Aid Kit for Autonomous Online Classes

Covid shifted immensely how we design and implement educational programs. The potential of adult learning online is recognized, but often the learning offers do not match the trainers’ capacities nor the learners’ need for motivating materials; The EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA ) and the 2020 EU Report “Adult Learning & COVID-19” found that non-formal adult learning providers were not well equipped for this transition and the learner dropout rate increased across the EU. Trainers are struggling to restructure their courses to be more accessible and inclusive for disadvantaged groups, who face numerous challenges following online courses. AidKit aimed to upskill & improve digital competences of adult education trainers empowering them to create online trainings tailored to the learners’ needs, increasing thus the learning opportunities for learners of different vulnerable backgrounds.

OBJECTIVE: to improve the competences of educators & other adult education staff and to enhance the availability of high quality learning opportunities for adults. SPECIFICALLY * 50 teachers & expers analyze unmet needs in distance language learning programs for adults in 5 countries and explore sample motivating teaching practices for the delivery of online courses (R1). * To create supporting upskilling sessions for the overwhelmed language trainers working with adult learners unfamiliar with digital learning environments that will enable them to develop & implement tailored digital materials that promote motivating self-driven learning strategies among their learners (R2, 5 Modules in 6 Languages). * To improve digital pedagogic skills by 25 trainers& staff members while creating motivating language units for learners (R3), designing a curriculum & course for trainers on how to use specific digital tools in the classes that motivate autonomous learning, by testing it with trainers (R2,) and by producing a motivational guidebook (R1).

In order to successfully create the project resources, we followed several steps: **As a first step: Development of THE MOTIVATIONAL GUIDEBOOK OF BEST PRACTICES (R1): This initial activity aimed to - INTRODUCE PARTICIPATING STAFF members of the partner institution AND involved TEACHERS for the interviews to the DigCompEdu Framework. They were invited to ASSESS their DIGITAL COMPETENCES and VISUALIZE existing digital GAPS in their current skills (we used the specific tutorial created under Shaping digital classes https://lms.shapingdigitalclasses.eu/course/view.php?id=2 for the description of the framework and https://europa.eu/europass/digitalskills/screen/home for the assessment) - carry out a NATIONAL DESK RESEARCH of the state-of-the-art with regard to the level of digitalization and digital pedagogy as well as INTERVIEWS on concrete experiences and unmet needs in terms of digital education implementation in each partner country from TRAINERS and EXPERTS perspective. The Guidebook (R1) has served as a general baseline and reference for the development work that subsequently was conducted in the project. **As the second step: Staff members’ UPSKILLING through experimentation and CREATION of the CURRICULUM for non-formal adult education using MOTIVATING DISTANCE LEARNING ACTIVITIES. As a direct follow-up to the findings in the initial research, at least 5 trainers (1/partner, some partners involved up to three trainers) shared their experiences gathered in the field, exchanged information and learnt from each other enhancing thus their digital pedagogical skills. - They SELECTED and COLLECTED most appropriate FREE TOOLS that could be used across Europe in order to create motivating learning units that promoted autonomous learning strategies among vulnerable learners. - They STRUCTURED the possible implementation of the tool in the classes and created FIRST DRAFTS of the curriculum for the digital teacher training. - In the C1 activity that took place in Lithuania, they presented to the rest of the team their specific teaching situation in the country, the tool they had selected in detail and the possible implementation options for the classes. Further the C1 represented an upskilling opportunity on moodle configuration, utilization and course delivering for the trainers attending the event. - After the training, TRAINERS (5) STRUCTURED the final CURRICULUM FOR the DIGITAL TEACHERS’ UPSKILLING OPPORTUNITY that guides educators through learning paths with easy-to-follow steps on how to use the selected tools in online adult educational settings with vulnerable learners (R2). Each country created a unit (Canva, Edpuzzle, Quizlet, Socrative and Studystack) taking into account the participants’ needs (language teachers dealing with vulnerable learners). **As the third step: the COURSE created in the previous step was PILOTED with 20 external and 5 internal trainers (5 per country). The piloting included: - ASSESSING the DIGITAL SKILLS of the trainers taking part in the piloting and reassessing them at the end in order to make a comparison of the acquired digital competences; - TESTING THE CURRICULUM trainers went through the course, took the skills and examples they learned from the curriculum (Result 2), and APPLIED them in practice by creating their own tailored pilot units based on their own learners’ needs. The CREATED PILOT UNITS (34 in total) were tested later on learners (whenever possible);The experience of analyzing the needs of the course, the selection of the tool and the implementation in the class were described in the UNIT TEMPLATE DESCRIPTION that every teacher created after the learners’ unit had been finished. These documents have been installed in the project website as engaging teaching examples for motivating use of digital tools. - Responding to a feedback EVALUATION concentrating on the evaluation of the curriculum and test their knowledge in curriculum-related aspects via 2 separate online forms. The piloting activity has represented a substantial pedagogic and digital upskilling for trainers participating in the activity according to final evaluations. The created units for learners PROMOTED autonomous learning structures and motivation in the classes. This step included several activities that had not been funded and were added to the results as ADDITIONAL RESULT ADDED TO THE PROJECT **The fourth step focusses on the INTERACTIVE LEARNING SPACE AND VIDEO FORUM (R5). The development of this project result took place actually from the beginning of the project to the end. It includes the SELECTION and ADAPTATION of a learning space that collects the different training opportunities for the trainers. Originally, learners’ units were aimed to be installed in this platform as well however feedback of the pilots showed that for the learners it is more practical to visit their units from a simple website, so now these are easily accessible from the project site (https://aid-kit.erasmus.site/the-learning- units-for-learners/) R5 PRESENTS the methods and tools that have been developed and described in the AiDKiT project on the https://aid- kit.erasmus.site/platform/. The PLATFORM was CREATED aiming to cover teachers’ and other stakeholders’ needs in regards to the digital and pedagogical capacities expected in online classes with vulnerable groups and the real situation in teaching institutions and for the teachers in general. To the platform, R5 created a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@aidkitproject6657) to promote a video forum for sharing ideas and a blog that collects the 15 articles related to the topic produced in the project span. The articles can be found in the website as well. In addition to the activities carried out for the development of mentioned main project results partners have implemented numerous background activities that have contributed to successfully reach the project's goals: AT THE MANAGEMENT LEVEL: The signing of the partner agreements at the beginning of the project span, the setting up of a Steering Committee, the setting up of the national working groups inviting also external institutions. Creating the communication plan including the setting of the structure of the Admin Project Platform that assured a clear management plan including milestones and deadlines and the creation of a transparent communication strategy with regular communication notifications at internal and external level. Regular national staff meetings in the different countries, project team online meetings and 3 face2face international meetings (Berlin, Cluj and Rzeszow). A joint staff training C1 in Kaunas, Lithuania attended by 5 participants. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE QUALITY STRATEGY that includes regular monitoring activities and evaluation reports at internal and external level after each working step and open activity. The creation of the risk management plan and its regular control, the creation of the management reporting tools including timesheets, budget control, project timelines and generating the semester partner reports that were regularly shared in the consortium. IMPLEMENTATION OF PROJECTS’ DISSEMINATION including EXPLOITATION AND SUSTAINABILITY strategies with a project CI, the logo, the templates, Website: https://aid-kit.erasmus.site/, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AidKitProject, leaflet, 4 newsletters distributed among 2500 recipients, organization of 10 national multiplier events engaging further 275 participants in the project aims, regular contacting of partner institutions and involving them in the project developments. Inviting internal and external participants to discover the project’s results and to adapt their classes to more motivating learning structures. Organizing numerous digital dissemination activities 188 in total reaching a total of more than 129.000 recipients across Europe.

Aid Kit’s results are in line with the EU Digital Action Plan 2021-27 with the goal of supporting adult education staff, creating high quality learning opportunities, promoting digital transformation in the education sector and aiming at improving AE trainers’ teaching competences with supporting tools that enhance their digital pedagogic competences. THE MOTIVATIONAL GUIDEBOOK OF BEST PRACTICES (R1): 25 teachers and 25 experts are involved in the development of a best practices handbook that serves as guidance for trainers on how to motivate adult learners in digital non-formal learning programs. The 79 pages guidebook analyzes in 5 countries the current state of affairs on digital learning offers, the unmet needs trainers go through for the implementation of their digital classes and the learners’ challenges to follow the classes. Further, it presents best practices and recommendations for motivating digital pedagogic practices and invites readers to reflect about their digital skills in regards to the possible gaps for the implementation of digital programs familiarizing them with the DigiCompEdu Framework. The multilingual guidebook is located in the project website https://aid-kit.erasmus.site/motivational-guidebook-of-best-practices/ as interactive guidebook in 6 languages and in pdf format downloadable. The result is an open and free OER licensed as CCBY. THE TEACHERS’ TRAINING PROGRAM (R2): 5 internal teachers select tools, structure them and create a CURRICULUM specialized for AE trainers to create motivating distance learning courses. The teacher training has been designed as online training to be installed in an open learning platform (Moodle) https://aid-kit.erasmus.site/platform/ and includes different digital activities for the participants. The final result of the COURSE contains 5 MODULES (each developed by one country) that describe the functionalities, the possible implementation and the usage of 5 digital tools (Canva, Edpuzzle, Quizlet, Socrative and Studystack) previously selected by the trainers as most appropriate to combat common motivational problems in the classes. The course addresses trainers’ and learners’ needs matching their resources and capacities on digital learning programs. Each module includes videos, presentations, exercises, testing opportunities, quizzes, examples for the implementation and a final badge. Additionally, the course invites trainers to assess their digital competences and introduces them to the concept of the inverted classroom methodology referring to it as a motivating experience to engage learners in the classes. This training program has been piloted (R3) with 20 external trainers and 5 internals who have been able to create 34 LANGUAGE LEARNING UNITS for several languages based on one or more tools described in the course. Thus, participating trainers in the pilot course went through the different modules, experimented with the possibilities the selected tools offer and reflected about difficult situations in their regular classes and decided on a topic they could introduce to their students making use of one or more of the described digital instruments of the trainers’ course. The final aim of the language activity they created was to design more motivating learning units that encourage autonomous learning experiences combating thus the problem previously identified by the teacher in the lesson planning phase. Each of the developed learning units has been thoroughly described in a UNIT TEMPLATE where teachers have described the problematic in their class, the reason for the selection of the specific tool to create the online exercise, the way of implementation and its evaluation process. The created 34 EXERCISES in 6 different languages address learners of A1 to B2 language levels covering 5 units for Spanish, 10 for German, 14 for English, 2 for Lithuanian, 1 for Hungarian and 2 for French. All units have been tested with learners. The results of the pilots have been collected in the PILOT STUDY REPORT (Added to this report). The trainers’ course has been installed in an open moodle platform that enables any interested user to test it and to download a badge after successful completion. The learners’ exercises can easily be accessible through the project website. All results created as (CCBY). To the outputs of the main results, the project has created the following: PROJECT LOGO, project WEBSITE, FACEBOOK page, regular POSTS on the project’s development and related topics in SM channels, LEAFLETS in 6 languages, 4 NEWSLETTERS in 6 languages, 15 ARTICLES in 6 languages, a project BLOG, a Video FORUM. STRATEGIES for: COMMUNICATION, DISSEMINATION, RISK management, EXPLOITATION&SUSTAINABILITY, EVALUATION&MONITORING Tools (internal and external): Questionnaires and forms; MANAGEMENT REPORTS: Interim and final reports, ALLOCATION of a digital project MANAGEMENT SYSTEM created in the Admin Project Platform including all working steps, communication, structures, financial documents, dissemination proofs and final outcomes AGENDAS and MINUTES for the STAFF TRAINING C1 in Kaunas including certificates (EUROPASS and internal) and the regular online meetings as well as the 3 international meetings. Final internal reports on dissemination activities, evaluation activities and exploitation plan including MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING. All internal communication materials have been created in English. The PPT PRESENTATIONS and AGENDAS for the 10 multiplier events have been created in the different national languages. Most relevant results have been uploaded to the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform in several languages.