This ICT based project is organized by Gebze Public Education Center in Turkey. We have 5 countries and 5 institutions working with adults in total. The partner institutions are from Turkey, England, Germany, Romania and Italy. The rationale of this project mainly depends on a needs analysis and questionnaires applied to our teachers and adult learners at the institutions. These questionnaires showed us that teachers who work with adults find themselves insufficient and not fully equipped about the ICT use during their classes. Also, we realized that adult learners are not motivated enough to use ICT tools during the classes and also in their daily lives. After online meetings with the partners, we found out that every partner has experience on different aspects of adult education and similar needs for their institutions. Therefore, we decided to develop our educators' competences in different aspects thanks to variety of our partners' experience, to motivate adult learners in ICT use and to make the best use of the facilities at our institutions. Furthermore, we examined some articles and researches about the topic of our project and it became clear that the technology goes on developing constantly but we cannot keep up with it in our adult education systems. Almost all institutions have some technological facilities. When the efficiency of these facilities is checked, either very few number of teachers use them during their classes or the ones who use these facilities cannot use the ICT tools efficiently as it should be. Also, we realized that most of the countries do not have an ICT policy specifically linked to the adult learning and a small number of countries has policies on the use of ICT in adult learning. This project is going to be an initiative for this matter. The primary aims of this project are to develop our educators' competences in using ICT in classroom atmosphere by making every participant an active part of our project activities. Beside that, we aim to make our educator capable to modify the current curriculum or create new ones which contain ICT and adult teaching. In order to reach these aims, we planned some courses/workshops and seminars with experts in order to show every participant how important it is and will be to use ICT in adult education in today's world. International teaching and learning activities are planned to make it possible for the participants to observe other nations, take part in international activities and to feel a member of a rich team. For the teachers and the management staff, these meetings will also be great opportunities to share experiences and exchange good practices with their colleagues. To make the activities more effective and to make our educators fully equipped in ICT field, each partner selected at least one of the platforms or the software on computer and planned to organize applied activities and seminars during the visits. All of the attendants will be required to make a little research about the chosen subject and the country before the meeting and by doing so they will be informed about what they will get during the lessons, the culture of the host country and their language in detail. While taking these courses and applying them in demo classes, the teachers will be able to improve their foreign language abilities because they will get some language support before the visits. Also, apart from the activities, educational courses/seminars, workshops and some cultural activities are planned for each project meeting, in order to reach further impacts, not only technological capability and awareness. Some experts on adult education and ICT will join these mini-courses and seminars. And there will be some field trips to the institutions related with adult education and technology. For dissemination activities and sustainability activities a plan and task sharing is prepared, and every partner is given some responsibility for these phases of project. Finally, when we consider the characteristics and scope of work of the partners, this project has much to contribute to our institutions, teachers and adult learners at institutions and by the effective dissemination for the whole public.
“I.C.T. (I Can Teach) ADULTS” project was an exchange of good practices project which was organised by Gebze Halk Egitimi Merkezi. There were five institutions from Turkey, German, England, Romania and Italy that work on adult education. The background of this project is based on an analysis of the partner institutions. Before shaping this project, a questionnaire in partner institutions were applied to our educators. The survey focused on access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning, and on attitudes towards the use of ICT in teaching and learning. The results showed that ICT tools weren’t used well in partner institutions, there was a need for effective use of ICT tools in adult education and our educators did not find themselves capable and motivated enough to use the latest technology in their classes. In this project, each partner had experience and expertise on different aspects of adult education and ICT use; Turkish coordinator on Android platform, German partner on programming, Italian partner on virtual classroom, English partner on curriculums and Romanian partner on web design. This diversity helped us create a project that will contribute all partners and other relevant institutions. We primarily aimed to develop our educators' competences in using ICT in adult education. In order to achieve that, we organised LTT meetings at each partner organisation. The meetings had activities related with the topic of each meeting and the expertise of each partner. Our trainings were planned as five days and during them, training sessions were held on the subjects stated above. At the beginning of each training, the theoretical part was introduced to the participants. With this, we aimed to make all participants have enough knowledge about the topic and the applications. After theoretical part, there were applied lessons. During these lessons, all participants were actively prepared their own software or design that they can use in their classes. Apart from applied lessons, hosting partner informed participants about modifying the current curriculum or creating new ones which contain ICT and adult teaching, and organised seminars about the importance of using ICT tools in adult education. Also, the participants were trained about the basics of adult education and the methods used. To get the good examples of each partner country, we organised trips to other institutions/companies that work on education and ICT. During our meetings, the participants had a chance to visit institutions/companies that create virtual laboratories and design simulations for education. Apart from these activities, the participants shared their experiences on adult education during and after training sessions. They could see different methods and applications on different countries. These training events also contributed to the participants culturally. They could improve their foreign language abilities and perspectives on other cultures. Between LTT meetings, we organised online lessons for educators at partner institutions. They joined these lessons from their own institution and that was a great chance for them to see ICT tools in use. We reached the results and impacts of our project as planned. Thanks to training they got, all the educators improved their abilities and knowledge on using technology in adult education. Not only our participants but also other educators at partner institutions benefited from our project because after each meeting, the participants shared their experiences with their colleagues. Now, they can use the latest platforms, programmes and software, design their own media and websites, modify the curriculums and do programming with different programming languages and platforms. The partner institutions understood better ways to improve their facilities and make their sources work more effectively in education. Not only our participants and partner organisations but also other people and institutions around us could benefit from our project. We organised meetings with other relevant institutions and local press to share our experiences. This contributed to our dissemination activities because we could reach many people. We also shared our activities on our project website, social media accounts and EPALE platform. This platform allowed us to reach many people from all around Europe. Moreover, the Turkish coordinator was invited to EPALE meetings in Turkey and had a chance to share the project activities and results in people from different parts of the country. This project had an important effect on participating institutions, teachers and adult learners at our institutions. Since the technology is continuously developing, it is important to understand its role in education. This project became a starting point for all of us to include technology in our classes and helped all partners improve their levels on adult education.