• more than 60% of educators face difficulties in continuing their studies through electronic platforms during the pandemic.

Starting from that, eADULTS collected the best practices of virtual, online and remote education activities for educators and teachers.

The Project

The Covid crisis has showed how the field of education is not 100% prepared to face a virtual, online and/or distance teaching model. This is especially notable in adult education, as this target shows to be less-skilled when it comes to digital competences.

This was the starting point of this “Exchange of good practices for promoting virtual education among adult people through electronic platforms” (eAdults), which arose from the need to seek, identify and evaluate which were the most effective educational platforms and methods in a context of virtual teaching for adults.

The objective was achieved through an exchange of best practices between Bulgaria, Italy,
Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Due to this, the entities that are part of this project were able to increase their knowledge in the field of virtual education and electronic platforms in the field of education (specially among adult people).

The following activities were carried out:

• Context Analysis | A questionnaire was designed to identify which platforms
  were the ones that students and educators had used the most during the
  confinements, as well as how their experience had been using these platforms
  and if they considered face-to-face or virtual education to be better.
• Mapping Best Practices | A template was designed to identify good practices in
  virtual adult education that have happened during lockdowns and the
  pandemic.
• Transnational Workshop | Based on the context analysis and the mapping of
  good practices, a virtual workshop was designed where the different functionalities of the platforms in non-formal education activities were put into practice. At the end of the workshop, the participating students and educators evaluated each of the platforms and gave their final verdict.

Project Results

eAdults have generated evidence for other educational entities (or dedicated to the field of education), so they can develop new, alternative and effective virtual teaching activities tailored to the needs of educators and adult students. At the same time, this project serves as an initial step for the partner organisations to continue researching on online, virtual and distance education.

See the results below:
Good practices in virtual adult education
Results of the survey
How the project started

_________
Project partners:
Associazione di promozione sociale Joint
BB&R
Universidad de Salamanca
Rosto Solidario
MoreMosaic
SAFE Project
Regionlne Centrum Wolontariatu

Co-financed by the Erasmus Plus programme of the European Union.

L'articolo Project Result: eADULTS | Exchange of good practices proviene da Youth Networks.

Indeed the Erasmus Plus’ horizontal priority aims to address digital transformation through the development of digital readiness, resilience, and capacity in the educational sector.

The network for digital education and training also serves the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-2027 whose aim is to support the adaptation of the European education systems to the digital age.

National Advisory Service for Digital Transformation

A National Advisory Service (NAS) is an organisation responsible for coordinating or advising on the implementation of digital education policy.

They carry out, monitor, evaluate and fund digital education activities. They also support education and training organisations in their digital transformation and help regional and local governments in the implementation of related policies.

Network of NAS on digital education and training

The Commission is organising a first exploratory meeting with European organisations interested in participating in a network of National Advisory Services responsible for coordinating or advising on the implementation of digital education policies.

The first exploratory meeting will take place on October 28 2021, 14:00-16:15 (CEST). It will initiate a conversation at the EU level on the implementation of digital education policies.

If your organisation is willing to participate, fill out the form for application.

Read also

The Youthpass Strategy is Out

Creative Europe Programme: EACEA Online Info-Sessions

L'articolo Network of National Advisory Services on digital education and training proviene da Youth Networks.

The Consortium

The organisation coordinating the DO-IT project is Ecepaa (European Center for Economic and Policy Analysis and Affairs). It is specialized in the development of European Union projects in the fields of social inclusion, education, youth and migrant. 

Associazione Joint is a youth association based in Italy, the work of which mainly focuses on providing learning opportunities to young people through international experiences, such as European Solidarity Corps, International volunteering, Work Camps, local and international Training Courses, Youth Exchanges and Capacity Building Projects.

AMECE (Association Maison d’Enfant pour la Culture et l’Education – Italy) is based in Turin. Its activities aim to understand and address the needs of children, teenagers and young adults with migrant backgrounds, most of them originally from north African countries. 

Fundacion Red Incola is a Foundation composed by nine religious entities. Its mission is to support the immigrant population in risky situations of exclusion, in the promotion and defense of their rights so that they can have a dignified life.  

The 2nd Vocation High School of Katerini is a school in Greece that serves around 600 students, aged 16 – 19, with 80 teachers and comprises four different sectors (Informatics, Healthcare & Welfare, Agriculture/Food Technology/Nutrition and Business/Economics). 

The Project

Complying with the general Erasmus Plus policy and the Call for Proposals in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the overall objective of the DO-IT project is to develop an innovative practice in the digital framework, while committing to a greater social inclusion of students with a migrant background by tackling the early-school-leaving phenomenon. On such a perspective, giving a transnational dimension to the project means to allow a deeper understanding and examination of the digital education sector, strong of a comparative analysis.

Moving forward, the specific objectives of the project are:

• Identify, develop and disseminate good practices and innovative digital tools to provide teachers and trainers with skills that make them able to address the needs of youth with a migrant background, arised as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic;
• Promote the recognition of digital competences and soft-skills acquired with youth with a migrant background while participating in informal activities;
• Increase the capacity of 50 teachers and trainers on digital competences by providing them with a training on the 5 competences framed in the “Digital Competence Framework 2.0”;
• Increase the capacity of 50 teachers and trainers to recognise the digital competences and soft-skills acquired by youth with a migrant background during informal experiences. 

The background

Given the above, the DO-IT project takes its origin from a general consideration over the consequences of Covid-19 towards the most disadvantaged young people (with a migrant background) in the education sector. 

In fact the lockdown restrictions over Europe, made compulsory by governments, have had different effects, depending on the family income. This establishes huge issues with respect to how to ensure access, equity and inclusion in the learning environment. 

From this perspective, and a consequence, while the indirect beneficiaries of the DO-IT project outputs are young people with a migrant background, the direct ones are the members of the organizations participating in the project itself, i.e. teachers, trainers, researchers, youth workers and associations of migrants and their children.

DO-IT implementation

The DO-IT project is expected to reach several results. The partners, bringing together their expertise in the field of reference, will be creating 5 questionnaires to deliver to 5 different categories of stakeholders:

• Youth workers;
• Trainers;
• Teachers;
• Researchers;
• Migrant associations members.

In addition to that, the consortium will be working on building 5 additional questionnaires for in-depth interviews. After collecting the data, the final result will be a digital publication over several topics, such as school dropout, lack of digital skills to cope with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and the good and best practices to address in order to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic on the education and learning of young people with a migrant background. 

DO-IT therefore represents an innovative way to address the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic on education, with a focus on the needs of youth with a migrant background and the wide range of professionals working with them.

Read also

Case Study: Youth Education in Post-COVID EU

Study on Youth Work in the EU

L'articolo How To Tackle Covid-19 Effects On Young Migrants’ Education proviene da Youth Networks.

The European Commission launched the Digital Education Action Plan in 2017 in order to improve key competences and digital skills of European citizens. The action plan outlines how the EU can help people, educational institutions and education systems better adapt to life and work in an age of rapid digital change. 

Considering the increasing digitalisation of society, it is, therefore, more important than ever that youth workers develop their own digital and pedagogical skills. 

Youth Workers 2.0

NGO’s from 4 different countries decided to collaborate in a strategic partnership project in order to provide youth workers a comprehensive professional development programme for upgrading and up-skilling their digital skills. Thus, the “Youth Workers 2.0” project provides guidance and training for youth workers across Europe on how to use ICT tools and digital methods to better deliver basic skills in youth education. 

 The specific objectives of the project for youth workers are:
– To reflect youth workers role in relation to digital approaches;
– To empower youth workers to fully exploit all the potentials of digital education and ICT tools to deliver basic skills education;
– To improve youth workers knowledge of usage of different digital tools making them understand what kind of skills are needed in different contexts;
– To provide youth workers with appropriate training opportunities for further developing their professional knowledge, skills and competences;
– To enhance mutual learning and share of good practices.

You can download the booklet HERE.

Partners:
Asociación EuropeYou – Spain
Österreichische Jungarbeiterbewegung – Austria
Group of the European Youth for Change – Romania
 Institute for Cultural Relations Policy – Hungary

Related articles:
Check out some tips and tools to improve your online youth work
Find here free online courses for youth leaders, project managers, and ESC mentors

L'articolo Skill-up your digital education methods! proviene da Youth Networks.

The public consultation wants to gather the views and experiences of all citizens, institutions, and organisations from the public and private sectors on the unprecedented coronavirus crisis, the related switch to distance and online learning, and their vision for the future of digital education in Europe.

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, commented:

“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed the largest disruption to education and training in Europe’s recent history. 100 million students, teachers and education staff globally have been affected, and many of them have turned to digital education to continue the academic year. For many, this has been the first time they have fully used digital technologies for teaching and learning. With this public consultation, we would like to understand and learn from all these experiences. We are all part of this discussion – let us work together and ensure that the new Digital Education Action Plan paves the way for truly inclusive and high-quality digital education in Europe.”

The consultation will help to inform the Commission’s proposal for a renewed Digital Education Action Plan, expected in September 2020. A series of online outreach events will be organised during the summer to collect additional input on the lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis and the future of digital education; further complementing the process. 

The consultation will be available in all EU official languages on 9th July 2020.
The public consultation will be open until 4th September 2020.

For more information check HERE.

Related articles:
How are the youth organisations doing during the Coronavirus pandemic? Take part in the survey
How are the youth workers doing during the Coronavirus pandemic?
Sign the petition! – A response to the impact of Covid-19 on International Youth Work Mobility

L'articolo What are the views on the future of DIGITAL EDUCATION during the COVID-19 recovery period and beyond? Open Public Consultation proviene da Youth Networks.