European Heart Project

Date: August 25, 2023 Author: Pantelis Balaouras

In the European Heart Project, teaching materials were developed for use in secondary education, can be implemented in social learning, in history and ethics lessons, in political education and in interdisciplinary projects. This project will now be successfully completed in August 2023.

Through the European Heart Project (09/2020 – 08/2023), students learn to develop an empathic relationship with themselves and others using an emotional-empathic approach, while gaining a critical distance from emotionalizing rhetoric.

With the finalization of the project, all our products are collected on the training platform (https://training.european-heart.eu/) in a virtual learning environment for the long term. These results can also be used via a mobile app (for Android: European Heart). All interested persons will find in this online environment a variety of materials dealing with the topics of basic needs, empathy and democracy. Formats offered include all booklets and workbooks, the Active Citizen Team Game, interactive PowerPoint presentations and an online presentation for classroom work, as well as fun opportunities for repetition in form of quizzes. All materials are available in the languages English, German, French and Greek and include:

The ”Needs and strategies Toolkit for students” aged 13 to 16 familiarize young people with the Five Basic Needs according to William Glasser and show that all people have the same basic needs (download).
The workbooks “Learning from History” (LINK) were developed by history teachers. Five different historical episodes invite to experience history and to slip into the role of acting persons.
Four of the historical episodes are additionally brought to life by short movies that were developed and produced by students. These short movies can be used in combination to the episodes or independently of the workbook.
The Active Citizen Team Game (LINK) enables the development of solutions for important questions of our future on four levels. In addition, there are game boards and cards for the ACT game as well as a quick guide for students and a handbook for teachers to print out.
The Guide for teachers (LINK) provides a compact overview of the basic concepts of the project, a self-reflection for teachers on their own needs in the teaching profession, descriptions of all materials, a brochure on democratic school culture and further practical applications of the European Heart materials.

In the last months, the international multiplier seminar in Vienna (AT) and two further multiplier seminars (FR/Reunion and GR) took place to promote the project materials. Further dissemination activities on our project results and products in face-to-face and digital formats will continue into the fall.

All materials have been developed for use in secondary schools I + II and are intended to make history tangible, enable emotional learning from history, and motivate active participation in society.

We look forward to frequent use of all our materials and feedback on their use in your school! More information can be found at https://european-heart.eu/ (Project Website) and https://training.european-heart.eu/ (Training Platform).

FENICE ERASMUS+ Project

Date: February 1, 2021 Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are recognised in Europe for the quick absorption of new knowledge, innovative processes, models and technologies. They are an important booster of innovations in many other sectors. CCIs need genuine interaction between different fields of research and studies in a way that education will not just encourage a new mindset geared toward the valorisation of the creative economy, but also foster a better understanding of the CCIs as “beacons” of a knowledge-based inclusive society. Still, CCIs are regionally determined, thrive on local resources and bring value to the communities by creating jobs at the regional and local level. At the same time, the CCIs have been among the most affected sectors by the pandemic and their recovery and viability needs the coordinated actions of all stakeholders.

In order to valorize the positive effects of the CCIs on the local and regional economies and to identify development prospects, five established academic and research institutions launched the Erasmus+ Project called FENICE: Fostering Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Cultural and Creative Industries through Interdisciplinary Education. We are the Varna University of Management from Varna, Bulgaria, Greek Academic Network from Athens, Greece, Universitatea Nationala De Arte from Buchares, Romania, Universidade Portucalense from Porto, Portugal, and Univerzitet U Novom Sadu from Novi Sad, Serbia.

FENICE seeks to enhance the quality and relevance of business and art education for the CCIs by focusing on the non-technological innovations that are created within the creative economy in our countries and regions. We shall achieve this via

– research and best practices exchange in the field of management and entrepreneurship for the CCIs in view of adapting education to creative economy’s skills needs, innovation and sustainability value;

– cross-fertilisation between business/economics, arts, heritage, IT and media studies and develop innovative syllabuses on this basis;

– modelling an academia-business partnership to promote incubation, start-ups and entrepreneurship in CCIs in the local communities.

FENICE runs from November 2020 until October 2022.

Follow our work on our website www.fenice-project.eu and via facebook #FENICE.

Youth Counseling against Radicalization an Holistic Approach to support Vulnerable Adolescents (YCARE)

Date: July 6, 2017 Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Period: 1/12/2015 – 30/11/2017

Funding: Netherlands, in the context of Erasmus+ Programm

In the past few years radicalization towards violent extremist and terrorist positions is considered an increasing threat in the European Union. Because of recent terrorist attacks, an increase in young people who participate or sympathize with extremist groups and an increase in other forms of violence and intolerance (e.g. juvenile gangs, xenophobia, islamophobia etc.), radicalization has become a priority and a challenge on the political agenda.

Smart Patients Holistic Empowerment of Citizens to Become Expert in Their Own Health

Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Period: 9/2016 – 8/2018
Funding: Croatia in the context of Erasmus+ Programm

A concrete theme identified in the EU Health Strategy includes „empowering citizens – putting patients at the heart of the system and encouraging them to be involved in managing their own healthcare needs“. Preventive care should therefore not be left alone to doctors and hospitals, also the individual must be empowered and become a „smart patient“.

Therapy 2.0 – Counselling and Therapeutic Interactions with Digital Natives

Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Period: 9/2016 – 8/2018
Funding: Germany in the context of Erasmus+

Up to now most activities concerning counselling and therapy with ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) have been limited to applications of personal computers for emails and internet tools. Counsellors and therapists still rely almost exclusively on traditional interaction with their clients (“the couch”). Due to this, especially the younger generation and “digital natives” may not be reached to the full extent, as they have a fundamentally different communication behaviour.

Naval Fire Fighting Training & Education System (NAFTES)

Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Period: 10/2016 – 9/2018

Funding: Greece (ΙΚΥ) in the context of ERASMUS+ programm.:

The project aims at developing a holistic Naval Fire Fighting Training and Education System (NAFTES) to complement existing training infrastructure available in a special Unit of the HMOD (Hellenic Navy, Naval Training Command – NTC). The discussed training facilities are the Fire Fighting Simulator (FFS) and the Crew Evacuation Simulator (CES) both installed and operated in the Damage Control School (DCS) of the NTC (Naval Fortress of Skaramagkas).

Health and Social Care Promotion Materials That Focus on Intimacy and Sexuality in the Third Age (INTIMAGE)

Date: July 7, 2016 Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Period: 9/2014 – 8/2016

Funding: EU – Erasmus+ Programm

We, as society, don’t discuss sexuality enough when considering the lives of older adults. It’s easy to assume that ageing brings dramatic changes and that sexuality is not a topic that concerns older adults to any great degree. However, everyone while becoming older understands that sexuality is an important part of life, throughout one’s lifetime.

Browsing through the compendia of Lifelong Learning projects, there is a colorful multitude of projects that have developed teaching and learning materials for seniors, but none of them refers to the fact that health care professionals cannot find information to learn more about aging and sexuality.

Social Literacy Training for Public Sector Staff

Date: July 7, 2015 Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Period: 1/2013 – 3/2015

Funding: EU – Lifelong Learning Programm

Social literacy means the presence of social skills, knowledge and positive human values that support the ability in people to act positively and responsibly in social settings, and also their ability to successfully and deliberately mediate his/her world as family members, workers, citizens and lifelong learners.The public sector needs staff with a high level of social skills to meet public expectations. Therefore, governments and communities are interested to increase the standards of their staff and to develop their abilities for teamwork and for professional and personal life skills.

Central Repository of Greek Open Courses

Date: July 6, 2015 Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Period: 1/2013 – 10/2015

Funding: NSRF 2007 – 2013. Operational Programm “Life Long Learning”, co-financed by Greece and the European Union.

The horizontal project “Central Repository of Greek Open Courses” aimed at supporting the Greek HEI in developing and providing open academic courses. The main target of the horizontal project is to develop, and make available to the public, a National Open Courses Search Portal (NOCS) as a means for searching centrally the open courses provided by the Greek HEI. A big number of open courses include educational multimedia content, such as video lectures.

RESILIENCE – a key skill for education and job – a key skill for education and job

Date: July 7, 2014 Author: Pantelis Balaouras

Period: 12/2012 – 11/2014

Funding: EU – Lifelong Learning Programm

The main objective of the project is to establish “resilience” as a horizontal theme in adult education. We also consider the pursuit of resilience as a key competence enabling individuals to adapt to a changing society and labour market requirements and to strengthen self-confidence and personal fulfilment.