As stated in the Europe 2020 documents high quality education and training are needed to promote smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The adult education sector can make a significant contribution to achieve this goal. Quality in adult learning has been explicitly on the EU-level agenda since the 2006 and the Renewed European Agenda for adult learning (2011) also explicit that particular attention should be paid to the quality and efficiency of provision. In particular it points out need of making better use of ICT in the context of adult learning, as a means of widening access and improving the quality of provision and exploiting new opportunities for distance learning and the creation of e-learning tools and platforms in order to reach new target groups. The quality of education and therefore of educators is one of the most important factors in shaping the quality of adult learning: adult learning staff help learners to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes. The professional development of people working in adult education is therefore a vital determinant of the quality of the sector. However the role of the educator becomes more that of a coach, facilitator and moderator. New skills are required for planning the setting for new learning environments, for integration of learning techniques based on ICT (e-learning, blended learning) in the classroom, and for guiding and supporting adult learners in their professional learning processes. These new requirements are the most challenging because most courses in adult learning are not given by qualified adult educators but by people with a variety of backgrounds such as school teachers lacking experience with adult learners, or experts with no educational background at all. The AAA-StepUp2-ICT project’s target group is represented by adult educators who are the key to improve the quality of the adult education provisions and impact directly on the end users (adult learners). The AAA-StepUp2-ICT project is innovative since it focuses on building the ICT capacity of adult educators in their specific occupational context. It is not directly focused on curriculum and structures but on training and workplace practices and that is reflected in the design and proposed outcomes of the project. The main outputs and the key activities are the following: A) AAA-StepUp2-ICT Pedagogic Handbook: "Getting to use online learning, web 2.0 technologies and mobile apps in Adult education": it is a pedagogic handbook on the practical uses of ICT technologies and e-resources to support adult (inc. workplace) learning. B) AAA-StepUp2-ICT Modularized training programme: "Facilitating Educators' and Trainers' uses of online learning, web 2.0 technologies and mobile technologies in different Adult education contexts": it is a modularised training programme to promote educators' and trainers' ICT capability and proficiency in using e-resources in adult education and training (including workplace learning) in different sectors. C) AAA-StepUp2-ICT Open Educational Resources (Preparation of exemplary contents for Open Educational Resources in specific adult education sectors with focus on initial and continuing training, Demonstrating smart uses of online learning, web 2.0 technologies and mobile technologies to promote competences). D) Development of AAA-StepUp2-ICT Community Platform development and supporting Communities of Practice (Development of joint platform for supporting learning and knowledge sharing, Development of different language versions taking into account different adult education contexts, Providing support and guidance for uses of online learning, web 2.0 technologies and mobile technologies in adult education contexts
The quality of education and learning is one of the Europe 2020 objectives to promote an intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth of the society. The adult education sector can contribute significantly to the aforementioned growth thanks to the integration of digital tools in learning paths and in the creation of e-learning material for adults.The “AAA-Stepup2ICT” project was aimed at developing training materials and tools to support the professional development of adult educators which play an important role in improving the quality of adult education. The project partners from Italy, Belgium, Lithuania, Spain, Portugal and Switzerland have cooperated in the creation of training materials for adult educators to support their training tasks and offers. The partnership was composed of adult education centres, universities with special focus on adult education and competences in developing online training material.AAA-Stepup2ICT is targeted to adult educators, who are key to the success of adults’ development, to enhance their competences in the use of ICT in the different phases of learning of an adult.During the two years of the project the partners have created an andragogic handbook “ICT for adult educators” (O1) that describes the situation of adult education in the partners countries, it illustrates the profile of an adult educator and the perceived importance of the use of ICT on behalf of the educators themselves. The handbook also contains a categorisation of the educational process (divided into 6 domains), examples of learning activities on the use of ICT in adult education and a description of digital tools to be used during the learning process. The partners have created different open educational resources (OER) which describe activities and tools to be used during learning activities of adults (Output 3) and an online training path for adult educators to enhance professional competences for adult training sessions (Output) 2. The online training programme is structured in 6 modules: Planning and coordinating a training; assessing training needs; Designing training content; Developing training content; Delivering a training; Evaluating a training.Activities and exercises have been created for each module and upon completion the user receives an online badge acknowledging the competences reached within the training module. An online “community” (http://www.stepup2ict.eu/community/) has been created to contribute to the topic with own OER or to share ideas and innovation of the adult education sector. At the moment 200 people are part of the community.The material has been evaluated and validated through constant revisions carried out by 80 adult educators. The evaluation activity has taken place during different online training sessions in each partners country and during a learning/training activity organized in Italy for participants of all partners countries. After each training course there has been an analysis of the results and an improvement phase of the created material. Each partner has organized 1 multiplier event for dissemination of the project results in all partner countries.All AAA-Stepup2ICT outputs and results are available on the project website at: http://www.stepup2ict.eu/