics, as well as decision-makers and/or policymakers.
