Partners of the Erasmus Plus Digital Lab for Education in Dietetics combining Experiential Learning and Community Service (E+DIETing_LAB), led by the European University of the Atlantic (UNEATLANTICO), met on February 16 and 17 at the Jan Kochanowski University (UJK) in Kielce, Poland, to discuss the progress of the digital self-learning platform prototype corresponding to the project’s first result.
Together with UNEATLANTICO, the following European institutions are participating in the project: the University of Valladolid (UVA) in Spain, St. Pölten University in Austria, the Universidade do Porto in Portugal, AP Hogeschool Antwerpen in Belgium and Jan Kochanowski University (UJK) in Poland.
The tool will be tested by students from different institutions in the coming months. Students will have access to different scenarios, real cases related to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular and gastrointestinal diseases, among others, to foster an experiential learning experience.
“It has been a very enriching period, as we are now discussing our achievements and next steps in developing a proper bot that will help students, as well as dietitians and nutritionists, in improving their training with the aim of providing the most appropriate nutritional care to patients,” Bárbara Pereira, from the Universidade do Porto, emphasized.
Regarding the project’s first result, the partners recently published an article in the Journal of Medical Systems. Researchers are expected to participate in more articles during the course of the project as the results progress.
Quality measurement procedures, led by the UJK, were also carried out during the two days. The meeting addressed creating an evaluation to assess the trainees’ experience using a virtual patient.
The project, which began last year, is funded by the Spanish Service for the Internationalization of Education (SEPIE, the Spanish Agency for the European Program Erasmus +).
It aims to improve practical training in dietetic education and foster a community/service learning approach related to nutrition and healthy habits as a social responsibility of the university.
Disclaimer: This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.