The 4.0 ANDCOM project aims to increase visibility, awareness and the ability to use Industry 4.0 solutions in education of low-skilled adults in Poland, Lithuania, Austria, Greece, Spain, Romania and Portugal. 4.0 ANDCOM focuses on the role of andragogs - adult educators who plan, organize and conduct educational activities in a variety of adult educational centers and institutions. They are the direct target group of 4.0 ANDCOM, especially those teaching low-skilled adults, the indirect target group. Moreover, the project aims to introduce a new approach to the education of low-skilled and low-qualified adults, developing competences in andragogs for them to extend their curricula and provide effective, as well as innovative teaching tailored to the needs of their classroom. The project will deal with digital skills, ICT competences and Industry 4.0, bringing innovation to the classroom, as well as using these as instruments for boosting motivation among learners. According to the European commission: “Many observers believe that Europe is at the beginning of a new industrial revolution, considered to be the fourth such leap forward and hence labelled Industry 4.0. The ubiquitous use of sensors, the expansion of wireless communication and networks, the deployment of increasingly intelligent robots and machines – as well as increased computing power at lower cost and the development of 'big data' analytics – has the potential to transform the way goods are manufactured in Europe. This new, digital industrial revolution holds the promise of increased flexibility in manufacturing, mass customization, increased speed, better quality and improved productivity.” Thus, the results of the project will be developed so as to effectively provide knowledge, skills and competence on the topic, present the possibilities to andragogs and promote the most efficient scenarios applied in adult education of the low-skilled. The project foresee the development of 2 Intellectual outputs: 1) "Industry 4.0 in teaching low-skilled adults" as m-learning courses for Andragogs 2) Video guidance for Andragogs: “How to implement Industry 4.0 in teaching low-skilled adults effectively?” Within the outputs, the project Consortium concentrates on the following concepts of Industry 4.0, identified to be the most interesting for the target audience: 1. Internet of things, in the context of pedagogical use in adult teaching. 2. Additive manufacturing, as an object of adult didactics. 3. Augmented reality, as a real alternative to analog didactic materials. 4. Robotics, which does not have to be difficult. 5. Cybersecurity, as basic necessity of every learning process. 6. Cloud computing, as the future for managing and storing data. 7. Artificial Intelligence, which can gear up education and future prospects. All developed in the project results will be available as Open Educational Resources in the seven languages of the partnership, apart from English. The Consortium is built of partners from a variety of geographical and professional backgrounds to ensure the successful implementation of this multilevel project.
The general objective of 4.0 ANDCOM project was to increase visibility, awareness and the ability to use Industry 4.0 solutions in adult education in Poland, Lithuania, Austria, Greece, Spain, Romania and Portugal. To achieve these, the following specific objectives are foreseen in the project: Specific Objective 1: To extend and develop Andragogs' competences needed for effective training of the low-skilled in 4.0 context; Specific Objective 2: To support the implementation of 4.0 didactic possibilities in adult education programs. The results of the project were aimed directly to: Andragogs – adult educators who plan, organize and conduct educational activities in a variety of adult educational centers and institutions. We will especially focus on those who deliver training to low-skilled adults. Indirectly to: Low-skilled adults – those lacking basic digital skills, are unemployed, require support to succeed on the labour market or in need of recent knowledge on technology development for their job, thus with the acquisition of new digital competences in the scope of Industry 4.0 will have a favoured position of meeting the requirements of the future.
In the background of 4.0 ANDCOM project lied he need to increase the visibility of current developments in education in the Consortium countries to provide better access to adult education and promote awareness on the ability to use Industry 4.0 solutions in the education of low-skilled adults. According to "Barriers to education for low-skilled adults in Europe” [EPALE 2016] all Member States must try to reduce the barriers preventing adults engaging in education (including access to the latest technologies). The Adult Education Survey also emphasizes that one of the best ways to change the situation of low-skilled adults is to improve the qualifications of adult educators (…) and one of the main areas of interest should be new technologies. Industry 4.0 brings with it also a lot of didactic possibilities. Our Consortium has chosen the following to investigate: Internet of things, Additive manufacturing, Augmented reality, Robotics, Cybersecurity, Cloud computing and Artificial Intelligence. This is extremely important, as adult educators are often limited in introducing new solutions to their practice, feared by the new and unknown or lacking the competences. The project creates synergy in terms of digital skills, ICT competences and Industry 4.0, bringing innovation to the classroom, as well as using these as instruments for boosting motivation among adult learners. Thus, the results (IOs) of the project are developed so as to effectively provide knowledge, skills and competence on the topic, present the possibilities to andragogs and promote the most efficient scenarios applied in adult education of the low-skilled. All of the partners involved in the implementation of the project had significant needs to strengthen their offer for adult educatrs. In addition, the chance to strengthen the role of andragogs, only supported the educational position of partners as well as the importance of this group (andragogs) in the adult education system.