SINCOE – Supporting Innovation Competence Development in Online Education

We develop assessments and methodologies for online learning

Project duration

1.2.2022. – 31.1.2025

Source of funding

Erasmus+ Cooperation Partnership

Total funding

306 777 €

The COVID-19 crisis has greatly accelerated the need for modernization and digital transformation of education and training systems across the Europe. Therefore, our aim is to educate future professionals who must have, alongside with the study field specific competences, innovation competences, i.e., the ability to participate into innovation processes. But how to teach, learn and assess the complex cognitive behavior needed in the creation of innovations in online, hybrid and distance learning context?

There are already promising validated methods and tools to assess and develop innovation competences in educational context, such as the FINCODA assessment tool. However, the shift to online and distance learning has shaken up HEIs pedagogical practices and shown that HEIs lack knowledge, skills and tools to use those methods and tools in online context.

The goal of this project is to reinforce the ability of HEIs to provide high quality education by applying innovation pedagogy in digital context in order to develop and assess innovation competences in online, blended and distance learning.

The partnership will promote networking of institutions across the partner countries sharing resources and expertise and enhance collaboration with experts in educational technologies and relevant pedagogical practices.

FINCODA project outputs as the basis

In 2015-2017, the FINCODA project led by Turku UAS developed an Innovation Barometer Assessment Tool, a barometer and a software tool for measuring innovation competences at individual level. The outputs of the FINCODA project serve as an applied research base for the SINCOE project. The FINCODA outputs are based on a face-to-face teaching model, while the SINCOE project develops the development and assessment of innovation competences for online teaching.

The project will increase understanding of the needs for updating innovation competences, flexible assessment methods and tools, together with pedagogical tools to enable higher education institutions to work purposefully in online, hybrid and distance learning.

High-quality education in online environments

The project will identify the current state of play on the need to develop innovation competences in e-learning. The pedagogical work of teachers will be supported through training. One of the main outputs will be a flexible assessment tool to be piloted with partners.

The project will train teachers to work in an online environment by involving them in pilot projects to test pedagogical methods to support the development and assessment of innovation competences. Finally, feedback on the pilots will be collected.

Based on the pilots and the feedback, the project will analyse the successes and failures and produce a toolkit summarising the results. This will include concrete recommended methods and guidelines to support quality pedagogies to support the development and assessment of innovation competences in an online environment.

Read more on SINCOE – Supporting Innovation Competences in Online Education website.