"<< Background >>DIGI-LINGO is an innovative project that focuses on the importance of languages in upper secondary, digital didactics and teachers and pupils’ exchange. The motivation behind DIGI-LINGO is to educate more skilled foreign language teachers, to motivate more students to participate in foreign language subjects as well as to improve the overall foreign language competencies of citizens in the Danish, Flemish, Norwegian and Spanish partner regions. To have strong foreign language competencies and encourage multilingualism is vital in today’s globalised and fast-paced societies, where the world is getting increasingly smaller and intercultural meetings and engagements are the norm rather than the exception. DIGI-LINGO addresses the need regarding the European goal on multilingualism that everyone can speak his or her mother tongue in addition to two other languages, that language proficiency levels of students are improved by the end of compulsory education, that multilingualism positively impacts on mobility within Europe and that a European Education Area as well as a European educational network is established (Council recommendation, May 22, 2019). As this project is based on a bottom-up approach, the most important focus areas of this project are the actual needs of upper secondary schools and teachers to improve their foreign language education and how pupils could be motivated to choose and engage in foreign language subjects. This project is based on a needs analysis performed within the upper secondary schools in the partnership countries, where both the language teachers and the headmasters of the participating schools were able to share their views on what would enable them to deliver even better teaching and motivate more pupils. From the talks and discussions in the partnership schools, it was clear that many teachers struggle to deliver high-quality digital language education and organise virtual student exchange with students from other countries. The technology is changing rapidly, but we found that the teachers’ competencies and skills to use digital and virtual tools in their teaching are not always updated with recent knowledge and best practices. These findings have been supported by analysis made prior to the Digital Education Action Plan. These shortcomings have only been made clearer during the COVID-19 pandemic, where teachers and schools have had to adapt instantly to a new virtual and digital teaching environment. For this reason, DIGI-LINGO is based on a clear needs-based and strategic motivation among all partners to work within the field of foreign language education. An ambitious project of this scale can only be completed within the frame of the EU Erasmus+ programme, as it allows local, regional and national stakeholders from all over Europe to contribute with a vast diversity of insights and ideas. This project consortium consists of four different regional authorities from Belgium, Spain, Norway and Denmark and the transnational organisation European Schoolnet, which will ensure that results are sustainable, transferable and scalable not only in one country but in any EU member state. The vast scientific and hands-on experience of the DIGI-LINGO partners and results of other esteemed European projects will be taken into account to finalise them, as well as the findings of the associated partners that will be piloting the materials. This intense process of collaboration with schools will improve the authenticity and usefulness of the project results suitable for a broader European educational field. The project results will thus have a robust base, grounded in educational theory, made adaptable to national and local educational practices and needs.<< Objectives >>To meet the overall objective of improving digital language teaching and virtual exchange in the participating countries (and the rest of the EU member states in the next couple of years), the implementation of the project will achieve the following specific and innovative objectives:1. To develop new teaching guidelines for digital language learning2. To develop easily accessible methods for virtual language exchange3. To establish a sustainable organisational model anchored at the regional level.By completing these objectives, this project will have developed and created sought-after new knowledge in how to implement and use specific digital and virtual tools and methods in the day-to-day foreign language teaching. This need for new models, guidelines and knowledge in the area stems directly from the foreign language teachers and headmasters and this will improve the foreign language teaching as well as make the foreign language subjects more attractive to pupils. The objectives mentioned above are legitimised by an analytical framework aligned with the objectives of the European Education Area. Our project relates to the context through the following three points: 1. To create a relevant impact that can be measured by European standards and indicators 2. To draw on previous experience and impact of different initiatives within language teaching, digital competencies and virtual exchange through desk research based on available literature 3. To make use of the tools created by the EU for assessment and recognition of different competencies (The Europass Language Passport, The European Language Label, SELFIE Guide and Etwinning).<< Implementation >>The implementation of this project will consist of two multiplier events (an online launch event and a physical final conference) to disseminate the methods and guidelines. This will be of the utmost importance to the last phase of the project, as a vital part of this project is to facilitate that guidelines, knowledge and methods are implemented all over Europe, where countries struggle with the declining interest in foreign language subjects and are looking for effective ways to enhance teacher competencies in the field of digital language teaching and learning.Furthermore, one of the major activities in the implementation of the guidelines and the organisation model, is the two teacher seminars. Here, the participating associated partner schools and teachers will be trained in the new methods and guidelines which have been developed as a part of this project. The actual testing of how these function in practice is also of great importance to the project, as the inputs from the teachers, headmaster and students will prove essential in finalising the guidelines and methods and for the subsequent dissemination and spreading of the project results. To co-create the guidelines and methods with the teachers and allow them to give substantial feedback and input to the products of this project, two physical workshops will be held in Brussels allowing the partner group to have in-depth discussions with the teachers. These workshops are designed to ensure that the project’s bottom-up approach is deeply anchored in each project result, ensuring that results and outcomes are rooted in actual needs from teachers and that they are applicable in their day-to-day teaching also after the project is finished and the products will live on.<< Results >>The project will consist of the following four project results:1. Analytical framework and identification of best practices in virtual language learning and exchangeThe aim of Project result 1 is to identify best practices in the partner regions regarding digital language teaching and virtual exchange. To do so, a multidimensional analytical framework will be developed allowing the identification of good practices, analysis and extraction of recommendations and transferability in different contexts. The main impact of Project result 1 is to lay the foundation for project results 2,3 and 4. Project result 1 will also have a positive impact on the persons directly or indirectly involved in the activities, such as:• A greater understanding and responsiveness to cultural diversity and different social, ethnic, and digital contexts in partner regions• A more positive attitude towards the European project and the EU values, where multilingualism is a key priority.2. Digital teaching guidelines and methods for virtual language teaching and exchangeThe aim of Project result 2 is to develop pedagogical and didactic digital language learning and teaching guidelines and methods for virtual language exchange. The developed guidelines and methods will validate the collected best practices. The project aims for the new guidelines to be broad and socially inclusive to make them applicable to a wide range of language topics. The new pedagogical and didactic digital language teaching guidelines will provide the foundation for the project results that include teacher seminars as well as the organisational model. 3. Transnational teacher seminars using blended learningThe aim of Project result 3 is to organise seminars for upper secondary foreign teachers from the participating schools. The content of the seminars will be based on the conclusions and recommendations’in project results 1 and 2. The seminars will be conducted in a blended learning format combining physical classes with online teaching. In addition to preparing the teachers to use the new guidelines and methods, the seminars also aim to make the participating teachers ""ambassadors"" for the project to anchor and disseminate results. The seminars/webinars will contain a variety of learning methods combined with digital tools and learning resources, such as flipped learning and use of instructional videos. The seminars will enable teachers to fully grasp the newly developed guidelines and become proficient at them and thereby the newly developed guidelines and thereby improve their competencies in the field of digital and virtual language learning and virtual exchange. The teacher training is intended to include both the transnational seminars in Brussels and on-site local training.4. Organisational model to support digital language teaching and exchangeThe aim of Project result 4 is to develop an organisational model that will support upper secondary foreign language teachers to take part in virtual language exchange events. The model is based on the idea of anchoring the support for virtual language exchange at local and regional authorities, which is intended to immensely decrease the administrative load of the participating schools. The model will include an easy solution to the logistics of planning and the project result will be shaped based on the previous project result that focuses on user-friendly and worthwhile methods and guidelines. In the short run, the expected impact is that the 8-12 associated partner schools will have a joint approach to establish virtual exchanges through the regional authorities. On a long-term basis (approx. five years), it is expected that the solution is widespread among most schools in the four partner regions, and also that other regions in European countries have adopted the model based on the success the associated partner schools’ experience."