The MAP (Motivate, Act, Promote) project has successfully finalised after more than 2 years of international cooperation between 6 European partners. After some research prior to the project, partners found out that while 79% of Europeans access the internet regularly (at least once per week) and all figures seem to prove that a majority of forms of work will require digital skills in the near future, the reality is that many people do not have yet the digital skills needed to face such transformations. And as, active organisations in the adult education sector, they were concerned that that was also the case for educators: .according to DigiComptEdu “Educators’ digital competence is expressed in their ability to use digital technologies not only to enhance teaching but also for their professional interactions, […] for their individual professional development and for the collective good and continuous innovation in the organisation and the teaching profession”. Based on the evidence, they concluded that the percentage of adults participating in education and training is directly related to the level of educational achievement (Eurostats); and so the MAP project was designed to engage people with low educational attainment, with a special focus on migrants, long-term unemployed and people aged over 45, in lifelong learning activities. With the aim of attracting them to enter and remain in adult education in order to improve their skills/competences and, thus, be (re)included in the labour market, partners have designed and published several products: • A Tool Bank which contains tools and ready-to-use activities for adult educators – all with a motivational and participatory approach, to boost adults' engagement in LLL. • A blended course for adult educators with online and offline resources in English and all partner languages. The course includes self-assessment activities for educators to learn at what stage they are starting the learning path. • Digital Handbook online and offline promotional strategies of educational offers for adult educators and educational managers • A Trainer’s Blog with relevant and useful articles for adult educators. The partnership has managed to join forces to produce high-quality materials that have improved the professional skills of their own staff educators, those from their communities they collaborate with, as well as all participants in their activities, or those using the online materials available to all. The MAP project has contributed to the empowerment of adult educators by reinforcing their knowledge and skills regarding digital teaching/learning to engage adult learners with low educational attainment in lifelong education through effective outreach, guidance, and motivation strategies as well as providing educational managers with necessary resources for creation and promotion of an educational offer using digital technologies. Eventually, MAP has strengthened the cooperation and networking between organisations and associated partners active in the field of adult education on national and EU levels. Visit our website to learn more about the project: www.mapproject.eu
The MAP project's main goal was to equip adult educators and educational managers with the competences needed in the digital area and the sufficient knowledge and skills regarding digital teaching/learning. More in specific, the project aimed to: 1. Support adult educators and educational managers in assessing their digital competences and making them aware of new (digital) skills and competences needed in adult education. 2. Extend skills and knowledge of adult educators and educational managers to motivate adult learners to learn and be better prepared for equity, diversity and inclusion challenges in the learning environment. 3. Develop the competences, particularly digital ones, of adult educators and educational managers to improve teaching methods implementing innovative practices and digital technologies and effectively promote educational offers. 4. Strengthen the cooperation and networking between organisations and associated partners active in the field of adult education on national and EU levels
The project was applied due to the common needs identified by the partners among their community (organisation staff, adult educators they collaborate with, adult learners…) in terms of shortage and lack of digital skills to engage adult learners with low educational attainment into lifelong education through effective outreach, guidance and motivation strategies as well as provide educational managers with necessary resources for creation and promotion of an educational offer using digital technologies. At the preparation stage, the partners conducted some research to see if the needs that they had identified in their closest contexts were a generalised problem across Europe. They identified a generalised need to engage people with low educational attainment, with a special focus on migrants, long-term unemployed, and people aged over 45, in lifelong learning activities. They need to be attracted to enter and remain in adult education in order to improve their skills/competences and, thus, be (re)included in the labour market. And, in order to do so, educators and educational managers needed to be trained to offer them more personalised learning paths and environments. Partners found out that there were two main barriers: a lack of teaching models on how to use digital technologies and their own insufficient personal skills in digital technologies (2019 Education and Training Monitor).