In the DiCE project, we strive to bring together digital community engagement and the third mission of universities. We aim to develop concrete practices and offer them to university educators and course directors (our target groups) so that they can create digital community engagement courses and, in doing so, positively impact the entire community.
To do that, we started our work with theoretical and practical research. Each of the project partners first carried out an extensive literature review to identify theoretical approaches, practical tools, current trends, and developments in the field of digital engagement in Europe and in their respective countries. Detailed state-of-the-art of DICE in each country can be found in DICE Perspectives from five countries: Germany, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain.
Technical University of Slovakia (the leader of this work package) then comprised all the information in the DICE Literature Review Report. The Report is a summary of the five national reports, but it also entails trends in the implementation of university-community engagement with a focus on digital components, and risks of the DiCE implementation and it specifically targets the benefits it brings to students and to communities. The Report also includes expert recommendations on DiCE promotion in the university–community environment.
Then we created a questionnaire and engaged more than 100 students from Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania, and Slovakia through closed and open questions. We wanted to know students’ perspectives and experiences with DiCE and the perceived value and benefits it brings to them. The detailed results of the survey are analyzed in the DICE Student Survey.
The information gathered from the first phase will serve as a basis for the creation of Value Maps, which is the backbone of the project. Value Maps will provide a framework for educators and course directors to evaluate their courses and identify areas for improvement as well as how to improve them. In other words, the Value Maps will include specific drivers and sub-drivers that will help them in designing digital community engagement courses.
The national reports, the Literature review report and the Student survey report are available in the Results section and can be downloaded in the PDF.
