Displaying items by tag: Open educational resources

The financial crisis of the last decade, along with the current COVID-19 pandemic have turned job find to a challenging riddle by constantly creating new obstacles. At the same, the ever increasing qualification of the candidates, generates high competition that demands, especially from the youth, constant alert and update: The best ally of young people amidst this situation, is not other than the development of their soft skills.

Soft vs Hard Skills

At this point, we should clarify the difference between “hard” and “soft” skills.

• Hard skills derive from highly specialised knowledge which is acquired through academic courses. Such skills may include medical and legal practices, mechanics, informatics, architecture and practically anything that requires a degree. Therefore, a person with no official certification on such skill, is automatically put out of competition in comparison to those who do.

• Soft skills on the other hand refer to inherent human capabilities which are whether inherited or developed through practice, instead of being acquired in an academic setting. Such skills may include communication, problem solving, teamwork, negotiation, decision making etc. For these skills, no official certification is required and practically everyone can “get into the game” and develop them.

The benefits of the use of digital technology for operations are enormous but also come with new and increased risks. There is a real threat to companies production security, safety and capacity, as well as data privacy, when companies connect to operational technology networks. InCyS 4.0 project (https://incybersecurity.eu/)  offers free access materials to improve competences in cyber security for operational technicians in industrial companies.

The aim of this project is to open university studies for virtual mobility (VM) by training teachers and academic staff on how to design master study program curricula, using OER and applying correct licensing, how to establish collaborative trusted relationships in curriculum design for multicultural exchange and how to integrate these opening education innovations in everyday practices. In order to reach this aim, the following objectives will be met in the project:

The CommonS project aims at the development of Common Spaces, an international co-learning and e-mentoring Community of Practice (CoP) dedicated to improving the employability skills and work opportunities of participants and reducing the gap existing between the academic world and the labour market, by means of appropriately remixed and localised OERs, i.e. Open Educational Resources freely available to everyone.