Thus, the project tackled a specific and not yet fully covered area of digital literacy, i.e. visual media literacy, which influences how people learn, communicate and interpret reality. A typical feature of online communication in the digital age is the pre-eminence of visual over textual communication, which requires a deeper understanding, and the start of a new dialogue among qualified Higher Education institutions, and between the academy and society at large.

The project’s main target groups were:

• First and second-level HE students, and students of any level, were equipped with more sophisticated digital media literacy and fluency competencies.
• Professors and researchers shared analytical tools and piloted the implementation of the project in their universities.
• Academic staff
• Stakeholders in the field of Education, Training, Life-long Learning, VET

OBJECTIVES

1. Raise awareness of the role played by higher education in Europe to enable the fair and resilient digital transformation, tracking disinformation and bias in visual communication through education and training.
2. Increase the digital fluency and critical consciousness about visual media of European students and faculties, both within communication study communities and transversely across subjects, nourishing misinformation-resilient behaviours and providing them with the practical skills to detect image bias as well as stereotypes in visual artefacts.
3. Enable academic staff, senior management and communication staff at the universities to develop sustainable strategies for integrating visual media literacy at all levels of course offering

PROJECT OUTPUTS

• The Report on Visual Media Literacy in Europe, which critically integrates the challenges imposed by visual media illiteracy, the competences to be developed to support visual media literacy, and a set of tools that can be used to track misleading visual information.
• The Micro-learning course in critical visual media literacy and fluency is a 50-hour online course available in English, Greece and Italian. It aims at providing participants with a deep understanding of the significance of images in present societies. Through a series of four modules, learners develop the ability to detect images and recognize stereotypes in visual artefacts. They also learn to navigate the visual landscape, discerning the credibility of the pictures they come across in their daily lives.
• The scalability and transferability toolkit containing operational guidelines and recommendations for implementing a learning offer on visual media literacy in HE.

PARTNERS

CLIP brings together four partners from three countries (Italy, Belgium, and Greece) with vast ranges of complementary expertise in education, (digital) participation and network cooperation.

• UNIMED (Unione delle Università del Mediterraneo) – Coordinator, Italy
• IULM (Libera università di lingue e comunicazione), Italy
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
• HOU (Hellenic Open University), Greece

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MAIN AIM

The main aim is to support and empower adult learning centres across Europe, in the provision of basic digital skills and competences, specifically the knowledge and understanding of key emerging digital technologies, such as AI and IoT, and related issues, such as data literacy, privacy and protection. Both the ADA Community of Practice and the training resources (including the MOOC and webinars) aim at supporting the implementation of a joint strategy to introduce peer learning activities, exchange of best practices and experiences at European level to facilitate learning centres and organisations in cooperating for digital transformation processes.

More specifically, ADA is aimed at achieving the following objectives:

• Upskilling adult educators working in the field of digital inclusion, through the provision of high-quality online training on key emerging digital technologies and related issues.
• Strengthening the capacity of adult-education organisations in informing and educating adult citizens on emerging digital technologies (opportunities and risks to be aware when interacting with services that use these technologies), through online formative and informative webinars, resources, tools, and recommendations.
• Promoting transnational cooperation and exchange through the nurture of a Community of Practice as main hub for digital competence stakeholders from all sectors to connect and share information on DigComp and digitalisation as well as engage with EU activities on these topics.

The ALL DIGITAL Academy is strongly linked with the objectives of the Digital Education Action Plan (DEAP). The Academy sits at the cross section of education, innovation and digital. It contributes to the DEAP Strategic Priority 1 “to foster a high-performing education ecosystem” by training educators and training staff in operating confidently and digitally competent when delivering training activities with their audiences. Through the proposed training activities, the Community of Practice and the capacity building activities, the project is also addressing DEAP Strategic Priority 2 “to enhance digital skills and competencies for the digital age”, by supporting the provision of basic digital skills and competencies, including a good knowledge and understanding of data-intensive technologies, such as AI and IoT.

TARGET AUDIENCE

The first target group is educators and trainers operating within adult learning centres and/or independently across Europe that are already and/or are willing to offer educational activities on emerging technologies and related topics.

The second target group is the staff of learning centres, especially managers and decision makers, and stakeholders, policy makers and change makers across Europe focused on emerging technologies education and digital transformation.

The secondary target is European adult citizens to whom educators and learning centres address their educational activities on emerging technologies.

Objective impact on beneficiaries

ADA expects at least 500 educators from at least 10 European countries registered in the MOOC, at least 100 educators completing it and at least 300 practitioners, educators, experts joining the CoP and at least 50 resources, including reports, OERs, self-assessment tools, best practices on the platform.

The consortium expects at least 100 organisations from at least 10 European countries joining to the at least 10 capacity-building webinars; at least 100 organisations interested in receiving the Toolkit on the readiness of introducing educational activities within the learning centre.

EXPECTED IMPACT

From the 15 deliverables (reports, content based and digital tools) planned, the expected impact in short-term for educators and trainers results from their upskilling on emerging technologies and related topics, with the immediate impact in them starting and/or increasing the educational offer for European adults (secondary target) on such topics.

For learning centres, the short-term impact results from the upskilling of their staff, internationalisation of their activities thanks to the networking opportunities within the ADA digital environment, the support received in implementing educational activities on emerging technologies adopting the DigiComp framework, the exchange of processes, formats, solutions and needs (in a problem-solving perspective) within the Community of Practice forward looking innovation and overall facilitating digital transformation at local, national and international level.

At long-term, ADA project has the aim of continuously providing training activities on several emerging technologies (expanding the ADA digital environment beyond AI and the IoT); being up to date on them thanks to the Community of Practice; supporting learning centres and territories in implementing and innovating in the education field for digital topics.

OUTPUTS

Educators and trainers will benefit from the educational outputs present in the ADA digital environment:

• Online training (MOOC and OERs).
• DigComp-based resources and tools (self-assessment tools; learning and teaching methodologies and contents; hadbook for trainers; best practices etc.).
• The Community of Practice (CoP) of practitioners and stakeholders to share practices and experiences in adult education and training.

PARTNERS

• ALL DIGITAL AISBL – Belgium, Coordinator
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II – Italy
• HELLENIC OPEN UNIVERSITY – Greece

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The TRANSVAL-EU project addresses the complex issue of validation of transversal skills. On one hand, employers place an increasing importance on transversal skills. On the other hand, transversal skills are only an implicit part of the existing validation and guidance processes.

There is a need to make the validation processes of transversal skills acquired in non-formal and informal settings explicit and to embed the lessons learned in validation and guidance policies.

TRANSVAL-EU proposes to experiment innovative approaches for the validation of transversal skills acquired through non-formal and informal learning (VNFIL) in five pilot countries – Austria, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Belgium.

TRANSVAL-EU addresses the insufficient knowledge and awareness of counsellors and practitioners on innovative VNFIL methods and transversal competences; the limited professionalization and experience of VNFIL staff in the field of validation of transversal competences. The project builds the capacity of practitioners and counsellors, as well as, when relevant, of other stakeholders on innovative VNFIL and transversal competences; and strengthen cross-sector cooperation between practitioners, policy-makers and other stakeholders in order to build coherent VNFIL systems.

TRANSVAL-EU intends to be one of the largest European policy experiments on VNFIL. The project has 16 partners from 7 countries. The project started on February 28, 2021, it will last 30 months and is funded by Erasmus+ KA3 Policy Reform – Policy Experimentations.

The project is currently in its second year of implementation.

So far, the partners have achieved the following outcomes:

• the European state-of-the-art report “Validation of transversal skills across Europe” was published in December 2021.
• Based on the report findings, a Database of Tools and Methods for the validation of transversal skills, including all the practices mapped during the research, was set up and is freely available for others to use.
• the Common Transversal Competence Framework encompassing 11 transversal competences and their descriptors was agreed by the partners.
• together with the Framework, the Guidance and Validation Practitioners’ Competence Profile defines the general transversal competences of guidance and validation practitioners, as well as competences specifically used for validating transversal skills.
• based on a selected number of best practices, a curriculum with 6 training units was developed, together with a Toolkit (a box of educational resources and materials).
• the European Training was carried out in Perugia in May 2022.
• National training sessions with validation and guidance practitioners in Austria and Italy took place in June, while training sessions in Poland, Belgium and Lithuania are being prepared for September 2022. This is the first part of the field trials where the training curriculum will be tested.

Expected outcomes after the national training sessions:

• • Project partners in each of the piloting countries will test the tools with end users by the end of 2022. This is the second part of the field trials.
  • The final activity in TRANSVAL-EU is the translation and implementation of the project results, if positive, into the practice and policies in the field trial partner countries.

PARTNERS

1. Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research through Austria´s Agency for Education and Internationalisation, Austria – Coordinator
2. Consortium for the validation of competences (CVDC), Belgium
3. Qualifications and Vocational Education and Training Development Centre (KPMPC), Lithuania
4. Regional Agency for Active Labour Policies of Umbria (ARPAL), Italy
5. Lifelong Learning Platform (LLLP), Belgium
6. European Institute of Education and Social Policy (EIESP), France
7. Educational Research Institute (IBE), Poland
8. 3s research laboratory (3s), Austria
9. Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium
10. Nordic Network for Adult Learning (NVL), Denmark
11. Lithuanian education and science trade union (LESTU), Lithuania
12. ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
13. FORMA.Azione, Italy
14. Pluriversum, Italy
15. Chamber of Labour for Salzburg (AK), Austria
16. Austrian Institute for Vocational Education Research (öibf), Austria

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To this end, ACTIon adapted good practices that utilise offline and online training models and tools – the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) and online participation and education tools (OPIN platform and F.I.R.E. – From Idea to Reality and Execution). Based on these good practices, two training programmes were developed:

• • • • MOLA – Model for Opinion Leaders’ Online Activation
      • DigiPAC – Digital Participation and Active Citizenship

     

Both programmes have their distinct features. MOLA was designed to be implemented over a period of 5 months, while DigPAC is a three-module programme that can be carried out over a span of 3 days – 1 day for each module. The timeframe for both programmes can be adapted to the demands of each learning environment.

The project is currently in its piloting these in formal and non-formal, community-based education settings in four partner countries – Bulgaria, Germany, Greece and North Macedonia.

The project’s main target groups are adolescents and young people (aged 14-25), youth activists, volunteers and informal peer leaders in non-formal education and community settings like youth organisations and community education centres.

ACTIon brings together six partners from five countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, North Macedonia) with vast ranges of complementary expertise in education, (digital) participation, and network cooperation.

OBJECTIVES

• To enhance the acquisition of social and civic competences, fostering knowledge, understanding, and ownership of values and fundamental rights.
• To foster digital skills and competences of digitally excluded groups (migrants and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds)
• To enhance critical thinking and media literacy among learners, parents, and educational staff.

The benchmark of the approach is highly innovative: participatory engagement of adolescents and young people from socially underprivileged regions, ethnic minority/Roma youth and young migrants/refugees that experience the greatest barriers in terms of social inclusion in the fields of health and general education, the labour market and public life.

The project’s immediate beneficiaries will be roughly 100-120 young leaders trained as role models during the piloting phase, 50-60 of which according the Popular Opinion Leader (POL) model. The trained POLs will have the capacity to reach a further 300 to 500 community peers from their immediate social environment and networks. Around 120 youth activists are expected to become engaged with education e-participation projects through the online tool and digital application (app).

The expected impact is that active and deliberate digital youth participation will help strengthen the resources of young disadvantaged learners, newly-coming migrants and Roma/ethnic minority communities, empowering them to engage in pro-active social (online) participation through self-organised piloting projects with the digital tool. Ultimately, the results of this project will inform practice-driven policy recommendations, targeted at a European level to support policy advocacy for social inclusion through (digital) citizenship education.

OUTPUTS

• • Desk research and analysis of the theoretical framework and existing educational offers and approaches.
  • Modular curriculum with two training programmes covering civic education, digital skills, media and health literacy
  • Piloting, assessment and re-adjustment of the good practice models in Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, and North Macedonia with case studies from effective piloting (Expected publication date: July-August 2023)
  • Evaluation Report: Executive summary with policy factsheet outlining the innovative value and impact potential of ACTIon models (Expected publication date: October-November 2023).

PARTNERS

• Nexus Institute for Cooperation Management and Interdisciplinary Research e.V, (nexus), Germany – Coordinator
• Health and Social Development Foundation (HESED), Bulgaria
• Open Space Foundation (OSF), Bulgaria
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
• Action Synergy S.A., Greece
• Coalition of Youth Organizations (SEGA), North Macedonia

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Digital technologies have changed the way we see and understand the world, especially for young people. Their perception and interactions have been shaped by audiovisual contents and the dynamics of the virtual dimension. Generation Z are the so-called “digital natives” – young people who grew up in the digital age. But even though they are in constant contact with technology and have access to an unlimited amount of information, they sometimes lack the abilities to analyse and evaluate the veracity of the messages they receive from the media.

In order to enhance their media literacy skills and provide them with the tools they need to understand the world they live in, to cultivate students’ critical thinking and help them understand the responsibility and the power of their voice, seven partners from Belgium, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, and Spain have joined forces in the CrAL project. Their goal is to enhance critical thinking and media literacy among learners, parents and educational staff.

The project scales up the good practice “Creative audiovisual writing and reading”, developed and already tested in Italy, to five different education systems and contexts in Croatia, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, and Spain. In the words of Annio Gioacchino Stasi, Italian film director and educator, and author of the good practice, “the methodology is trying to show the link between images and words. We see the effects of the images that confuse, lie, destroy, and unfortunately, at times convince”. CrAL aims to create an audiovisual literacy programme that is not a training in marketing but fosters critical and out-of-the box thinking.

CrAL addresses young people (14-19 years old) by involving them in reinterpreting and producing audiovisual content. Secondary school teachers and trainers working in non-formal environments will be trained how to educate their students in creative audiovisual reading, writing and production. Parents and members of the community will also be involved as active protagonists in order to maximise CrAL’s impact on a local, national and European level.

Specific objectives of the project are:

• To provide school teachers and trainers with the necessary knowledge and skills on audiovisual education and the “Creative audiovisual writing and reading” methodology via a blended course with online video lessons accessible via the CrAL online platform complemented by f2f workshops organised by partner organisations in each country.
• To empower students (aged 14-19) in the critical reinterpretation and production of audiovisual content, promoting the acquisition of critical thinking and media literacy competences and skills

What have we done so far?

• We have designed an innovative training path for teachers and trainers;
• We have produced the training course with multilingual and multimedia educational contents for teachers (video lessons and EduPacks);
• We have trained 23 tutors in the transnational training;
• We have set up the CrAL online platform;
• We have developed a project leaflet with more info about the project.
• We organised a pilot of “Creative audiovisual writing and reading” methodology in five European countries through 1. a blended course for teachers and 2. workshops with students led by the teachers and supported by our tutors. This led to the production of audiovisual content (films) by young people.
  • 60 teachers were trained in a 5-week blended course starting from September 2022 (expected: Sep-Dec 2022);
  • 250 students (50 per partner) were involved in the creation of audiovisual contents following the course for teachers (expected: Jan-Jun 2023).

What’s next?

• We are currently working on creation of the international Community of Practice on the CrAL online platform to exploit the results and maximise the impact of the project. In addition to the online course for teachers, the platform will contain all audiovisual products developed during the pilot experimentation (expected: Sep 2022-Dec 2023).
• We will produce policy recommendations on the use of audiovisual contents for inclusive education (expected: Nov-Dec 2023).

PROJECT PARTNERS

• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium – Coordinator
• EGInA, Italy
• Istituto Centrale per I Beni Sonori e Audiovisivi (ICBSA), Italy
• Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain
• Hellenic Open University (HOU), Greece
• Centre of Technical Culture Rijeka (CTC Rijeka), Croatia
• Association Langas į ateitį (LIA), Lithuania

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Twitter: @Equals_EU
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LinkedIn: /company/equals-eu/
YouTube: Equals-EU Regional Partnership

The EU’s Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025 calls for a Europe where women and men, girls and boys, are equal, where diversity is a recognized asset to the economy and society, and where women have equal opportunities to participate and thrive in society. The EU has committed to improving the structural inequality between men and women, and empowering and promoting the social, economic and political inclusion of women and girls and EQUALS-EU project aims at contributing to this challenging agenda.

EQUALS-EU project aims to promote gender equity in social innovation by:

1. Building capacity through multilateral partnerships that strengthen existing and formalize new networks for social innovation and entrepreneurship.
2. Creating smart, sustainable, and inclusive social innovation ecosystems in local communities and cities in Europe and in non-European countries in the Global North and South.

These aims are complemented by the following specific objectives:

• Develop hands-on activities through interdisciplinary, inter-sectoral, innovation camps and hackathons focused on digital inclusion and with a specific focus on sustainable gender equity practices.
• Hold high-level seminars in conjunction with existing flagship initiatives at the UN and EU, including the World Summit on the Information Society, Generation Equality Forum, Women in Digital, Girls in ICT Days, and European Development Days.
• Conduct a combination of online and face-to-face mentoring, training, and lifelong learning programmes and courses focused on business and professional development and hosted by successful social entrepreneurs, advocates, and experts, including both men and women.
• Co-innovate and implement gender-inclusive policy and business development tools in conjunction with stakeholders in the public, private, and civil society sectors.
• Increase entrepreneurial competences through international academic cooperation including the development of joint international summer school, digital learning materials and tools that promote research collaboration, student mobility, and work placements.
• Inspire the next generation of innovators by elevating a new group of leaders, role models, and advocates for gender equity in social innovation and entrepreneurship.

In pursuit of these objectives, EQUALS-EU is structured around an ambitious work programme based on six work packages:

• WP1: Appraise Gender Equity Social Innovation Ecosystems (led by Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions)
• WP2: Create New Solutions for Gender Equity and Digital Inclusion (lead by Missions Publiques)
• WP3: Transform Gender Inequity into Sustainable Social Impact (lead by Global Universal Design Commission Europe)
• WP4: Exchange Knowledge and Transfer Technology for Gender Equity (lead by GSM Association)
• WP5: Communication, Dissemination, and Exploitation (lead by ALL DIGITAL)
• WP6: Management and Coordination (lead by OSLOMET)

The full scope of EQUALS-EU network activities covers 29 EU Members States and Associated Countries and 9 non-European countries in both the Global North and Global South.

CONSORTIUM

EQUALS-EU represents a Consortium of 19 organisations from 15 EU Member States (MS) and Associated Countries (AC). EQUALS-EU benefits from two non-European Consortium members from the Global North and Global South, which provides a rare opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and good practices and the transfer of technology and innovations.

Members of the Consortium:

• OSLOMET – Storbyuniversitetet (OsloMet), Norway – Coordinator
• Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions) (SPIDER), Sweden
• Missions Publiques (MP), France
• Global Universal Design Commission Europe (GUDC-EU), Norway
• GSM Association (GSMA), United Kingdom
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
• Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs (KhNUIA), Ukraine
• Fondation Pour L Institut De Hautes Etudes Internationales Et Du Developpement (IHEID), Switzerland
• Latvijas Zinatnu Akademijas Ekonomikas Instituts Sia (IE LAS), Latvia
• Universitat de Valenci (UVEG), Spain
• Klinikum Der Universitaet Zu Koeln (UHC), Germany
• Middle East Technical University (METU), Turkey
• University of Haifa (UH), Israel
• BLITAB Technology GmbH (BLITAB), Austria
• Havelsan Hava Elektronik Sanayi Ve Ticaret (HS), Turkey
• Kentro Merimnas Oikogeneias Kai Paidiou (KMOP), Greece
• Centre for Science and Innovation (INTERSECTION), Serbia
• United Nations University (UNU-IIST), Japan
• Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Korea

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THREE-D-Print project provided support for the educational and training challenges related to equipping the future workforce with relevant and needed skills to participate in the 3D printing revolution. The key focus was on providing an entry-level, easily accessible course that could motivate adults with fewer qualifications.

In THREE-D-Print we saw the (introductory) knowledge and (basic) use of 3D printing as a tool that can motivate, enable and empower adult learners. In terms of motivation and inspiration, it allows the user/learner to experience a rapid and easy materialization of the envisioned objects, it enables the production of parts that can be used in robotics training and ultimately empowers the user to master the skills that will be relevant and needed in the field of New Age Technologies. Finally, it can be used to foster creativity, innovation, experimentation and a DIY maker mentality that can be usefully employed in an entrepreneurial as well as an industrial setting.

Project partners have developed a 3D Printing Toolkit, which includes 3 main aspects:

1. INTRODUCTION TO 3D PRINTING: The Partnership has produced a guide on how to introduce 3D printing in adult education e.g. type of equipment required, 3D printers ‘best buys’, how to virtual 3D modelling in a PC and how to export the models to the 3D printer how to maintain the equipment, where to buy the materials etc. Published in March 2021.
2. TEACHING MATERIALS FOR TRAINERS: The Partnership has created a training programme on 3D printing for trainers, in order to provide them with the needed knowledge tools to develop a teaching programme on 3D printing in adult education. Published in January 2022.
3. PRACTICAL TOOLKIT FOR TEACHERS ON 3D-PRINTING: The Partnership has developed a teaching pack to enable adult educators to learn more about 3D printing and provide course materials for their adult students e.g. assignments, quizzes, general learning materials. Published in July 2022.

This was an important opportunity to give adult learners the expertise and competencies needed for societal development and individual development. We anticipate that over 1,000 institutions and adults can benefit from the outcomes of the project.

PROJECT PARTNERS

• EU15, United Kingdom – Coordinator
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
• I. P. CITIZENS IN POWER, Cyprus
• CEPROF, Portugal
• Polo Europeo della Conoscenza – IC Bosco Chiesanuova, Italy

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AMeLiE addresses the issue of online hate speech, a topic that is increasingly discussed in public debate. The aim of the project is to train teachers and representatives of school communities (school managers, digital facilitators, but also parents) on the specific methodology of addressing online hate speech in the classroom. The methodology goes a step further in the direction of “digital citizenship”, in line with the next Digital Education Action Plan and the Digital Decade, going beyond basic computer skills and focusing on advanced media literacy skills for those in educational roles.

The project offers an innovative approach and provides tools involving the whole educational community, in order to reach not only teachers, but also families, who need to be involved in the process of awareness of these issues and then transmit to “digital natives” that the Internet is not a reality separated from the world (Bookmarks: A manual for combating hate speech online through human rights education, Council of Europe).

The project is based on three Intellectual Outputs:

• • a blended training course for teachers including ca. 40 worksheets available upon registration on the Online Platform;
  • a Virtual Network of schools hosted on the online platform which currently has 240+ members (teachers, trainers) and is growing every day. The Virtual Network was initiated through Coaching Circles with selected teachers  and the activities culminated with the competition for School awareness-raising campaigns “Kind Speech Day” available under “School campaigns” on the online platform.
  • Policy Recommendations for policy makers and educational institutions (expected date: December 2022).

Completed activities

AMeLiE is structured on a three-level training (partner trainers -> initial teachers and representatives of the schools involved -> more teachers involved through a peer-learning path). In particular:

• • in November 2021, 12 trainers with different backgrounds, but above all experts in media literacy of the partner organisations were trained on the specific methodology of AMeLiE and on innovative techniques for training and teaching;
  • in the second phase, a core group of 25 teachers from the associated partners schools tested the methodology and used the worksheets in their classroom;
  • in the third phase, teachers invited their colleagues or people from the school community, thus reaching more than 240 people who are now part of the “Virtual Network” of schools against online hate-speech and can use the worksheets.
  • Kind speech day competition – interested schools organised Kind speech day communication campaigns, which are now being evaluated by an international July and will be awarded at an award ceremony in Prague on 29th September 2022.
  • International workshop in Prague on 28-29th September 2022.
  • Policy recommendations gathering the experience from piloting the AMeLiE methodology in pilot countries and drawing conclusions for improving policy and practice on addressing online hate speech and improving media literacy.

In addition to the partner countries (Italy, Greece, Romania and Germany), ALL DIGITAL, through its pan-European network of digital competence centres, has directly involved trainers and teachers from Serbia and Bulgaria, thus, reaching two more countries beyond the project.

The project, offering innovative pedagogical tools and approaches, intervenes at transnational level in the professional development of teachers, creating the conditions for promoting correct, aware and responsible behaviour in the virtual world. Because “Virtual is real” (from the Manifesto of Parole Ostili).

PARTNERS

• European Grants International Academy (EGInA), Italy – Coordinator
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
• Fundatia EOS – Educating for an Open Society, Romania
• Hellenic Open University (HOU), Greece
• Stiftung Digitale Chancen (SDG), Germany
• Parole Ostili, Italy

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Twitter: @rayuela_h2020
LinkedIn: @rayuela-h2020

Cybersecurity is one of the Commission’s priorities in its response to the Coronavirus crisis, with a constant increase of cyberattacks and different types of risks within the digital environment. RAYUELA project addresses this sensitive issue, offering a research-based response aligned with the key objectives of the Commission’s Research and Innovation framework programmes, focusing on young audiences.

RAYUELA brings together Law Enforcement Agencies, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, legal experts, computer scientists and engineers to develop innovative methodologies for enhanced cybersecurity. The stakeholders involved are achieving a better understanding of the factors affecting online behaviour related to cyber-criminality aiming at raising the awareness of young adults on toxic behaviours they might encounter online.

RAYUELA’s main goal is to better understand the drivers and human factors affecting cyber-criminality, thus empowering and educating young target groups to a more conscious and aware use of the Internet through gaming, in a preventive and mitigating action to reduce cybercriminal behaviour.

RAYUELA is focused on cybercrimes that are prevalent among young target groups:

• Online grooming: being harassed by adults who may take advantage of their vulnerability aiming at sex abuse, online distribution and/or live-streaming of child sex materials.
• Cyberbullying: young people turning into offenders who spread fake and/or personal information, photos to threaten and blackmail classmates.
• Human trafficking: digital communication technologies are widely used for trafficking for sexual exploitation.

The work plan includes some key activities:

• Building a knowledge base on cybercrime drivers for children and young adults.
• Technology assessment and IT threat.
• Development of an interactive story-based videogame.
• Implementation of pilot studies to collect and monitor data on users’ behaviour and online activity through gaming.
• Data analysis to identify patterns for profiling and analysis of online habits of potential young victims and offenders.
• Capacity building for cybercrime prevention and awareness: communication and dissemination actions to facilitate the prevention of cybercrime and foster awareness among young target groups.

The project will be implemented by 17 partners from nine European countries: Spain, Belgium, Slovakia, Estonia, Portugal, UK, Latvia, Greece, and Germany.

ALL DIGITAL will support the delivery of the project dissemination strategy and exploitation activities at the EU level, through its international channels, networks and partnerships.

Take part in the raising awareness campaign following the project on social media channels.

PARTNERS

1. Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Spain) – Coordinator
2. Universidad Politécnica De Madrid (Spain)
3. Tecnalia Fundation Research and Innovation (Spain)
4. TIMELEX SCRL (Belgium)
5. Bratislava Policy Institute (Slovakia)
6. University of Tartu (Estonia)
7. Polícia Judiciária (Portugal)
8. Policía Local de Valencia (Spain)
9. Police Service of Northern Ireland (UK)
10. Ghent University (Belgium)
11. Tilde Sia (Latvia)
12. Ellinogermaniki Agogi Scholi Panagea Savva (Greece)
13. UC LIMBURG (Belgium)
14. ALL DIGITAL (Belgium)
15. Zabala Innovation Consulting S.A. (Spain)
16. Police and Border Guard Board (Estonia)
17. NEC Laboratories Europe Gmbh (Germany).

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 882828.

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During piloting, 140 care-givers will take part in the program and improve their skills. After the training that is based on the project’s curriculum, care-givers will have at their disposal a Toolbox with exercises and a Handbook with methodologies that will help them assist their beneficiaries (end users of the project), the seniors, to create their own stories and recreate them by working together through the techniques of artistic means. The training materials (Curriculum, Toolbox and Handbook) were finalised and tested by the partner trainers in May 2022, and are now being translated into partner languages while the partners are running the training sessions with the care givers.

OBJECTIVES

• • To develop an educational material for the care-givers on how to support the elderly people they work to overcome the barrier of age and the feeling of being unnecessary and, help them in handling responsibilities. The methodology has storytelling as its base, and uses the stories as the core material which is translated into a variety of artistic forms, such as performing arts (dance/video dance, theatre/documentary theatre) visual arts (digital narration, stop motion video) and creative writing (e-book). Digital tools underpin the creative process, so that the elderly people acquire essential digital skills while creating and having fun.
  • To provide seniors with the opportunity to take over high-responsibility positions by being part of a working team, that will help them regain the feeling of being part of social activities.

TARGET GROUPS

• • Care-givers working with seniors (professionals);
  • Institutions and services working with seniors (VET organizations, counsellors, etc.);
  • Communities.

OUTPUTS

• • Focus Groups’ methodology guide for identifying needs, artistic potential and preferences.
  • Curriculum for care-givers working with storytelling techniques (expected date: November 2022).
  • Toolbox with educational exercises (expected date: November 2022).
  • Handbook with the theory and methodologies behind the techniques and the exercises (expected date: November 2022).
  • An open online platform with the handbook, the toolbox and all the IT & cultural products (expected date: November 2022).
  • Recommendations for policy makers and training providers (expected date: November 2022).

PARTNERS

• • University of Peloponnese (UOP), Greece – Coordinator
  • ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
  • IASIS, Greece
  • EDRA – Kinonikes Sineteristikes Drastiriotitesefpathon Omadon, Greece
  • IRIPS – Institut Régional d’Insertion Professionnelle et Sociale, France
  • AEVA – Associacao Para A Educacao Evalorizacao Da Regiao De Aveiro, Portugal
  • CSI – Center For Social Innovation Ltd, Cyprus
  • Asociación La Bien Pagá Espacio Escénico, Spain

The post ReStory: ReWrite Your Story appeared first on All Digital.

The #hackAD project fostered digital skills and competences of young people from disadvantaged background by implementing collaborative educational activities based on the Social Hackademy co-creation methodology.

The project aimed to empower young people (age 16-29) from disadvantaged backgrounds by helping them acquire and develop digital skills to find digital solutions to social challenges and improving trainers’ capacity to foster digital skills of youth at risk of social and digital exclusion. This was done through the setting up of Social Hackademy Labs and the organisation of Social Hackathons in four European countries: Croatia, France, Greece, and Italy.

The project focused on digital co-creation, technology and education for empowerment and social mobility of disadvantaged young people, through the scaling up of the Social Hackathon Umbria (SHU), a good practice implemented at local level by project partner EGInA since 2016.

The #hackAD project was implemented by partners from five European countries (Belgium, Italy, Greece, Croatia and France) and produced the following key results:

1. Social Hackademy methodology addressed to teachers and youth workers
2. Trainers Handbook for the implementation of Social Hackademy Methodology
3. Course outlines on Native Mobile App Development, Web Design, and Visual and Graphic Design
4. Social Hackademy Online Platform featuring the online training services and tools
5. At least 19 trainers working in the field of digital skills with young people trained in the Social Hackademy Methodology
6. Social Hackademy Labs established in Italy, Greece, France, and Croatia through multi-stakeholder local and national partnerships
7. At least 272 young people aged 16-29, most of which from disadvantaged background, trained in at least one of the three courses (Native Mobile App Development, Web Design or Graphic design).
8. Social hackathons organised in four project countries involving young people and multidisciplinary teams using a co-creation methodology
9. 18 digital solutions to local challenges matched to the Sustainable development goals developed by the co-creation teams during the hackathons

PARTNERS

• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium – Coordinator
• European Grants International Academy (EGInA), Italy
• Hellenic Open University (HOU), Greece
• Centre for Technical Culture Rijeka (CTC), Croatia
• Public Libraries 2030 (PL2030), Belgium
• Simplon.co France

The post Social Hackademy #HackAD appeared first on All Digital.

Twitter:  @STEAMonEdu

Follow the project news by using the hashtag #STEAMonEdu

The STEAMonEdu project aimed to increase the adoption and impact of STE(A)M education by investing in the community of practice and the professional development of educators.

The approach of the project was to nominate educators as the pillars of implementation of STE(A)M education policies and support their professional development through the developed blended training programme and their participation in a community of practice. The training programme and the exchange of experience, collaboration and creative work of the community were supported by an online peer learning and crowdsourcing platform.

As a result of research conducted by the consortium, the STE(A)M education framework, Educators’ profile and Self-Assessment STEAM have been developed, including competencies, policies, methodologies, learning objects, etc.

These findings have the core elements of the design of the training curriculum for STE(A)M educators, addressing the overall training programme: the MOOC “STE(A)M education for educators: Design, orchestration and implementation of STE(A)M education” and the blended training. The MOOC is available to everyone interested in the topic, and more than 500 people have already enrolled. Also, 50 MOOC graduates have been selected for the blended training to focus their attention on the production of learning activities templates, STE(A)M education projects and policies to strengthen their competencies in adopting and further developing and promoting STE(A)M education at both local and national level.

The project has been piloted in Germany, Greece, Italy, Romania, and Spain.

The overall project has adopted a bottom-up participatory approach when delivering:

• The online community of educators, collecting good practices and STE(A)M education policies.
• The STE(A)M education framework, including the body of knowledge, template curricula and learning activities, with a focus on diversity.
• The STE(A)M competence framework, detailing the competencies needed to design and implement STE(A)M education activities (STEAMComp will specialize Digital Competence Framework for Educators – DigCompEdu with STE(A)M-specific competencies).
• The ST(E)AM educator profile, designed on the principles of ESCO (European multilingual classification of Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations).
• The training programme, targeted STE(A)M educators and delivered online on a MOOC (with OERs contents) and blended training.
• The guide of STE(A)M educational good practices.
• The guide on STE(A)M Education policies.
• The STE(A)M policy influence toolkit.
• The guide for STE(A)M education policy makers (Policy recommendations).
• The STE(A)M readiness self-assessment online tool for educational organisations that implement STE(A)M education policies based on SELFIE.

ALL DIGITAL was the lead partner of the project dissemination & exploitation activities. It also contributed to the “Establishment of European community of STE(A)M educators” through the collection and analysis of best practices and the analysis of national STE(A)M education policies and educators’ needs in Europe.

PARTNERS

1. DAISSy Research Group Computer Technology Institute and Press “Diophantus” (CTI) – Greece, Coordinator
2. ALL DIGITAL– Belgium
3. Stati Generali dell’Innovazione (SGI)– Italy
4. Helliwood, 21st Century Competence Centre – Germany
5. EOS Foundation– Romania
6. Colectic –Spain
7. Regional Directorate of Primary and Secondary Education of Western Greece/Ministry of Education Lifelong Learning and Religious Affairs – Greece

The post STEAMonEdu – Competence development of STE(A)M educators through online tools and communities appeared first on All Digital.

DocEnhance aims to enhance transferable skills intelligence and integration into PhD programmes by:

1. Involving the non-academic sector in developing a more employment and innovation-oriented curriculum for PhD programmes;
2. Facilitating work-based learning and business-education partnerships through developing PhD courses;
3. Tracking of PhD graduate career paths.

The major outputs of the project:

• a recommended transferable skills curriculum for PhD programmes;
• a novel course concept and material;
• an open-access career tracking survey.

The project is focused on transferable skills, considered key skills to facilitate young researchers and recent doctorates to being employed in any field of interest. All project outputs are freely available as Open Educational Resources through the DocEnhance Platform that includes the training materials, the community of researchers and provides a networking digital environment to foster the community beyond the project lifetime.

DocEnhance builds on a large, diverse and experienced consortium, several existing EU-projects and other initiatives to achieve these ambitious goals. The Advisory Board and the Industry Reference Group represent the major stakeholders and end-users of the project outputs, and their involvement is ensured through a co-creation approach that includes project evaluation and validation events.

PARTNERS

1. The Arctic University of Norway, Norway – Coordinator
2. ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
3. University of Chemistry and Technology Prague, Czech Republic
4. Tampere University, Finland
5. European Science Foundation, France
6. Tree of Science SAS, France
7. Technical University of Munich, Germany
8. University of Ghana, Ghana
9. Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
10. European University Foundation, Luxembourg
11. Maastricht University, Netherlands
12. Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise, Norway
13. NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal
14. Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia
15. Fundación Universidad-Empresa, Spain
16. University of Alcalá, Spain
17. Karlstad University, Sweden
18. InnoExc, Switzerland
19. The Aduah.es/enecco Group, Switzerland

The post DocEnhance – Broadening PhD expertise through transferable skills appeared first on All Digital.

Follow the project news by using the hashtag #DigitalBiblio

The Biblio (Boosting digital skills and competences for librarians in Europe) Project is funded through Erasmus+ KA2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices – Sector Skills Alliances.

The project addresses the skills gap in the library sector due to digital transformation that is changing the role of libraries and library professionals. The project targets library professionals and unemployed people in the library sector by enabling them to offer innovative services for users.  It facilitates the acquisition of digital and transversal skills for library professionals by setting up a system for skills assessment, learning offer, validation, and recognition.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

• To identify the existing and emerging skills needs for the library sector, mapping them to EQF and NQFs feeding these findings into the European Skills Panorama;
• To identify the Europe-wide emerging job profiles in the library sector of the 21st century;
• To support the development of highly skilled, qualified and mobile workforce in the sector, addressing the mismatch between formal education and labor market;
• To develop a European VET curriculum that can be adapted to national needs;
• To support the recognition of the new VET qualification at EU level, promoting quality assurance of VET curricula using EQAVET system;
• To promote work-based learning and intergenerational learning in VET.

WHAT HAS BEEN DONE?

The project started with analysing the training needs and offers in the library sector. On this basis, partners identified two emerging job role profiles – Community Engagement and Communication Officer and Digital Transformation Facilitator. For each profile, a modular VET curriculum addressing EQF Level Five was designed, applying a VET methodology based on learning outcomes and on the blended learning principles. The curricula is based on a set of digital OERs (Open Educational Resources) supporting the acquisition of 40+ digital and transversal competences.

Based on the identified training contents, the partners developed:

1) A MOOC addressed to European library professionals which ran during 8 weeks in October-November, releasing 3-4 modules per week and including a weekly webinar to complement the content of the OERs and online learning platform. The course was a great success and involved 1200+ registered users!
2) A Specialization Training course (240 hrs total; 25 trainees per country), including: face-to-face (20 hrs/5 days), online learning (160 hrs), project-based learning (40 hrs) and work-based learning (165 hrs) phases.
Specialisation course – full course description – DIGY English
Specialisation course – full course description – CECO English

The project is currently in the phase of running the Specialisation course and participants are started their work-based learning. The course is scheduled to end in December 2022.

• • Training is delivered via an online platform that stimulates sharing and exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices. The training has 38 modules:
    • 18 modules for transversal competences (communication, entrepreneurship – mapped to EntreComp, leadership, etc.)
    • 20 modules for digital skills mapped to DigComp related to application design and development, electronic resource management, data access, blockchains, text and data mining, ICT quality strategy developments, etc.
  • Work-based learning is based on the principle of inter-generational learning.
  • European instruments are applied: EQF – European qualifications framework, ECVET – European credit system for vocational education and training, and EQAVET – the European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training.

The training programme is being tested in four piloting countries: Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, and Latvia.

RESULTS

1. Reports on skills gap in the library sector and on job role profiles
2. Methodology and Training Toolkit
3. VET Curricula – CECO and DIGY
4. Standards
5. MOOC and Blended training course
6. Online platform
7. National sector skills alliances, including learners, libraries, VET organisations and other stakeholders
8. Dissemination materials
   1. MOOC trailer
   2. Specialisation course promotion – CECO and DIGY
9. Communities of practice
10. Policy recommendations addressed to policy makers, VET providers, libraries and other key stakeholders which summarise the experience from implementing the project and provide policy recommendations for its adoption in different contexts. (expected March-April 2023).

PARTNERS

1. University of Bari Aldo Moro (UNIBA), Italy – Coordinator
2. The Central Institute for the Union Catalogue of Italian Libraries and Bibliographic Information (ICCU), Italy
3. European Grants International Academy (EGInA), Italy
4. Center for vocational training at University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (ULSIT), Bulgaria
5. Global Libraries – Bulgaria Foundation (GLBF), Bulgaria
6. SIA DMG – Data Media Group, Latvia
7. Culture Information Systems Centre (KISC), Latvia
8. Hellenic Open University (HOU), Greece
9. ALL DIGITAL, Belgium
10. Public Libraries 2030 (PL2030), Belgium

The post BIBLIO – Boosting digital skills and competences for librarians in Europe appeared first on All Digital.

The DREAMS project aimed at fostering the social, civic and intercultural competences of Roma parents through digital education in order to promote their social inclusion and tackle discrimination in schools, segregation, racism, bullying or violence.

The idea was to strengthen the collaboration between schools and families to help Roma parents understand the problems their children face in schools, to learn and talk about their rights as parents in the school, to be listened and involved in school activities.

This was achieved through digital storytelling technique with low-skilled Roma parents. Digital storytelling was used to highlight a societal problem, the drop out of Roma children from schools, discrimination, segregation, lack of opportunities. Digital stories aimed to create empathy from the educational environment towards Roma children and will be calls for action to think about changes and pathways that help resolve these problems.

During the project, in each country involved, Roma parents learnt about how to tell and edit digital personal narratives based on a personal life experience as a digital illustration.

The project was based on exchange of adult education methodologies of involved countries. DREAMS was implemented in Romania, Bulgaria, and Belgium.

The Main activities were:

1. Training of trainers in February 2020
2. First pilot: the learners told story about the school issues of their children
3. Local events to show the stories – at least 10 for each country – to peers and family members. Some of them were affected due to the restrictions of COVID-19.
4. Digital stories were disseminated in social media and website
5. Meetings with the schools showing them the stories, with the possible involvement of the storytellers
6. Second pilot: Roma parents came together to evaluate the whole process making a digital story, with the possible involvement of teachers
7. A methodology was developed and elaborated into a toolkit for social workers, teachers and participants of the educational system
8. The toolkit is disseminated and discussed with interested social workers at four webinars
9. A final was planned to present and discuss the methodology and tools used in this process, however, due to the restrictions cause by the COVID-19 situation, the project coordinator produced this video instead:

DREAMS Partnership:

• MAKS vzw (Belgium)
• ALL DIGITAL (Belgium)
• HESED (Bulgaria)
• INSTITUTUL INTERCULTURAL TIMISOARA (Romania)

The post DREAMS – Digital Education Among Roma Minorities in Schools appeared first on All Digital.

The project aim was to develop an item bank and methodology, and then pilot a self-assessment tool for digital competence for foundation, intermediate and advanced levels among individuals in 3 Member States of the European Union, based on Digital Competence Framework for Citizens 2.1.

The Item Bank

A self-assessment / self-reflection tool to:

• make users aware of what is digital competence in the DigComp perspective;
• highlight their strengths and weaknesses in different areas of digital competence;
• encourage further competence development, by providing useful feedback to be discussed with expert counsellors.

Tool should be easy to understand and self-administer by the user, in a reasonably short time.

 COMPLETED KEY STAGES

1. Developed methodology and draft Item Bank across all 21 competences of DigComp2.1.
2. Validated and refined item bank with panel of experts during validation workshop in Brussels.
3. Made a first test on the initial item bank among 150 individuals in Ireland.
   • Participants: 16-65 years old, native English with preliminary expected digital skills level from foundation up to advanced users.
4. Carried out psychometric and statistical analysis (including factor analysis) of results and refined item bank as necessary.
5. Made a second test on the revised item bank among 400 individuals in Spain and Latvia (with localized languages) with same participant demographics.
6. Carried out statistical analysis of reliability of second pilot results and refine item bank again as necessary.
7. Produced final report of methodology and item bank (published during year 2020).

PARTNERS

1. Irish Computer Society (ICS), Ireland
2. Ibermatica, Basque Country Government, Spain
3. Baltic Computer Academy, Latvia

The post DigCompSAT appeared first on All Digital.

Get Your Facts Straight! project provides media literacy education through workshops about disinformation and fake news on social media to young people and their parents.

The aim of the project was to provide media literacy education to students and young people from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as to their parents and/or grandparents. With the Coronavirus outbreak and the related proliferation of disinformation, the need for media literacy has become even more pronounced. In this context, the partners decided to open the training to young people and adults alike and allow anyone who is interested in learning the basics of how to recognise and tackle disinformation, to take part.

The training programme is 10 hours long and consists of three modules:

1) What is disinformation

2) Why are disinformation and propaganda vastly present on social media and how does social media make money.

3) How to recognise and react to disinformation

The pilot training activities were implemented mostly online due to Coronavirus restrictive measures between March-June 2020. They involved over 700 participants and across 7 EU countries. By finishing the training participants became more aware of the nature of the content they come across on social media. In particular, they learned to discern what is real, what is false and what are the commercial or political reasons that this misleading content is deliberately being published online. In other words, participants gained an understanding of what disinformation is and how to identify it online.

Our aim is to raise their awareness about these issues and, through accessible resources, give tools to educators to equip and empower citizens with the media literacy skills to tackle them.

A part of the project was also awareness raising campaign about disinformation and fake news on social media (Facebook, Twitter). It was implemented in 8 countries and reached over 1 million people.

Target groups

Young people and their parents/grandparents, as well as anyone interested in tackling disinformation and acquiring media literacy skills.

Project results

The main results of the Get Your Facts Straight! project is a Toolkit for trainers and educators which includes learning objectives, training outline, learning materials (open educational resources) and recommendations and lessons learned from the piloting of the training. Since the training was piloted during the COVID-19 lockdowns the project partners transformed face-to-face activities to online learning activities and the the Toolkit also describes this process and experience. The training activity (10 hours long) is split into two sessions to accommodate different needs and profiles of the target groups (young people and their parents/grandparents) The first 5-hour session is implemented separately for each target group while the second session is a joint one.

The Toolkit that has been translated to English, Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian, German, Italian, Latvian, Romanian and Spanish language and is available on the Get Your Facts Straight! website together with the Training Methodology Report that describes the development of the training outline and includes a list of categorized open educational resources (in 8 languages) used in the training and a piloting report that describes in detail how the project partners implemented training activities.

Project partnership also organized a Get your facts straight! social media campaign that was aimed at raising the awareness about disinformation and the threats to democracy, as well as about the media literacy opportunities that can help everyone to understand, avoid and combat the disinformation. Project partners published 273 (objective: 90) posts on social media platforms. The vast majority was published on Facebook (176), followed by Twitter (71) and Instagram (26). The campaign reached over 1.2 million people on three platforms (FB, Twitter, IG).

>> Learn about the project results in this post

PARTNERS

• ALL DIGITAL AISBL, Belgium – Coordinator
• Centre of Technical Culture Rijeka, Croatia
• Fundatia EOS – Educating for an Open Society, Romania
• Stiftung Digitale Chancen (Digital Opportunities Foundation), Germany
• European Association for Viewers Interests (EAVI), Belgium
• Colectic sccl, Spain
• Global Libraries – Bulgaria Foundation, Bulgaria
• Ventspils Digital Centre, Latvia
• Open Group Societa’ Cooperativa Sociale Onlus, Italy

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The DEVOPS project aimed at closing the gap between today’s and future’s skills demands of municipal workforce by emphasizing on the exploitation of emerging employment paradigms such as DevOps and had the ultimate goal to develop a job profile for Smart Cities DevOps professionals.

Smart-DevOps project addressed the shortage of digital and transferrable skills in the municipalities’ smart cities sector and supported this sector’s employees in their professional development. The obtained results are expected to benefit smart cities and municipalities which aim to adopt the DevOps culture, principles and practices by introducing DevOps professional profiles.

It is a Sector Skills Alliance where universities, VET providers, companies and national standardisation bodies came together to define and develop the skills needed in an emerging and very dynamic sector: Smart Cities.

It addressed those working on Smart City strategies and tools, i.e. ICT and technical staff in municipalities, and will apply the DevOps approach to their work.

WHAT IS DEVOPS?

DevOps is a compound of “development” and “operations”, and in software development it is methodology that combines the development phase (Dev) and the operations phase to shorten the development life cycle of a software product.

It established an agile and iterative approach where development and operations specialists work closely together since the beginning to continuously develop, deliver, test and improve the product.

WHAT IS SMART CITY?

There are many definitions of what a Smart City is, but we propose the following: “A smart city uses digital technology to connect, protect, and enhance the lives of citizens.”

Development and operation specialists that are behind the development of Smart Cities are: Technical staff, Managers, Support staff. With this project, we proposed a methodology for implementing the DevOps approach in Smart Cities.

PROJECT KEY ACTIONS

1. 1. Map skills needs of smart cities Development and Operations professionals (ICT project managers, coders, technical writers, web-designers, system administrators, technicians, etc.) working in municipal ICT departments.
   2. Design and deliver a VET curricula combining digital and transferrable skills, including a MOOC, open educational resources (OERs), e-learning, face-to-face training and work-based experience.
   3. Pilot the developed curricula in Cyprus, Germany, Greece, and Italy and valuate the experience.
   4. Disseminate and exploit the project results beyond the partnership.

IMPORTANT PROJECT FEATURES

• • The project strengthened the collaboration between VET (vocational education and training)  providers, municipalities and smart cities IT vendors.
  • eCF (European e-Competence Framework) was used describe the profiles
  • a mapping exercise to ESCO-ISCO08 has been done (European and International Standard Classifications of Occupations)
  • EQAVET (the European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training) has been used to ensure quality of training provision
  • the project related to EQF / NQF (European and national qualifications frameworks) and ECVET (European credit system for vocational education and training) to facilitate mobility and recognition.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

• Project deliverables – from mapping skills supply and demand; developing the MOOC and its courses; to final project outputs. Outputs are available either in English or also in other partner languages.
• MOOC course: Become a DevOps Smart Cities Professional – the course was developed to take on this challenge and offer high quality educational course that will enable the participants to develop and acquire essential competencies needed to tackle the challenges of managing and evolving of smart cities.
• Digital Open Educational Resources (OERs) – collection of module descriptions, knowledge domains, learning objectives, and handbooks for 40 competences covered in the MOOC.
• Smart DevOps Community of Practice (CoP) – We established Smart DevOps Community of Practice in beginning of June 2021. In few weeks the CoP grew to over 100 members and has started to shape into a vibrant and knowledgeable community active on daily level. It is hosted in the framework of Smart DevOps Facebook page which makes it easily accessible and familiar in terms of how to use the platform.

PARTNERSHIP

• University of Thessaly (UTH), Greece  – Project coordinator
• Hellenic Open University, Greece and its DAISSy Research Group – ALL DIGITAL member
• Ethniko Systima Ypodomon Poiotitas (Elot), Greece
• Digital Cities Of Central Greece, Greece
• University of Nicosia, Cyprus
• Associazione Centro Studi Citta Di Foligno, Italy – ALL DIGITAL member
• Nicosia Development Agency (ANEL) LTD, Cyprus
• Associazione Stati Generali dell’Innovazione, Italy – ALL DIGITAL member
• Europaischer Verband Beruflicher Bildungstrager (EVBB), Germany
• Hochschule der Wirtschaft für Management, Germany
• Bundesverband der Träger beruflicher Bildung e.V, Germany
• ALL DIGITAL AISBL, Belgium
• K-DIGITALE SRL, Italy

The post SMART-DEVOPS – DevOps competences for Smart Cities appeared first on All Digital.

The project scaled up a best practice of the same name developed by Stati Generali dell’Innovazione (General States of Innovation, SGI). “Crowddreaming” was born as a contest for Italian schools, promoted by Stati Generali dell’Innovazione and the Digital Cultural Heritage, Arts and Humanities School. Its third edition took place in 2018. It aimed to encourage the awareness to both teachers and young people about the epochal challenge upon which new generations are called, they were the first in history to find themselves passing down a purely digital cultural heritage. The competition aimed to raise awareness of the difficulties of this challenge and to stimulate the adoption of the new paradigms of thought required to operate in the digital dimension.

The Crowddreaming project took this concept and scaled it up into schools around Europe wherein students were invited to create a virtual/augmented reality “digital scene” as a class. The project created a formal version of the Crowddreaming methodology and curriculum for the first time, allowing it to be scaled up across Europe. The digital scenes developed by students participating in piloting countries were put together in a digital square, a digital monument – Europa Square.

Based on a principle of content-based learning, each edition invited the participants to contribute to the construction of a digital monument, placing them on the challenge of generational transmission of digital cultural contents.

The project developed a curriculum which was piloted in Italy, Croatia, Latvia, and Greece. Trainers were trained in the curriculum and supported teachers who will learn the course contents through MOOCs. At the end of the project a digital monument (Europea square) was developed.

The project aimed to reach 400 secondary school students per piloting country, creating 20 digital scenes per country. The project platform, Europa square hosts at least 80 digital scenes from the students across Europe.

Project results

The project delivered the following results:

• • • Training Needs Analysis Report and Transfer Framework (translated in Latvian, Croation, Italian and Greek)
    • Training Toolkit (translated in Latvian, Croation, Italian and Greek)
    • Curriculum for Teachers (translated in Latvian, Croation, Italian and Greek)
    • CDDC Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) (including 6 modules)
    • Report on Design, implementation and delivery of the MOOC
    • Experimentation report (translated in Latvian, Croation, Italian and Greek)
    • Policy recommendations (translated in Latvian, Croation, Italian and Greek)
    • The Art of Crowddreaming

Partners

All project partners are members of the ALL DIGITAL network

• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium – lead partner
• Stati Generali dell’Innovazione, Italy
• LIKTA, Latvia
• Hellenic Open university with its DAISSy Research Group, Greece
• Centre of Technical Culture Rijeka, Croatia

The post CDDC – Crowddreaming: Youth co-create digital culture appeared first on All Digital.

The purpose of the Digital SkillShift project was to reskill and upskill unemployed citizens facing the challenges of the digital transformation in their professional career. This project aimed to support participants to develop new digital skills and attitudes required to succeed in today’s labour market, with a pilot supporting 150 adults into good jobs in France, Germany and Italy.

The project worked to mobilise employers to support a new way of thinking about employment and recruitment. It promoted the idea of employers’ ongoing engagement in the process of preparing their (future) employees through tailor-made training programmes, rather than simply going to the market when they need to fill in a position.

The JPMorgan Chase Foundation supported Digital SkillShift as part of their philanthropic commitment to drive inclusive economic growth and advance skills-based training.

The project proposed an innovative learning programme.

Firstly, Basic digital and soft skills for employability. This training was mapped to the five competence areas of European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigComp): Information and data literacy, Communication and collaboration, Digital content creation, Safety and Problem-solving.

Secondly, specific ICT project assistance skills. The digital competences selected for the training were based on the outcomes of our discussions with employers from the ICT and service sectors, where the re-skilled beneficiaries were meant to find a job after the training. These included project management software, such as tools for project planning, research, team work and collaboration. Moreover, the project included and highlighted the benefits of a joint digital and soft skills training for employability in the current (European) economic context (the major digital skills gap).

The project aimed at supporting 150 participants into work in digital jobs. This training model was shared with other digital competence centres to support more adult workers access to digital up-skilling opportunities. The project offered training and job placement support mainly for short-term unemployed (below 12 months), low-skilled adults. This project sought to equip trainees with digital and soft skills that are needed by the ICT and services industry to access quality jobs.

RESULT: Digital SkillShift course for learners, that is available in English, French, Greman, and Italian.

Partners

• ALL DIGITAL led this project
• Stiftung Digitale Chancen (Digital Opportunities Foundation), Germany – ALL DIGITAL member, a foundation working since 2002 whose aim is for the digital inclusion of all societal groups and counteracting the digital divide.
•  Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti, Italy – develops scientifically based educational programmes that can help the new generations to deal successfully with change.
• Simplon.co in France (Paris), a former ALL DIGITAL member, a network of social digital factories in France and abroad, that have trained more than 3000 people in the digital sector since 2013.

The post Digital Skillshift appeared first on All Digital.

Open AE had three priorities:

• to promote access and learning through open educational resources (OER);
• to promote Open Source (OS) technologies in the non-formal educational sector to support the upskilling of adult educators and learners;
• to address adult trainers working in the non-formal educational sector to reinforce digital skills and competences.

Open AE addressed key challenges and generate best practices based on these needs identified by ALL DIGITAL members in developed sustainable curricula for adult education, particularly with a focus to upscale low-skills unemployed adults. OPEN-AE wants to support European digital competence centres in becoming innovative training hubs.

The twofold aim of Open AE was to:

• contribute to the development of e-facilitators competences to deliver high quality and relevant digital skills training to adults;
• contribute to the promotion of open source technologies and open education in non-formal adult education.

Expected results and outputs:

• Open-AE-Curriculum in four languages (English, French, Italian, and Spanish) training scheme on open source technologies addressed to e-facilitators working in non-formal adult education, mapped on the DigCompEdu Framework (led by CSF)
• Create an online toolkit for e-facilitators in five languages (English, Dutch, French, Italian, and Spanish) by adapting open educational resources already available. It will serve as guidance for adult education strategies, tools and approaches for developing digital skills training. (led by Ynternet.org)
• Develop a modular blended course of 60 hours in open source technologies and pilot it with 40 e-facilitators from four countries to improve their knowledge of open digital learning technology, tools, platforms and using them (led by Colectic)
• Produce guidelines for transferability and upscaling of project results and recommendations for non-formal education providers and policy makers (led by ALL DIGITAL)

Project partners:

• ALL DIGITAL. Belgium – coordinator
• Ynternet.org,  Switzerland
• Colectic, Spain
• Centro Studi Citta Di Foligno Associazione (CSF), Italy
• Maks vzw, Belgium

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The e-Media Project has been labeled  “Good practice”

eMedia was an Erasmus+ KA2 Strategic Partnerships for Adults Education project. The focus of the project was to promote education by educating active and responsible citizens in the digital world. This was done through the production of educational booklets teaching digital practices, that were used for the training of the educators in non-formal and formal education centres.

OUTCOMES

The eMedia project developed three educational booklets to support the training of teachers and educators in media literacy and digital citizenship for all on:

1. Educational Robotics
2. Media Literacy
3. Online Expression

Each of these booklets provides a minimum of ten hours of activities. Educational booklets on Digital Media Literacy and Robotics have a complementary moodle/MOOC to facilitate the training.
To take part in the MOOCs, please create an user name at website and request the access to the e-Media Project MOOC on Digital Media Literacy and Robotics.

PROJECT RESOURCES

• Handbook on Educational Robotics (translated in English, Spanish, French, Latvian, and Italian)
• Handbook on Media Literacy (available only in English)
• Handbook on Online Expression (available only in English)

Watch the project closure event here

PROJECT PARTNERS

• La Ligue de L’enseignement France – Coordinator
• School of Robotics (Scuola di Robotica), Italy
• The University of Latvia, Latvia
• SOS Racismo Gipuzkoa, Spain
• Associazione Arci, Italy
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium

The post eMedia: Media Literacy and Digital Citizenship for All appeared first on All Digital.

ICTs allow members of the growing elderly population to remain independent longer. The ICT 4 the Elderly project developed a pathway for up-skilling individuals between the age of 55 and 75 in digital competences and making them aware of some of the many opportunities that the Internet offers. They would then become ambassadors and train their peers (other elderly people) in digital skills that would facilitate their active ageing and inclusion in the (digital) society.

To do so, the project first collected best practices from other successful projects, and based on those, partners developed a training manual and an online academy. Then, individuals aged 55-75 were selected through a call for applicants to take part in the piloting as ambassadors of the project. Two pilot training sessions with 12 people each were foreseen to take place in Malta and in Berlin in Spring 2020, but just before the first one, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Partners postponed the pilot training, hoping to organise it internationally. As the travel restrictions persisted, partners decided to organise the first pilot training session locally in each country. The pandemic also affected the possibility to organise face-to-face trainings locally. Some partners managed to organise those trainings in the Summer of 2020 (Switzerland), while others in Spring 2021 (Slovenia, Malta) The second piloting phase took place in Malta in September 2021 with 9 participants, as some of them were not about to travel due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Based on the results, Policy recommendations were produced for policy makers and training providers on how to improve policy and practice targeting elderly people.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

The project activities were divided into three Intellectual Outputs:

O1 – Collection of Best Practices and Open Educational Resources (OERs): the aim of the first output was to collect best practices, which have resulted from other projects, both EU and nationally funded. Every partner collected OERs resulted from other projects in their countries and beyond. Stiftung Digitale Chancen (SDC) lead this output.

O2 –  Training Manual and Online Academy:
-The resources collected in Output 1 were used to develop the Online Academy which allows participants to study further. Ynternet.org Foundation was responsible for the Online Academy.
-In addition to developing the online platform, Output 2 foresaw the production of training materials on information technologies to be used during the training. Simbioza had the task to put together the training manual.

O3 – Production of recommendations for stakeholders and policy makers: ALL DIGITAL was in charge of the policy recommendations based on the results of piloting activities for further transferability and upscaling of the project results.

Malta Communication Authority, as a project coordinator, was responsible for the overall project management and quality control.

TARGET GROUP

This project addressed older adults aged 55-75 and over who have minimal or no engagement with digital technology. They were selected based on a call for applicants. The minimum requirements were to be able to speak English, to travel and to be enthusiastic. These participants had the role of project ambassadors during and after the project.

PROJECT PARTNERS

• Malta Communication Authority, Malta
• Simbioza Genesis, Slovenia
• Foundation Ynternet.org, Switzerland
• Stiftung Digitale Chancen, Germany
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium

The post ICT for the Elderly appeared first on All Digital.

Between 2007 and 2013, cultural participation has contracted in all European countries, where “low” level of participation went up from 30% to 34%. On the other hand, cultural heritage represents an extraordinary resource for growth: both from the point of view of cohesion and social inclusion, and as an economic and productive asset.

The concept of the DIGigital INVasions for the Promotion of Cultural Heritage (DIGINV) project was to valorize cultural interest and practices by engaging citizens, cultural institutions and using technology as a catalyst. In the end, citizens engage and experience culture in a new way.

The project scaled up the Digital Invasion methodology, which was developed in Italy. The methodology improved the digital and communication skills of cultural operators, helping them become promoters to and engage citizens in the valorization of cultural heritage. It also worked to improve the digital skills of citizens involved (from the youngest to the elderly) by using new technologies to promote and valorize a cultural point of interest.

ACTIVITIES

1) Training activities addressed to cultural operators that focused on the acquisition of digital, communicative and managerial skills. In this way they became promoters of the involvement of citizens in the enhancement of local cultural heritage, and on new techniques of audience development through the use of digital technologies.

2) Experimentation of the Digital Invasions in each project country: trained operators worked on the involvement of citizens in the promotion of local cultural heritage. Citizens were called to “invade” the most significant places in their cities, from a historical /artistic /cultural point of view: armed with smartphones, cameras and video cameras, they shared the experience to make their local cultural
heritage known through the web. Citizens participated in an “urban game”, useful to provide a different and collective vision of the cultural assets, giving them new life through the new communication technologies.

RESULTS

• Digital invasions in form of video mapping took place on following locations: 1) Larnaka, Cyprus – March 23, 2019; 2) Limassol, Cyprus – April 8, 2019; 2) Frenaros, Cyprus – every Wednesday and Thursday until June 19, 2019; 3) Csongrad, Hungary – July 24-26, 2019; 5) Szeged, Hungary – July 24-26, 2019; 6) Nicosia, Cyprus – October 19, 2019; 7) The Inquisitor’s palace, Malta – November 15, 2019; and 8) Bevagna, Italy – June 21-25, 2021.
• The digital invasions itself, allowed participants to learn the fundamental concepts in the field of digital communication, reducing the lack of digital skills among the participants. Digital invasions applied the principles of the digitalization of production systems, digital storytelling and web-marketing, to promote cultural heritage in order to make it more accessible and competitive at local and international level, enhancing the tangible and intangible cultural heritage itself and the participants’ development in a completely new way. The digital invasions were the holder of the good practice and of the strategic know-how necessary for its transfer to operators and abroad.
• The operators and partner organizations had new tools for community involvement in enhancing cultural heritage, as well as the consolidation of the dialogue with the local authorities. This dialogue, enhanced a common line of action at European level that was identified for the involvement of citizens in the promotion of cultural heritage.

PROJECT OUTPUT

• Reports based on the blended mobilities (digital invasion interventions) on how to apply the good practices on the involvement of civil society in the promotion and enhancement of cultural heritage in each country involved. The reports are not purely descriptive: on the contrary, they provide insights on the practical implementation of the activities, in order to make the experience in different contexts easily accessible and replicable.

TARGET GROUPS

1.Cultural operators who were involved in the training and organization of digital invasions:

• Operators of the tourist system (employees of the municipality and the main places of cultural interest, tourist guides, etc.);
• Educators;
• Digital facilitators;
• All those who performed an educational function within a company and who can carry out activities with the public.

2. New proactive actors/public in the dissemination of cultural heritage:

• Young people and disadvantaged adults;
• Seniors;
• Citizens of the places of invasions.

PARTNERS

• Municipality of Bevagna, Italy – Coordinator
• Invasioni Digitali, Italy
• CTK Rijeka, Croatia
• Cyprus Computer Society (CCS), Cyprus
• Malta Communications Authority (MCA), Malta
• Regional Telecottages Public Association of South Hungarian Plain (DTE), Hungary
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium

The post DIGINV – Digital Invasions for the Promotion of Cultural Heritage appeared first on All Digital.

In our transforming society lack of digital skills in the elderly population is synonymous to social isolation; inability to access information and services, including health services; loss of autonomy; and an increased sense of inadaptability. ICTSkills4All – Empowering old citizens for a digital world aimed at fostering digital skills, self-confidence and online safety of old adults aged 55 years and over who have minimal or no engagement with digital technology. In order to do so, the ICTSkills4All project had developed an ICT Learning Programme, which included:

• A dedicated online platform with information, training tools and resources addressed to those who have low digital skills;
• Face-to-face support using the inter-generational and peer-to-peer approach addressed for those who have no digital skills. The aim of this phase was to provide these people with the basic digital skills that allow them to access the platform.
• the inter-generational approach, where university students help the elderly;
• the peer-to-peer approach, where the elderly with no digital skills are assisted by colleagues with more skills. The pilot activities took place in four partner countries: Portugal, UK, Latvia and Poland.

TARGET GROUP

This project directly addressed older adults aged 55 and over who have minimal or no engagement with digital technology. The short-term impact goal is to train at least 160 elder adults without digital skills. Two pilot groups, one testing the inter-generational approach and the other testing the peer-to-peer approach, was run in each pilot country (UK, Poland, Portugal, and Latvia). Each of them involved 20 adults, plus 5 teenager per group in inter-generational pilots and five old adults with digital skills in peer-to-peer pilots. Due to the vulnerability of our target group, to reduce the risk of spreading the infectious disease and in full adherence to the local public health restrictions, the face-to-face activities and the peer-to-peer pilots were replaced with digital initiatives, also addressing families in order to reach out to the elderly population.

RESULTS

1. At the end of the first year of the project, two reports were produced: one about best practice on online resources and the other about inter-generational and peer-to-peer educational programs dedicated to improving digital skills in old adults. These two reports were used by the ICTSkills4All project partners for the development of online contents and of inter-generational and peer-to-peer educational programs.
2. At the end of the second year, the online platform was launched including the open online courses/modules. Moreover, at the same time, the training materials were released to support inter-generational and peer-to-peer in-person pilot courses.
3. During the last year of the project, policy recommendations have been produced as well as the final version of the educational programs based on the evaluated results of pilots.

INTELLECTUAL OUTPUTS

1. Online resources to improve digital skills in older adults;
2. Intergenerational and peer-to-peer educational programs for older adults;
3. Development of Materials for online support and usability tests;
4. Development of materials for in-person support;
5. Piloting and Analysis of results of learning programs;
6. Recommendations and Exploitation Roadmap for transferability of ICTskills4All results.

PARTNERS

• University of Porto, Portugal – Coordinator
• HIPOKAMP, Poland
• Cybermoor Services, United Kingdom
• Rigas Aktivo Senioru Alianse, Latvia
• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium

The post ICTSkills4All – Empowering old citizens for a digital world appeared first on All Digital.

The “Coding for Inclusion” aimed at fostering STEM education of disadvantaged youth through an inclusive educational approach based on a peer-learning pedagogical method for formal and non-formal educational contexts in Europe.

The project adapted, disseminated and scaled up a inclusive learning good practice based on the Capital Digital project, implemented by project partner and ALL DIGITAL Member MAKS in Brussels, Belgium. Capital Digital successfully trained 15-18 year old youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds, migrants and asylum seekers on how to teach coding and programming to their younger 10-12 year old peers in Brussels. The young “e-facilitators” learned to engage children in STEM and coding activities in a playful way. This first work experience enhanced the youngster’s confidence when starting their careers and finding a job. Moreover, the project effectively supported young people to develop critical thinking, creativity, digital and collaborative skills, and science capital. Most importantly, the Capital Digital peer-learning pedagogical method had a strong inclusive potential and had fostered the STEM education and the inclusion of disadvantaged students both inside and outside the classroom.

The “Coding for Inclusion” project adapted the Capital Digital methodology and training programme to different contexts and planned to apply them in 5 European countries, namely Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Italy and Spain.

TARGET GROUPS

• Primary school students (10 to 12 years of age) and secondary school students (15 to 18 years of age), in particular from disadvantaged areas;
• Primary and secondary school teachers;
• Parents;
• Trainers working with young people (e-facilitators, youth workers, etc.) in formal, non-formal and informal settings (schools, telecentres, youth centres, NGOs, training centres etc.);
• Key stakeholders from formal and non-formal environments: families, youth organisations, civil society organisations, local communities, NGOs, educational institutions and learning providers, public authorities, policy makers, business, etc.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

1. Increase and improve teachers’ and trainers’ capacity to foster the STEM education of disadvantaged youth through an inclusive educational approach based on peer-learning.
2. Empower disadvantaged young people in the acquisition and development of IT and collaborative competences as well as problem solving, self-confidence and creativity through a peer-learning training programme on Coding.
3. Foster the development of a European “Coding for Inclusion” learning community among different actors and across different sectors (formal and non-formal education and training) able to sustain project results and amplify their impact.

PROJECT OUTCOMES

1. The methodology – explaining how to engage students through a stimulating pedagogical methodology, specifically how secondary school students (aged 15 and over) can teach basic coding and STEAM education to their younger peers, pupils aged 8-12 years.
2. The training toolkit – we organised a 10-hour training for students of a secondary school. Every trained student worked with 5 pupils during 5 sessions from 2 hour each. The teachers of the secondary school were trained together with their students.

• 150 students in 5 countries were trained to teach coding to their younger peers;
• 150 students in 5 countries have gained 4 weeks work experience (which was first time for most of them);
• 480 pupils in 5 countries have learned the basics of coding, robotics and making apps in a playful way;
• 36 teachers in 5 countries were trained to develop coding activities in their schools.

After the first phase of the CODINC piloting activities and after receiving feedback from our partners, we can say that the project effectively helps young people develop their critical thinking, creativity, digital and collaborative skills and scientific capital. Most importantly, the peer learning pedagogical method has a high potential for inclusion and promotes STEM education and the inclusion of disadvantaged students inside and outside the classroom.

PARTNERS

• ALL DIGITAL, Belgium – Coordinator
• Media Action Kureghem City (MAKS vzw), Belgium
• Colectic, Spain
• Cyprus Computer Society (CCS) , Cyprus
• HELLIWOOD MEDIA & EDUCATION AT FJS E.V. (21ST CCC), Germany
• University of Naples Federico II (Universita degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (UNINA), Italy
• eduCentrum vzw (eduC), Belgium

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In this context, the Digital Competences Development System (DCDS) project aimed at establishing a framework that provided the low-skilled adult European population with the basic digital and transversal competences needed for employment, personal development, social inclusion and active citizenship.

To achieve this aim, the project developed an open, innovative multilingual Digital Competences Development System (DCDS) and used it to provide non-formal training to low-skilled adults in different European countries.

PROJECT OUTPUTS

• The Digital Competences Development Methodology (DCDM) for the development of digital competences and related transversal skills of adults.
• The online Digital Competences Development Environment (DCDE) consisting of the following modules:
  • Self-assessment tool that allows adults identify gaps in basic digital competences;
  • Recommender tool that enables trainees to identify the training offers that best match their needs;
  • Online tools for the management of trainees’ profiles and the definition of flexible learning pathways that combine training modules;
  • Online learning application with gamification features;
  • Multilingual digital Open Educational Resources;
  • Validation and certification of digital and transversal competences.
• Personalised blended non-formal training composed by training modules to meet individual learning needs, which combine online learning with face-to-face support sessions by e-facilitators.
• Handbooks and course guides for implementing the methodology to assist the trainers and the training providers in planning and delivering flexible and modular training offers.
• Policy Influence Toolkit for training providers and policy recommendations based on data analysis for further exploitation and transfer by policy makers on e-Inclusion, Adult Education and Digital Skills Agenda.

DCDS was completely aligned to the European Digital Competence Framework for Citizens – DigComp and promoted its adoption in Europe.

PARTNERS

1. ALL DIGITAL, Belgium – Coordinator
2. Hellenic Open University (HOU), DAISSy Research Group– Greece – ALL DIGITAL Member
3. Centro Studi Foligno (CSF), Italy – ALL DIGITAL Member
4. Associazione Emiliano-Romagnola Centri Autonomi di Formazione (AECA), Italy
5. Fundación ESPLAI, Spain – ALL DIGITAL Member
6. LIKTA, Latvia – ALL DIGITAL Member
7. EOS Foundation– Romania – ALL DIGITAL Member
8. European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA), Belgium

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We  started to endorse and emphasize the importance of DigComp in 2014.  We developed the first Guidelines on the Adoption of DigComp (published on December 2015) at national level for our member organisations, we have been involved in the consultations and events organised by the European Commission and JRC regarding DigComp.

Thus, in September 2017, we were very happy to respond to JRC’s call for tenders to validate and pilot a self-assessment instrument developed by JRC and targeted at individuals with no or low level of digital skills. The assessment instrument was based on the latest version of the Digital Competence Framework for Citizens 2.1.

The objective of this project was to test the reliability and validity of this assessment instrument among experts and a small and then a large-scale sample of individuals, to refine and reduce it in length (from 126 to 63 items) in order to establish a sound, reliable and valid assessment tool, based on DigComp 2.1.

ALL DIGITAL has done the following activities:

1. Validated the assessment tool through a panel of 10 external experts.
2. Validated the assessment tool through a small quantitative and qualitative pilot with 50 individuals (10 per country) in 5 countries: Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia, Malta and the UK.
3. Investigated the reliability of the item bank by performing a psychometric analysis.
4. Refined the initial item bank by improving its validity and reliability and reducing its length from 126 to 63 items.
5. Piloted the refined assessment tool with a country-representative sample of 450 individuals (150 per country) with no and low digital skills in Bulgaria, Germany, and Latvia.
6. Performed a psychometric analysis on reliability and published a report on lessons learned.

PARTNERS

1. Digital Opportunities Foundation, Germany – ALL DIGITAL member
2. Global Libraries , Bulgaria – ALL DIGITAL Member
3. LIKTA, Latvia – ALL DIGITAL Member
4. Malta Communications Authority (MCA) , Malta – ALL DIGITAL Member
5. YouRock Online Ltd, UK

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The initial idea for a Programme for IT courses for migrants and refugees was born within the ALL DIGITAL (then Telecentre-Europe) network during the Telecentre Europe General Assembly in Amsterdam in 2016 and was endorsed by many members. The working title of the programme was “WELCOME”. The need for a programme to support this specific target group was obvious. Since then, and based on this initial idea, we have explored several opportunities.

The aim of the project Digital Welcome Programme was to exchange best practices between organisations specialised in digital inclusion of disadvantaged groups and, based on this exchange, to develop and pilot an innovative methodology for social inclusion of third country nationals in educational and social activities, cultural life, volunteering and digital creation activities.

For this purpose, we have developed a programme of creative IT workshops, including methodology and training materials, based on best practices of the partners and beyond. Then, trainers from partner organisations were trained to use the programme and its materials in pilots.

These trainers ran two rounds of pilots. During piloting, 120 young 3^rd country nationals aged 16 to 30 took part in the programme and improve their IT skills, language and soft skills through creative IT workshops. They were trained as mentors and then worked as volunteers and organized 40 creative IT workshops, reaching 400 people in total in mixed groups of third country nationals and European nationals. The content of these workshops fostered peer learning and exchanges between local communities and third country nationals.

As part of the programme, young participants produced digital stories to reflect on the programme experience. Their use was to:

1. reach a total of 1,000 of their peers to motivate them to volunteer or participate in educational, social and cultural activities;
2. reach a total of 500 key stakeholders in education, social and cultural organisations to raise awareness about the need to make activities more inclusive for third country nationals.

PROJECT INTELECTUAL OUTPUTS

1. DIGITAL WELCOME METHODOLOGY – focuses on digital inclusion and digital empowerment as a strategy to equip young refugees and migrants with the necessary skills to fully participate in the host society, including digital skills, but also pedagogical and soft skills to make connections with local people, volunteer, run workshops, be able to find a job, etc.
2. DIGITAL WELCOME: STAFF TRAINING CURRICULUM – the overall structure of the 5 days Training the Trainers is provided, along with references for all the relevant material needed. The training modules involved digital methodologies such as coding with scratch, digital journalism and digital storytelling as well as soft skills and employability awareness. Through non-formal education and peer-to peer learning methodology, the consortium established a fun way of learning from each-other throughout the week.
3. PROGRAMME CONTENTS AND GUIDELINES 1. Coding with Scratch – This module teaches trainers how trainers can use Scratch as an easy way to teach young people about programming. This methodology can be used in education, youth work and adult education.
4. PROGRAMME CONTENTS AND GUIDELINES 2. Digital Storytelling – This document provides an overview of the Digital Storytelling method. In a digital story, the narrator describes his or her own personal experiences or personal points of view on a particular topic by editing images, sound, music, text and voice.
5. PROGRAMME CONTENTS AND GUIDELINESS 3. Digital Journalism – This module is dedicated to digital journalism. Through it, participants will acquire mobile digital journalism techniques, with special emphasis on two basic aspects:
   • The use of mobile technologies to produce small multimedia elements;
   • The use of journalistic techniques that will allow participants to relate to their immediate surroundings;
6. PROGRAMME CONTENTS AND GUIDELINES 4. Soft Skills and Employability Awareness – Soft skills and employability awareness are the focus of this module. Theoretical background and explanation of the need for such skills is included as well as several non-formal activities for young asylum seekers/refugees.
7. BEST PRACTICES REPORT – Overview of selected and archived submissions for practices that enhance digital literacy and training skills for young refugees and youngsters with a migration background.

PARTNERS

1. ALL DIGITAL (formerly Telecentre-Europe AISBL), Belgium – Coordinator
2. Media Actie Kuregem Stad (Maks), Belgium
3. IASIS, Greece
4. Stiftung Digitale Chancen (SDC), Germany
5. Fondazione Mondo Digitale (FMD), Italy
6. Colectic (formerly Associacio per a Joves Teb), Spain
7. Centro Studi Citta di Foligno Associazione (CSF), Italy

The post Digital Welcome Programme appeared first on All Digital.

The purpose of the year-long project was to develop a methodology for awareness raising and advocacy about the European human rights charter as a part of global citizenship education with low skilled adult learners (refugees and migrants living in the city and natives living in rural places).

Two main documents have been produced: the The HURISTO Manual based on the digital storytelling technique and the Photolanguage set fpr students and for educators which contains a 30 cards created as a tool to start up conversations about Human rights during the training and identify situations in which these rights may be at risk.

Project partners have participated in a 5-days Train the Trainers in Turin in February 2018 where tutors coming from the different project countries have been trained on the Digital Storytelling methodology in order to be able to deliver the workshops to the target group. They then empowered low skilled adult learners to produce digital stories illustrating the different topics of the charter.

As part of the project, four webinars about human rights and storytelling with low skilled adults have been produced and delivered. Each of the four webinars has placed a focus on a specific aspect of digital storytelling:

• Digital Storytelling as a boost to adult education: the first webinar was an introduction to digital storytelling.
• Working with human rights and Global Citizenship with low skilled adults: the second webinar focused on the need of Global Citizenship in adult education. Some examples of the use of the photo language set, developed in the context of the project, were given;
• Production of a good story: in the third webinar the focus was on the actual production of a digital story. The story circle, the moment during which the digital story takes shape with the help of the other participants, was presented as one of the most crucial moment in the production;
• Ethical issues concerning digital storytelling: ethical issues involve the role of the facilitator whose aim is to create a safe environment in the group.

The main results for the adult learners are increased digital skills, reading and writing skills, awareness raising about the European Human Rights Charter and European citizenship. The work on the charter and the personal narratives also improved participants’ analytic media literacy, interpersonal and intercultural skills, but also core skills for employability like teamwork, problem solving, learning to learn and communication.

Additionally, the adult trainers increased their teaching capacities using digital media and the methodology of digital storytelling in particular.

ALL DIGITAL’s role was to disseminate the project results to key stakeholders in order to raise awareness about the need of inclusive social, cultural and educational activities for third country nationals. Moreover, the quality assurance and evaluation were conducted by ALL DIGITAL that acted as an internal evaluator of the project activities, not being directly involved with the implementation of the training.

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1. Digital Citizenship – open access and participation in the society with a full digital awareness;
2. Digital Inclusion – quality of opportunities in the use of the network and for the development of a fun-innovative culture.

There was a need to tackle the lack of digital skills in Europe, due to the fact that 90% of jobs require some level of digital skills whatever the sector; all jobs will change, and many will disappear while one third of the EU workforce has insufficient digital skills.

In order to support the upskilling of adults, ASK4JOB produced an Informative Kit – a set of tools to assess educational pathway and value digital literacy competences. Direct beneficiaries of this kit were long-term unemployed (2 years or more), low-skilled people and people coming from previous work experience. ASK4JOB adapted the DIGCOMP 2.0 framework to this specific target group, which is quite a new application of the framework.

ASK4JOB aimed at strengthening and upskilling this target group in order to make them efficiently manage information technology for work, leisure time, and communication. The ASK4JOB Kit addressed both public and private employment agencies as well as education providers for adults, who could incorporate the Kit within their upskilling pathways of adults competences.

PROJECT OUTPUTS

1. Skills Assessment for Job Requirements – an online self-assessment that adapts the DIGCOM  2,0 to the needs of long term unemployed adults, to foster their digital competences, needed to implement work-related activities;
2. Capability A-MOOC – tailored to adults completed by guidelines to be used by professional counsellors and adult educators as well as by other professional figures involved in supporting activities for job seekers;
3. Appreciative Validation – a procedural methodology (guide) for the appreciative validation of non-formal competence of low-skilled adults.

During the project lifetime, 200 low skilled unemployed adults had benefited of the pathway as testers and they contributed, through their experience, to validate the final tools within the European dimension.

The project had to be delivered trans-nationally because the development of ASK4JOB kit required a degree of internationalization of contents and technical solutions, as well as a validation of products, which allowed its usability at the European level. Moreover, it was essential to get know-how and resources from organizations that complement each other, as no single organization was able to embark on this challenge on its own.

The final conference of the Ask4Job project took place on 27 August 2020 (online). It was organised by ALL DIGITAL and the project consortium and was attended by more than 60 participants.

In pursuit of ASK4JOB objectives, 11 partner organisations (public and private) from 9 countries were combining their expertise in innovative didactics and their competence in the field of adult education. ALL DIGITAL, as pan-European network of non-profit organisations, particularly took care of the transnational impact of the project.

PARTNERS

1. E.RI.FO. – Ente di ricerca e formazione, Italy – Coordinator
2. Instalofi Levante SL, Spain
3. Turgutlu Kaymakamligi, Turkey
4. Best Cybernetics, Greece
5. Foxpopuli, Sweden
6. Vilnius Adult Education Center, Lithuania
7. Akademia Humanistyczno-Ekonomiczna w Lodzi, Poland
8. Directorate of Secondary Education, Greece
9. Fundacja Instytut Badan, Poland
10. Business Foundation for Education, Bulgaria
11. ALL DIGITAL, Belgium

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In this context, the BRIGHTS “Boosting Global Citizenship Education using digital storytelling” project aimed at promoting Global Citizenship Education (GCE) in formal and non-formal Educational contexts with the help of Digital Storytelling (DS) techniques, leading to more socially inclusive education and training policies and practices in Europe.

Its objectives were:

• Increase and improve teachers’ and trainers’ capacity to implement GCE with young people using DS;
• Empower young people in the acquisition and development of social, civic and intercultural competences as well as critical thinking, media literacy, creativity and digital skills through the production of digital stories on Global Citizenship.
• Develop of a European online community on GCE able to sustain project results and amplify their impact.

BRIGHTS was implemented by 7 partners from Belgium, Croatia, Greece and Italy. The  BRIGHTS Course Curriculum, intended to provide information about the blended course “Addressing Global Citizenship Education through Digital Storytelling”, was produced at the beginning of the project in all project languages. In the first pilot phase, more than 1200 secondary school teachers and youth workers from the participating countries enrolled in the BRIGHTS MOOC “Addressing Global Citizenship Education through Digital Storytelling” and 500 of them completed it. In the second pilot phase, more than 100 successful teachers and youth workers were trained through face-to-face workshops. Afterwards, they applied the BRIGHTS methodology with young people (aged 13-19) in schools and in non-formal educational contexts of disadvantaged areas. More than 1200 young people were empowered in challenging radicalization and social exclusion and developed digital, social, civic, and intercultural competences through the creation of digital stories (473 digital stories produced!). On the policy level, we produced the BRIGHTS Informative Kit on Global Citizenship Education for policy makers and policy recommendations based on the pilot evaluation results to raise awareness on the BRIGHTS values, objectives and activities among policy-makers and the civil society.

BRIGHTS also launched the first European online working group on Global Citizenship Education: the aim of this community is to involve all actors interested in the topic and willing to support and advocate for the potential adoption this inclusive educational methodology in different contexts and at different levels through the use of digital tools.

BRIGHTS was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union under the Action KA3 Social Inclusion through Education, training and youth. It started on the 31^st of December 2016 and lasted 2 years.

• Download the project leaflet here
• Training Needs Analysis Report – Training needs of European teachers and trainers in the field of Global Citizenship Education
• The BRIGHTS informative kit on Global Citizenship Education (GCE) for policy makers

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Hashtag used for the project news: #SmartWomenEU

Smart Women was an Erasmus+ KA2 project coordinated by the Malta Communications Authority. The concept behind the project was to raise the digital skills of entrepreneurial women to take their business online. The premise behind this idea is to support entrepreneurship, bridge the gender gap in the labour force, and support more successful businesses.

The aim was to design and deliver a training programme specialising in entrepreneurship and e-commerce. The programme targeted increasing the knowledge and competences of women in the area of electronic commerce and business to enable them to improve the employment prospects or business opportunities.

In the framework of the Smart Women project, seven partners from European countries have created an innovative European Training Model, focused on women, aiming for encouraging entrepreneurship and putting business ideas into practice. The Smart Women Model combines online learning using online learning platforms and face to face training based on project collaboration, peer-learning, guidance, coaching and counselling.

Nowadays there is a need to respond to the demands of companies offering quality training to people to support them in the process of finding a job or in the process towards self-employment. This process involves performing a rethink in traditional curricula and adapt to new needs, through implementing competency-based curricula.

This approach is a was to promote a more active student-centred learning-oriented professional practice. These approaches allow a better way to foster the capabilities of the students, facilitating their integration into the labour market. Competency-based training allows the student to acquire the tools and skills required to a better integration, and more quickly, in the workplace. In this context, the traditional contents-based training is converted into a competency-based training to respond more effectively to the demands of the market.

PROJECT OUTPUT

Together partners developed a curriculum of five modules that are delivered to recipients over a 40-hour course SMART WOMEN. The 5 learning modules were:

1. Planning your business
2. Digital Marketing
3. Creating Digital Content
4. ICT & Online Security
5. E-Commerce

The project was piloted in Malta, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Romania, and Cyprus. Each partner piloted the course in their respective community to a minimum of 25 women. The course was delivered to women who already had a business or a business idea and a basic level of digital skills.

ALL DIGITAL supported the project with dissemination activities.

PARTNERS

1. Malta Communications Authority (MCA) – Malta, Coordinator
2. Latvian Information and Communication Technology Association (LIKTA) – Latvia
3. Association “Langas į ateitį” (Window to the Future) – Lithuania
4. Dedalo Foundation for the Development of the Information Society – Spain
5. Educating for an Open Society Romania Foundation (EOS) – Romania
6. Cyprus Computer Society – Cyprus
7. ALL DIGITAL – Belgium

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We have identified two interesting profiles for employment and digital competences offering opportunities in the coming years: entrepreneur and ‘virtual worker’. By virtual worker we understand anyone working remotely for more than 20% of their time.

90% of jobs in the near future will need digital skills at least at basic level, but entrepreneurs and virtual workers are particular profiles – they must rely on their own competences more than others. What are the digital competences needed to be autonomous, safe, productive, creative? How can we assess our knowledge and identify our gaps? Are we ready to be entrepreneurs and virtual workers in a digital age and to make the best of digital technologies?

PATHWAYS4EMPLOY was a project that wanted to define their competences profiles based on DigComp. Project was focusing on non-formal and informal education as we wanted to address people taking part in activities outside of formal education environment (i.e. people in volunteer services or people with a lack of formal education).

Our objective was to foster the assessment of digital competences by supporting the recognition and validation of skills and qualifications: taking the DigComp framework as reference to ensure that skills and qualifications can be more easily recognised across.

An assessment web tool was developed to assess and recognize the digital competences of people. We used Mozilla Open badges to give visibility to those competences, because they meet the needs of lifelong learners and people acquiring skills in non-formal and informal activities, for example, though volunteering. The patchwork way of learning is currently recognized meant that many of our abilities are unevenly recognized or not recognized at all. There are skills, abilities and knowledge acquired outside classroom walls that lack the necessary credentials.

The project contributed to defining the recognition pathways and how to display expertise and abilities gained in ways that employers find relevant. We did this by developing a web assessment tool that allowed users to assess their digital competences aligned with the DigComp framework, implementing a digital competence portfolio. The platform provided a self-assessment tool that will present an initial digital competences portfolio. Then users were able to assess their digital competences of the profile selected using the assessment tool updating.

PROJECT INTELECTUAL OUTPUTS

1. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPEN BADGES ECOSYSTEM
– Public report of Research on good practices establishing Open Badges Ecosystems;
– PATHWAYSFOREMPLOY Open Badges Ecosystem;
– Recognition Pathways Design.

2. PRODUCTION OF ONLINE PATHWAYS4EMPLOY PLATFORM – e-assessment and acreditation platform

3. ASSESSMENT MODULES DESIGN
– Entrepreneur assessment module
– ‘Virtual office worker’ assessment module

PARTNERS

1. TECNALIA Research and Innovation, Spain – Coordinator
2. The Institute of Entrepreneurship Development (iED), Greece
3. ALL DIGITAL (formerly Telecentre Europe), Belgium
4. FIT, Ireland
5. KZgunea, Spain
6. CONSORCIO FERNANDO DE LOS RÍOS, Spain
7. SIA DMG, Latvia

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The Digital Skills and Job Coalition builds on the success of the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs. A consortium of DIGITALEUROPE, European Schoolnet, and ALL DIGITAL (formerly Telecentre Europe) lead efforts to scale-up national coalitions across Europe, make pledges for digital jobs and bridging the digital skills gap.

Member States are invited to develop comprehensive national digital skills strategies by mid-2017 on the basis of targets set by end-2016. This includes:

• Establishing national digital skills coalitions connecting public authorities, business, education, training and labour market stakeholders.
• Developing concrete measures in the form of pledges to DSJC to bring digital skills and competences to all levels of education and training, supporting teachers and educators and promoting active involvement of business and other organisations.

ALL DIGITAL key coordination tasks in the DSJC is to scale up National Coalitions, and establish coalitions in countries where there are none.

ALL DIGITAL members are also invited to join a National Coalition, form a National Coalition or make a pledge.

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UMI-Sci-Ed (Exploiting Ubiquitous Computing, Mobile Computing and the Internet of Things to promote Science Education) was a Horizon 2020 project, which aimed at enhancing the attractiveness of science education and careers for young people (14-16 year olds) via the use of latest technologies. We had put Ubiquitous and Mobile Computing and the Internet of Things (UMI) into practice towards enhancing STEM education while increasing the attractiveness of pursuing a career in UMI domains.

UMI-Sci-Ed aimed to empower youngsters to think creatively, apply new knowledge in an effective way, and become continuously competitive in a highly demanding working environment. The ability to switch efficiently between different disciplines such as science disciplines depends on processing effectively the educational material based on clearly defined outcomes, expanding a broad repertoire of ICT communication, problem solving and decision-making skills, and using the collective knowledge represented in networks, based on working environments.

The orientation of UMI-Sci-Ed was entrepreneurial and multidisciplinary in an effort to raise young boys’ and girls’ motivation in science education.

In UMI-Sci-Ed, technology itself was not starring as the objective of our work. Ubiquitous and mobile computing and IoT were rather used to support the UMI-Sci-Ed stakeholders:

• working in education – educational community (teaching institutions, students, professors, tutors, etc.) and
• industry (UMI companies, VET providers, publishers, etc.) – career consultants, educational authorities and policy makers.

To this end, Communities of Practice (CoPs) was formed dynamically on the UMI-Sci-Ed platform around UMI projects implemented at schools, including representatives of all necessary stakeholders. In this project we aimed to develop an integrated yet open training framework for upper high school students.

PROJECT OBJECTIVES

1. Novel educational services – methodology for teaching & learning UMI; learning methods combining UMI toolkits with CoPs; knowledge on the effectiveness of UMI toolkit and CoP schema; and synthesis of UMI toolkits and CoPs.
2. Career consultancy services – how career consultancy can be delivered through CoPs; the effective use of UMI technologies within CoPs; measuring the impact of interventions on student perspectives; and techniques to broaden the relevance of STEM education.
3. Supporting software tools – integrated learning environment for CoPs; open-access platform hosting educational material; personalised programmes and suites of training actions; and solutions promoting the use of UMI technologies for STEM learning for schools and surrounding communities.
4. Supporting hardware tools – UMI hardware toolkits for use through CoPs to promote STEM; programming environments that promote creativity and shared development; new knowledge on a range of UMI technology projects that build links to needs-based innovation; and solutions promoting the use of UMI technologies in co-developed innovation projects.
5. Dissemination of the project ideas and results.

ALL DIGITAL (formerly Telecentre Europe) supported the partnership in dissemination activities.

PARTNERS

1. Computer Technology Institute and Press “Diophantus” – Greece
2. Cork Institute of Technology – Ireland
3. Consortium Ubiquitous Technologies – Italy
4. University of Helsinki – Finland
5. Norwegian University of Science and Technology – Norway
6. University of Pisa – Italy
7. ALL DIGITAL – Belgium

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The partners developed a training methodology on how to organise a series of workshops. Guidelines on how to apply the methodology were also be produced.

The project was inspired by Humans of New York and similar initiatives, where photographers use the digital language to tell compelling stories and put a human face onto societal issues such as migration, unemployment, and relationships.

 Lifelong Learning Award 2017 in Education and Democracy Category

The Lifelong Learning Awards (LLLAwards) celebrate educational practices from all over Europe that can demonstrate the use of creative and inclusive learning methods with outstanding results and the potential to be replicated and/or of inspiring others. The focus of the 2017 LLLAwards edition was education in the digital era tackling different aspects on how this technological development is affecting and transforming educational practice.

We are proud to say that out project has won the Award in the Education and Democracy category rewarding initiatives that enhance critical thinking using digital tools, that raises awareness of civic rights within the internet, and promote active participation in democracy in the digital era. Read more

Methodology

Project partners developed and implemented the methodology for a non-formal training course based on blended learning. The main part of the methodology is implemented as face-to-face activities. It includes four interrelated digital media modules (or, as we call them, workshops):

• Digital Journalism
• Digital Photography
• Digital Storytelling
• Online Platforms,

in which refugee crisis was our main theme. The methodology can be applied to any other “hot” societal topic that young people are faced with.

DOWNLOAD METHODOLOGY IN PDF

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CODEMOB has created a comprehensive curriculum through which unemployed young users would learn how to use their mobile devices to find a job. The curriculum also provides an introduction to mobile app development in relation to coding. CODEMOB took into account the latest technological developments (software) in both coding and mobile technology.

CODEMOB project partners have developed two new courses on coding and efficient use of mobile devices to be run in telecentres. The 2 courses are part of an existing training curriculum already developed for e-Facilitators in previous EU projects.

The project explored and aimed at proving the potential of coding for enhancing skills of unemployed youth and increasing their employability. CODEMOB focused on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets as they make working away from the office easier and more efficient. Employers highly value skills for using mobile devices.

This project is a continuation of the telecentre movement’s long-standing efforts in supporting the teaching of digital skills and capacity building of e-facilitators.

Outputs

CodeMob Toolkit: DOWNLOAD LINK

See other project outputs here

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The aim is to change the mindset of how young people perceive digital skills, and to raise their awareness on the importance of coding and the relationship with the labor market.

At least 10 partners in 9 EU countries engaged in Telecentre Europe’s first coding campaign supported by Microsoft. The campaign will consist of two main parts:

TRAIN THE TRAINERS

At least 30 telecentre eFacilitators were to be selected to attend a series of webinars in which they would be introduced to procedures and methods to teach coding to young people, especially those coming from disadvantaged groups. Also they were presented with the various resources/curriculum available and how these can be adapted and used in a telecentre context.

CODE YOUR FUTURE CLASSES

At least 300 young Europeans, most of them coming from disadvantaged groups, would have the opportunity to attend coding classes organized in telecentres and coding clubs. The basic coding skills gained by the young people will help them develop transversal skills such as analytical thinking, problem solving, team working, and creativity.

Promoting coding skills in Europe is part of the solution to youth unemployment, therefore the campaign will be intensively promoted during the Europe Code Week (10-18 October) and in the context of two other European Commission’s major initiatives: Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs and eSkills for Jobs.

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One of the recognised shortcomings of e-Participation in Europe is that it is practiced by experienced Internet users. Telecentres can reach beyond these “usual suspects” and involve citizens with basic or even no previous online experience, including the elderly, the disabled, household women, etc. e-Facilitators in the telecentres are natural multipliers of the project results. Building their capacity to provide trainings on digital tools for e-Participation at the EU level is a long-term investment – they will be able to provide such trainings to their target groups long after the end of the project.

The four tools covered by the project:

• Chat with your MEP, e.g. by using the Puzzled by Policy website;
• Launching a petition to the European Parliament – presenting the European Parliament Petitions Committee active online petition submission website and submitting a problem to SOLVIT;
• European Commission Public Consultations
• The European Citizens Initiatives

Through the discussions and practical workshops we will inform and motivate citizens to use these e-Participation tools and will encourage them to reflect on their practical relevance and usefulness.

Project activities

In eleven countries the national partners will organise the European e-Participation Day 2015. During this Day they will hold face-to-face discussions and practical workshops on e-Participation focused on the four e-Participation tools.

The e-Participation Day 2015 will be followed by an international competition “My e-Participation story”, where citizens will share their personal experience with the online e-Participation tools and will have the chance to win a trip to Brussels to present their experience to policy-makers at the multi-stakeholder conference “e-Participation from a Citizens Perspective”.

Available materials: 

PROJECT BROCHURE IN ENGLISH
Please contact project partners for national versions of the brochure

COMPENDIUM OF WINNING COMPETITION STORIES
For more about all 5 project events organised in 2015, please refer to the project FACTSHEET.

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