Dr. Iñaki Elío talks about Dieting_Lab, the project led by the European Atlantic University

Dieting_Lab is a project funded by the Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education (SEPIE, Spanish Agency of the European Programme Eramus +) and led by the European University of the Atlantic (UEA). European University of the Atlantic.

Dr. Iñaki Elío, academic director of the degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics and editor-in-chief of the MLS Health & Nutrition Research journal, attended the Sonora programme broadcast by UNEATLANTICO Radio. This space is presented by Clara Arnaiz and Cristian Vegas, in which Dr. Elío explained everything about the project led by UNEATLANTICO.

A three-phase project

The first task of this 36-month project will be to design an avatar for students to put their knowledge of nutrition into practice and to test by simulating a real patient.

In the second year, the aim is to transfer it to different European universities with which we collaborate. The University of Valladolid, the St. Pölten University, the University of Porto, the AP Hogeschool Antwerpen and the UJK in Poland are the academic institutions involved in the project.

During the third year, students will interact with real patients, but always under the supervision of tutors who will measure recommendations, guidelines and relationships with patients to guide them in their learning.

As for the professors, the aim is to have the possibility of sharing information and methods so that new ideas can emerge. In addition, leaving the door open for future projects between the universities involved in the project.

“UNEATLANTICO is the leader in this project. We have taken care of the proposal design, part of the execution, and have coordinated all the partners to make this project a success”, says Iñaki Elío.

Consequently, for the avatar to successfully simulate the role of a patient, it will need to incorporate all the resources necessary to complete successful programming. To this end, case studies, strategies and responses are included, designed with the idea that they will learn from themselves and gain freedom.

The seed of the initiative arose from the need for practicality required by the Degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, with the burden of responsibility that comes with working with people. In this sense, the confinement allowed us to analyse the time limitation of the external internships, devising a solution that complements them. In this way, students acquire greater fluency in applying the knowledge acquired in the degree subjects.

Digital TA

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that the university is also leading another project under the name Digital TA. It is a teacher training program aimed at both teacher training students and young teachers. It consists of the construction of a platform to solve practical questions in the classroom.

You can listen to the full programme at https://www.ivoox.com/dieting-lab-audios-mp3_rf_83669221_1.html