Adult education reflects a specific philosophy about learning and teaching based on assumption that adults can and want to learn. Having in mind the fact that adult learning is based on the needs and priorities of the learners they are always more motivated compared when in formal education. Because the motivation exists this kind of extracurricular learning should be made easy accessible and respond to the needs of the adult learners. In order to keep up with the globalization the digital curricula in different countries need to be compared and analyzed and based on the findings redesigned according the needs of the learners and educators. Educators need to improve the utilization of computers and other digital technology with innovative methods. With this the opportunities for adult learners will be extended and innovative practices among project partners will be exchanged. By promoting this concept and work on its internalization we will contribute to the later stage of commonly recognized and accepted qualifications. Currently, the market of adult education offers certain informal and non-formal courses. These courses are generally organized in a traditional way and face obstacles. These obstacles can be overcome by the use of ICT that provides course delivery at anytime and anyplace through e- learning and open educational resources. This project will support educational institutions in developing new business and educational models. The project will also support teachers' professional development through open on-line courses, following pledges made under the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs, and by creating new and scaling up existing European platforms for teachers. Overall objective of this project is to increase the human capacity with Adult course providers that will work on the integration of ICT in the teaching process. Specific objectives: exchanging best practices of e-learning and OERs implementation in adult education; redesigning of the existing courses for social care and social care; development of a digital model applicable in all partner institutions; creation of new adult courses which will integrate ICT through e-learning and open digital resources; Creation of Open Resource Learning Objects. The overall and the specific objectives will be accomplished by: analyses of previous experiences in the project partner’s countries; comparing the different digital curricula for health and social care; redesigning the existing digital curricula; training for the adult course providers; creation of minimum critical number of OERs to be used in these courses; promotion and dissemination of the project results. The results of the project will be: Digital curricula for health and social care in the partner organization countries compared and discussed; Good practices and experience among different education providers exchanged and implemented; Existing curricula adopted for digital usage in the partner countries; Inter sectoral strategic partnership established; Project results disseminated; Digital curricula redesigned according the local context. For a quality implementation of the project following activities will be implemented: Establishment of a Project Management Team and appointment of a Project Coordinator; Project Management Team Meetings; Time management; Budget management; Quality management; Reporting; and Dissemination Total of three workshops will be conducted: C1 - The participants will identify the digital curricula for health and social care education they use and to discuss improvements and possible redesign of the existing curricula and introducing new ones. C2 - Discussions will be held on methodologies and technologies that can contribute to the integration of ICT in partner institutions, based on the level of ICT implementation in the institutions and learners' specific needs. Participants will identify the possible bottlenecks in the digital curricula they use and to improve them. C3 - This workshop/training will enable participants to acquire skills to use previously defined modern tools for creation of multimedia digital content (OERs). They will present the redesigned curricula, focusing on the improvements made due to the information and knowledge gained on the previous trainings. Transnational meetings will be held every six months with the aim to organize, follow and coordinate the realization and the dynamics of the activities and dissemination. Several methods for dissemination of the project results are planned in order to reach wider target audience for this project. These methods include: Newsletters; Web sites of the project partners; Events organized by other stakeholders; Social networks; In house dissemination (staff meetings).
Currently the health and social care courses are organized in a traditional way where course providers are stationed on one location and course attendants come according to a previously agreed schedule. This type of course organization has certain limitations, basically because of the specific nature of adult education. However, these obstacles can be overcome by the use of ICT that provides course delivery at anytime and anyplace through e-learning and open educational resources. Having in mind that the project partners, have different level of development when it comes to digital curricula, the project supported educational institutions, both CSOs and Businesses, in developing new business and educational models and launch large-scale research and policy experimentation to test innovative pedagogical approaches in curriculum development trough sharing of experience and replicating of positive models between the partner institutions. The main objective of this project was to increase the human capacity with Adult course providers that will work on the integration of ICTin the teaching process.Specific objectives:- exchanging best practices of e-learning and OERs implementation in adult education;- redesigning of the existing courses for social care and social care;- development of a digital model applicable in all partner institutions;- creation of new adult courses which will integrate ICT through e-learning and open digital resources;- Creation of Open Educational Resources called Learning Objects.60 participants, teachers and trainers from the four partner organizations were part of the project, the general criteria was that the participants are: professionals with training experience willing to implement new methodologies in the teaching/training process; be at disposal to the institution for dissemination of the gained skills to their colleagues; be fluent in English; take active participation in the workshop activities; have experience with e-learning and usage of OER's.Within the project three short term training events were organized, the events combined 5 participants from each project partner organization, all involved in the adult learning programs of the project partners. The three activities were conducted with the goal to assess the use of digital curricula and e-learning platforms of the project partners, and create plans on expanding and improving the already existing digital curricula where possible or develop new online courses in partner organizations that lack this experience. The events were also a possibility for project partners to share experiences. The first training event C1: The purpose of this activity was to enable the participants to identify the digital curricula they use and to discuss improvements and possible redesign of the existing curricula and introducing new ones. The training provided in depth analyses of the digital curricula in the fields of social care and health care education, focusing especially on usage of the ICT in the education and OERs. General "rules" the digital curricula has to follow were drafted and based on them the existing curricula in partner organizations was analysed. The second training event C2: Following the first training event, the second event was aimed towards improving the existing digital curricula or creating new where needed. Each partner institution (participants) prepared an assessment of their digitalized courses based on a previously prepared checklist, and each assessment was separately discussed and recommendations for improvements were provided in a plenary discussion. This training helped develop the analytical skills and critical dealing with the results they achieved, the results of the others, and globally. Working in small groups with their own institutions enabled team building and increased the participant's presentation skills. The third workshop C3: The third workshop was a wrap up activity in which the project partners presented the changes made within their institutions and the sustainability of the project activities was planned. The workshop enabled participants to strengthen their digital analytical and presentation skills. Organizations, participants in the project, are able to give internal courses/trainings to the rest of the training staff to develop and broaden their skills and competencies. The redesigned digital curricula in the fields of social and health care are used in the everyday work involved institutions do. The quality of the curricula initiated redesign of other digital curricula, based on the experience gained with this project. The digitalization of the educational curricula is one of the main activities of the partner organizations after completing of this project. In long term using ICT in all curricula will become “must” for all educators within the partner organizations.