EPALE - Elektronička platforma za obrazovanje odraslih

at the moment we are working in a close group, but we plan to open it after the first mobility activity in Finland in April

The numbers of uneducated adult migrants or with low educational background and literacy level who attend L2 courses at our state Adult Education Centres are high and have risen over the past few years. In this situation the demands that L2 education for adult migrants puts on teachers are very hard.
Traditional methods in foreign language teaching are not adequate to the needs of these lower educated and skilled learners who tend to quit if they regard their learning process unsuccessful. However, most migrants are already familiar with ICT and have informally acquired digital skills, which help them with their integration in society.
The Regional Education Department of Friuli Venezia Giulia is the project leader and the partners are four state Adult Education Centres in the region and the private Adult Longlifelearning Centre called Università della Liberetà del Friuli Venezia Giulia. The needs of these educational institutions in terms of quality teaching can be identified with the EQAVET criteria:
- train teachers in the use of ICT for the integration of foreign learners, in particular, uneducated immigrant learners and for personalized, individual and flexible learning (EQAVET 2);
- help the weaker members of the migrant population achieve results with their L2 learning taking into consideration their special needs and improving their digital skills (EQAVET 8).
The aims of the mobility plan, which takes into consideration the above mentioned needs, are the following:
- improve the teachers’ skills in the use of ICT for the integration of foreign learners;
- improve the teachers’ skills in the use of different ICT-based resources, in particular, e-learning;
- make teachers of different subjects aware of the importance of the use of ICT-based learning for the integration of foreign learners and successful learning;
- improve the teachers’ skills in the observation and in the evaluation of the learners’ informally acquired digital skills, giving them credits in their personal study plans;
The mobility plan is divided into two phases:
1) teacher training activities in the use of ICT for the integration of foreign students. The teachers involved in the project will attend a training course to learn about teaching methods and integrating ICT in L2 education. In this part of the programme the following activities will also be organized: improving teachers’ linguistic skills, the use of ICT tools in the state Adult Education Centres, in cooperation with the University of Udine in Friuli Venezia Giulia.;
2) Training courses for teachers and job shadowing in centres or schools that have experience with European projects, in particular, on integrating ICT in L2 education. The teachers will work in small groups (4-5 teachers per group). In this phase dissemination seminars will also take place on the topics dealt by during the workshops.
The institutions engaged in education that take part in this European project will have the chance to improve their didactical methods and adult learning approaches and get new ideas in planning and programming educational activities by documenting and sharing effective and innovative practices.
All this sustained international cooperation, with a view to capacity-building in different areas of adult education, will have a strong effect on Italian Adult Education Centres, which have recently been reformed.
The area of adult education that will be developed in the project deals with the role of ICT technologies for the equity and inclusion of adult learners and the evaluation of the learners’ informally acquired skills giving special priority to disadvantaged groups. In addressing their needs adult learning approaches should be based on people’s own culture and values, as in the UNESCO Recommendations on Adult Education 2015.
This mobility project will offer the participants many opportunities to develop and implement comprehensive, inclusive and integrated policies from a lifelong learning perspective, disseminating effective practices and lessons learnt in the Adult Centres in the region, Friuli Venezia Giulia, through peer tutoring and mentoring.
Moreover, specific mapping of the teachers’ skills in teaching adults – as in the project – will be carried out to safeguard the implementation and duration of policies, based on the recognition of the importance of adult education in general and of disadvantaged learners, in particular.
Learning materials will be produced and shared among teachers of other schools

Yes, I would like to write a blog post about it in English for you, it is a very interesting project. 

Unfortunately I could not find a website, but in this presentation you can find more information about the project, it is called KANSAS: https://www.bibb.de/dokumente/pdf/a3_alphadekade_auftakt_vortrag-schrad…

Trainer’s qualification is of course important, but we cannot expect that they are aware of all trends and tools in e-Learning. So my addition is that technical/learning designer support for trainers and teachers should be essential. 

what's the benefit of cooperation with providers and companies? And what goal do you hit by cooperating?

you are so right Brian... and often the individual learners are very alone (which is of course also a stereotype about digital learning ;-))

Dear Graciela, I think that 2600 participants (adult ducators) in AT are already "masses" for a rather small country. It is possible whith the cooperation of many stakeholders and providers all over a country... (we expected 150 in our project proposal! there is a huge interest...)

Move from MOOC to MOLE; Oui ! Let us move from a logic of transmission of contents to a dynamics of accompanied learning activities.

Hello Graciella,

I agree what you say about Massive. When the source is open it is good enough. Perhaps the use of the word Massive is to emphasize on the fact that it is open for everybody.

More important is that we start to think (and to produce) about non linear courses. This is one of the things we should change in education using digital tools.

Me too !