It is widely acknowledged that educators across all sectors but more importantly adult educators and trainers face many challenges as they deal with increasingly complex and diverse learning situations and meet competence demands in a constantly changing work environment with the evolvement of new technologies, a constantly changing labour market with highly technical demands for skills and a challenging socio-economic context.As a result, there is an urgent need for Adult Educators s to enhance uptake of ICT in teaching and learning, to promote stronger coherence between the needs of the labour market thus achieving a better skills match for their adults and bridging the gap between the education and the world of work. Providing attractive, effective and efficient high-tech possibilities for training helps Adult educators/ trainers to address skills deficits and update their competences throughout their career based on the current needs of the labour market and the economy are the main tasks of the project. The EU 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth acknowledges LLL and skills development as key elements in response to the current economic crisis, to demographic ageing and to the broader economic and social strategy. The economic crisis has highlighted the major role which Adult Learning (AL) can play in achieving the EU 2020 Targets, by enabling adults to improve their ability to adapt to changes in the labor market, family and society. Recent statistics show however that AL is currently the weakest link in developing national LLL systems. Participation in adult learning has raised only to 10,7 % in 2014, thus making the increased ‘ET2020’ target of 15 % by 2020 a greater challenge for all MS. Based on the above the project aims to provide adult educators/trainers a comprehensive professional development programme for upgrading and up-skilling their digital skills which will be offered as an in-house training and pilot-tested as on-line tool. During the implementation of the ICT training Adult Educators’ progress will be carefully monitored, whereas at the end validation through the use of the OPEN BADGES system will be offered. Endorsement procedures will be taken by the consortium in order for the Adult Educators to have by the end of their training a valid recognition of their new digital skills. Europass and participation certificates will be provided, whereas efforts will be taken to utilize the mechanisms of EU tools such as ECVET and EQF.The direct target group is Adult Educators involved in adult learning who will upgrade their digital skills and use of technology, whereas the indirect target group is adult learners, who will benefit from digitally literate teachers through the provision of high quality adult learning.Based on the above the project is in line with the Erasmus+ priorities for:-extending and developing educators’ competences, particularly in the effective use of I T in adult learning, for better outreach and improved learning outcomes. -using open and innovative training in the digital era, use of ICT to outreach disadvantaged groups, - support synergies between education, research and innovation activities, the digitisation of quality learning content and promote the use of ICT as a driver for systemic change to increase the quality and relevance of training at all levels.- Inclusive training, addressing diversity, developing social and civic competences, media literacy, combating discrimination, reducing disparities affecting disadvantaged learners in order to enable accessThe project supports the efforts of MS to promote the:-EU Agenda for Adult Learning-Digital Agenda for Europe-Opening up of Education- EC Rec. for the validation of non-formal learning (2012), The project draws from the results of:- 2015 ET2020 New priorities for EU cooperation in E&T- 2015 EC Report 'Support for the work on policy guidance on basic skills for adults'- 2015 EC Report 'An in-depth analysis of AL policies and their effectiveness in EU' - 2015 Eurydice Report for Adult E&T- 2013 PIAAC ReportThe consortium consists of 6 partners from 5 EU countries which cover a wide range of expertise related to the aims of the project as well as they have a Pan-European outreach in their activities. They are all organisations with either high expertise in the field of ICT or they have great experience with adult education.It is expected that by the end of the project a number of about 100 Adult Educators in the five participating countries will extend and develop their digital competences in the use of ICT in adult learning through in-house training, whereas a large number of Adult Educators will be invited to register on the platform and follow the on-line learning modules offered. The e-learning community of Adult Educators is expected to sustain the results of the project.
It is widely acknowledged that educators across all sectors but more importantly adult educators and trainers face many challenges as they deal with increasingly complex and diverse learning situations and meet competence demands in a constantly changing work environment with the evolvement of new technologies, a constantly changing labor market with highly technical demands for skills and a challenging socio-economic context. As a result, there is an urgent need for Adult Educators to enhance uptake of ICT in teaching and learning, to promote stronger coherence between the needs of the labor market thus achieving a better skills match for their adults and bridging the gap between the education and the world of work. The Upskillead European project aims to provide adult educators/trainers a comprehensive, attractive and effective professional development programme for upgrading and up-skilling their digital skills which was offered as an in-house training and pilot-tested as on-line tool. During the implementation of the ICT training Adult Educators’ progress was carefully monitored through the use of the OPEN BADGES system supported by developed assessment tools. The consortium, lead by RIC Novo mesto, Slovenia, consists of 6 partners from different EU countries which cover a wide range of expertise. A geographical balanced representation, as well as representation from different types of organizations to meet the needs of the project, as shown in the distribution of tasks/roles (Scientific Research Centre, NGO, NPO, ICT VET Provider) is ensured. They are all organisations with either high expertise in the field of ICT or they have great experience with adult education. All organizations possess the skills and competences required complementing each other. Within the project 6 ICT modules were designed based on Adult educator`s needs and supported with e-learning and Open badges, as validation tool. Based on the research we have developed UPSKILLEAD Digital Competence Framework for 6 digital competences: Staying Safe Online, Using Social Media in Education, Learning Management System (Moodle), Graphic Design, Web Design, Use of Interactive White Board. Within the Intellectual Output 3 digital curriculum and training material for adult educators have been finalized, which was necessary for the implementation of the Adult Educators’ training (pilot testing, under IO6). For recognition, validation and endorsement of the digital skills acquired by Adult Educators, Open Badge System was used. The eco-system (IO4) based on the Up-skilling Digital Competence Framework (IO2) in terms of objectives and links between the assessment tools (IO3), structure (level, hierarchy and connections), criteria and description for issuers were designed. Under IO5 partnership designed innovative interactive e-learning platform (http://upskillead-e-learning.eu) which function as an Open Learning Environment, offering interactivity options through the e-Adult Digital Academy and the e-Data Bank for the continuous digital development of Adult educators. Within the project 16 Upskillead mentors were trained during Short-term Joint Staff Training Activity, which supported implementation of in-house and on-line training, evaluation and pilot validation. Within IO6 (pilot test) together 98 participants took part in the in-house trainings and 65 participants participated in online training implemented by all partners. Base on the feedback gained form pilot participants, SWOT Analysis of the Digital Professional Development Programme implemented under IO6 and opinion of experts of advisory board and participant committee, partnership improved all modules and also the functioning of the platform. Within IO7 Upskilled Toolkit (Open Badge Endorsement Kit) and exploitation action plan was developed to ensure sustainability of the project. Tool kit offers to users systematically review of the results of the project and instructions for using the e-Academy, gaining and sharing badges. Project is registered on the platform Badge the world (http://www.badgetheworld.org/) thus ensuring widely use of our developed badges. Moreover, the consortium succeed to obtain support (up to now) of 226 different organisations that support the project and will use project results. The complete list of supporters is available on the project website http://upskillead.eu/supporters/. Supporters come from different European countries, which means that the project has captured the wider countries and not just the countries that formed the partnership. Within the project 180 users of project platform gained badges. Adult Educators and other eager to asses and upgrade their digital skill and wish to take part in the on-line course can register on the e-platform on the following link: http://upskillead-e-learning.eu. Changes of ICT modules will be handled by Advisory board within Forum on project platform also after the project lifetime(publishing all novelties).