COVID-19 has impacted across all business and industry sectors globally. Training and education has also been hugely affected. The consortium delivering the i-DREAM project had existing working partnerships and exchanged good practice in relation to digital learning during the lockdown periods. Togehter they had identified a common problem and obvious need in the field training and development and the need to support trainers transition to the digital transformation which COVID-19 triggerd. Socially disadvantaged citizens will be most negatively impacted by the pandemic, including those on low-income, refugees and immigrants, people from disadvantaged areas, the disabled, vulnerable women & unemployed youth (eg NEETs). As a result of lockdowns and closures, business has been effected and many have lost their jobs. Many have commenced working from home, which is expected to last beyond the pandemic, changing the face of how we work, live and train in the future. The pandemic situation found us totally unprepared from economic & social point of view. Life will never be the same & being in a continuing changing situation,. To be able to change & to adapt is important to learn, continually learning. Lifelong learning processing is the key that they can open new opportunities in their lives. The project´s main objective is to support and guidance to trainers/tutors and faciliators to transition to online and blended learning provision. Project partners will create a common profile of the digital educator, and scope provision and resources which are available to build into session and lesson plans.This reserch will influence a bespoke training toolkit for trainers, to equip them with the knowlege and understanding to add digital content to their traditional classroom face to face provision. A resource bank, tooklit will be created together with a Train the Trainer course and facilitator manual to cascade the learning through a network of trainers who will mentor tutors/trainers/facilitators to navigate the transition period into Digital Readiness. The training will be piloted and evaluated, with an eTool portal created as a Digital Trainers Network. to continue to exchange good practice and share expertise'. The project will focus on a set of activities & tangible solutions, for trainers which are OUTCOMES focused and enable DIGITAL READINESS. The project will extend & develop educators competencies through training of trainers & creating a legacy to the project with the training course & modules collectively developed. The course developed will improve & extend the supply of high quality learning opportunities trainers to enaale them to become DIGITAL READY, tailored to the needs of the individual & each jurisdiction of the partnership. The target group of this project will be VET educators, trainers & mentors. The project will work to support actions, co-operations & tools consistent with the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, investing in knowledge, skills, competencies, benefiting individuals, communities, organizations & civic society. It will also give learners the opportunity to develop their knowledge & understanding of the EU & how it can affect their life outcomes & how they can use their skills & training . A TOTwill train trainers who can cascade learning to trainers who need to become digital ready for the digital transformation era, the outputs proposed for developing this partnership learning program are: 1. Expolore the commom profile of a digital tutor. Develop training curricula adapted to the common professional profile of educators (TOT) in digital readiness for blended / online training delivery. 2. Develop an online modular content and evaluation tool This online course will be available in 6 languages 3. Develop competences & skills of 48 professionals in VET education to become vocational digital readiness trainers using short-term staff training 4. Digital Trainers Network eTool - This e-tool will be avaliable in 6 different languages and the person who uses this tool will be able to seek support in his/her own language to problem solve, get peer support, practice language skills!, share best practice, new emerf=ging initiatives and platforms 5. Increased institutional capacity of 6 organizations in 6 countries and disadvantaged learners they support engaged into the digital readiness process
This project wanted to 'ENHANCE ACCESS TO TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS FOR ALL' by providing quality learning opportunites for trainers to assist their transition to the new digital learning,landscape / environment. Many of the trainers were already competent classroom facilitators, however had little or no skills for digital delivery/assessment. i-DREAM supported traditional classroom based facilitators to extend their methodology, using mentoring techniques to support their transition, explored models of good practice and delivery reviewed options/techniquies to include in blended learning and online services - as there are many!. This digital transformation, and skills investment in tutors, also offered provision to learners, especially those from disadvantaged groups, and increase access by offering subjects via multiple platforms. The project wanted to explore what platforms to use, how to support trainers with no online delivery experience, how to accomodate trainers who were working from home, how to retain learners who had fear/dislike of digital learning, the digital divide - not everyone could access a device, quality & compliance.
By October 2020, COVID-19 was in more than 210 countries across 6 continents, with over 44 million cases worldwide. 213 207 deaths reported in the EU/EEA/UK. Europe economies were experiencing slumps, Spanish & Portugal economies down 8%, and Latvia and Lithuania, both in excess of 8%. In Italy and Greece, the IMF predicted, the fall will be even greater: 9.1% and 10%. Mass redundancies were anticipated, training & education, would become critical as citizens would need to retrain to seek new employment opportunities. The trainingsector itself had undergone massive changes as a result of COVID19, requiring to be in a state of digital readiness. Due to the restrictions, to ensure we are compliant with health and safety matters much of this training was being carried out online as it was difficult to secure venues for training due to social distancing requirements and many venues being closed. Idream aimed to support trainers, tutors & educators to navigate the switch to digital and present a blended lifelong learning offering. Providing best practice, support for educators, engagement and empowerment as they navigate the huge changes in training and learning resulting from COVID19.