SHERPA’s mission is to enhance efforts within the EC’s SELFIE initiative to promote better use of digital technology in teaching and learning through schools’ self-assessment of their digital competencies and innovation processes. This reflects the European Digital Education Action Plan priorities of developing digital competence for digital transformation. Critically, SHERPA helps to onboard a greater number of schools across Europe in the SELFIE process, and scaffolds them in operationalising their SELFIE results on how to enhance teaching practices and school digital strategies. SHERPA provides school leaders and teachers with concrete means to grasp and value their role as innovators who can draw on and develop competences for raising educational quality through digitally-supported innovation, both individually and collectively. SHERPA actions and core outputs can facilitate engagement of whole school communities in these efforts, helping to raise educators’ profiles as drivers of social innovation.

The SHERPA approach and tools will be validated and evaluated in schools in all partner countries. This field testing will be designed to permit conclusions to be drawn that form the basis for valid policy recommendations.

The SHERPA project comprises five Work Packages:

This WP regards overall project management, including financial management as well as overall quality, control and communication management of the whole project and its procedures. An external Advisory Board will also be created.

Partner in charge: AETMA (Project Coordinator)

This WP covers the design and development of the “SELFIE Helper”, a Chatbot system providing step-by-step assistance for schools registering on SELFIE for the first time and integrating SELFIE into their ongoing digital innovation efforts. WP2 activities include an initial study phase to analyse the JRC’s SELFIE Knowledge Base (KB) of questions and issues commonly posed by users. Given that all SELFIE data is anonymous, so as to guarantee absolute privacy each partner country will recruit a number of selected schools to simulate the SELFIE registration and onboarding process and complete a feedback questionnaire. The data thus collected will then be merged with the SELFIE KB. Subsequently, the SELFIE Helper system will be designed and implemented, drawing on the initial KB of data. Implementation of the Chatbot assistant interface will follow, in coordination with the subcontractor providing this service. The “SELFIE Helper” enhanced SELFIE registration and onboarding process with then be thoroughly tested in SHERPA piloting activities. Following careful analysis of the test results and integration of refinements, the final version of the SELFIE Helper system will be released. Throughout WP2, strict safety and anonymity policies and processes will be applied via specific algorithms for preserving user anonymity and safety features hindering any possible user identification. As the chief output of WP2, the SELFIE Helper will be made available in five languages for public use on the SELFIE platform at the conclusion of the SHERPA project in December 2022.

Partner in charge: TLU

This WP aims at developing flexible means to scaffold schools by helping them transform their SELFIE results into effective operational plans for leveraging digital learning. In this endeavour, an analysis of the SELFIE-based model developed in Cyprus will be conducted, along with a survey of experiences underway in partners’ SELFIE schools. These will provide inputs for Version 1 of the toolkit, to be reviewed by a group of experts and stakeholder representatives. Careful analysis of their feedback and suggestions will lead to the production of Version 2. Each project partner will carry out translation and localisation of this V2 toolkit to ensure usability and suitable responsiveness to their particular context. The resulting version in five languages will be pilot tested in WP4 and the results gained will be thoroughly analysed and processed for production of the toolkit release version. Throughout the piloting phase, an online collaboration working space will be deployed to oversee and facilitate the participation of pilot schools.

Partner in charge: CPI

This WP will evaluate and test the main SHERPA outputs in all phases of development. WP4 activities regard: evaluating applicable technologies; defining the study phase procedures and required protocols, processes and tools; developing and executing test plans; as well as generating and cross-analysing consolidated country-level pilot test reports. To ensure the SHERPA field pilots are designed and deployed in a sound manner, and that the related tasks are subsequently executed in a coherent and effective manner, WP4 will devise an Execution Plan that outlines the various roles and responsibilities for the preparation, execution and evaluation of the pilot implementation in partner countries’ selected schools. WP4 will also identify qualitative methods for collecting additional data in each partner country, such as interviews/collection of feedback, school visits, and local workshops with schools.

Partner in charge: JYU

This WP will seek to achieve broad awareness of SHERPA activities, together with effective exploitation of SHERPA results. WP5 activities include: formulating a detailed SHERPA communication strategy paving the way for formation of an engaged stakeholder community that can act as an impact multiplier; conducting a range of dissemination activities in concert with the overall dissemination strategy; and making provision for the production of effective dissemination materials. Critically, WP5 will oversee SHERPA’s web presence; this includes provision of a project hub website showcasing major project activities and outputs, and coordination of activities on selected social networking channels targeting specific audiences and stakeholder groups. In addition to the ongoing actions specified in the Communication Strategy, a key WP5 undertaking will be the SHERPA Final International Event (M23). This, along with general dissemination efforts, will activate and engage representatives of key stakeholder groups in the roll-out and uptake of the main SHERPA outputs.

Partner in charge: CNR-ITD