How the TOtT Centre developed from a bottom up initiative of University of Crete, i.e.Training of the Trainers (TotT), to a Teaching and Learning Centre(CTL_TotT), its expansion due to funding by 2021-2024 ESPA programmes of Development of Staff and its added bonus due to the European project ERASMUS+KA220 Higher Education, COALITION.

The Training of the Trainers (TotT@UOC) initiative first started as a pilot bottom-up staff initiative of the University of Crete in 2019 by the Vice Rector Prof. Karakasis and a threemember founding committee. The initial goal was the development of a culture of exchanging good teaching practices between teaching staff and Faculty members of the University of Crete. TotT was transformed into the Office of Teaching and Learning Support by the Vice Rector Prof. Kosioris in 2021 (now known as Teaching and learning Centre TotT CTL_TotT). Within three years, TotT managed to gain the support and recognition from the members of the academic community and in 2022 it is at its fourth year faculty development activity. 

The Centre was supported by the Ministry of Education through an ESPA project ‘Development of Staff’ of the Ministry of Education (2022). The ESPA programme’s main objective is to enhance smooth administration of Faculty development activities in Higher Education Institutions in Greece and dissemination of excellent Higher Education pedagogies. In the same year, the Centre was also supported by the European Union through the European research project Erasmus+ (COALITION), which is based on a proposal written by the Coordinator of the Teaching and Learning Centre ‘TotT’, Dr. Katsampoxaki-Hodgetts, and Prof. Eleni Katsarou, Professor of the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies (This proposal was submitted through the University of Leiden in the Netherlands as a coordinator). 

The main mission of the European project COALITION includes the exchange of good practices of inclusive and student-centered learning pedagogies (i-SCP) in order to transform faculty development and to assist the self regulation of students and professors. The participants in this project are academics who make their teaching more inclusive, to facilitate knowledge through supportive frameworks to the general academic body of their university, based on student needs. Participants will exchange experiences, ideas, opinions and good practices with other faculty members from other universities. Our goal with this project (Figure 1) is: 1. Data collection of needs and competences of the teaching staff for the i-SCP Teaching in Higher Education and alignment of activities of staff development through a MOOC and an active learning community (CoP). 2. Provision of personalized procedures centered around i-SCP through action research, guidance by peers, observation by peers, self-reflection and self-evaluation, and evaluation of the effectiveness of the choices made by Faculty members/teaching staff. 3. Creation of i-SCP content with interactive activities (e-book, MOOC with microcredentials). 4. Creation of a guide for Faculty Development centers whose goal is University Education.