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EPALE discussion: digital skills as a way of accessing learning opportunities

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EPALE Moderator

As part of our April-June 2020 focus on Digital skills as a way of accessing learning opportunities, EPALE is organising an online discussion.

EPALE Online Discussion Digital Skills.

 

As part of our April-June 2020 focus on Digital skills as a way of accessing learning opportunities, EPALE is organising an online discussion.

The large number of adults with poor basic digital skills represents a major obstacle in achieving an inclusive society and reducing social inequalities. Too few adults have access to adult learning resources, and this has a real impact on their personal development and employment prospects.

Providing adult-specific teaching methods to help trainers to become more effective in their work requires specialised training and continuous professional development geared towards adult-specific teaching strategies.

Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced everyone to adapt to new ways of working and pushed adult educators to explore and adopt new online tools and techniques to allow them continue their training and learning activities.  

The discussion will take place on this page on 27 May between 10:00 and 16:00 CET and will be moderated by EPALE Thematic Coordinator Altheo Valentini and by EPALE Content Assistant Claudia D'Eramo.

► Share your stories, tips, case studies and good practices with the EPALE community!

Also, if you’ve ever been involved in successful projects, or if you have developed any relevant methodologies – share your story with the other participants in the comments below!

The discussion on 27 May will include the following topics:

  • digital inclusion
  • barriers to digital access
  • distance learning
  • how to reshape adult education at the times of Covid-19

► Comments will be open on 20 May so participants can introduce themselves or post their comments in advance.

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Clibeanna
Basic skills
Digital inclusion
E-learning
Teaching methods

Nóta tráchta

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Vincent CARUANA
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 10:50

The COVID-19 era has  put forward important challenges with respect to sustainability and well being. My main interest is in how to reshape adult education at the times of Covid-19, in particular adult education for sustainable development. Clearly in times of isolation we need more support, and from my research and work, peer mentoring can be an important tool in providing and receiving such support. See also:   https://peerment.eu/
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Digital inclusion is the ability of individuals  to access and use information and communication technologies. It is very important to serve everybody the opportunity to have internet and use it properly. The bacis needs in the past were food, water, home and clothes, However ,today, we can add this list internet. Many of us need it to handle our many works from communication to entertainment. Therefore, digital inclusion should cover all the people around the world. Some countries has no internet connection nor computer, smart phone to reach digital apps. additionally, some people in most of the countries are digital illiterate, they don't have digital skills and they are dependent to the others who know to use digital facilities. Authorities should be sure about digital inclusion; everybody has the chance to reach internet and the digital capacities. 
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I totally agree with you but I think that digital inclusion is very hard to implement because not everybody can effort a laptop or internet connection so who is going to pay for those laptops and internet connections. Therefore I believe that we should start with teaching the digital skills so that the people know how to work with a laptop and know how to use the internet properly.
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Johanni LARJANKO
Community Collaborator (Silver Member).
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 11:42

If we start with a mobile first approach and design our learning offers for smartphones we will reach a lot more people in the EU than if we only offer computer/laptop based access. To me learning by doing is better than learning about (the internet, digital skills, literacy etc). There are a lot of solutions and examples of how harnessing this technology can help reach also vulnerable groups.
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I totally agree, I think that laptops are rather expensive, but I also believe that we should start with teaching the digital skills, because it is very topical and will become even more important years later. In my opinion, technologies are slowly taking over.
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Hélène Paumier
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 11:43

In France, the government supports training in digital skills, thanks in particular to the "digital pass". The digital pass is a device that takes the form of a book of several vouchers, which can be used to finance digital support in a partner structure.  50,000 vouchers have been distributed to people in a situation of digital precariousness. The objective in 2020 is to distribute 1 million vouchers. 
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Dear Helene, 
I am impressed by the French government's efforts to support people in this situation. I think this movement will have long term good outcomes. Adults will be learning ''lifelong education'' and experiencing the facilities of digital world. 
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Hi there!
I totally agree with you regarding the digital inclusion issue. 
Being able to use electronic devices (such as computers, tablets, phones or the internet) is not necessarily the biggest barrier people face when it comes to the digital world. As you mentioned the root of the problem is in many cases the fact, that a lot of people still don't have access to those things. But I agree with you, that accessibility of digital devices and internet connection should be a worldwide thing and should be taken care of in order to enable international online communication and interaction.
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Zintis Buls
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 11:12

A greeting from Latvia!
I would like to spotlight the issue of digital skills among the elderly. Here in the city of Jelgava we regularly promote and execute courses and seminars aimed at this specific area. The most recent ones being a 16 hour free course on digital basics (typing, searching for information, photography and the preservation of digital photos, online shopping etc.) (91 learners in 2018/2019) and a shorter 2 hour seminar on the tips for smartphone use in everyday life, which took place on the Digital week 2019 (15 learners).
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Do lots of eldery people participate in those courses? Because in my country lots of eldery people don`t won`t to be a part in this digital world because they say that they don`t need it and they don`t see the benefits in the digital world. On the one hand I think that this is alright that they won`t participate in it but on the other hand what happens to those people when we have more digitalization than analog working. In my opinion we should promote those digital world and show the benefits and give nearly everybody a general know - how of how it works.
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Dear Katja, you are Right: some People do not see the need to learn about digital devices or programmes. But they usually like to talk to their grandchildren via skype, send pictures or receive them, want to watch a video, or else. So it is important to offer opportunities for them to learn what and as much as they find useful. (Goes with every subject, I think!). Computer Clubs with open access and a pay-as-you-come method often do the trick! Those were my best experience in this area! 
Heike 
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I agree with you. Older people in my country would reject this education and they would say '' it is tall order to expect an older person to learn digital skills.'' We should make them believe they can larn whenever they want, regardless of their age. They need to learn it, they know it is important. We may motivate them to do it.  
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Hi Zintis!
Thanks for sharing the efforts Jelgava is doing to enhance digital skills among the elderly. This is such an interesting topic and something we'll focus in the next few months on EPALE.

If you want to have a look at similar experiences across Europe, you may be interested in the Community Stories of our EPALE members from Serbia (Milica Buha) and Finland (Juhani Pörtfors and Matti Sarvirant) who promoted digital inclusion among older people.

Claudia D'Eramo, EPALE Moderator
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Greeting from Turkey,
I found it incredible. I wish this application was carried out in Turkey. Most of the older people are far away from digital skills. They are dependent on their children or grandchildren to handle with digital things. Unfortunately, there are even some people who can't start pc. Therefore, it is very beneficial and practical, I think. 
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Very interesting and great initiative. It is important that these courses are adjusted to the specific needs of the elderly. I find photopgraphy and preservation of digital photos and online shopping a good fit for this group of people, as it meets them in their daily needs. 
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Christine Bertram
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 10:40

The MEDEA Project has developed a competence framework as well as a model for individuals to acquire and expand competences needed for the digital workplace in self-organised learning formats. The article is currently only available in Germany, but I'm sure there's a friendly online translator that can help, if you are interested. ;-)

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Hi Altheo,

I wouldn't be able to tell you as I was not involved with the project. It was funded by the German Ministry for Education and Science and has been run by a reserach based consortium. So I would not be surprised if they had taken existing frameworks into consideration
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Hi all,

In the Future Teacher project we have developed a thermometer (questionnaire), Compass (individual learning route) and associated journeys (e-modules) on 3 levels.  The entire project is based on DigCompEdu.   I work for Toll-net in Flanders and I'm the project coordinator of the Future Teacher project.  We work on this project together with the UK, NL and Norway.  The entire project is up to date on https://www.futureteacher.eu/.  We run each month a webinar about one topic of the DigCompEdu in UK, The Netherlands and Belguim. 

Regards,
Katrien


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Peter Maľa
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 10:46

Hi, I'm Peter, EPALE ambassador an lecturer from Slovakia. The Association of Lecturers and Career Advisers in Slovakia offers free online videos, presentations, articles and e-books on its website. They are intended for all lecturers and career counselors who are interested in further developing their knowledge and skills (not only during the COVID-19 pandemic). All resources are available in Slovak language. 

Videos: Marketing Strategy, Teamwork, Presentation Mistakes, Presentation Tools - Prezi, Videos of different types of interviews and activities from career counseling. 
Presentations: Active Listening, Assertiveness,Time Management, Business Meetings Etiquette, Conflict Resolution, Sales Skills, Presentation Skills, Teamwork , Lecturer Skills and many more. 
Articles: Androdidactics, Performance Curve and its Influence on Lecturer and Group Dynamics, Time Management in Lecturer's Work, Learning Styles and many more. 
E-books: Lecturer, Games and Activities in Adult Education, Career Counseling, How To Write a Project, How to Develop a Business Plan, Lecturer Skills.

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Sylvia de Groot Heupner
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 10:32

My name is Sylvia de Groot Heupner, EPALE-ambassadeur from the Netherlands. I have written a blog about the role of language volunteers and their support towards migrants during the current crisis. How do volunteers manage to maintain in contact with migrants and refugees? What are good example and why does it work? If you have best practices from your country, please let me know.
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Dear Sylvia, same in Germany. At a very early stage, volunteers were not allowed to meet with their language groups, because of the virus. But some switched to whatsapp, giving small tasks for learning each day, they already had installed the whole group as a whatsapp community. You can telefone too on whatsapp. But as a volunteer it is hard and there are no precedents how to do that.
Heike
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Ramon Mangion
Community Hero (Gold Member).
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 10:22

HI there, I am Ramon Mangion, Deputy Director-Apprenticeship &WBL at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology and also EPALE Ambassador for Malta. 
I think that many were not prepared for such a transition to online learning and thus acted in a reactive manner. This is not a simple on / off switch. Rightly so, there are different barriers to technological inclusions. Furthermore there are different platforms available. I know of cases were the same group had different teachers/trainers, but each trainer was using a different platform. This obviously got learners to become confused since they had to access different platforms. I am not saying that trainers should be limited in their use of available tools, but there should be more coordination, particularly if different people are teaching the same group.

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Hi, Ramon, I see that too in Germany. And I think if schools had reacted earlier and set up plattforms in the previous years, that would have avoided this confusion. The German Volkshochschulen (Adult Education Centers, 900 in GermanY) invented a common plattform, the VHS Cloud, some 4 years ago and it was developed and finished just in time, late last year. Now every Volkshochschule can use that platform to run their online courses. I think one GOOD system should be enough in one organisation. 
Heike 
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Dear Ramon,

Students of my country had the same issues with the different plattforms and tools. They got very confused and a little bit angry with our professors because they have received lots of information through different tools and plattforms. It would be nice for the students if the teachers/trainers could agree on two or three plattforms/ tools, so that they don`t get confused and so they can organize their learning materials and tasks better.
In addition to that I also think that we are not prepared to switch online learning on and off because online learning needs time to develop and to get started. However I believe that the more often we have to change to online learning, it goes better and better but we have to think about the technical inclusion. What can we do with students who don`t have acess to online learning? How can we develop online learning according to a good learning outcome?
katja
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Hello Ramon, I totally agree with you.
The rapid (and necessary) transition from face-to-face learning to digital learning opportunities has meant that no structures could be developed. Neither technical structures for platforms and tools nor structures for the design of digital learning settings. Here in Germany, for example, a lot of work was done with conference tools. Mostly the tool was used which the teachers knew or which was available at a reasonable price. Platforms were not always used, but entire seminar days were conducted with conference tools. This was quite exhausting for many participants. It might have been better to choose a mixture of independent, asynchronous work on one platform and synchronous work with conference tools.
Sometimes - as you described - platforms were used that were currently available.
I hope that we will gradually get more structure and select the tools and possibilities used according to pedagogical criteria and target groups. And I also hope that we put a lot of energy into the didactic design of digital learning offers.
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Peter Baláž
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 10:09

Hello from Slovakia - as an active EPALE member here in Slovakia, I am also a coordinator of an NGO called "Edukácia@Internet" - our main aim to create a better world! - and so the goal is to deliver free educational websites - mainly to learn languages, but not only. We worked on Cyberbullying as well: www.cyberhelp.eu and right now - we are preparing a brand new portal in Slovak to teach the basics of ICT skills! www.pocitacprekazdeho.sk (PC for all) :) The whole content is with free licence (so if anybody wishes to translate it or use it, it is absolutely OK :). This last project was funded by our Ministry od education, our other projects https://ikso.net/projects/ are mainly supported by Erasmus. So yes, the ICT is veeeery useful and needed in 2020 (and farther in the whole 21st century).
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ANNABELLA DI FINIZIO
Community Contributor (Bronze Member).
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 10:43

Thank you Héléne i can share it with my franphone students as my ICT collegue who teaches them some basics cannot speak French. So this might be helpful 
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Heike Kölln-Prisner
Community Contributor (Bronze Member).
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 10:07

After what we have seen in the previous weeks and (in Germany) especially yesterday I think one of the main competences that has to be improved in both teachers and students is critical thinking, especially in the light of an Information overload and the way some "interested Groups" manipulate the stream of Information coming to you. It causes anxiety, stress.
And this not just a topic in political education, but in health education and many other fields too. 
Heike

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Dear Heike,

I totally agree with you that it is important that we teach with critical thinking with digital competences because students should not adopt information that is written in the media because of manipulation. We have to teach them how to think critically and show them how to recognise fake news and where to find solide information about certain topics.
Katja
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Hi, Katja, I agree, the German Association of Adult Education (DVV) has developed a toolkit to use for courses (on- or offline) teaching critical thinking: how to detect fake news, how to evaluate facts and opinions. I think this should start at an early age, because even with little kids there can be misconceptions.
Heike
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Totally agree. We also need to start engaging them in this process (and discussion) earlier. For "grown" adults there need to be different ways to approach this topic. Possibly in the workplace as well.
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Precisely, Heike! Critical thinking as an element of the 4Cs is an enormously important competence! This video is very helpful for the understanding of critical thinking and the other 3Cs - creativity, collaboration and communication! And with it goes the question of how learning spaces must be designed in order to develop these competences! Is there any experience with it?

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Maximilian Welter
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 12:20

Hi folks, the digital literacy debate is not new. And yet it is still relevant. We need new (or better: contemporary) formats in adult education to provide teachers and learners with learning spaces to develop these competences. I think both DigCompEdu and 21st Century Skills have already laid a good foundation on which we can build. Blended learning formats can be such learning spaces. Blended Learning is not new, but the challenges of a contemporary design are still relevant. We are currently experimenting with open, collaborative blended learning formats. I have collected my thoughts and experiences on this blog here. Have a look. I am looking forward to your feedback! 
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Hi Maximilian,
thanks a lot for your contribution to the online discussion!
Can you please check the link of your blog and post it again? It looks like the last part is missing and the page does not open.

Best regards
Altheo, EPALE Moderator
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Hi, I am Benjamin Kall, Sales Engineer at EdgeCom a.s. Our company is developing innovative software applications focused on VR education, mainly in industry and utilities area. We are trying to teach specialized and complicated processes using virtual and augmented reality. In these complicated times it is important to find new ways to give people access to learning opportunities. Virtual reality offers wide range of solutions in every field of education. We can copy almost every process or task from the real life and put it in the VR. Just recently, we moved our trainings, that previously required in physical training centers, to cloud. This gives our customers opportunity to train from home, without extensive hardware requirements. EdgeCom also recently made multiple trainings applications focused on hygiene, disinfection, and pandemic related safety, to promote usage of virtual technologies in this area.
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Andreas Koreimann
Wed, 05/27/2020 - 09:20

We are pleased that this year's EPALE Thematic Conference will be held in a digital way on Zoom, due to the circumstances surrounding COVID-19. EPALE Online Conference 2020: The role of adult education in fostering environmental awareness and sustainability, 17 and 18 June 2020. Next to exciting online key notes, the hosts of all Workshops which were originally designed for a face to face setting agreed to hold their workshops online. We are convinced that this conference will be a true learning experience for participants and speakers as well.

This conference will be held partly in English, especially on the first day of the conference. By offering the conference digitally, we are hoping that even more adult educators from all over Europe will be able to participate, so please spread the word!

The conference will look at the contribution of adult education to promoting environmental awareness. In the light of COVID-19 we want to raise awareness that overcoming the economic crisis and sustainable environmental protection are not opposites, but ideally go hand in hand.
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