<< Objectives >>Digi-CCI project aims to increase digital capacities of youth workers working in the field of CCI to enable them to catch-up with today's technology and trends in their youth work. The project aims to ensure capacity development for youth workers working in the field of CCIs and CCI youth and professionals to increase the quality of youth work in this field.<< Implementation >>We will have a 6-day international pilot training for trainers in Norway with 15 youth workers from all partners for the Digi-CCI Training Programme that will be established within the project. There will also be an online training, a shorter 16-hour compact version of the training programme and it will be implemented with 30 youth workers from all partners countries. We will implement local dissemination activities, 1 in each country with the participation of at least 25 people in each activity<< Results >>We will produce the following results with our project: Digi-CCI Training Program which will include methods and training content on digitalization and CCI for youth workers, Digi-CCI Toolbox that will include 20 tools (digitalization and CCIs) for youth workers and Digi-CCI Online Platform where the project outputs and results will be shared and the Digi-CCI Online Training program will be available and a certificate will be given to youth workers who successfully complete the training online.

"Design is increasingly recognised as a key discipline and activity to bring ideas to the market, transforming them into user-friendly and appealing products or services1 . Though still often associated solely with aesthetics, the application of design is much broader. A more systematic use of design as a tool for user-centred and market-driven innovation in all sectors of the economy, complementary to R&D, would improve countries competitiveness. Analyses of the contribution of design show that companies that strategically invest in design tend to be more profitable and grow faster. Design provides a series of methodologies, tools and techniques that can be used at different stages of the innovation process to boost the value of new products and services. When applied to services, systems and organisations, user-centred design thinking drives businessmodel innovation, organisational innovation and other forms of non-technological innovation. These methodologies may also be instrumental when addressing complex and systemic challenges, for example in redesigning public services and in strategic decision-making processes.Design is not just about the way things look, it is also about the way they work. Design creates value and contributes to competitiveness, prosperity, and well-being in Europe. The European Commission aims to accelerate the take-up of design in industrial and innovation activities at European, national, and regional level.The importance of design as an activity to bring new ideas to the market has been recognised in the Innovation Union, a flagship initiative of the Europe 2020 Growth Strategy. With over 400000 professionally-trained designers, Europe has internationally recognised capability and a leadership position in design.On the other hand, when we examine Turkey, a candidate country for the EU, we can see that she lags behind developed countries in design and innovation.(2017 Global Innovation Index / Turkey is ranked 43rd.) This is one of the biggest obstacles in terms of our development goals. In today's world, products and services which are undeveloped in terms of design and innovation have no chance of success. Public policies in Turkey have increased design awareness in recent years. The Design Strategy Document and Action Plan prepared within the framework of the Turkish Design Solidarity Council, established in 2019, were first carried into effect between 2014 and 2016. Significant results were achieved from this. Following this, a new plan covering the years 2017-2019 was put into action.This plan generally overlaps with the action plans prepared by the European Commission. In this context; this plan aims to"" increase the use of design for innovation and growth across Europe and Turkey"" raise awareness of how design-driven innovation increases efficiency in public services and drives business growth"" create capacity and competencies to deliver these policiesThe aim of the project ""İzmir Design Factory"", which set off on its journey with all these goals, to establish our country's first international design center associated with universities, private sector, professional chambers and non-governmental organizations. İzmir Design Factory-IDF will establish in İzmir to advance knowledge and nurture leaders and innovators to anticipate, serve or solve societal and economic needs, through an integrated interdisciplinary education program, focused on developing the skills required by an ever-changing world and determined to co-create new knowledge and innovation with societal stakeholders.The center to be built within Originn Coworking, Turkey's largest coworking area, will focus on fashion, interior design, service design and food design by utilizing the local capacity and needs of Izmir. The young people who will participate in the certified and accredited vocational education programs to be established within the scope of the center will first intern at the Porto Design Factory in Porto, one of the biggest design centers of the EU. These young people will then work in teams on design and innovation-based work to be taken from firms in Turkey and Europe, especially in Izmir, and develop innovative solutions. IDF, which will provide R&D support to corporate firms and smes, will enable the young people to gain business and career experience by allowing them to work directly in international teams.With all of the above mentioned aspects, our project directly covers the priorities of innovation, entrepreneurship, employment and professional qualification of Erasmus+, as well as offers a concrete contribution to the development action plans of the EU and Turkey."

"<< Background >>Even though technology has a considerable effect on our daily lives, the use of technology in education systems is still inadequate and this need emerged dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide due to the shut down of the schools. According to World Bank ""Across more than 170 countries, 1.5 billion students' schools have closed as part of their governments’ response to COVID-19. Now, ministries of education around the world try to ensure learning continuity for children and youth through distance learning. In most cases, efforts involve the use of various digital platforms featuring educational content and a variety of educational technology solutions to keep communication and learning spaces as open and stimulating as possible.” In line with digital learning, researches show that young people need to discover meaningful ways of discovery using technology for learning purposes and collaborative knowledge creation. Hands-on science can be defined as any instructional approach involving activity and direct experience with natural phenomena or any educational experience that actively involve students in manipulating objects to gain knowledge or understanding (Ateş and Eryılmaz, 2011). It provides opportunities for students to acquire relevant functional knowledge and skills that are associated with scientific processes needed for advancement in science and technology. This method is the most effective method to achieve today's science teaching outputs. The effectiveness of this technique increases, even more, when it is integrated with digital tools.Considering all these issues related to distance education and hands-on science teaching, the main objective of this Action shaped as establishing a “Hands-on Science Education Platform” to engage with practical and digital education to increase science literacy. To support this main aim, hands-on science education kits and the teacher’s guide will be prepared as other objectives within this project. Project partners are selected from Turkey (Özyeğin Uni, Eğlenceli Bilim, EFTA, SU/Öğretmen Ağı and İstanbul İl MEM), Belgium (EDI), Portugal (EDUGEP), and Serbia (CPN) according to their valuable experience in hands-on science education, distance learning, equity in learning including disadvantaged students and girls, networking in the field of education.<< Objectives >>The main target groups are science teachers and students at the 4th, 5th and 6th grades. To meet these objectives there are 3 IOs (LESTO Platform, Hands-on Science Education Kits, and Teacher’s Guide). There are 3 transnational meetings besides monthly online meetings among project partners to concrete the strategic partnership. Moreover, to involve the science teachers to the project, there will be a workshop where change ambassadors will be trained to be a mentor in their countries. It is aimed to ensure the sustainability of the project by training science teachers to have role in the local pilot studies. The other activity cluster for sustainability is dissemination activities at the local and national level. There are 6 dissemination activities: 3 of them will be in Turkey (İstanbul, Ankara and İzmir) and 1 in Belgium, 1 in Portugal, and 1 in Serbia.The objectives and activities within the project meet the Erasmus+ priorities as bringing innovative approaches, capacity building of teachers not only for being more modern, dynamic, motivated but also work in the international environments. These partnerships will promote networking of our project partners as well as other organizations across the EU to share resources and expertise. In specific response to the Covid-19 pandemic, this project also meets the priority of responsiveness, adaptability, and flexibility, and digital education readiness and mitigating the impact of the crisis.<< Implementation >>Within the project, the LESTO platform will be established concurrently with hands-on science education kits and the teacher’s guide. 25 change ambassadors among science teachers will be selected from the partner countries and these teachers will be a mentor after receiving training. Then, they will have the responsibility to assist the science teachers in their countries under the pilot studies. Then, these teachers will reach the students considering disadvantaged ones as well.For the long term, it is also expected to reach 1000 organizations and 10.000 individuals with the networking of the partner organizations, in specific for Turkey SU/Öğretmen Ağı andİstanbul İl MEM will take care of the dissemination with the other provincial and district national education directorates. For the project, partners will be in charge of dissemination in their countries. Another long term impact expected is preparing policy paper to involve hands-on science teaching to digital learning.<< Results >>The results of this Action can be divided into two groups as those of which will be reached during implementation and those after the completion of the project. The results expected during the project are:1. Hands-on Science Education Online Platform (IO1) will be developed2. An Hands-on science Education Home Kit Establishment (IO2) will be produced and embedded into the online platform3. An Hands-on Science Community Establishment within the online platform4. A Teacher’s Guide will be established (IO3)5. 10 trained science teachers as change ambassadors from Turkey, 5 science teachers from Belgium, Portugal, and Serbia within the scope of the Action. In total 25 teachers will attend the international staff training to shape and decide the output contents.6. 55 science teachers will be included from partner countries to test the digital platform and science education kit as a pilot study. There are already 25 teachers who attended the activities and the rest of the teachers will be 3 teachers from Belgium, Portugal, and Serbia and 21 teachers from Turkey.7. Implementation of local pilot studies with students. A minimum of 550 students (55 cohorts x 10 students per cohort) (50% girls+50% boys) various cultural and socio-economic backgrounds and from Turkey, Belgium, Portugal, and Serbia will have participated in pilot implementations. It is assumed that each teacher can reach 10 students and this calculation is made based on this. In this case, 310 students from Turkey and 240 students from Belgium, Portugal, and Serbia (80 for each country).8. An impact analysis report will be produced including the effectiveness of the online platform, analyzing the impact on teachers and students who use the platform.9. Community building will be established by including the participation of parents and mixed online activities by students.10. Three transnational meetings will be made in 3 different countries.11. Trustable and sustainable partnership will be established among 8 partners from 4 countries.12. 6 different dissemination activities will be carried out in 4 different countries.13. Cross-sectoral partnership will be encouraged among NGO, public authorities, private sector, and academia14. Membership of the international Hands-on Science Network (http://www.hsci.info/index.php) established in Portugal will be completed and this approach will be carried out on a global level.15. A minimum of 1.000 legal bodies (provincial and district national education directorates; civil society organizations in the field of education; schools etc.) from Turkey and 250 legal bodies from each partner country; Belgium, Portugal, and Serbia will be reached via different tools and channels 16. A minimum of 10.000 individual persons (teachers, students, parents, other representatives in the field) from Turkey and 1.000 individual persons from each partner country; Belgium, Portugal, and Serbia will be reached via different tools and channels17. A policy paper preparation consisting of the intellectual outputs of this Action and the discussion with project partners. The paper will be framed around the inclusion of hands-on science education in digital education"

<< Background >>Accordingly, the Gallup study of attitudes toward immigration found people in Europe the most negative in the world towards immigration. The majority of residents (58%) said immigration levels in their countries should be decreased. And all that while migrants constitute 4.6% of the European population, a percentage which could be ‘translated’ into numbers as 20 million migrants. Young people in the more disadvantaged segments of society (e.g., amongst NEETS) implicitly will be more likely to disengage and stay out. Our exploratory interviews showed that for many, this ‘staying out’ is a consequence of a perception of being discriminated against, of being neglected by those in power. Refugees and migration is controversial and polarising topic across Europe. However, increasing diversity is a reality that we need to accept. Instead of deepening the division on the subject, more than ever, constructive dialogue is essential. Moreover, today (young) refugees are an intrinsic part of society. In order to overcome the growing tension in society, youth workers have to work together to design the solutions of tomorrow. One of the most effective tools for inclusion is “art and communication.” It is aimed to use creativity and art to increase diversity and inclusion for the specified target audience in our project. From the beginning, our main concern will be the link between the arts and society, significantly how participation in the arts may enhance social inclusion.<< Objectives >>Objectives Based on the background and needs described above, the aim of the Art&Act project is to increase the competencies of youth workers in inclusion, non-formal education and digital youth work and support their professional development to ensure the social integration of young migrants and refugees through art. The objectives of the project; To ensure the cooperation of 7 institutions from Slovenia, Belgium, France, Germany and Turkey for 18 months, to ensure the development and transfer of good practices for the social inclusion of refugees/immigrants and disadvantaged youth, to improve the scope of their work in this field 2. To carry out field research to determine the needs and wishes of youth workers and contribute to youth work and other projects to be carried out in this field from now on. 3. Producing a 48-hour capacity building training program to develop the knowledge and skills needed by youth workers to ensure social inclusion of refugees/immigrants and disadvantaged youth through art and creativity 4. To produce an Art&Act Toolbox using existing/innovative artistic and cultural tools, workshops and practices to ensure social inclusion of refugees/immigrants and disadvantaged youth through art, to be used in the capacity building training program. 5. Implementing a 6-day international pilot training in which 4 youth workers from each project partner (28 youth workers) will be included in order to test the training program, contribute to its development, and ensure its applicability in different contexts from an intercultural perspective. 6. Ensuring that youth workers who have completed the pilot training program implement the training program with disadvantaged youth in local communities, ensuring that each partner includes 20 disadvantaged youth<< Implementation >>To achieve project goals, the activities which will be implemented are as following; - Project coordination a management meetings (3 TM and regular meetings)- Needs analysis workshop- Producing 4 intellectual outputs (needs analysis report, capacity development training program, guidebook, online platform)- Learning and training activities (international pilot training of produced capacity development program, local implementations of capacity development program)- Dissemination activities (one dissemination summit in Slovenia, one EU-wide dissemination conference in Brussels and 4 dissemination workshops in Germany, France, Turkey)- Monitoring activities<< Results >>- Regarding O1, Identifying the real needs and aspirations of youth workers and organizations in the project partner countries in order to effectively adapt “art-based inclusion” methods and practices to different multicultural contexts - regarding O2, To provide capacity to youth workers to meet the needs arising from the effects of the pandemic by producing a toolbox that includes digital tools and innovative methods that youth workers can use in inclusion activities -Regarding O3, To increase the capacity of youth workers, who work to ensure the social integration of youth with refugee, migrant background or at risk of marginalization, in non-formal education practices and digital youth work -Regarding O4, To share and develop effective and sustainable practices through the arts between target groups and working organizations that are not directly involved in the project in order to create inclusive communities based on dialogue, harmony, diversity and a culture of non-discrimination -Promote the active participation of young people in their communities by focusing on young people aged 16-22 who are at risk of marginalization due to their cultural, social and economic barriers. -To enable young people to get to know the art and cultural elements of the local area, and thus to recognize the values of the society they live in.

<< Objectives >>At this point, the Digi-VET project aims to improve the quality of digital vocational education by developing online course modules harmonizing with EQF and delivering these digital contents via an open, interactive online platform (virtual lab). By this way;-transform the applied VET courses to digital education-decrease in learning losses and spatial dependence in VET-improve the teachers’ ability in preparing digital course content -improve the digital competencies of teachers & students<< Implementation >>DIGIVET will offer these activities: -Developing a digital education platform (Virtual Lab) -Organizing a transnational VET workshop-Building a mentoring support unit for teachers and students -Digitalizing 3 online course modules for the virtual lab environment by using existing EET curricula-Adaptation of the digital course modules-Preparing a how to use guide of the virtual lab-Organizing piloting courses for students-Organizing a project competition for students-Dissemination events<< Results >>* Course modules compatible with digital education* 3 modules for EQF 4th level EET courses* VET Schools adopted the courses to their program* 6 videos for how to use of 3 digital modules* EVOCE Platform and How to Use Guide* 75 studs VET schools that completed the piloting training and certified by the consortium for participation of the competition* 20 teachers from partners that completed the Co-Creation VET workshop* Established a Mentoring Support Unit