The GEO-Academy proposed project pioneers to respond to the urge of the 2019 EU Green Deal Recommendation of the EU, the 2030 UN Strategy, and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the Green Competence Framework guidelines along with the Digital Education Action Plan the DigiComp, and the GEO Initiatives for enhancing sustainability competences. GEO-Academy will design activities/course material etc., that can foster gender equality in terms of geotechnologies understanding and use.

The overall goal of the course is:

• The integration of digital skills related to the use of the current and future geotechnologies into educational practices, to stimulate both success and participation in STEAM disciplines, as recognized through studies, initiatives, and models.
• The utilization of digital opportunities arising in the digital transformation through the creation and use of innovative GIS, RS, and EO tools, applications, and modelling schemes.
• The Digital Storytelling along with the supporting material will work as pedagogical tools towards an interdisciplinary teaching and learning environment to inspire and empower teachers in Europe to be skilled, trained, and open-minded towards Sustainable Development topics and ESD.
• The upgrade of the role of schools as social innovators and active partners in the efforts for social change towards climate change. As a result, the school as a unity, the teachers, and pupils, are seen as green and geo innovators, ambassadors, and environmentally aware groups of people and active citizens wishing to contribute to their community.
• The promotion of sustainable initial and continuous teachers’ professional learning and development by offering pre- and in-service flexible learning opportunities and training based on state-of-the-art teacher professional development approaches accompanied with teaching material and guidelines for teaching students.

The GEO-Academy Summer School is designed to be highly engaging, creative, and interactive. Participating teachers will work as individuals and in small groups. Thus, they will be able to collaborate with teachers from other countries, discuss ideas, and exchange experiences to create lesson plans and group activities which will encompass all the features of successful inter-disciplinary science activities.

The course will last for 6 days, consisting of a total of 25 hours of workshop-based training, such as presentations followed by hands-on sessions (9 hours of lectures and demonstrations, 16 hours of hands-on workshops). The lectures and the demonstrations of the training courses will be held in an auditorium equipped with a data projector and a laptop, whereas the workshops will be held in a multimedia laboratory where each participant will have direct access to a laptop with an internet connection and will carry out planned exercises.

One important aspect of the training activities is the collected feedback and the common discussion among participants. We will provide a platform to exchange ideas and talk in detail about the requirements concerning various aspects of the tools shown to facilitate their further development, maximize their efficiency, and enhance their adaptation potential.

To ensure the proper preparation for the training course an online platform will act as a main hub of communication and for sharing and distributing preparatory material with the participants. Through this platform the participants will have access to all materials necessary for their preparation (suggested reading, digital tools, relevant websites, guidelines, and support material etc.) and a common workspace. Moreover, all the information regarding the training course such as the course description, the program, travelling and accommodation guidelines will also be accessible through the website.

Participants will familiarize themselves with the training topics as well as the course methodology by accessing the relevant resources, materials and tools. Based on their interests they will be invited to participate into one of the working groups each of which will have a different main topic of focus.

At the end of the course, following the presentation of their work on the last day of the course, participants will receive a training certificate that confirms the successful completion of the course and its objectives.

As members of the GEO-Academy community participants will have access to support provided by the training team, and they will be able to communicate with other teachers in European countries, who have a common interest, share their ideas, and experience, and collaborate in joint activities.

Through the training sessions they will organize they will be able to further disseminate their work and inspire more teachers to use their activities and the GEO-Academy tools and services.

To assess whether, and to what extent, the course has reached its objectives and expected results the participants will have to answer, during and at the end of the course, a set of relevant questionnaires that will be provided by the course providers. The results of the questionnaires/survey or a so-called evaluation report will be available to all participants of the course.

The Summer School will be held at Golden Coast Hotel & Bungalows, an A-class/ 4-star sea-side hotel which stretches on the golden, sandy beach of the Marathon Bay, near the historic location of Marathon, at the outskirts of Athens.

It is the area of Marathon, that has hosted since the times of myths when Theseus killed the terrible bull of Marathon, to the times of the Persian wars and the Battle of Marathon, further on to our days and the marathon race and Marathon Run, the emblematic symbol of man’s quest for freedom and the will to defend his most noble deeds which constitute the foundations of the Human civilization. The plethora of natural, historical sites and museums of the area reveal in all details this unique historical voyage.

Participants are expected to arrive through the Athens International Airport, approximately 25 km (15,53 miles) distance from the hotel.

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