Good progresses on QUEST project – e-instructional designer competence certification

“QUEST” had his first face to face transnational meeting the 18th October in Tallinn, Estonia, where good progresses were achieved.

The “QUEST” project aims to contribute to the harmonization, at European level, of the skills of the Instructional Designer profession; to facilitate the mobility of Instructional Designers at European level; to increase the capacity to develop attractive eLearning at European level and to Qualify professionals with previously acquired knowledge and skills in Instructional Design.

COVID19 imposed emergent remote teaching and learning at a global scale. Green transitions is of strategic importance for the EU. This mass and unprecedented use of technology for learning led teachers, trainers, learners and families facing a steep learning curve, thus exposing the weaknesses in need of improvement in order to successfully integrate digital technologies into education and training systems. The EC stated that in some Member States, “the vast majority of educators and learners had little if any experience of teaching and learning online and the different pedagogical approaches needed for this mode of instruction”, concluding that “the crisis requires us to rethink how education and training, in all disciplines, are designed and provided to meet the demands of a rapidly changing and increasingly digital world (Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027, 2020, p.3). Now that we are moving beyond unplanned and emergency phases in education and training, is urgent to implement strategic and long-term approaches to digital education and training.

QUEST partners identified a European need on the lack of harmonization for the upskilling and reskilling of workers, in the field of online training and digital learning experiences’ development. The QUEST project will contribute to close this gap through high-quality Instructional Design. Instructional design can be defined as “the process by which learning products and experiences are designed, developed, and delivered. These learning products include online courses, instructional manuals, video tutorials, learning simulations, etc. Instructional designers are the ‘architects’ of the learning experience and the ‘directors’ of the Instructional Systems Design ISD process” (Instructional Design Central, n/a).

The project, funded by the National Agency, under the framework of the Erasmus+ Program, started in November 2021 and it’s due in October 2023.

In the framework of the project, EFCoCert Foundation is in charge of developing the competence certification and recognition of prior learning system, which will be based on open badges and micro credentials – the EFCoCert unique expertise.

QUEST partners are from Portugal, England, Ireland, Finland, Spain and Switzerland.

You can find more information about the project here and about each partner organization here:

ISQe(project coordinator), IADE, EDEN, UTU, FUTURE IN PERSPECTIVE and EFCoCert Foundation .