Digital Skills

From October 3-5, the third Learning Teaching Training Activity (LTTA) of the EU-funded project "T4T - Tools4Teaching in Digital Education Settings" took place in Athens, Greece. The host organization for mobility was MYARTIST, an organization with background and expertise in various fields and topics related to arts, culture, accessibility and inclusion.

SIEMdig

“Social Inclusion and Emotional Maturity of the Society's youngest participants helped by digitally competent teachers”

SIEMdig, is a European project, co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ KA220-SCH Program, with an implementation period of two years (01 December 2023 to 30 November 2025). The project is coordinated by the University of the National Education Commission, Krakow (Poland) with the aim to redefine primary education through digital innovation, empathy cultivation and community engagement. 

The project embodies a multifaceted approach to address contemporary challenges in primary education. At its core, it seeks to empower primary school teachers with the digital tools and resources necessary to enhance their digital competency and become integrators of digital content. The project’s main objectives are threefold:

1. Supporting Primary School Teachers: SIEMdig will equip educators with digital tools and resources, along with comprehensive instructions, to strengthen their digital competence, enabling them to better navigate the digital landscape of modern education.

2. Fostering Acceptance and Empathy Among Pupils: Through an interactive digital storytelling platform, SIEMdig aims to cultivate empathy and acceptance among young pupils by presenting real-life challenges faced by disadvantaged individuals. These stories, coupled with resources to support students and teachers, rubrics designed to provoke awareness and empathy, seek to break down social barriers and promote inclusivity.

3. Promoting Community Engagement: SIEMdig plans to bridge the gap between schools and communities by facilitating dialogue and understanding of children's challenges. By engaging the broader community, the project aims to foster inclusion beyond the school environment, creating a supportive ecosystem for all children to thrive.

The planned main results of the project include:

1. Repository of Digital Resourcesto support teachers in becoming integrators of digital content, enabling them to deliver dynamic and engaging lessons.

2. Interactive Digital Storytelling Platformfeaturing narratives that highlight real-life challenges faced by disadvantaged pupils. Accompanied by rubrics for teachers, these stories will serve as catalysts for empathy and understanding.

3. Guide for Social Inclusion: A guide targeting teachers, pupils, and the community will be developed to promote social inclusion and foster a culture of acceptance and empathy within schools and beyond.

4. Training Programto educators to familiarise them with the interactive digital storytelling platform, empowering them to leverage its potential in the classroom effectively.

In addition to the coordinating institution, the consortium includes 7 partner organisations: Zdruzhenie za evropska edukacija i mobilnost AMETA Veles (North Macedonia), Douka Ekpaideftiria AE – Palladion Lykeion Ekpaideftiria Douka (Greece), Associació de Programes Educatius Open Europe (Spain), Fondazione Istituto dei Sordi di Torino ONLUS (Italy), Thales Foundation (Cyprus), Centre for Development of the Vardar Planning Region (North Macedonia) and Liceul Teoretic "Tudor Arghezi" (Romania).

Per maggiori informazioni sul progetto SIEMdig, visita il sito web ufficiale all'indirizzo https://siemdig.uken.krakow.pl/ 

We are excited to introduce the Erasmus+ project SkillsMatch which aim is to provide capacity building to adult educators through the acquisition of essential digital skills. The project addresses the knowledge gap of adult educators regarding e-learning offers.  
Nowadays, the quantity of online courses available online keeps increasing. Such an educational offer can be a considerable asset for adult educators who can use online courses as resources in their own curricula. And yet, and such a large online educational offer can be destabilizing for adult educators with basic digital skills who may not be able to search and find the appropriate e-course(s) for their teaching.

For this reason, the SkillsMatch project will help adult educators develop their digital skills to better answer the needs of their target groups. It will tackle the gap between the plethoric e-learning offer and the current skills of European adults educators. The project targets two specific groups: adult educators willing to upgrade their digital skills and designers of e-learning courses for adult educators (course providers).


To do so, the project will develop 3 results:

1. An Online/mobile matching tool to match adult educators’ skill gaps with the available e-learning offer. This app will be based on a smart search engine able to search through the Internet and to analyze online information.
2. A Guide for course providers, an educational tool to make e-learning providers better understand the needs and abilities of  adult educators.
3. Learning Nuggets, or micro e-learning units regarding essential soft skills identified by the European Framework for Digital Competencies of Adult Educators (DigiComEdu). These modules will further upskill adult educators to obtain soft skills needed to use e-learning courses in their teaching activities

The project started in November 2020 and will last until October 2022. Our partnership gathers 7 partners from 6 different countries:

-    Middlesex University, United Kingdom (coordinator)
-    IDEC S.A., Greece
-    Emphasys Ltd, Cyprus
-    Pontydysgu SL, Spain
-    P & W Project GMHB, Germany
-    Eurocrea Merchant SRL, Italy
-    Oracel TES Ltd, United Kingdom


The SkillsMatch team brings together experts in education, adult training and digital solutions development. We will soon release our first project result, the Online/mobile app designed for selecting the most appropriate e-learning courses, based on the MUSKET tool developed in Middlesex University. The overall objective of SkillsMatch is to enable adult educators to make the most out of digital educational resources and to further develop innovative practices in education in the EU.