Miscellaneous Archives - Page 4 of 8 - European Initiative for Education

DigiComPass – a new challenge

PeterMaz 4. January 20234. January 2023 Miscellaneous

The EBI is a partner of the DigiComPass Project. Digital Competencies (DigComp) are crucial for citizens today and in the future. In Europe, the average level in DigComp of well-educated citizens is approx. 56%. Several countries (Italy, Cyprus, Spain, and Greece) are below, and Austria is at the average (Source: DigComp Framework 2.0, P 19). The COVID-19 situation showed that digital competencies are a must for all people, in all generations, and in all living conditions and situations. Increasing the digital competencies of Citizens is a challenge.

DigiComPass-Digital-Skills — Development of digital skills within the last 7 years (Source: Eurostat – Data, visualization – Peter Mazohl)

The graphic shows the data of several European countries ordered by the percentage of digital skills from 2021. The distribution of countries shows partners with higher values (than the European average) and lower values. This enables to learn from each other and to develop optimized strategies to create and implement training courses for >European citizens.

Project priorities

The project focuses on two specific priorities of the Erasmus+ Project.

① Improving the competencies of educators and other adult education staff

The aim of the project is to develop a modern accreditation model for digital competencies (based on the DigComp 2.1 Framework for Citizens). This needs an effective Innovation and training boost for the trainers (as well as the training facilities).
Therefore, this project develops staff competencies that lead to overall improvements in the provision, targeting, and effectiveness of adult education. This includes assessment of prior knowledge and skills of adult learners, better and more innovative teaching methods, as well as strengthening the supporting role the adult education staff has in motivating, guiding, and advising learners in challenging learning situations.

② Addressing digital transformation through the development of digital readiness, resilience, and capacity

The DigiComPass enables the participating training organizations to increase the capacity and readiness of institutions to manage an effective shift toward digital education. The project will implement the purposeful use of digital technologies in education and training for teaching, learning, assessment, and engagement. This will be done in the frame of the technical concept of the implemented Flipped Learning 3.0 Framework. This implementation of the framework is a base for the development of digital pedagogy and expertise in the use of digital tools for teachers and trainers, including accessible and assistive technologies and the creation and innovative use of digital education content.

Objectives and concrete results

The major objective is to create a course package for digital skills similar to the European Computer Driving License (ECDL), but with a specific focus on the DigComp framework 2.2 and free from licence fees. The offer of the modular DigiComPass courses enables digital transformation through the development of digital readiness, resilience, and capacity.

Since COVID-19 we know that these competencies are crucial. Social distancing is the best practice example of the importance of deeper going digital competencies, for example, to deal with authorities (eGovernment) or to be able to use the Digital Signature to access eGovernmental and other services. All these issues are described in the DigComp framework and will be part of the new training of DigiComPass.

DigiComPass-Adult-Active-Learning — Active learning in the Group Space. The implementation of the developed courses will use the Flipped Learning 3.0 Framework.

Major objectives and concrete results

Pilot courses will be created (and evaluated) on the mentioned items, together with an appropriate recognition model for adults. These developments are summarized in an “Adult Education package” called DigiComPass.

The objectives are to create a recognition & course model for Digital Competences with

A pedagogical framework (based on Flipped Learning 3.0)
A quality-enhance framework for course creation, implementation, and evaluation
Pilot courses covering the items of the DigComp 2.1 Citizens framework (https://goo.gl/T8TpJ9)
A recognition model for Europe defining the curriculum, training environment, evaluation and grading, and consistent certification (which could be used internationally as well). The model fits perfectly with the Europass CV. This model should be practicable globally as well.
Use of modern digital badges (open badges system) for the recognition model

A “floating guide” to define the way of adaptation for future developments

A transferability guide for School Education

CONNECT – results available

PeterMaz 1. December 20221. December 2022 CONNECT, Miscellaneous

Objectives of the Project

Objective 1: Develop an innovative multidisciplinary and cross-sectional curriculum for students from the computer and information, health, and social sciences background, with the main focus on cooperation between sectors for strengthening the existing knowledge, skills, and entrepreneurship, in the first ten months of the project, by an international team of eHealth informal and formal educational providers within partner institutions.

CONNECT-<Course — **CONNECT Project**: eLearning course module (Click on the image opens the course)

Objective 2: Provide one Intensive Study Programme (ISP) to 42 students from computer and information, healthcare, and social sciences backgrounds in mixed working groups in Cluj-Napoca, Romania in September 2022 in order to facilitate student’s challenge-based learning collaborations by having students develop eHealth applications in the form of a project with real implication in the field of eHealth.

Objective 3: Develop a transnational network of key actors from academia, industry, and NGOs to establish collaborations, exchange best practices and facilitate long-distance mentorship for students who graduated from the Intensive Study Programme through an online platform “eHealth Community of Practice” through the end of the project.

Further Information about the CONNECT Project

The sustainability of the project will be ensured firstly by integrating the open-source Curriculum that will be developed by the partners into the course of eHealth at the Department of Public Health, from BBU, as part of their educational program at the Bachelor’s and Masters’s level. Therefore, one of the intellectual outputs of the project will be transferred to them and other interested higher education institutions in order to create a long-term use for our product.

The “eHealth Community of Practice” online platform will be available for at least three years after the project completion period, constituting a transnational network of members from academia, industry, and healthcare and as a mentorship platform for future health innovators.

CONNECT-COP-Platform — CONNECT Project: CoP Platform

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

DigiComPass – our new project!

PeterMaz 4. November 20224. November 2022 Miscellaneous

Digital Competences (DigComp) are crucial for citizens today and in the future. In Europe, the average level in DigComp of
well-educated citizens is approx. 56%. Several countries (Italy, Cyprus, Spain, and Greece) are below, and Austria is at the average (Source: DigComp Framework 2.0, P 19). To increase this percentage, the DigiComPass project has been brought to life.

bar chart Digital Skills — A bar chart showing the Digital Skill index by country in 2015. (Source: DigComp 2.0: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens, JRC Publications)

The COVID-19 situation showed that digital competencies are a must for all people, in all generations, and in all living conditions and situations.
All involved adult education organizations are offering courses to increase the digital competencies of adults (of different ages, from 18 up to 70+, also at the university level). Consequently, all organizations agree that these digital skills are an absolute must in our society. If there is a lack of digital skills, in the worst case, people may be excluded from social or daily life. After a coherent concept for digital competencies (DigComp 2.1) existed, the project partners decided to develop a modular course offer tailored to adults using a modern training framework (Flipped Learning 3.0).

Identified needs

The project group identified general needs in digital competencies as well as the need to develop a modern course concept well-fitting to adults (of all ages). The modularity enables a selection of special content by the learners as well as to develop tailored courses.
Another need is a Europe-wide recognition method that fits modern requirements. This recognition method also corresponds to the typical learning behavior of adults, in order to cover the bandwidth from confirmation of participation to excellent participants.

Depiction DigComp for DigiComPass Project — Depiction of the addressed competencies (Source: DigComp at Work – Implementation Guide)

To implement the worldwide accepted and proven “Flipped Learning 3.0” Framework the developer of the framework, Jon Bergman and Errol Smith from “Flipped Learning Global” are members of the consortium.

Some facts

Applicant: UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
Partners
- Europäische Bildungsinitiative (AT)
- BrainLog (DK)
- Cooperativa Sociale Prometeo onlus a Mutualità Prevalente (IT)
- INICIATIVAS DE FUTURO PARA UNA EUROPA SOCIAL COOP (ES)
- SOCIAL YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CIVIL NONPROFIT SOCIETY (GR)
- FL WORLDWIDE, LLC
Project number: 2022-1-CY01-KA220-ADU-000085965
Project start: December 1^st, 2022

E4ALL – EPALE Posting: Intergenerational Training

Europaeische Bildungsinitiative 13. June 202225. November 2022 E4ALL, E4ALL, Flipped Adult Education, Miscellaneous, Project

E4ALL Project Logo

In the frame of the E4ALL project, we created a post dealing with intergenerational training and the training of digital competencies. The post refers to a specific pilot course hold in Wiener Neustadt with people of the 65+ generation.
Intergenerational issues are one of the topics in this project for exchange of best practice (the others are environment, games, language teaching, and Flipped Learning 3.0).
The post serves to further disseminate the project to the Adult Learner Community.

**Screenshot**: EPALE Blog Post (E4ALL Project, intergenerational training)

Post: Practical experience in an intergenerational training of digital competencies
Project: E4ALL

About the Article

The post refers to an empirical experience of an intergenerational training course dealing with digital competencies. In hardly any other area are the competencies as varied as in the field of digital competencies. While younger people are used to working and living in a digital world through their education and professional life, older adults in particular have little experience.

Why Intergenerational Trainings?

The major intention of the intergenerational approach was to energize older adults and to give a sense of purpose, especially when they’re sharing their experience and skills.

Consequently, another intention was to help younger generations understand aging and face their own generation more positively.

Findings

From the observations of the trainers and the evaluation of the learning outcomes, this intergenerational training worked excellent. It was clear from the beginning, that the trainers had a specific responsibility of monitoring and to keep in line the given intentions of the training.

Furthermore, the success of learning groups like described above depend on the composition of learners and their open approach to both the learning topics and the given group situation.

__________________________________
About the project: The project provided two Learning/Training/Teaching Activities during the project’s lifetime, one of them organized and implemented by the European Initiative for Education in Wiener Neustadt. Intergenerational training was one of the set focuses.

E4ALL – Training in Wiener Neustadt

PeterMaz 3. May 20229. May 2022 E4ALL, Flipped Adult Education, Flipped Learning, Miscellaneous, Project

E4ALL means Education For All! In the frame of this Erasmus+ Project, the trainees from 6 different countries came to Wiener Neustadt to exchange their knowledge in Games for Education, Intergenerational Learning, and Flipped Learning 3.0 during a three days’ learning and training event. The training took place in the Hilton Garden Inn in Wiener Neustadt. 20 trainees attended the courses and learned together in a cooperative and friendly atmosphere. The Austrian Partner EBI hosted the training and presented the trainees with the cultural and economical background of Wiener Neustadt as well.

Here are some images from the first day (watch the slider!).

The topics of the first day were:

GAMES4ALL – TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITY (Challedu)
INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING APPROACH, part 1 (EduVita)
- “learn it!”
- “practice it!”
INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING APPROACH, part 2 (EduVita)
- ART-THERAPY (practice it!)
- (design it!)

Learning aims of the E4ALL – training

INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING APPROACH (learn it!)

Understanding the goals of IGL (intergenerational learning) and the difference between multigenerational and intergenerational learning
Awareness of the role of emotional intelligence in IGL
INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING APPROACH (practice it!)
Developing the competence of inclusion of both generations in teaching/learning process (elderly people as teachers, young people as teachers) on the example of language class with IGL approach

ART-THERAPY (practice it!)

Learning the basics of Art-therapy as a tool for team building and group dynamics
Raising awareness of Art-therapy: literature for further reading

INTERGENERATIONAL LEARNING APPROACH (design it!)

Ability to design a short IGL activity in small groups

Second day – Games

Challedu demonstrated three analog games, developed in a former project.

In consequence, the trains developed in three groups their own games. After intensive discussions, the trainees tested the prototypes of the games.

Third day – Critical Thinking & Flipped Learning 3.0

Peter Mazohl and Charlotte Gatti elaborated a basic approach to Critical Thinking with the trainees. In a short workshop, the most relevant items were summarized.

The Flipped Learning 3.0 Workshop started with the preparation work and the publishing of the pre-knowledge Distance Learning course (Individual Space) of the training. As a result, the participants could build up the basic knowledge about architecture and history in Wiener Neustadt. Additionally, issues like Backward Design and Bloom’s taxonomy were included in this training.
Active Learning, various group activities, and guided group discussions dominated the Group Learning Space. Essential material for this training has been transferred from the FAdE project (Flipped Adult Education)

Course leaders for the E4ALL Training

The E4ALL training was conducted by the trainers delegated from EduVita, Challedu, and EBI/EIE. The training would be led by 1-3 trainers from the thematic expert organization each day. The course’s steering group is represented by a minimum of one person delegated from each organization organizing the training.

Modern Learning Spaces for Adult Education

PeterMaz 14. March 202214. March 2022 Miscellaneous

The EBI/EIE asked partners from former or current projects about their ideas of optimal learning spaces in the field of adult education. The questions focused on the logical (training-approach focused) and spatial learning space, as well as on active learning. Here is the evaluation of 4 questions (from 8) of this survey. The “Modern Learning Spaces for Adult Education” survey addressed partners in eight European countries.

This traditional classroom, as it’s well-known from School Education, is the best learning space for most of the training situations in Adult Education.
An open learning space, group-based and focusing on collaboration, is the best learning space for most of the training situations in Adult Education.
Modern learning space for Adult Education must be flexible in the spatial design. It must be possible to change the spatial arrangement easily.
Modern learning spaces for Adult Education must not follow traditional teaching or training methods but can use other approaches based on active learning.

Outcomes “Modern Learning Spaces”

Click through the gallery to analyse the visualization of the results.

1of4

Technical information

32 different Adult Education organisations from Europe took part in this survey (Countries: ES, SE, GR, PT, PL, IT, NOR, DK). All these Adult Education organisations are currently intensively involved in training with different kinds of adults.
Invited people: 38, sample: 32

Additional information

Learning spaces can be defined by their kind to learn: learner-centered, knowledge- centered, assessment-centered, and community-centered. Whats missing: The spatial description!

WikiPedia defines learning spaces as

“Learning space or learning setting refers to a physical setting for a learning environment, a place in which teaching and learning occur. The term is commonly used as a more definitive alternative to “classroom,” but it may also refer to an indoor or outdoor location, either actual or virtual. Learning spaces are highly diverse in use, learning styles, configuration, location, and educational institution. They support a variety of pedagogies, including quiet study, passive or active learning, kinaesthetic or physical learning, vocational learning, experiential learning, and others.”

Critical Thinking

PeterMaz 15. February 202228. February 2022 E4ALL, Miscellaneous, Project

In the frame of the E4ALL Project, the EBI will provide a special workshop focusing on “Critical Thinking“. In our understanding, this term means, in short:

self-directed,
self-disciplined,
self-monitored, and
self-correcting thinking.

In consequence of this list, it requires the affirmation and mastery of strict quality criteria. Critical Thinking is the basement of effective communication and problem-solving skills. You may watch this short video on YouTube for going deeper!

Definition of “Critical Thinking“

Critical thinkers gain clarity about the questions raised, and the intentions pursued with them. They question statements, conclusions, and points of view. You strive to express yourself clearly, accurately, accurately, and relevantly. They dig deep, proceed logically, and remain fair.

Critical thinking is that type of thinking (applicable to any subject, content, or problem) in which a person enhances the quality of his thinking by making a commitment to competently following the inherent structures of thinking and conforming to intellectual norms to measure up.

Does there exist a simple approach?

No, unfortunately not. Creating this competence is a longer-lasting learning process and needs several preconditions (and training).

Nevertheless, we want to give some simple guidelines on how to start:

Recognize the problem
Do research
Determine data relevance
Ask questions (even to yourself)
Determine the best solution
Present your solution (even to yourself)
Analyse your decision

The training contribution

Active Brain - Critical Thinking — **Critical Thinking**: Approach to seeing the world with new eyes!

The training will start with personal experience. The trainers put the focus on the analysis of written text and will discuss the different outcomes of the analysing process of the participants.

The presentation of a versatile strategic concept for Critical Thinking starts the second part of the hands-on training.

Conclusion

Critical thinking is the ability to collect and analyse information in order to draw a conclusion. The ability to think critically is important in virtually every industry and applicable in a wide range of positions.

Further information

The training will be held in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, beginning of May. As a means of service, The EBI will publish the Distance Learning material open for public in a multimedia-based and interactive learning unit.

E4ALL: Training & Meeting in Madrid (ES)

Europaeische Bildungsinitiative 25. November 202110. March 2022 E4ALL, Miscellaneous

The first training of the E4ALL Project took place in Madrid (November 16^th to 18^th) followed by the partner meeting (November 19^th, 2021).

The training focused on three major items:

Structured Democratic Dialogue
Brand and daily habit awareness to decrease CO2 emissions daily
MEDIATION: An introduction

The workshops were closed by a deepening analysis, ideas for the necessary transfer of learning outcome to own work at the sending organizations as the intergenerational adult education staff. A workshop-based session cared for compiling of ideas and to analyze the possible transfer to everyday practice.

An interesting study visit to the Escuela de Hostelería y Turismo completed the insight into the training practice.

Here is a picture album of this appealing transnational mobility.

Miscellaneous