Adult education and continued vocational training in Europe have increased in demand. These courses strengthen the processes of lifelong learning and help convey information relevant for the future. At the moment, however, it is unclear what potential digitalisation has for these areas and under what circumstances this potential could best be realised. The goal is to find out under which circumstances successful digitalisation occurs in adult education and in continuing education, and how activities in educational institutions can be best supported and enhanced by digitalisation. Through constant communication between partner institutions within the context of our project, all involved intend to promote the development of digitalisation within their own institutions as well as within their own countries. A further goal is to sensitize institutions to the necessity of digitalisation and to help make instructors comfortable with meeting the challenge of learning and using the necessary methods. This project will enable instructors to aquire digital competencies. A transfer to digitalisation is necessary and will affect all work processes in partner institutions; this of course will mean that everything will need to be re-thought out and restructured in order to accomodate far-reaching changes. Outcomes are expected in the following areas: -redesigning teaching and learning environments -developing and conceptualizing new instruction topics -making all partner institutions ready for the future By keeping institutional administrations aware and sympathetic to the needs of their instructors and by keeping focus on the necessity of developing new formats of course offerings, we can expect to have created long-term effects which would outlast the duration of the project. Digitalisation should be seen as a continuous process which would find an impetus in our project. All project partners will work out a systematic overview of their own adult education programs, evaluate existing programs, examine both beneficial and restrictive aspects of integrating digital methods into adult education, identify areas that need to be developed further, and test-drive successful concepts from other countries in their own country to assess transferrability, in order to promote digitalisation. Besides the Transnational Partner Meetings (TPM), short-term training activities for instructors will facilitate the transfer of knowledge of successful national concepts at the partner level across European borders. Additional long-term activities are planned to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to the administrative levels that will accompany the process of planning and implementation of digital courses in their institutions. A virtual teachers' room will be made available for the teachers for both the duration of the project and afterwards and will give instructors a venue for international exchange between activities and will support the establishment of an instructors' network. Through the use of the digital infrastructure and tools during the implementation of the project, participant teachers will have the oppurtunity to practice their new competencies first in a controlled environment before using them in real classroom settings. A subsequent TPM in Brussels will present project outcomes to members of the European Parliament and bring attention to promoting these outcomes outside of the partner institutions. Partners from five countries are participating in the project. Partners from the field of adult education from Finland, Sweden, Spain and Turkey will be brought together under the leadership of the German institution. Each institution comes from a different background: some institutions have experience participating in EU programs, some are new to participating in EU programs. The turkish partner is an institution with other institutions of adult education underneath it; this will be significant in the dissemination of project outcomes at the national level. TPMs have been planned to take place in all partner institutions throughout the duration of the project; all those with responsibilities towards the program as well as administrative-level workers will also participate. LTTAs are reserved for active instructors in all partner countries. Altogether, about 20 instructors per partner will be involved in the project.
As a cross-cutting issue, digitalization affects the lives of people all over the world, and is one of the greatest political, economic, social and educational challenges of the international level. It has also become critical in adult education. Adequately addressing, with competence, autonomy, and responsibility, both the opportunities and risks involved with the use of digital media mandates the development of appropriate competencies. Improving teaching methods or making them more efficient, for example with interactive whiteboards or with multimedia handouts, is therefore not enough. The unique potential of digital concepts were developed when instructors learnt to use them properly and when course offerings include them. The project enabled instructors to enhance their digital competences so they participated in social discourse, facilitate the inclusion process, and reduce barriers to employment. The digital transition affected work processes in partner institutions, some of which would have to be reviewed and restructured. Areas of consideration were: *modification of learning and teaching environments. *development of new topics *modernization of adult learning institutions
Our aim was to determine the circumstances that were necessary for the successful digitalisation in adult education, as well as how activities in educational institutions could be best supported and enhanced by digitalisation. Through the continuous exchange between the partner institutions in the framework of our project, all participants wanted to advance the development of digitalisation in their own institutions and in their countries. Another aim was to raise awareness among institutions about the need for digitisation and to familiarise teachers with the challenge of learning and applying the necessary methods. This project enabled instructors to aquire digital competencies. A transfer to digitalisation was necessary and affected all work processes in partner institutions; this of course meant that everything needed to be re-thought out and restructured in order to accomodate far-reaching changes. Positive development and results were noted in the following areas: -designing teaching and learning environments -developing/conceptualizing new instruction topics -making all partner institutions ready for the future Integration into regional networks also enabled a positive effect on other institutions.