<< Background >>Our project EDUCATE is designed to support adult education organisations in 6 countries (LT, LV, GR, IT, HU, TR) and across Europe in their efforts to deliver inclusive education, especially in the field of digital literacy, which is crucial for the employability of their target groups. This will be achieved both through providing with useful and accessible materials, which they can immediately introduce to their work (in the face of the EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit) and through the creation of a network of adult educators, which exchanges best practices (certified according to a specific set of criteria to be developed) and fosters cooperation (through the EDUCATE Interactive hub).Adult education is a key tool for boosting economic, as well as personal growth, and is an indispensable tool for improving the lives of disadvantaged people and reducing inequalities across the board. Yet, as a 2019 report by the European Association for the Education of Adults shows, countries across Europe are struggling with supporting adult educators in different manners. From low levels of participation (especially in Lithuania), stagnation in the incorporation of innovative practices, to lack of inclusivity and lack of consistency from government policies, adult education providers face numerous hurdles to their effective work. The field now more than ever has the chance and needs its actors to be connected and united in the push for its own transformation, evolution and blossoming.The best approach in transformation of traditional adult education methods is through digitalisation, as well as through efforts, which ensure sustaining and monitoring of constant high quality. Improving digital literacy means proactively using or addressing digital media and technology in education, which ensures inclusiveness for adult learners, what is more it contributes indirectly to the development of their digital competencies. Digital technology has implications for adult literacy; therefore, it is essential to adapt how and what adults learn.Alongside the opportunities that digital adult education offers, there is also a lack of confidence, competence, strategic planning and investment to enable the lifelong learning sector to fully embrace these developments. For that reason, EDUCATE aims to increase capacity of the adult education sector to engage with these two areas through recognition, connection, and useful practical materials. EDUCATE also creates opportunities to raise the profile of and showcase the value of digital adult education, aimed at adult learners with no general skills, low qualifications, or other disadvantaged groups.<< Objectives >>EDUCATE aims to promote quality adult education through supporting open and innovative practices in a digital era. The project objectives could be summarised as follows:– Share certification and guidance for high-quality adult education practice across Europe leading to improved practice and innovation within the European lifelong learning community;– Create effective opportunities for connection, collaboration and mutual learning between adult educators;– Build capacity of adult educators to respond to digitalisation through training that meets their needs, based on monitoring and sustainability approach;– Improve planning and development of digital literacy education of high-quality lifelong learning strategies through increasing awareness and digital methodological skills of adult educators and lifelong learning organisations staff for requirements and best practices for practical application;– Raise awareness of digital adult education within the lifelong learning sector and to policy makers and funders nationally and EU-wide.The target groups for the project are:- Adult educators - the main task of EDUCATE will be to benefit this target group. - Adult learners – the project will promote digital literacy of adult learners through educational methods using digital technologies.<< Implementation >>1. EDUCATE Interactive hub2. EDUCATE Certification of quality3. EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit4. Training adult educators<< Results >>The expected outcomes during the EDUCATE implementation and in the conclusive stage can be outlined in two main categories, highlighting both quantitative and qualitative aspects, as follows:Tangible results:1. EDUCATE Interactive hub that includes platform and a co-creation virtual space in 6 partner languages and in English (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)2. EDUCATE Certification of quality in 6 partner languages and in English (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)3. EDUCATE Sustainability & Monitoring toolkit in 7 language versions (EN,LT,LV,GR,IT,HU,TR)4. 12 adult educators from partner organisations trained to deliver digital adult education recognised as high-quality to adult learners with no general skills, low qualifications, or other disadvantaged groups (2 from each partner country)5. 120 stakeholders and policy-makers from partner countries will be involved in co-creation process and they will be informed of project results and invited to sustain the EDUCATE Interactive hub through 3 Multiplier events6. 4200 partner staff members, target groups and stakeholders on both national and European levels informed of project results through dissemination activities carried out during the whole project life cycle7. Project social media profiles - Facebook and Instagram accounts for adult learners and the wider public and LinkedIn professional group for adult educators and other relevant practitioners8. 30 info items related to project goals and results, published on the online platform and social media profiles within project lifetime9. Project management documents - Implementation plan, Quality Assurance plan, Risk management strategy, Dissemination and exploitation plan, Interim progress reports, and Final report.10. Other documents - research synthesis reports, visual identity guidelines, events agenda templates, feedback forms, online statistic reports.Intangible results:1. Adult learners will improve their:- awareness of their qualifications and guidance, mentoring, and further opportunities for adult education;- engagement in the social life of their local communities;- recognition of adult education means to increase the engagement of other adult learners from disadvantaged groups and facilitate their participation;- knowledge and skills of digital literacy through the EDUCATE Interactive hub and open-educational materials.2. Adult educators and lifelong learning organisations staff will improve their:- knowledge and skills in delivering digital adult education as innovate practice through the use of digital technology and media to actually engage adult learners from differentcommunities with the aim of personal and professional development;- skills in using digital adult education tools;- skills in planning, designing, and evaluating digital adult education;- motivation and skills to engage in international collaboration work with other adult educators in;- different skills in the field of community-building and maintaining a diverse and inclusive network or adult education initiative.3. Other partners’ staff will improve their:- awareness on planning, designing, and implementing adult education with recognised certification for high quality;- motivation to use the EDUCATE Interactive hub and engage in the project activities.4. Other stakeholders (adult education providers, lifelong learning platforms, mentoring communities) will improve their:- awareness as to the methodological aspects of engagement of adult learners from different communities;- understanding of the benefits of high-quality education for enhancing and facilitating the environment for sustainable lifelong learning organisations across Europe;- cooperation prospects with peer organisations from different countries and sectors.5. National and EU policymakers will improve their:- evidence base to promote, multiply and mainstream high-quality adult education;- understanding of the needs for strategic investment in adult education

In the post-COVID-10 era, Europe has to keep up with innovative ideas to ensure a sustainable and inclusive recovery. “If we choose to hold on to the innovator’s path…we have to focus on people, places and processes.” (European Political Strategy Centre Strategic Notes, 2017)In the last months, we witnessed the creation of a stronger sense of community and people supporting each other and their communities. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, supporting communities and people and promoting their development is essential. The partners of the Count Me In project focused on improving learning opportunities for low-skilled adults, especially from the disadvantaged groups, such as unemployed young people and adults with special needs to improve their life chances, promote their inclusion, and connect members of a community to support it flourishing. The main objectives of the project were to: 1) support development of a quality learning offer in the field of adult education focusing on learning outcomes and learner responsibility and autonomy; 2) promote the use of technology in educational and civil participation processes, 3) provide all interested stakeholders – adult learners, educational centres, civil organisations, decision-makers - with an access to open and innovative teaching/learning tools through the SMART platform; 4) foster the international cooperation of organisations active in adult education and civil participation focusing on active inclusion of the youth and people with special needs.Employing technology maximizes teaching /learning efficiency, encourage active participation of the disadvantaged groups in society processes and, consequently, make them able to better their environment – on personal and community level - transforming it into smart. Even basic digital competences combined with imagination empower ordinary people to design solutions for problems in their environment, making it smarter, conserving resources, and optimizing free time. The project partners sought to raise curiosity of adult learners about the world; help them to understand that they are a main chain in the change process; plant the seeds of the knowledge sharing best practices and working out new creative solutions. Within the project, the partnership 1) designed a SMART platform, an open education resource; 2) designed and deployed a training for trainers and an e-course for adult educators in order to improve their digital and professional competences; 3) designed an e-course for adult learners and organise piloting in partner countries targeting young people and people with special needs in order to improve their digital skills and civic literacy to be able to make “smart” changes; 4) improved attractiveness and access of the disadvantaged groups to new career paths in the field of digital technologies and sustainable community developmentThe strategical partnership pursued the creation of an international network where the partners were able to share information on Smart practices on personal/community levels to find cost-saving tech-solutions. The project was carried out transnationally in order to acquire already contrasted knowledge and, thus, to be able to adapt and apply this synthesized knowledge for future actions on personal/community levels. The developed transversal and longitudinal courses created synergies between knowledge fields. The results of the project are available on the website www.countmein.eu. The developed SMART platform provides an open access to teaching and learning materials for both adult learners and adult educators or volunteers working in this field. All the teaching and learning materials were developed in English and partner languages and are freely accessible for anybody interested in the topic.

CONTEXTCovid-19 crisis has disrupted the education process especially in VET, where digital readiness was not uniform. While remote learning offers some educational continuity, VET sector has been hardly hit by the crisis (The impact of covid-19 on education, OECD report). However, increase is foreseen in the generated value and growth rate until 2027 in TVET in Europe (Report Ocean market research, Sept.2020). Current and next generation of trainers and workers needs to be more tech savvy, as ICT skills are required to offer & receive education & training. Digital natives are not necessarily digital literate. VET centers need to monitor and improve the quality of the provided training, in order to reach digital readiness that is becoming even more necessary today. VET centers/teachers need to adapt/act quickly, supporting learners from remote areas, offering blended teaching and promoting a safer, more responsible and ethical use of digital technology. However, everyone seems to focus on online tools, evaluation and examination methods, but there is no framework to assess the digital readiness at VET level. Even the online survey launched by the European Commission demonstrates this gap. The EFQM Model combined with the capabilities offered by the Digital Competence Framework can serve as a basis for this process. VET centers and trainers will be allowed to identify the key criteria they need to focus, according to their strategic objectives. There is already a map of the previous EFQM Model with EQAVET that can serve as a basis for this effort. The project will support opportunities for trainers and experts to acquire key competences in assessing digital education readiness. It will also support the professional development of educators and foster actions supporting high-quality and innovative assessment, combined with the deployment and evaluation of digital tools. OBJECTIVESGeneral objective: offer a methodology for a quality plan to VET centers and trainers for them to: 1) adopt a quality-centric point of view for their services and internal operations, 2) address digital education readiness issue, 3) assess training methods’ adaptability, 4) assess quality of online/distance/blended learning in the post covid-19 era. Main objectives:-understand more deeply the digital education readiness status in the VET sector;-assess a mixture of Quality Assurance (QA) methods and models and provide the novel Q4EDU framework;-prepare the ECVET curriculum for an expert and develop a novel methodology for specialised training. -develop training content, keeping in mind the quality criteria and performance indicators;-develop the Digital Readiness Assessment Tool that incorporates the proposed Q4EDU framework, perform trials and assess results, - develop Policy Recommendation/Guidelines document.NEEDS / PROBLEM TO BE ADDRESSEDVET trainers need to:-acquire key competences and be properly prepared to respond to new challenges in VET raised by the emergence of covid-19;-be able to adapt and act quickly, supporting learners from remote areas, offering blended teaching and promoting a safer, more responsible and more ethical use of digital technology; -be provided with methodologies to evaluate training methods and courses (i.e. online, blended and distance learning);-learn how to ‘value’ the use of new technologies and workflows in their trainings;-upskill with new competences.VET providers (i.e. managers and professionals) need:-updated curricula and attractive portfolios, engaging various education methods (online/distance/blended learning) adapted to emerging conditions;-to adapt/act quickly, supporting learners from remote areas, offering blended teaching and promoting safer, more responsible and ethical use of digital technology;-to employ specialised and highly trained trainers;-to provide additional courses tailored to trainees' needs.VET students need to:-be better prepared for challenging future careers enjoying inclusive nature of learning opportunities;-be provided with high-quality VET services.TARGET GROUPSVET trainers who want to be familiarised with high quality assessment of mixed/online/distance learning courses are mainly targeted and thus supported to enhance their digital readiness capabilities. Secondary target groups include VET professionals (e.g consultants, managers etc.) who want to evaluate the digital readiness of their organisation, as this is important for their competitiveness and sustainability. The project intends to outreach to more than 200 VET providers/trainers/trainees, more than 200 participants in multiplier events belonging to the defined target groups, at least 600 stakeholders at conferences/dissemination events and at least 5000 audience overall.

<< Objectives >>-Ensure effective project coordination to align with ERASMUS+ requirements -Introduce non-formal learning opportunities in the form of extra-curricular activities as purported by the 2018 Digital Action Plan to provide VET teachers and students with a comprehensive training pack through the creation of 3D4DEAF@SOCIAL HUBS-Identify and equip individuals with SE skills to turn social needs into entrepreneurial plans-Ensure exploitation of results and well-through promotional strategies<< Implementation >>-Design and implement vital activities to ensure financial, management and quality coordination throughout the project period-Development of practical and essential results to offer a training programme on 3D and Social entrepreneurship to be applied in schools that responds to digital demands and ensures social and labour inclusion for people with deafness/hearing impairments . -Development of a CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM AND MOBILE APP: e-LEARNING, e-ASSESSMENT, e-COMMUNITY AND 3D4<< Results >>1.Digital tools:-CLOUD-BASED PLATFORM e-LEARNING, e-ASSESSMENT, e-COMMUNITY AND 3D4DEAF ENTREPRENEURS NETWORK-MOBILE APP for m-learning2.Training Material-Comparative Index & Practical Guidebook -Dual Competence Framework-Dual Educational Pack3. Training Mobilities:-VET TRAINERS IN-SERVICE TRAINING -WORKSHOPS4. Exploitation Activities and Results:-Recommendation Strategy-3D4DEAF@SOCIAL HUBS METHODOLOGY-ACTION PLAN FOR VET SCHOOLS-Dissemination and Exploitation Plan-Events

CONTEXTThe 1Point project aims to transform a standard quality assurance method and information security process used in the industry into a creative and innovative training methodology for the VET sector. Our focus is the training of future maintenance professionals in order to improve IT skills, foster employability and develop innovative thinking. The training course will be designed in accordance with high quality VET standards in order to meet the labour market needs.The next generation of industry workers should be tech savvy, but VET programs and teaching methodologies have not caught up yet. 1Point will promote a work-based learning approach and the acquisition of concrete knowledge and skills. Therefore, training with the 1Point methodology will support participants to carry out and reflect on tasks that are directly connected to their future workplace (vocational context). The methodology will include the use of modern ICT technologies, accessible from different mobile devices (e.g. tablets, laptops) and will include gamification aspects (badges, missions). In this way, the 1Point lesson model creates benefits for VET providers, trainers, learners and the industry.MAIN OBJECTIVES1Point will identify current needs and key competences for maintenance professionals. Further, it will develop training content and contribute to a curriculum. Additionally, it will develop the 1Point methodology, a virtual Learning Motivation Environment, a skills and achievements framework and trainer guidelines.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTSThe partnership comprises 6 partners from 5 countries: 2 VET providers, a consultancy, an ICT-SME specialised in maintenance, a European non-profit association on digital learning and a national research institute for VET. The project is targeted to VET trainers and VET students of the maintenance area, but will also pay particular attention to low-skilled maintenance professionals and trainees through continuing VET. It intends to form digitally skilled maintenance workers that are close to the market and aware of their future operational environment. Additionally, it wants to enrich the continuing training of the educational staff, by enabling them to create, use or modify attractive digital learning content. Finally, professionals and trainees requiring upskilling will able to improve their digital skills and, thus, will become more “employable”, competitive and innovative.ACTIVITIES1Point project will develop, transform, test, evaluate, improve and disseminate an innovative training framework comprising a new methodology along with an online training course. Based on these results, 1Point will provide a learning motivation environment, a skills and achievements framework, trainer guidelines as well as a validation and recognition plan.METHODOLOGYThe methodology proposed by the 1Point project is used under the Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) approach in industries operating at World Class Manufacturing level. It has not been applied yet in the field of VET, nor anywhere else in formal educational settings. Our project proposes an innovative training concept that will allow the transfer and implementation of the 1Point methodology within formal and informal educational settings of the VET sector (VET centres and industry), enabling not only trainers to organise concrete knowledge information in concentrated and digital modular pieces, but also trainees and professionals to gain and claim ownership of the knowledge they acquire. The content-development and course preparation will be based on the results of an analysis of current learning needs and digital skills-gap and a comparative analysis of current maintenance-training offers. The training methodology will be developed through adaptive transformation of the 1Point methodology for the field of VET with focus on the specialities of the maintenance topic. The Learning Motivation Environment will be a responsive web application, accessible from different mobile devices (e.g. tablets, laptops) and will include gamification aspects (badges, missions).RESULTS AND IMPACT1Point will develop a new methodology (1Point) for the VET sector that will systematically prepare maintenance professionals. It will define the ECVET Curriculum of the Maintenance Expert and will design and develop a virtual Learning Motivation Environment fostering the use of ICT applications. Further, it will develop a skills and achievements framework and a set of trainer guidelines. Finally, it will develop one validated VET programme for maintenance professionals boosting key digital competences.POTENTIAL LONGER-TERM BENEFITS1Point will promote the organisation of knowledge in ways more suitable for the labour market and the competence-development of VET trainers. It wants to match the demand for training with supply and give better access to lifelong training for certain groups, and so support a competitive and innovative society.