This document summarizes a presentation on collective intelligence in international projects by Hróbjartur Árnason, Jørgen Grubbe, and Torhild Slåtto. It discusses the PaaD Nordic project which investigated experiences from completed Nordic projects to understand what aspects lived on after the projects ended and why. Key findings included networks, online content/materials, practices adopted by organizations, and relevance of the project theme to partner institutions. Collaborative structures like co-creation, complementary competencies, and inclusion of various inputs were found to be important for success. Factors like social intelligence, diverse perspectives, equal participation, clarity of goals, and intensive work sessions also supported effective collaboration.

1. Collective Intelligence in
International projects
Hróbjartur Árnason (University of Iceland)
Jørgen Grubbe (Monet Gruppen)
Torhild Slåtto (Fleksibel Utdanning Norge)

2. Who are we?
Where are we?
• Torhild Slåtto
Former CEO of Flexible
education Norway
• Jørgen Grubbe
Director of Monnet
Gruppen, former
president and FLUID
• Hróbjartur Árnason
Assistant professor at the
University of Iceland:
Adult Learning

3. PaaD Nordic:
• The original idea: to investigate if funded projects are a good or bad?
• are those waste of time?
• are those waste of money?
• are those waste of energy?
• We wanted to investigate the experiences from finalized projects.
• PaaD – with a general project focus
• PaaD Nordic – with a specific Nordic focus

4. What from the projects lived on and why?
• What
• Networks (partners, peers, formal associations – (e.g. FB Effective webinars)
• Webs & online content with results, published courses, articles, materials
• Methods, Models for working / Practices (still used in organisation in
practice)(e.g. Local support for MOOCs)
• Handbooks etc. (Silent Learners / Effective webinars)
• Why
• The project theme was relevant to the partner institutions
• Connections / Networks lived on because of wide interest
• Usefulness of the products
• Practices are still useful in the organisation and they have been embeded

5. Collaborative structures in 16 Nordic projects
"Collaboration was the key to success"
Examples from our mapping of 16 former Nordic projects?
• OPENING UP
• SHARING AND INVOLVING the target group
• CO-CREATION
• COMPLEMENTARY COMPETENCIES in the project team
A good start:
• A competent team, enthusiasm, energy, and project partners that
want to implement the project outcomes

6. Projects and the Nordic dimension
• Better understanding of the objectives of the project
• Higher reliability between the partners
• Easier communication
• Higher motivation from the project participants
• Easier to administrate
• More pragmatic in relation to unexpected project results
• A good starting point for entering the funding opportunities
• However, to limited budgets for larger projects.

7. Collective intelligence in projects: Success factors
Project team composition (CI – research)
• Social intelligence (or more women than men)
• Diverse: Skills, Thinking styles, Points of view
• Equal participation
“The collaboration worked well because we had basic trust in each other.
We shared our project findings in webinars.”
Collaborative Structures (Our data)
• Agreement and clarity on goals (Well-known factor)
“The collaboration worked very well because everyone knew
the (project) goals and their role in meeting those goals.”
• Include various inputs from relevant "others" through webinars,
workshops and symposia etc.
• Intensive F2F work sessions (Course development & programming)

8. PaaD Nordic
More Information
PaaD Nordic
• Web: https://paadnordic.home.blog/
• These slides: http://tiny.cc/paadnordic
3 prior reports on project success
• 8 success factors https://nvl.org/content/8-success-factors
• PaaD Report https://nvl.org/content/utdanningstiltak
• Does Education Support Rural Development?
https://nvl.org/content/utdanning-skaper-utvikling-i-utkantsomrader