Client / Funding programme:
Erasmus+ Type KA220-ADU – Cooperation partnerships in adult education
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
Website: DigitalScouts.eu
Start and end dates:
01-01-2023 – 31-08-2025
AFEdemy role in the project:
AFEdemy will be the the lead on the WP Elaboration of European Compendium. AFEdemy will therefore Contribute to the research plan and perform document and desk research as well as perform interviews .AFEdemy will draft and revise the Compendium document. AFEdemy will also contribute to the development and testing of the digital training and toolkit.
☐ Coordination
☒ Research
☐ Training
☒ Curriculum development
☒ e-Learning Platform
☐ Networking
☒ Policy recommendation
☐ Sustainability
The DigitalScouts project aims to create an educational offer that qualifies digital scouts to support older people in using digital tools to let them benefit from the opportunities of digitalisation for social, cultural and political participation and the area of health promotion. This will contribute to meeting the challenges of the digital transformation in society and help to close the still existing digital divide with ever increasing negative impacts for excluded persons.
In particular regarding older people, it is important to be able to respond to individual knowledge, learning speed and interests, but also to functional limitations, fears or insecurities. Therefore, facilitators need learning opportunities that include knowledge about digital technologies and the chances ICT offers as well as the specifics of learning in old age and communication with older adults. We want to contribute to fulfilling the above-mentioned needs by a ‘Digital Training’, a flexible a low-threshold learning offer that is oriented towards the needs of future facilitators. The Digital Training will adequately prepare Digital Scouts in terms of content and didactics for accompanying older people. At the same time, the project aims at improving the availability of high-quality learning opportunities in adult education within the framework of blended learning.
Combining the particularly good accessibility and flexibility of the Digital Training with face-to-face events, the Toolkit for trainers will help to ensure the exchange of learning experiences and the possibility to respond to individual learning needs. Another objective is the further establishment of support offers for older adults, e.g. courses, counselling points, personal support at home etc. to promote opportunities of digital participation. This objective is also linked closely to the priority to contribute to meet the challenges of the digital transformation through the development of digital readiness.
Digitalisation offers many opportunities, especially for people with reduced mobility, but many older citizens in Europe do not yet benefit from it. The expansion of support offers for older citizens that meet individual interests is important in order to facilitate the use of digital opportunities for this target group and improve their participation. The DigitalScouts project aims to draw attention to this and equip those who provide this support with the necessary skills and knowledge.
In five European countries, good practices are compiled and non-formal learning opportunities are developed with the involvement of potential learners, practitioners and experts who participate in interviews. The learning offers will be tested and evaluated within the project by 40-60 learners. These digital scouts will acquire important basics and knowledge in order to subsequently support older people – as freelancers, employees or volunteers – according to the clients’ interests and needs.
With a compendium, providers of support services are made aware of the diverse opportunities offered by digitalisation for older people and will be encouraged to expand their support offers. People who want to support older people in digital participation as facilitators will be adequately trained with (1) a freely available and accessible self-learning tool, the Digital Training, and (2) a Toolkit that adult educators and organisations supporting older people can apply in their trainings.
Three main project results will be elaborated in the project:
Other project results
