An INFO day to deliver project‘s “Upskilling adult educators“ (AdUp) results was organised on the 9th of February in Alytus Vocational Training Centre.
As adult education is major topic in Alytus region, and especially referring to adult motivation to learn (only 7,5 % adult learners attend to different formal and non-formal educational programs), different groups, interested in adult education, arrived at the INFO day – adult education organizers and educators, business and non-governmental organizations’ representatives, adult students.
Zubras, Head of the Centre, welcomed the large audience and stressed the growing relevance of adult educators in organisations and the importance of educators’ competences and their effective use in educational practice.
The first speaker M. Ablacinskas, former advisor to the Lithuanian Minister of Education, presented the generalised research on adult learning needs results. This was followed by the presentation of the quantitative and qualitative results of the AdUp project. The speaker and co-developer of intellectual outputs J. Ruciene emphasised the importance for adult training providers, to better reflect, i.e. adapt to the needs of the learner teaching content and didactics, assuming it as one of the key elements to attract adult learners to studies. The lecturer reminded that the project development has brought together adult education institutions from 5 countries – Italy (coordinator), Austria, Greece, Germany, and Lithuania. The speaker prompted that the project products have been developed and made available in 5 languages, 4 TPM were organized (2 remote, 1 face-to-face and 2 hybrid), it took 29 months to develop the intellectual outputs. LTTA when using materials developed was organised in Cham, Germany. 30 adult educators were trained to work with AdUp materials and MOOC (Massive Open Online Course). Four email campaigns in each country, starting with a call to potentially interested institutions to present the project’s objectives, followed by a presentation of the project’s progress and achievements, and the final project results were arranged.
The main objective of the project – to improve the quality of teaching in adult education by focusing on the knowledge of adult educators in attracting, motivating and engaging adult learners – was pursued through the development of 4 intellectual outputs: the AdUp Diagnostic Tool, the AdUp Curriculum and the Modular Course (5 modules, corresponding to 5 competencies of adult educators), the AdUp Massively Open Online Course and the Users Network. The Diagnostic Tool (Upskilling adult educators (aprc.lt)), is designed for adult educators to identify their knowledge, skills and competences, to evaluate them and to further improve their performance. Massive Open Online Course MOOC (https://erasmusmoocs.thinkific.com/courses/adup-upskilling-adult-educators-LT). The learning materials developed by AdUp have been digitised and made available on a platform for adult educators and learners. The learning material is divided into 5 chapters, 72 lessons. Each chapter follows an identical structure: the chapter is divided into 3 lessons, with lesson summaries created for each lesson and presented in slides; the main material is followed by additional material such as videos, infographics, etc. This is followed by chapter-specific practical exercises, case studies and a chapter summary test, as well as links to educational resources. All 5 chapters are summarised with a final test and knowledge assessment. Other qualitative outputs include: a certified supplement enabling the integration of adult teachers’ didactic competences into EU certification systems, focusing on learners’ motivation and engagement, and recommendations for influencing the attitudes of adult education providers in assessing and developing their staff’s didactic competences. “The AdUP” diagnostic tool and the MOOC infrastructure and content are made available to adult teachers. The Certificate Supplement will provide institutions with additional training certificates. The guidance document will provide adult education providers and other stakeholders with insights on how to improve the competences of adult education staff to meet the needs of adult learners.
The second part of the INFO Day was a practical session allocated to testing The Diagnostic Tool and MOOC. All interested participants tested their didactic knowledge and skills, joined the MOOC platform, learned how to use it and examined its possibilities. V. Preikaiene and G. Miglinas, product developers, ran the training.
The INFO Day completed with a discussion on adult education perspectives.
