Five partner organizations from four European Union countries that have experience in the field of formal and informal education of adults and belong to different sectors (university, college, non-governmental organization, company and institution that provides services to the unemployed) have decided to unite their knowledge and experience from their previous work and developed an innovative tool that will be widely used in online adult education activities, and which is adapted for use by people who have basic IT knowledge. The goal of our project was to include long-term unemployed people (with an emphasis on women) in the processes of online education and/or hybrid classes through the development of an innovative digital tool that will enable them to acquire the competencies needed in the labor market. In order to achieve the goal, we have developed a web application that is accessible for use by people with minimal IT literacy, access to the application is also possible through mobile phones, and in addition to the assessment of candidates, participation in selected courses, the implementation of virtual practice and the evaluation of education results are also possible
During 2020, there was a need to change the way of implementing formal and informal education, from traditional way of learning that took place in classrooms, to online education. Although online education was known even before the COVID 19 pandemic, pandemic had a significant impact on the implementation of regular classes as well as on the way adults participate in education processes. The aforementioned situation required the development of new and innovative solutions in the education. New approaches in education could potentially influence the increase of differences in access to education (related to technical prerequisites and IT knowledge of the participants).While younger people adapted very quickly to "new normal" in the field of education, older people and less educated had a harder time adapting, which resulted in their non-participation in adult education programs. With this project, we brought online learning closer to people who had a negative attitude towards online learning, especially the long-term unemployed and people with a lower level of education. Through the project, we also strengthened the capacities of institutions that provide support for the unemployed in order to work in an online environment.