creICTivity aims to strenghten the ability of adult educators/sector to use creativity in the learning process to increase effectivenes of ICT learning and, consequently, (practical) creativity of the learners – vulnerable adults with low ICT skills. Creativity is seen as something only gifted people have and largely neglected in (adult) education. In reallity everybody can be creative if their creativity is nurtured. Practical creativity is manifested as ability to solve problems. It has strong connection to critical thinking, ability to analyse information and learn, plan actions, adapt to situations. ICT is an excelent way to increase creativity and learn an essential skill at the same time, because it presents problems that allow creative solutions. creICTivity is a 2-year project that brings together 6 partners from Slovenia (Društvo za izobraževanje in socialni razvoj), Poland (NAVICULAM Sp. z o.o.), Germany (Institut für Internationale Bildungs- und Arbeitsmarktprojekte), Croatia (Učilište Magistra), Spain (Neotalentway S. L.) and Turkey (Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University). 169 million or 44% of Europeans between 16 – 74 lack basic ICT skills and 19% of them have zero skills. Lack of ICT skills is strongly linked to (low) education, socio-economic status and older age. They are victims of the digital gap and digital exclusion which will impact EU negatively, economically and socially: 9 of 10 future jobs will require some ICT skills thus a large number of work-age adults will be unable to compete in the job market. They will not be able to find information on education, active citizenship, health, social activities etc., preventing them to become productive members of society, affecting the economy, democratic processes, health systems etc. around EU. Specific group are migrants who are largely without even basic ICT skills. This slows down their ability to learn the language, find information, find jobs and the process of integration significantly. To address this issue we will closely examine the concept of creativity and its applications in (adult) education. We will also explore the needs of low ICT-skilled adults. This will help us create an approach and methodology blending creativity with the needs of low-ICT adults regarding ICT. The main methodology of the project is the Design thinking method which uses empathy to understand the challenges that people face and finds comprehensive solutions through designing and testing tailored solutions. Another core principle that we follow is the creativity-based learning approach. Following this approach, we will create results that will engage the learners, make them active contributors to the learning process and ultimately help them contextualize ICT in a way they can understand and use in their daily lives. This process will also foster their creative potential that will manifest in a better ability for critical thinking and real-life problem solving. There will be 2 results: 1. creICTivity framework and methodology It will be created after a study of obstacles, fears, motivations and expectations the low ICT-skilled adults have in regard to ICT learning and study of creativity from the perspective of ICT mentors. Here extensive experience of all partners will also be useful. It will present our findings about their needs in regard to ICT learning and propose creative methods and strategies for educators on how to motivate and engage them to achieve better learning outcomes and foster their creativity. 2. creICTivity learning modules The modules will be constructed as a series of logically connected ICT challenges which will foster creative thinking and when »solved« provide the learners with useful ICT skills and an ability to put what they have learned in context. The modules will be tested by 2 ICT Challenge mentors and a group of adults with low ICT skills. The testing will be evaluated and then the final version of the modules will be created. The aim of creICTivity is also to give ICT educators an opportunity to look at the ICT teaching from a different perspective, to understand and acknowledge the value of creativity in the learning process and use it to connect more with their learners, engage them and foster their own creativity as well as the creativity of the learners. creICTivity has the following overall goals and objectives: Our goals: - identify the needs of low ICT-skilled adults regarding ICT learning and address them through creative learning methods and approaches - increase the capacity of low ICT-skilled adults for creative thinking and its application in daily problem solving. Our objectives: - increase the ability and capacity of adult educators/sector to better understand and use creativity in ICT education and highlite the importance of creativity in (adult) education in general - increase the effectivenes of ICT learning in adults using creative methods - combat effects of digital gap and digital exclusion.
We wanted to bring creativity to the attention of the adult educators and to describe it in an understandable and practical way. Ultimately we anted to motivate the adult educators to foster creativity as a skill that can be learned and improved and that supports learning of ICT but also problem solving and ctitical thinking. We also wanted to increase the ability of adult educators to foster creativity of their students in practice by providing them with didactical and methodological support. Finally, we wanted to to address the obstacles that adults face when learning to us ICT and give the students and the teachers an alternative and highly engaging educational approach to address the problem of digital gap in Europe. Additional goal was to increase the creative and learning potential of adult learners with low ICT skills. They are often poorly equipped with skills for learning and by incrising their ability to understand the topic of education, to reflect on their own abilities and to critically examine the ways to reach solutions, their overall ability to learn and be more independent thinking will increase.
The partners share interest in creativity in education and saw its potential in ICT education. At the same time, we wanted to offer a new and more ambitious approach to ICT education of adults to take advantage of the fact that everybody is creative on some level. We wished to address 3 needs of adult education.: - Increase the visibility of creativity in adult education and knowledge of educators about its benefits education - Provide adult educators with methodological support to foster creativity of their students - Provide educators and students a creativity based alternative to education of low ICT-skilled adults to address the problem of large digital gap in Europe By addressing this needs we wanted to improve the learning outcomes od low ICT-skilled adults as practice and experience consistently shows that traditional ICT courses don’t provide them with lasting practical knowledge. We believe that by fostering creativity and engaging their higrer level thinking processes will make them better students with better results and knowledge retention.