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EPALE - Elektronička platforma za obrazovanje odraslih

Discussion

EPALE Discussion: How can digital learning be used in the Upskilling Pathways initiative?

As part of EPALE’s March focus on digital and e-learning, we would like to hear your views on how digital learning can be used in the Upskilling Pathways initiative.

 

As part of EPALE’s March focus on digital and e-learning, we would like to hear your views on how digital learning can be used in the Upskilling Pathways initiative.

The discussion will be moderated by EPALE’s Thematic Coordinator for Learning Environments, Simon Broek. Don’t miss this opportunity to share with the EPALE community your experience, views and questions about digital learning.

The discussion took place on 23 March 2017 at 2:00pm CET and we covered the following broader questions:

  1. How do we ensure that digital tools have a valuable contribution in providing basic skills for all adults (i.e. making upskilling pathways a reality)?
  2. What is needed at the level of the adult learning professional, the institution level and the policy level?

**This discussion has now beel closed.

Likeme (18)
Oznake
E-learning

Komentar

Interesting point about "national digitalisation"! The New Skills Agenda actually comes with a Digital Skills Coalition - according to the EC, there are currently 17 National Coalitions that are supposed to be large-scale partnerships & cooperations. I think Estonia has made a name for itself in this respect a while ago - I also remember a big initiative "Come along", which trained hundreds of thousands of people on basic&advanced digital skills across the country.

Likeme (2)

I wonder if apps and other digital tools can be used in the other 'steps' on the Upskilling Pathway: for example to check the skills that learners already possess, and highlight the areas where they could learn more...?

Likeme (2)

Just to remind us, the Upskilling Pathway initiative aims to help adults acquire a minimum level of literacy, numeracy and digital skills and/or acquire a broader set of skills by progressing towards an upper secondary qualification or equivalent (level 3 or 4 in the European Qualifications Framework depending on national circumstances).

The three steps proposed in the Upskilling Pathways initiative concern:

  1. a skills assessment to identify existing skills and upskilling needs
  2. a learning offer designed around this assessment
  3. opportunities to have skills acquired validated and recognized

I see a lot of examples on Step 2, but are there also practices on Step 1 and 3?

Likeme (1)

There has been work at the University of Salford and Middlesex University in the UK on developing apps that enable people to have their skills endorsed by peers and employers, so thinking in this area is developing

Likeme (1)

I agree with you, Graciela, and would add another aspect: we cannot leave the app developments (and e-learning in general) to the commercial sector - we need to make sure (like the Austrian case, but also others) that the public and common interest is preserved. Having said that, there are many possibilities of the adult education sector cooperating with technological companies. Our favourite example: Google provided hundreds of tablets to the Volkshochschulen in Saarland for their work with refugees.

Likeme (3)

 

Hi, I'm Andrew one of the platform Thematic Coordinators. It seems to me we've gone through various stages in digital learning.

 

With hardware we've gone from using expensive computers, whiteboards, then laptops, now smart phones, with cost and lack of technical know-how reducing as barriers.

 

With software, we've gone from expensive bespoke educational packages to apps which are much cheaper but with an explosion in content.

 

So we have easy access to lots of stuff. But how do we know what is good quality? Is this something that needs institution level action, policy level action, or action by somebody else?

Is there a trip advisor for digital learning apps?

Likeme (1)

For what I know, there is not a structured approach in countries and the offer depends on the structure of the adult learning system in the country as well. More liberal countries where adult learning is somewhat reliant on private providers, the offer in digital tools can be quite scattered (for instance NL, but UK as well?)

Likeme (0)

I agree Graciela with your points.

To add:

  • We need to ensure teaching staff within all learning environments have the competences to use the tools to deliver the learning experience and know how to adapt those tools to an individual learners needs.
  • Remain observant that digital learning doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be ‘online’ or need the use of the internet/app to gain/upskill your digital skills. Within the workplace here in the UK it is common practice that employees need to be competent in using programmes such as Excel and word.
  • Internet usage – chance to highlight the following publication: ‘Communication – Connectivity for a Competitive Digital Single Market - Towards a European Gigabit Society’ – Better connectivity across Europe. 
Likeme (0)

I envy your MOOC! I wish you would translate it to English. Or maybe I need to use some of the many excellent existing digital tools to learn much more German... :-)

Likeme (2)

Thank you Eva Baloch - some more words about it:

We currently provide that MOOC (massive open online course) for adult learning professionals (adult educators, teachers/trainers, however you prefer to call them). It is called EBmooc (EB=Erwachsenenbildung = adult education) and it already has 2600 participants from many different companies and 3 countries. EBmooc is funded by the Austrian Ministry of Education and free of charge for every learner, and all materials (videos, papers, exercises) are licensed under CC BY. The content is digital tools for adult educators. The target group are adult educators who are not used to work digitally. EBmooc is supported by employers all over Austria who allow their staff to participate in their working hours. We are just in the middle of EBmooc right now, and we really have the feeling to reach a new dimension of CPD when providing it like this.

More about it: /de/blog/startschuss-zum-ebmooc

access to EBmooc (until August 2017): http://imoox.at/wbtmaster/startseite/ebmooc2017.html

more info (German): http://erwachsenenbildung.at/ebmooc/

Likeme (5)

Dear Eva, it is a very interesting initiative. The current discussion focuses more on basic skills acquisition through digital tools, but your comments is of course very much valued as it equips adult educators with the tools to work with digital tools. Could you indicate what are the learning outcomes of the MOOC?

Likeme (0)

There should be made exercises where students have an overview of what is to be learnd and where they can practice practice practice getting immediate feedback on their mistakes.

Likeme (2)

Hi. I'm Paul and I'm an adult learner from the European Commission.

 

I like the idea , mentioned by Graziela, of using smartphone apps. It's a way of starting with something that the learner is already familiar with, and building from there.

But from what I've read, adults value a blended learning approach - so the digital tools can't be the whole answer. They'd need to be intergrated into other learning approaches....

 

Likeme (4)

Hi Paul and thank you for taking part in the discussion today. What you said about blended learning approach reminded me of a very interesting blog post that was recently published on EPALE by Professor Barry Hake. Mr Hake said:

"Regarding outreach and support strategies, researchers conclude that market-led connectivity and digital portals are not the answer to the digital divide. Their recommendations highlight place-specific and community-based outreach strategies based on civic initiatives and community action groups to activate digital ‘citizens’, not digital ‘consumers’."

Likeme (1)

Online learning lose the human touch. Blended learning gives a balance of face-to-face and online learning. The learner would be more engaged in the content when there is an element of face-to-face. Moreover, the educator can provide personalised learning to the learners!

Likeme (2)

I agree that Blended Learning is a very adequate approach for the target group of the Upskilling Pathways.

As always when addressing Adult Learning, we are talking about a heterogeneous target group, multiple needs and a variety of situations.

What we need, I think, is to be aware of the possibilities, guide the teachers to choose the best alternatives, and keep a flexible approach. 

And let us not forget that Adult Learning is about enabling the learner. What better enabling than teaching them to use tools that help them learn by themselves?

Likeme (0)

The use of digital tools for the acquisition of a 2nd language for immigrants is a field in which Norway is currently focusing a great deal of resources. For many newcomers, language and literacy training go hand in hand. They need to practice constantly, much more than the time covered by tuition. Having adequate digital tools to serve this target group, is essential. Until recently, however, digital tools for the learning of the Norwegian language were mostly aimed at learners at university level. This is changing very rapidly, but there is still a great deal of field to cover!

The annual conference of the EBSN this year (Luxembourg, June 1st and 2nd) will be about "Basic Skills for Integration" and we aim at presenting the best examples of useful and affordable digital tools for this target group. Contributions are most welcome! :-)

Likeme (8)

Hi Graciela!

 

So nice to hear that the conference is focusing on that topic this year.

For my research I am currently studying how digital tools/digital learning is implemented in second-language courses for newcomers in Flanders (Belgium) at the centers for adult basic education. Sometimes, no specific 'tools' are necessary, just by using existing websites or applications, teachers are very creative in combining the teaching of language and digital skills.

Likeme (2)

I've copied your email and will write to you - but it may be a good idea to edit your message and remove it. Otherwise you risk it being recorded by spam producers... :-)

Likeme (1)

Example from Lithuania. Association “Langas į ateitį” (“Window to the Future”, http://langasiateiti.epilietis.eu/index.php/en/) summarised its more than 10 years of experience, results and best practices of basic ICT skills training by developing the website www.epilietis.eu (“Lithuania’s e-Citizen”).
This website is developed as e-learning tool for Lithuanian citizens who want to improve their ICT skills and learn how to use public and private e-services. The learning material content presentation is designed for those who need encouragement and help in acquiring ICT skills: most relevant public and private e-services are presented in a simple way, along with useful links, helpful tips, learning material as well as tests for knowledge evaluation.
People can learn on their time, their place and their pace, and acquire skills enabling them to use e-services effectively and – that is a very important aspect – safely.  All material and all training courses provided on this website are free of charge. This product opens e-possibilities for everybody - elderly, low income, or rural community people – to whom other training possibilities are less available. People use it for self-training as well as training tool in communities organising free training courses in public Internet access points based in public libraries. 

Likeme (3)

A very good practice example is the IMPACT project

IMPACT addressed a number of structural, technical and content-related obstacles and challenges that hamper the implementation of VINFL, especially in the adult education and youth sector, but also in rather informal learning fields in school and higher education (e.g. Erasmus+ mobility).

IMPACT also aimed to find solutions to the lack of technical interoperability to address:

  • the missing technical specifications
  • the missing connection to IT-supported learning and assessment systems and OER, such as open source LMS or e-portfolios

The project developed a comprehensive implementation strategy for a combined IT-based open learning space and VINFL.

 

 

Likeme (1)

Hi All

There's a group os us here in Malta we're currently on a training programme which is parts of the ERASMUS+ project Breaking Barriers: Embracing Literacy through Digital media. We are here with partner from Cyprus, Italy, Macedonia and the Netherlands. We have partners from UK and Norway too.

The project focuses on digital tools for adult literacy. 

 

Likeme (9)

We're are currently developing a toolkit to be used by adult educators. The team is working on language competences and designing specific exercises and how to use particular digital tools to plan a lesson. 

Over these two years adult educators have been training in different countries and observing what tools can be used. Training on digital pedagodgies is crucial.

To quote Sjoerd from the Netherlands 'We are still at the very beginning of using digital tools effectively in adult education'. This was part of our discussion this morning as we were analysing our own work and the challenges we face.

 

Likeme (6)

iSmart was initially an LLP project. The findings were very positive. Although we didn't pilot with adult learnings, we are positive that the tool can also help adults.

iSmart is an app (Android and also an Apple (coming soon) where users can customise text, view tasks, send messages etc...The idea is to make it simpler for students (of all ages) who find it difficult to read/write.

A whole list of features can be seen on www.getismart.com/features

Likeme (2)

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