BACKGROUND & CHALLENGESTaMPADA focused on the need of Adult Education Providers (hereinafter AEPs) to track lifelong and lifewide progress pathways of disadvantaged learners. In fact, it was often noted and observed that life basic skills and competences growth from learners, coming from disadvantaged settings, were granted no validation with counter effect on learners’ personal up skilling and on AEP’s effort to link their informal learning with formal education and employment routes. Having the above-mentioned in mind, TaMPADA developed a toolkit for measuring learners’ lifelong and lifewide progress. Finally, considering the fact that adult learners from disadvantaged settings is difficult to reach and measure the project developed an ICT web-based tool and community inter-institutional synergies with intermediary organizations. This is what TaMPADA attempted to achieve throughout its life span. OBJECTIVES TaMPADA achievements: - Developed an ICT and community-based outreach framework and monitoring toolkit for AEP’s to enhance learners centered approached to quality assurance: tampadadigitaltool.eu in 5 languages. - Anchored this framework to both evolving and emerging quality assurance practices in adult education in the EU.- Yielded benefits for public authorities and AEPs from the exchange of good practices and the promotion and harmonization of tracking and monitoring procedures. THE TaMPADA PARTNERSHIPThe partnership comprised of 5 partners with complementary skills and long experience and expertise on adult education. DACES, AZM and Folkuniveritetet have a long-standing engagement with marginalized and socially disadvantaged learners and played an important role in adult education since they represent networks of learning centers regionally and nationally.LLLP leveraged the communication of TaMPADA framework EU wide and ensured maximum dissemination and impact across adult education networks, policy – making and implementation circles.PROMEA brought significant expertise on ICT-based methodology and tool development, contributed to increasing the framework’s tracking and monitoring potential for impact and sustainability by mobilizing and developing digital resources for use by AEPs. ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGYThe TaMPADA partnership successfully explored indicators and identified those affecting disadvantaged learners’ lifelong and lifewide progress. Also, partners developed a methodology for AEPs to use open data resources at regional, national and EU level. In addition, the partnership developed a monitoring tool for monitoring disadvantaged learners’ lifelong and lifewide progress combing results from surveys and other public datasets. Moreover, the partnership developed a framework addressed to AEPs, which covers two dimensions: web-based and communities (inter-institutional) synergies. Finally, the partnership developed an ICT based monitoring toolkit to be used independently and/or in the context of inter-institutional community synergies (tampadadigitaltool.eu), which was validated by AEPs and at a later stage the partnership also produced a policy recommendations paper. RESULTS & IMPACTThe TaMPADA consortium:- Raised awareness and improved partners and other AEPs networks’ capacity for learner-centered approach and long-term impact assessment.-Increased AEPs capacity to provide quality assured skills and uplifted competences of disadvantaged adult learners to respond better to their personal and societal needs.-Increased visibility and transparency of tracking and monitoring practices by developing the ICT web-based tool and evidence collection framework available to all AEPs.-Extended networks and synergies among AE stakeholders, AEPs, community organizations and authorities by producing the operational framework for inter-institutional synergies.-Strengthened links between informal and formal education pathways - Organized 11 information days to promote project results, gathering 368 participants. POST-PROJECT SUSTAINABILITYThe TaMPADA partners managed to promote the use of TaMPADA web-based toolkit, extended strategy and recommendations to AEPs and community education providers. Additionally, up took and diffused project materials to relevant regulating authorities and networks of AEPs across the EU and finally managed to advance national strategies by supporting, refining and harmonizing tracking and monitoring initiatives set forth by TaMPADA.

CONTEXT LEAD!, specific LEArning Disorders no more! is a project aimed at increasing SOCIAL INCLUSION starting with school education and decreasing Early School Leaving (ESL) empowering students with the right competences. Indeed the project wants to identify and defeat the barriers that students with Specific Learning Disabilities meet at school when they start writing and reading. EUROPE 2020 Strategy wants to reduce ESL to less 10 % around EUROPE, and, according to EUROSTAT (Disability statistics - access to education and training), 1 out of 4 people in EUROPE who faces BASIC ACTIVITY DIFFICULTIES, leaves the school prematurely. According to EPALE (JULY 2017) there were around 35.67 million students with such disabilities, 13.88 million coming from PRIMARY SCHOOL and 21.700.000 from secondary school. OBJECTIVELEAD! wants to empower and support students (9-14 years old) in developing the right competences about the ADAPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES and their use thanks to the support of an INNOVATIVE PLATFORM, MY SKILLS. The learning material will be validated according to the EUROPEAN GUIDELINES OF THE VALIDATION OF NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL LEARNING (CEDEFOP) and, at the end of the learning path, students will have the chance to get the EUROPEAN ADATPITVE TOOL LICENCE. TARGET GROUPThe DIRECT TARGET GROUP of the project is represented by students with SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES (SLD) with age range 9-14 years old. The INDIRECT TARGET GROUP is instead composed by teachers, headmasters, tutors and trainers and all the school and no school staff dealing with students with Specific Learning Disorders. In pointing out the this target group, families have to be considered as indirect beneficiaries of the project due to the fact that they will exploit project results with their children. ACTIVITIESIn order to reach its objective, LEAD! wants to promote forefront knowledge regarding the adaptive technologies (and their use) and create the EUROPEAN ADAPTIVE TOOL LICENCE targeting students with LSD (age 9-14). Students with SEN (SPECIFIC EDUCATIONAL NEEDS), which include students with Learning Specific Disorders, indeed have a higher probability to leave school prematurely compared to those students without disabilities ((Early School Leaving and Learners with Disabilities and/or Special Educational Needs, European Agency for special needs and inclusive education, 2017). To reach its objective, LEAD! will develop and adapt to distant learning a training course targeting the adaptive technologies which it will adapted to MY SKYLLS PLATFORM. At the end of the learning path, students can award the EUROPEAN ADAPTING TOOL LICENCE which it will support them to ACQUIRE the NECESSARY learning competences and, on the other side, it will be the quality LABEL that it will certify to the teachers that the students are ABLE TO USE THE ADAPTIVE TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES.

The InnoVal project aimed to address the urgent need to offer valid and reliable assessment methods that allow all learners to have a chance at validation. The 2012 Council Recommendation gave a strong political impulse to the goal of having national validation arrangements in all countries by 2018. Yet, according to the CEDEFOP 2014 Validation Inventory Report, EU countries still greatly diverge in terms of mechanisms in place. In order to ensure the validity and reliability of assessment procedures, and to avoid additional costs, many educational institutions prefer to use standardised tests. The use of alternative methods such as portfolios, declarative methods and simulations, is on the increase but remains limited. The 6 project partners from 5 EU countries and an Associate Partner (Bertelsmann Stiftung) believe that the use of standardised tests hinders learners’ take up in validation and represents one of the strongest obstacles to their development in Europe. Indeed, validation systems are often targeting adults who have had a bad experience with formal education and formal assessment methods. This has led them to not completing their secondary education and to not participating in any further formal education. Yet, they have acquired many skills and competences in non-formal and informal learning environments that they would be willing to have validated if the assessment method did not bring them back to their bad past experience with formal education. InnoVal aimed to foster a change in practices related to the assessment of non-formal and informal learning across Europe and across sectors. For the certificates and qualifications issued by validation systems to be credible, assessment methods must be trustworthy. InnoVal gathered experience on innovative assessment methods from across Europe in order to determine which ones have proven to be successful. To help foster trust in these innovative methods, InnoVal has illustrated successful innovative assessment methods with best practices. Based on their respective experience and expertise, InnoVal partners have developed a Training Programme based on Open Educational Material and a Toolbox of Case Studies that is adaptable to different national contexts and sectors. By using new technologies (Online Learning Platform) the project provides a solution to many practitioners who have to implement validation mechanisms without always being prepared to do so. It will proposes very concrete modules on how to deal with non-traditional publics, to implement alternative assessment methods, analysing barriers and enablers, to work with external experts and to be cost efficient. The project therefore addressed the need for capacity building of assessors to ensure reliability of results and to overcome initial resistance. The outputs are based on the initial Need Assessment Review that looked at national policies and practices related to assessment methods to validate non-formal and informal learning at VET and HE levels and the specific needs of our target groups (low skilled adults, including early school leavers, and migrants/refugees). In addition, the review explored the demand side - that is employers and education providers - and their views on the appropriateness of alternative assessment methods. It also explored transferability of policies and practices across contexts. An online consultation contributed to develop a deeper understanding of the barriers and enablers to implementing alternative assessments. Those results together with the experience gained from the piloting phase (training workshops to test the Training Programme), an Advocacy Pack with policy recommendations targeted at policy makers and practitioners have contributed to ensure systemic support for alternative assessments. InnoVal was highly innovative as it brought together VET and HE providers who are advanced either in the use of innovative assessment methods, in building links with the labour market and/or in dealing with disadvantaged groups; research bodies who can provide the evidence with a EU perspective and European networks which can ensure policy impact and broad dissemination and exploitation of results. InnoVal covered 6 countries (BE-FL, FR, FI, EL, PT, DE) and generated interest well beyond. The potential transferability of the case studies and of the innovative methods has been included in all of the project outputs. The partners engaged various target groups from the start of the project (Ministries in charge of Validation, EU, NQF Agencies, EU networks, etc.) in order to ensure a broad impact. InnoVal has therefore contributed to build a shared understanding of quality principles of assessment and has explored the benefits of non-traditional assessment methods for validation for low skilled adults as well as for migrants/refugees and has contributed to Europe’s most pressing challenges.

"DIGIT ""Boost competences for a responsible use of online identity"" is strongly based on the need of adult citizens to easily understand concepts related to the digital identity, i.e. the image and the behaviour they have when using the most common tools on the internet (emails, social networks, e-commerce etc.). Therefore the main aim of the project was to create educational contents and adult educators guidelines, through an in depth assessment of adults and their common use of online tools in their daily life, from emails to Social Network, from e-commerce to the use of forums, blogs etc. Moreover the project tackled also the issue of “internet (excessive) use” and its impact on our health, families, relations...DIGIT developed hands-on training contents supporting the right attitude of adults and better awareness of #digital footprint"" implications. During WEB 2.0 era citizens were encouraged to upload their data online, through social channels and dynamic environment (social network, forum, blog, e-commerce). Nowadays we are experiencing the early days of WEB 3.0 period, which has at its disposal an enormous amount of data. WEB 3.0 is characterized by advanced data mining and machine learning technologies capable to extract knowledge and key information that can be exploited in any possible way. Ideally however data should be exploited for the benefit of its owners.The DIGIT project addressed the issue of online identity and digit footprint and how they can affect adults' daily life. IS NOT ONLY A MATTER OF BEING CAPABLE TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THE DANGEROUS SITUATION, SUCH AS IDENTITY THEFT, FRAUD ETC., BUT TO BE AWARE OF THE POTENTIAL USE OF ONLINE MEANS AND THE SIDE EFFECTS FROM AN INAPPROPRIATE USE. Project main goals can be summarized as follow: - Educate and shape up aware adults and families by making them ""responsible consumers"" of the web. - Help adult educators in the understanding of digital footprint issues, implications, side effects and misuse to guide adults - Help parents and older adults to raise responsible future digital citizens - Help citizens understand the “value” of what they publish online - Provide the right instruments for citizens in order to promote conscious use of the broader concept of “online identity"". In order to achieve its goals, DIGIT performed various activities and achieved the following results: - The DIGIT MANIFESTO for a competent and intelligent management of online identity, incl. the guidelines for adult educators to structure courses on DIGITAL FOOTPRINT. - Training contents and tools to support adults in the learning process on HOW TO STAY SAFE ONLINE and be a responsible online citizen - Open access to interesting and engaging training contents - Better awareness about concept of digital footprint and activation of local communities of adult educators, civil society organizations, public entities and volunteers willing to boost competences toward a safer use of the internet. The partnership was composed by different type of organizations which covers the multidisciplinary aspects of the project. The DIGIT partners jointly contributed to making a step forward in awareness and skills development around the theme of digital identity and safe and responsible use of internet. The outcomes of the project benefit adult educators around Europe and adults themselves."

In the New Media Age and in this pandemic situation we are constantly surrounded by all kinds of information, from political issues to advertisements and marketing, which gets to us with no filter other than our own capacity to critically assess its validity. The Open Your Eyes project targets specifically adult learners and educators and seeks to improve their digital skills by providing them with tools to identify fake news and fight the spread of disinformation online. In 2020 when the situation in the whole world change we decided to upgrade the project aim and results and make more in order to be up to date and follow the changing situation with the pandemic. The “Open Your Eyes” project addresses directly a lack of critical thinking skills found in society to read, understand, contrast and evaluate the information as well as the ability to analyze the way you think and present evidence for your ideas, rather than simply accepting personal reasoning as sufficient proof. The project supports improving digital literacy of adult learners which are implemented through exploration of news feeds and building up digital source criticism, i.e. the skills of adults/adult learners of identifying the values and principlesunderlying media texts and discriminating objective from subjective information.The Open Your Eyes project deliver the following main results:“Check IT Out” Database: after thorough comparative research, the partners compiled a collection of best practices and initiatives that enables users to develop a critical approach to news consumption and trigger their critical sense towards this issue. Research were conducted in a selection of European countries interested by phenomena such as separatism and rising disinformation, particularly around the time of national and European elections, and allow users to design individual strategies to confront disinformation based on what worked best in other countries. In 2020 we collected and described known methods to create fake news and Internet-based resources for fact checking across Europe connected with tools and instruments fightind disinformation connected with COVID-19. A 3 days face-to-face training for adult educators in English were developed and held. After the training, the participants developed the methodology and a handbook (in English and in partner languages) for the “Check it out” Labs, that held in partner countries. The “Check IT Out” Labs: In order to support digital literacy of adults, there created a database of good practices and initiatives used in different EU countries relating to news which were customized to partner countries and tested in “Check IT Out” Labs by adult learners and adult educators. This “Check IT Out” Labs support adults in developing their critical and digital skills, bringing them closer to the concept of fake news and ultimately spreading awareness about the topic within their network.Due to COVID-19 pandemic the partnership consortium created Tips for adult educators make online teaching fun and engaging for your check it out lab. Our partners consortium decide to create those tips, because the pandemic caused most teaching activities, including classes for adults, to be shifted to an online environment. This resulted in a considerable challenge for adult educators, faced with making online teaching fun and engaging for adult learners. Nonetheless, a few useful tips can always come in handy to give an extra boost to learners’ motivation and to support educators in improving their teaching strategy, learning new skills, and embracing a brand new approach.Needless to mention, the principles in the Tips for adult educators are valid for teaching a class on any kind of subject, not only disinformation, and some key principles are also applicable in classroom-based learning.It is worthy to emphasize the importance of the project carried out transnationally so that to introduce those initiatives on tackling disinformation and tackling fake news that have a larger, transnational scope to educational community and, within a communication campaign and forum - to policy-makers, join efforts and good practices of EU stakeholders and transfer theknowledge and experience around Europe.