The project “Living Intangible Culture” (INCULT) seeks to build bridges between adult education organisations and learners from (South-)East (Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia) and (South-)West (Germany, Spain, Italy) of Europe through the uniting power of the shared European intangible cultural heritage. Within the project, participating organisations, guided by the project leader (Institute ILEU from Germany) develop, test and disseminate the educational interactive online game INCULT (“Living Intangible Culture”) in 7 languages - English, German, Italian, Bulgarian, Romanian, Spanish and Serbian. The project’s main target groups are adult educators and adult/senior 45+ learners, the results of the project can be used by people of all ages, esp. seniors and intergenerational groups. The INCULT educational online game will have various gameplay options - memory game, 4 types of quiz, a treasure map, a knowledge section, with detailed information on all 42 selected “intangible cultural treasures” (ex. traditions, festivals, dialects, cuisine, music etc.) of participating countries and basic general information concerning these countries. The download section of the game will provide how-to-use instructions for adult educators, that are willing to integrate the game in their lessons. The game will additionally have a separate “Educator Section” with search/filter/comment function, where the educators will find step-by step description of innovative activating methods, relevant materials and instructions related to non-formal blended learning of adults. The technical development of the INCULT game its “Educator Section” and transfer of contents will be conducted by the project leader. Throughout of the project, partner organisations supported by their senior learning groups collect and define “intangible cultural treasures" of their countries to further integrate them into INCULT game. These learning groups of adult/senior (45+) learners (around 7-12 in each group) will be established in every partner country to work locally and exchange internationally by video conferencing and other means. To support the groups in their learning process, one staff member of each participating organisation will undergo a short-term moderator training and one staff member will acquire a new media trainer qualification in a short-term staff training. The learning groups will take part in all project activities prior to the technical development of the educational game INCULT: they will support the participating organisations on developing a questionnaire for a small-scale survey on intangible cultural treasures, take an active part in carrying out interviews on intangible cultural treasures with people who contribute the to their preservation, participate in the final selection of intangible cultural treasures for the game, also undergo webinars and an international 5-day training. The activities with the working groups will be based on participatory intercultural approach and innovative activating methods of blended discovery learning of adults. The project aims to: -raise awareness of the importance of European cultural heritage and spread knowledge about its diversity through participatory development and dissemination the educational online game INCULT. -help adult educators extend their competences, teaching methods and tools, by offering them a multilingual and a universal learning tool for their teaching and a set of innovative activating methods, useful materials and learner/staff qualification guidance, that can be applied in blended learning process. -foster non-formal lifelong learning by helping project participants acquire new skills in blended learning and empower them through the participatory approach by using their competences. The participants of the project, educators as well as learners, will acquire new practical skills, esp. in new media and ICT. Through international encounter, that will foster their critical thinking, they will be able to combat possible stereotypes about their European neighbours. The project can help its partner institutions exchange experience and in the long term strengthen the bonds between their countries and organisations. Adult educators will be able to develop their competences in blended learning, profiting from diverse methods/materials and a new multilingual offer with detailed instructions on its implementation. Through wide dissemination activities/multiplier events, different European institutions will be able to exchange experience, that in the long term will contribute to improving their teaching methods. All of the direct and indirect project participants and target groups will become aware of the diversity of Europe’s intangible cultural heritage and acquire new knowledge on this topic. Connecting through their shared intangible culture, European neighbours from East and West will feel united, which contributes to the European future in peace and mutual respect.
1)Transfer of European knowledge through the development of a multi-level, multilingual learning game: In a playful way, older + younger people should get to know intangible cultural assets from 6 countries in their country-specific context. The respective cultural assets were selected under the guidance of a teacher by learning groups, then edited and prepared for the game by the project partners with text, sound and videos to the game "In-Cult". 2)Guidance on the use of innovative methods in adult/intergenerational education: The game "In-Cult" provides educators/lecturers/multipliers with knowledge on the topic of intangible cultural heritage in cultural comparison, guidance on the use of activating teaching methods and tools using digital media, guidance on the integration of the educational game "In-Cult" in different learning settings and for different target groups. It provides downloadable content and technical-methodological materials in the educational material section. 3)Promotion of non-formal lifelong learning in adult/intergenerational education: through activating participation in moderated learning groups/ webinars/ technical training activities in the form of blended learning and through international encounters.
Many years after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Europe still seems to be mentally divided into East and West, as various studies on this topic show. All European neighbours have a national/ethnic intangible cultural heritage, but for historical and (socio-)political reasons they are often not familiar with each other's culture, traditions and way of life, know little about differences and similarities. In particular, the intangible culture of the Southeast European countries, which has much to offer, is often unknown to their Western European neighbours. The long experience of the six project partners from DE, ES, SRB, BG, IT and RO in different European projects (e.g. BBE Method Toolbox, Bread Connects, ODDA) has shown that nothing brings people from different countries closer together than their intangible cultural heritage (dance, food, traditions, etc). But there is hardly any multilingual low-threshold material that builds bridges between teachers/learners from (South) Eastern and (South) Western Europe about intangible cultural heritage on the knowledge and emotional level and helps to identify commonalities and break down stereotypes between European neighbours.