About the Project

This project has been funded with support from the European Union, within Erasmus+ program.

Description

The global pandemic caused by Covid-19 affected the whole world, including the sector of higher education, which, in a record time, had to find adequate solutions for the organization of the teaching process and exams so that it would avoid any negative impact on student achievements. While teachers and students received the necessary institutional technical support for the implementation and organisation of new teaching and e-learning solutions (e-platforms, tools and resources), systemic support for maintaining the mental health of students in these conditions was deficient. Even universities that have already had special services for counselling and support to students established at their units during the pandemic crisis did not have the developed procedures to support a larger number of students, then procedures for their connection and specific socialization, procedures for social digital networking, procedures for e-psychotherapy and e-counselling.

Due to the quick transition to online teaching, digital security culture, as a foundational part of getting to digital resilience was not completely acquired by students. At the same time, lack or inadequacy of their digital resilience interfered with a range of unpleasant feelings; the frustration of online instruction, fear of looking foolish in public (online), unwillingness to participate in online courses (especially if sessions are recorded) etc.

This project aims to address the problem of the growing need for psycho-social support in times of crisis by enhancing digital and psychological resilience through peer networking in the online environment in times of crises. Since contacting professional services for psychological counselling is physically more difficult in the time of crisis, there is a significant potential for establishing horizontal psycho-social support for students. This means that in times of crisis, it is necessary to establish a student-student relationship (peer or fellow impact) to reduce or eliminate tensions caused by the crisis. In this sense, the project envisages training programs for student mentors which will enable them to provide initial support for maintaining and improving the mental health of students, then student networking, and finally the establishment of institutional/university networks of horizontal and professional psychological support.

Objectives

Starting with the main idea to create more resilient student population in digital environment during the crises, the project will tend to achieve the following specific objectives (SOs):

SO1: Identification and analysis of the students’ psycho-social needs and difficulties in the distance education environment in times of crises;

SO2: Development of the framework for supporting students in overcoming the identified difficulties in the distance education environment;

SO3: Development of training programs for providing horizontal (peer) support to students related to mental health and digital resilience, in an informed and confidential manner;

SO4: Piloting and development of the initial training of students who will further on provide mental health support and enhance students’ digital resilience; cascade training of students, organized in cycles over the 3-year span of the project and afterwards (workshops, seminars, training);

SO5: Establishing students’ e-networks for the support; networking of university’s unites, centres and university’s community subgroups relevant for horizontal student’s mental health support; establishing continuous support of professional teams for psychological support where such a service is not so visible.

SO6: Development of related e-sources for the network of students’ support and relevant toolkit (portals, guides etc.); using social media for peer psychological support and other channels;

SO7: Raising awareness of the importance of digital resilience and psycho-social wellbeing of students in times of crisis. Long term, this project aims to create the path for students to become a population that is more resilient and less afraid to move around the digital spaces and environments, to communicate for freely, to learn to be safe but open at the same time, and to accept the new ways of digital behavior as part of their everyday life and work.

Project management

The management structure of the DigiPsyRes is designed to ensure effectiveness and quality of work and to meet the specific requirements of the Erasmus+ programme and Cooperation partnerships projects for the successful realization of planned activities.

The project management structure was defined in the project proposal stage and officially adopted at the kick-off meeting.

DigiPsyRes project management structure

The Project Coordinator is the institution authorized by Mandate letters to act on behalf of Consortium members in compliance with the Grant Agreement signed between the Coordinator and National Agency. The responsibility of the Coordinator is to manage, coordinate and monitor the project activities and their timetable, assess achievement of the planned results and coordinate appropriate (technical and financial) records of activities.

Consortium Board is a decision-making and advisory body consisting of the representatives of each project partner institution. The list of CB members was officially adopted at the kick-off meeting.

  1. Dr Milica Stojkovic, University of Kragujevac (development/expert member)
  2. Neda Vidanovic Miletic, University of Kragujevac (administrative/managerial member)
  3. Giusi Toto, University of Foggia (development/expert member)
  4. Giulio Esposito, University of Foggia (administrative/managerial member)
  5. Aleksandra Błachnio, Kazimierz Wielki University (development/expert member)
  6. Aniela Bekier-Jasińska, Kazimierz Wielki University (administrative/managerial member)

Activity leaders are responsible for the management, monitoring and tasks delegation within the assigned output/activities.

Local project team members are responsible for the development of project results, organisation of multiplier and dissemination events, organisation and participation in the TPM meetings, and administrative management of project activities at their institutions.

In order to provide the support tool for all project partners to help them successfully manage different aspects of project activities and outcomes, The Project Management, Dissemination and Quality Assessment (PMDA) Plan was developed at the beginning of the project. The PMDA Plan provides the general information, procedures and instructions for management, dissemination activities and assessment of the quality of project activities, results and events.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT, DISSEMINATION AND QUALITY ASSESSMENT PLAN

PMDA Annexes

  • Annex 1 – Template for agendas
  • Annex 2 – Template for attendance lists
  • Annex 3 – Event report
  • Annex 4 – Partner's report (technical part)
  • Annex 4 – Partner's Report (financial part)
  • Annex 5 – Template for word documents
  • Annex 6 – Template for ppts
  • Annex 7 – Template for timesheet
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