Knights for Road Safety

20-24 July 2020

Road traffic injuries are currently the leading cause of death for children and young adults aged 5–29 years, signaling a need for a shift in the current child and adolescent health agenda which, to date, has largely neglected road safety. Research has shown that changing attitudes and behaviors of road users is crucial in order to save lives. The KROS Project aims to provide effective road safety education as it is an important part of this process since it can help students develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to take safer decisions and behave responsible in traffic.

KROS Virtual Summer School 2020 is a refined version of the training courses that were scheduled to take place and were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We believe that the COVID-19 crisis can be an opportunity for us to recapitalize the effort we dedicated in developing, testing and implementing an innovative training framework combining STEM subjects with Road Safety and in building the innovative KROS VR simulations for safety biking and walking around a virtual city. We seek to offer you a warm opportunity to meet the people who built it and share with us your vision for teaching Road Safety in a STEM classroom.

The KROS Virtual Summer School 2020 aims to strengthen the profiles of the teaching profession on Road Safety issues. Road Safety Experts, Pedagogues, Curriculum Developers, Local Authorities, Advanced Educational Applications Developers and Schools joined forces during the project, to design, develop and validate an innovative professional development program for supporting the in-service training of teachers on topics related to Road Safety education as a whole school approach. Thus, apart from Road Safety, participants will be familiarized with the open schooling approach that provides a powerful framework to engage, discuss and explore how schools can facilitate open, more effective and efficient co-design, co-creation, and use of educational content tools and services for personalized science learning and teaching.

KROS Teachers will be able to play an important role in integrating road safety issues in the school curriculum, by engaging parents and affect students attitudes, implementing best practices and tools for professionals working with and for children adapted to their age and stages of development and thus improving the quality of their teaching while endorsing innovative methods and digital integration in teaching.

Description

The KROS Virtual Summer School 2020 aims to strengthen the profiles of the teaching profession on Road Safety issues. The KROS project (http://www.kros-project.eu/ ) suggests a project-based multidisciplinary approach that requires extended collaboration and networking between schools and local communities. KROS has managed to introduce cutting edge technologies in order to accompany the retention of information regarding the subject of road safety. The project uses new technologies including online 3D resources or virtual reality (VR) so as to introduce attractiveness in the learning process and to improve the quality of the delivery channels of the content.

The KROS Virtual Summer School 2020 will include extended presentation of case studies and

examples of good practice on how teachers could efficiently implement Road Safety content in their everyday teaching. Through this course teachers from different disciplines will be asked to collaborate across multiple subjects to generate new or use the existing 24 integrated interdisciplinary learning activities to connect their otherwise separate subject-specific content. The already available 24 activity sheets available at the KROS website, along with the innovative KROS VR simulation application, offer a range of ideas on implementing relevant activities in the classroom, addressing major road safety issues that respond to the needs and problems of adolescent road users:

Speeding
Seat belt use and protection devices
Drink driving
Distraction
Cycling and motorcycling
Fatigue & drowsiness
Passenger safety
Vulnerable Road Users
Sustainable and active travel
Peer pressure

Concurrently, KROS aims to support schools, teachers and their students to develop educational projects that are proposing solutions to the needs and challenges of their local communities emphasizing the fact that well-being is equivalent to living safely in general, with road safety being a particular vital element of it. Adopting the Design For Change (DFC) Process, a standard four-step process to guide students to develop their projects is proposed:

Feel:Students identify problems or challenges in their local communities. Students observe problems and try to engage with those who are affected, discuss their thoughts and ideas of solution in groups, and make a plan of action, based on scientific evidences.
Imagine:Students envision and develop creative solutions that can be replicated easily, reach the maximum number of people, generate long-lasting change, and make a quick impact. They are coming in contact with external actors, they are looking for data to support their ideas and they are proposing a series of solutions.
Create:Students are implementing the project and they are interacting with external stakeholders to communicate their findings.
Share:Students share their stories through text, photos, video, or slideshows with other schools in the KROS network and local media.

The scope of the KROS Virtual Summer School 2020 is to:

Improve teachers’ awareness on road safety issues & strengthen their professional profile
Improve teachers’ professional skills enabling them to integrate road safety principles and best practices into their lessons
Train teachers to use the existing Training Material and the KROS VR application
Challenge teachers to propose new Activity Sheets, preparing senior high schools students for their drivers license exams.
Familiarize teachers with the Open Schooling Approach and the existing KROS Community

Who should attend?

We are looking for teachers, curriculum developers, policy makers and educational authorities who want to:

gain knowledge and skills in the design and implementation of innovative multidisciplinary educational activities.
become developers of educational content and be able to integrate these innovative practices in their own classes.
participate in the development of the specialized courses and the course material and thus acquire skills in conceptualising, planning and evaluating their didactical approaches and methodology.
gain knowledge, skills and experiences in organising resources, uploading them on the Knights of Road Safety platform, and facilitate their sharing and exchange with other teachers.
gain experience on the use of educational technology in the classroom and provide interesting classroom experiences for their students.
gain intercultural awareness through cooperation with partners from different European countries, adding a new dimension to their teaching that will be based on a new culture of sharing.

Program / Agenda

All times	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
are CEST*	20/7/2020	21/7/2020	22/7/2020	23/7/2020	24/7/2020
*We start each day: 09:00 in the UK 10:00 in Spain 11:00 in Greece	THE KROS PROJECT	THE KROS LESSON PLANS: ROAD SAFETY TOPICS	THE KROS LESSON PLANS: ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION IN A DIGITAL ERA	SELF STUDY	PARTICIPANTS PRESENTATIONS
10:00 – 10:30	Welcome and Overview of The KROS Project Vassiliki Danelli – Mylona, Danai Stavrou RSI, “Panos Mylonas” (RSI)	Children, Adolescents and Road Safety: the most vulnerable road users Vangelis Makris, RSI	Digital Literacy: tools and methodologies for teaching Road Safety Vassilis Soulikias, Vangelis Drakontaitis Dept. of Educational Radio Television and digital media, Ministry of Education, Greece	Self Study Participants will be able to contact the Summer School trainers through mail and skype calls to get guidance on how to complete their projects.	Participants’ Presentations RSI & EA
10:30 – 11:00			Creating a road safety video campaign with Stop Motion Technique Glenda Prados, Scuola St Joseph, Spain
11:00 – 11:30	Introducing Road Safety at the School Curricula: A whole school approach to Road Safety education Vangelis Makris, RSI	Sustainable and active mobility – promoting safe cycling in schools Cairán Bauer, Trinity College Dublin	Mastering the 21st Century Skills through Traffic Safety Education, Ciarán Bauer, Trinity College Dublin
11:30 – 12:00	The Open Schooling Roadmap and Approach. The KROS Accelerator Gregory Milopoulos, Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA) Nikos Zygouritsas, Ellinogermaniki Agogi (EA)	Drink Driving & Distraction, Dagmara Jankowska-Karpa, ITS	Incorporating STEM activities for teaching Road Safety – examples on seat belt use and speeding, George Mavromanolakis, EA
12:00 – 12:30	The KROS Community in the OSOS Platform. Building synergies around Europe with common projects. Guiding students to create innovate projects, Gregory Milopoulos, EA Nikos Zygouritsas, EA	Emotions in Traffic, Dimitra Georgogianni, RSI
12:30 – 13:00	Q&A RSI & EA	Q&A RSI & EA	The KROS VR Application, Nikos Papastamatiou, Omega Technology		Overview of the KROS Virtual Summer School 2020. Gregory Milopoulos, EA

Preparation and Materials

After registering to the KROS Virtual Summer School 2020, we advise you to follow the subsequent steps:

Download the 24 existing KROS Activity Sheets
Download the KROS Manuals
Download the KROS VR Platform and use it with a PC and/or VR Glasses

(Watch the demo of the KROS VR Platform if you don’t have access to the hardware mentioned)

See the KROS Accelerator on the Open Schools for Open Societies portal
Register to the KROS Community on the Open Schools for Open Societies portal

We would like to offer some ideas and guidelines for your preparation. The summer school will use the OSOS portal as a tool to develop innovative school projects. We have prepared a series of webinars that include the “Open Schooling Roadmap” and “Building synergies around Europe with common projects”

Using the OSOS portal, we would like you to develop at least one school projects that apply the open schooling approach and exploit the KROS training material.

The KROS Community on the Open Schools for Open Societies Portal

We have created a dedicated community on the OSOS portal, the KROS Community: During the summer school, we’ll use this community to upload the projects. To become a member of the community, you’ll have to register to the OSOS portal (portal.opendiscoveryspace.eu/en/osos) if your aren’t already a member.

KROS accelerator

Take ideas by consulting the KROS Accelerator. It will help you to proceed more and develop your innovative ideas to new localised projects that could provide new solutions for the school and its community, for bringing the gap between formal and informal learning settings and creating new opportunities for personalisation at different levels (student, teacher, school). You can also look into the School projects that have already been uploaded on the OSOS portal, there are currently more than 1200.

Developing your project

During the days of the summer school, you will have a chance to receive expert advise and work on your project, apply all the features and tools of the OSOS portal and uptake the role of your students in order to finalise the projects.

Presenting your project

At the last day of the summer school, you will be called to present your project and get valuable feedback from the trainers and the participating teachers.

Speakers / Experts

Cairán Bauer: Having spent twenty-five years in the IT industry, Ciarán Bauer moved into the educational sector joining Bridge21, Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Now working with Trinity Access, a research programme based in TCD, Ciarán and his colleagues offer a methodology of teaching and learning designed to support an innovative 21st Century learning environment within school classrooms. The Bridge21 model is; team-based, project-based, technology mediated and utilises active learning spaces. Ciarán received a MSc. in Technology and Learning (2013), Trinity College Dublin and is currently a PhD candidate in the School of Education, TCD. His research interests include; Teacher Continuous Professional Development (CPD), 21st Century Teacher & Learning and Teacher Community of Practices. He leads the Trinity Access Erasmus+ projects team.

Danae Stavrou: Experienced Sociologist, Researcher and Education methods specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the financial services industry, sales and NGOs. 5years experience as Researcher and Education methods specialist on RSI. Manages the administrative issues of several European projects of RSI (KRoS project, SLAIN). Produces educational material for EU projects & RSI’s trainings. Experience on planning and implementation of NSRF & EU programs, researches, trainings and seminars. Bachelor degree on Sociology, Master of Education (MEd) focused in Adults Learning, Certificate of School of Pedagogical and Technological Education.

Gregory Milopoulos is an Educational Technology Researcher of the R&D Department of Ellinogermaniki Agogi. He is an Expert in Project Management of large and complex projects, mainly in the field of Educational Technologies and Digital Storytelling. He holds a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration from the University of Aegean and a Postgraduate Degree in Project Management of Techno-economic Systems from N.T.U.A. From 2009 to 2016 Gregory founded and managed Megaprojects, an R&D consulting company specialising in the exploitation of EU projects’ results. Gregory conceived and was in charge of the proposal preparation and exploitation management of Q-Tales (www.qtales.com) a funded H2020 ICT Innovation Action project which created a Collaboration Ecosystem enabling EU Creative SMEs to exchange digital resources and create multi-plot 3D e-books for Children. Before Megaprojects he was the Project Coordinator of the FP7 project “Drugcheck”, for Nosis Ltd, with a budget of 1,2 million euros and 8 partners. He was also managing the whole submission phase of the PROSPEC (“Promoting EMAS III in Clusters of Printing SMEs”) proposal in the Eco Innovation Call of EACI. Before that, back in 2006, he was working for Microsoft Hellas S.A as a European Funds Specialist – Local Technical Consultant of The European Union Grants Advisor initiative. Gregory has been dealing with European SMEs since 2001, when he joined the R&D Department of Pouliadis Group of Companies. Gregory coordinated and took part in more than 30 EU funded projects and proposals, such as CEBOS, W-Response, AL.

Nikos Zygouritsas graduated from the National University of Athens, Department of Education Sciences. He was awarded a MSc in Educational Technology from the Université Libre de Bruxelles. He has worked as a researcher in the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Faculty of Psychology and Education. He has also worked as an assistant for the on-line courses in Mons University (Educational Technology Unit). For three years he worked as an ICT teacher in the European School of Brussels III. In 2005, he was appointed by the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa and the UNESCO Cluster Office in Addis Ababa as responsible for the teacher training workshop for ICT competencies. He has coordinated and participated in national and international projects in the field of training, education, new technologies and innovation for the application of new technologies in various educational settings. Since May 2014 he is a member of the Ellinogermaniki Agogi Research and Development team.

Dimitra Georgogianni is a Psychologist, holding a Master degree in Psychology (Leiden University , Netherlands), specialized in Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy. She is a member of R.S.I. “Panos Mylonas” since 2015 as a researcher psychologist at the Driver behaviour unit of the Institute. She is responsible for the evaluation of RSI’s educational programs and Research, as well as the implementation of training seminars at the Medical University of Athens regarding the psychological factors of road traffic accidents and PTSD.

Nikos Papastamatiou: Mr Nikolaos Papastamatiou graduated from Aegean University, Samos in 1998 with a Bachelor’s degree on Mathematics. He then received a Master’s degree in Distributed and Multimedia Information Systems from Heriot-Watt University, Scotland in 1999. He is experienced on web technologies (XML Web services, GRID computing, etc) and he has participated in many European and National research projects. His research interests are in the fields of Web Development, Virtual Reality, Web Services, Grid Computing, ontologies, semantic web, Natural Language Processing and Multimedia Applications. His publications are in the domains of Grid/web services, natural language processing tools and 3D authoring tools.

Dagmara Jankowska-Karpa holds Ph.D. in transport sciences from Warsaw University of Technology. She is working as an assistant professor and researcher at Road Traffic Safety Centre in Motor Transport Institute (Warsaw, Poland) dealing with road safety issues for more than 10 years. Involved in several national (commissioned by governmental agencies) and EU funded research projects related to road safety and mobility. She has experience in road safety studies and research regarding children and youth safety, school transport safety, drivers’ training, mobility and accessibility, safety of elderly road users, road safety management and improvement programs development, analyses of road accident causes, effectiveness of road safety measures, road safety training and education. She has been also involved in running of road safety educational campaigns and events to promote road safety. She is author and co-author of several monographs and scientific papers presented at national and international conferences and seminars.