DISCERN-DSS Officially Begins: UGM Strengthens Global Partnership in Digital Scenario-Based Learning

Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) marked its participation in the official start of the DISCERN-DSS project through a kickoff meeting held in Belgium in February 2025. The meeting served as an important moment for partner institutions from Indonesia and Europe to consolidate their shared agenda in advancing digital soft skills education through Digital Scenario-Based Learning (D-SBL).

As one of the Indonesian partner universities, UGM joined the consortium together with Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) and Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). The European partners involved in the project include Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Karolinska Institutet, and the European Union of Medical Specialists. This collaboration reflects a joint effort to respond to the growing need for health professionals who are prepared to work in digitally transformed healthcare systems.

UGM was represented by Prof. Lutfan Lazuardi and Wika Hartanti. Their involvement in the kickoff meeting demonstrated UGM’s active role in supporting international academic collaboration, particularly in the field of digital health education, curriculum innovation, and technology-enhanced learning.

DISCERN-DSS, which stands for Digitally enhanced Scenario-Based Learning for Digital Soft Skills, is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education project. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of Indonesian health higher education institutions by integrating digital soft skills into learning through co-creative methods and interactive digital scenarios.

During the kickoff meeting, partners discussed the overall project direction, division of roles, work package implementation, training plans, project coordination, and expected outputs. The meeting also helped establish a common understanding of how D-SBL can be developed and adapted to support health professions education in Indonesia.

For UGM, the project opens an opportunity to further strengthen learning approaches that are contextual, collaborative, and responsive to the changing landscape of healthcare. Through D-SBL, students can engage with realistic digital health situations, make decisions, reflect on consequences, and develop essential soft skills such as communication, collaboration, ethical reasoning, adaptability, professionalism, and critical thinking.

The project will also involve the development of digital learning resources, including scenario-based and virtual patient-oriented materials. These resources are expected to support more active and reflective learning experiences, particularly in topics related to digital medicine and telemedicine.

Following the kickoff meeting, UGM will continue its contribution through curriculum mapping, training preparation, local coordination, and co-creation activities with partner institutions. These stages will support the project’s target of developing learning resources that are pedagogically strong and relevant to Indonesian health education needs.

Through its participation in DISCERN-DSS, UGM reaffirms its commitment to strengthening international collaboration and advancing innovation in health professions education. The project is expected to contribute to the preparation of future health professionals who are digitally competent, ethically grounded, and ready to respond to complex challenges in modern healthcare.