The European consortium cordially invites you to the ESSENSE multiplier event organized in Skopje, at the premises of the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, Ruger Boskovik 16, 1000 Skopje, N. Macedonia. The event will start on the 30th of August at 11:00 UTC.

ESSENSE (Education Supporting Smart ENvironments for Seniors) is an EU Erasmus+ project with the aim of developing an education and training program with a combined focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM), age-appropriate construction and housing, and the use of digital assistance systems (Ambient Assisted Living AAL). The consortium, consisting of representatives of universities, trainers and associations from Germany, Spain, Slovenia and the Republic of Macedonia, is developing a framework curriculum, didactic materials for trainers, an online-based examination tool and a collaborative platform – which will be available to the market free of charge at the end of the project in September 2021.

Agenda:

Welcome and Introduction – prof. d-r Ivan Chorbev

Presentation of project outcomes – doc. d-r Petre Lameski

Presentation of learning platform – doc. d-r Boban Joksimoski

Q&A session and informal discussion

The European consortium invites you to present the outcome and advantages of the EU Erasmus+ Project ESSENSE at 22 September 2021, 16:00 (ECT).

ESSENSE (Education Supporting Smart ENvironments for Seniors) is an EU Erasmus+ project with the aim of developing an education and training program with a combined focus on Building Information Modeling (BIM), age-appropriate construction and housing, and the use of digital assistance systems (Ambient Assisted Living AAL). The consortium, consisting of representatives of universities, trainers and associations from Germany, Spain, Slovenia and the Republic of Macedonia, is developing a framework curriculum, didactic materials for trainers, an online-based examination tool and a collaborative platform – which will be available to the market free of charge at the end of the project in September 2021.

Agenda

• Welcome and Introduction
• Keynote: Prof. Dr. habil. Guido Kempter (University of Applied Sciences Vorarlberg, Austria)
• ESSENSE Project and Outcome
• Outlook

We estimate 90 minutes for the agenda, including time for Q&A between the single aganda points plus additional time at the end for further Q&A.

Please register here for the event.

Please notice that for using the communication platform alfaview you need to download the alfaview app before the meeting. 

The ESSENSE project team publishes a Blueprint that summarises the relevance and all innovative outcomes of the developed education and training programme. The core piece of the blueprint presents the framework curriculum, learning objectives and content developed by the project partners. The report also outlines the priorities and next steps of the ESSENSE partners in the implementation process. For example, the partners want to address and address the opportunities of BIM and AAL against the background of demographic change. With the provision of the ESSENSE curriculum, they also offer a first solution approach for universities, further education and companies to gain knowledge in this field. The teaching materials are made available free of charge on a collaborative platform.

You can download the Blueprint here.

ESSENSE is now on YouTube. Watch the introduction to ESSENSE below by or the new short videos of the five units in our YouTube-channel. The complete educational programme will be freely available at the end of the project in 2021 on the ESSENSE Collaborative Platform with innovative quizzes, exercises and some extra lectures.

In the last quarter of 2020, we finished the development of the didactic material. In the next step the educational community (teachers, students and experts in BIM, habitat design, education, etc.) is invited to participate in the pilot testing. During the pilot test, the contents of the joint curriculum and didactic materials will be assessed within the eLearning platform. This action will enable the partnership to revise the didactic materials and eLearning platform functionalities. 

The partners from UKIM are finalizing the necessary features of the eLearning platform. The core features are already developed and are in the final stage of internal testing. Since the core features are already prepared, the partners from UKIM have started filling in the platform with the didactic content for the curriculum and are finalizing the look and feel of the platform and of the course itself. The final preparations are being performed and the platform is ready for the pilot test. 

The developers of alfatraining are completing the technical description of the application programming interface (API) for the integration of alfaview into the ESSENSE platform. The technical description outlines the individual steps during the pilot testing. The individual roles of all platform actors, such as Admin, Lecturer, Student and Guest, will be tested extensively. Furthermore, the administration, e.g., course registration, course management and delivery of the course content, will be tested in a live setting.

Please participate at the pilot tests now and contact Carlos González(CETEM) and Lucía Gonzáles (ageinglab) when you are from Spain. In Slovenia: Dean Lipovac (UP), in North Macedonia: Petre Lameski (UKIM). In Germany: Janine Altmann (buildingSMART Germany). 

The European projects ESSENSE and SHELD-ON (Smart Habitat for the elderly)are generating synergies due to a common objective: to facilitate a safer, more comfortable and accessible life for the elderly. ESSENSE was presented at the first conference held in Riga 2018. Since then a project description about ESSENSE was published in the First SHELD-ON conference meeting Proceedings Book. You can find the book here. ESSENSE is described on pages 44-46.

SHELD-ON is financed by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST). This organisation is a research network that offers an open space for collaboration among scientists across Europe. SHELD-ON provide impetus to research advancements and innovation. The project aims to foster knowledge exchange and the development of a joint research agenda in terms of design and development of multifunctional indoor environments. The goal is to meet the requirements of Europe’s ageing population while promoting healthy and safe ageing. Thanks to the Sheldon team for your contributions in our project.

During the next months, the ESSENSE partnership will be working on the development of a Blueprint to ensure the follow-up of ESSENSE results. The partnership has identified the main Educational programs, policies and agendas at European and National level in order to analyse the impact that ESSENSE could have on its deployment. In the last quarter of 2020, the didactic material will be ready for testing. ESSENSE will enroll an official announcement to the educational community (teachers, student and experts in BIM, habitat design, education, etc.) to participate in the pilot test action. During this pilot test, the educational philosophy, joint curriculum and didactic materials will be assessed within the eLearning platform. This action will enable the partnership to polish the mismatches on the didactic materials or eLearning platform functionalities.

During the last months, ESSENSE has developed its Educational Philosophy and Joint Curriculum. You can find the full summary in here. 

The Joint Curriculum defines the necessary knowledge and skills components regarding key principles of BIM; Smart Housing and Ambient Assisted Living (AAL). It covers different aspects related to CAD Design, sensors architecture and BIM management with training tools, didactic materials and eLearning environment to address the different profiles of learners in a target-oriented way.

The Joint Curriculum is divided into 5 modules:

• Basic concepts on Building Information Modelling

The objective of the unit „Basic Concepts on BIM“ is to obtain an overview of the definition of BIM and the possible uses. What are the advantages of BIM or computer-aided design concerning the data associated with the 3D objects.

• The needs of the senior citizens and their caretakers

The unit “The needs of the senior citizens and their caretakers” aims to prepare building designers, construction workers, and related professionals to make design decisions that support healthy active ageing, and to implement those solutions in new buildings and refurbishments by focusing on user-centred design approaches.

• Smart Housing and AAL

This unit’s purpose is to introduce the concept of AAL and Smart Housing to the students. Furthermore, this unit will allow students to get insights into the basic principles of sensing, sensor data acquisition, signal processing and modelling based on data, to design and implement applications for assisting older adults.

• Interactions between BIM, Smart Housing and AAL

As a goal, this unit “Interactions between BIM, Smart Housing and AAL” aims to introduce the student to using AAL principles and Smart Housing technologies within the BIM method. How to combine the principles of Ambient Assisting Living with the concept of Building Information Modelling.

• Project Management, Innovation Management and collective competencies for optimum implementation of BIM principles and AAL concepts.

Module 5 comprises all the necessary knowledge for the implementation of BIM methodology from an Innovation Management approach. This module will provide learners with different concepts and methodologies to make the most of the implementation of BIM.

These modules will be freely available at the end of the project in 2021 on the ESSENSE Collaborative Platform with innovative quizzes, exercises and some extra lectures.