Following the above-mentioned context and lack of relevant skills that occur in all three partner countries Lithuania, Poland and Italy, the Consortium set a goal to develop 3D printing and design-based thinking skills among adults and to strengthen adult educators’ competencies in delivering innovative non-formal activities. The objectives of the project were to: 1. Develop an innovative methodological toolkit aimed at the development of 3D printing, Design Thinking, and andragogical skills. 2. Provide competence development for adult educators, as key actors in the implementation and sustainability of the produced methodology in partner and associated organizations. 3. Engage adult learners, including with fewer opportunities due to social, economic, geographical or migrant background obstacles, in exciting technological activities based on non-formal learning principles in their community/city/town. 4. Disseminate the project’s intellectual outputs across various educational fields, governmental and non-governmental sectors.
Development of STEAM skills, as mostly related to highly qualified jobs, is already a major priority across formal and non-formal education sectors in European countries and beyond. However, an emerging offer of technological education is still of limited availability for adults, especially those with fewer opportunities due to economic, social, geographical, or migrant background obstacles. Local community learning centers can fill in this gap as they have already established themselves as non-formal digital education providers. In the needs analysis carried out in the project initiation stage, we observed that local learning centers, however, face skill-related challenges when it comes to providing technological education to adult learners: lack of relevant skills (technological and andragogical) among educators as well as a lack of skills, motivation, and confidence among adults to enroll to a technological activity. Therefore, a partnership was set up in order to strengthen local learning centers by facilitating the acquisition of needed competencies among the adult educators’ target group (staff of public libraries, FabLabs, and local community centers) and adult learners.