CULTURAL HERITAGE, NEW TECHNIQUES AND SUSTAINABILIY SHAPE OUR IDENTITIES AND LIVES The regions Friesland (NL), Central Bulgaria (BG), Valencia (ES) bear a wealth of intangible heritage, such as traditions, knowledge of old crafts and social networks. What all regions have in common as well is waste. It has become essential to create a circular economy in which the reuse of products and raw materials is maximised and their value destruction minimised. In Craft Your Future students examine whether the advancing technology and trends can help revitalize old crafts using waste as raw material. STUDENTS IN THE LEAD The rise of youth unemployment in the EU underlines the necessity to spark a dynamic and positive attitude among young people towards enterprising behaviour, networking skills and pro-activity. Learning by doing and educating students to take initiative and investigate opportunities themselves, rather than waiting for others to take the initiative, will increase employability. Craft Your Future addresses this need by the key focus on the initiative of the student. OBJECTIVES Craft your Future recognises that young people in Europe must look outwards and proactively engage with the challenges and opportunities that our modern globalising world provides. What trends & new technologies (e.g. 3D printing and laser cutting but also the use of big data, new ways of interacting, social entrepreneurship, circular economy) are feeding into our society today that can lift traditional crafts to the 21st century? Concretely, Craft your Future aims to: • Let VET students become closer to and more involved with their regions old crafts and traditions and cherish it. • Ensure young people have the power, knowledge and competences to be the change for sustainability that our world needs. • Educate VET students to be the innovators in the companies they will work for in the future by letting become aware of trends & new technologies and learn how to spot them. • Start the inter-cultural conversation and exchange between youngsters about cultural heritage (traditional crafts), trends & new techniques and the circular economy, let them discover what their regions have in common and how using trends & new techniques can push traditional crafts to the 21st century in a circular economy. • Increase the pool of work based learning opportunities for students in order to develop their competences for future working life. • Preserve cultural heritage by using culture as a driver for creative innovation, turning intangible tradition and waste management issues into a real future by using trends and new techniques. • Develop VET teachers’ skills by letting them to work with their students on ‘real-life’ cases. • Reinforce VET colleges network by setting up a cooperation with regional stakeholders. • Create a bridge between generations. The young generation will understand the elder generation better by getting to know them through their craft knowledge and stories and vice versa. PARTICIPANTS Craft Your Future is aimed at VET students from all fields of education, thus creating a cross-sector approach and allowing students from not only different countries but also different backgrounds to learn from each other. Secondly it is aimed at VET teachers and VET colleges anf world of work stakeholders (local authorities, cultural centres, regional craftsmen, artists, (social) businesses, etc.). ACTIVITIES Craft Your Future students are in the lead to 1) investigate challenges and opportunities on the cutting edge of traditional crafts, trends & new technologies and the circular economy, 2) design innovative solutions to the challenge of waste recycling by using traditional crafts and trends & new technologies, 3) propose solutions and innovations to the world of work and develop community strategies to convince communities to buy local & sustainable. Craft Your Future will develop the following tangible products: • IO1 - Craft your Future - Student Training Programme • IO2 - Craft your Future - Regional Alliance set-up toolkit • IO3 - Craft Your Future - Regional strategy and action plan • IO4 - Craft your Future - Online Community METHODOLOGY Craft Your Future is a true Strategic Partnership meaning all partners provide their key input that contributes to the realisation of the project goals and concrete deliverables. IMPACT & LONG TERM BENEFITS The Craft Your Future project unites educational institutions, students, local authorities, creative centres and (social) businesses in creating a strategy that help regions use intangible cultural heritage to increase their attractiveness, boost local economies and build a future based on regional resources. Craft Your Future ensures young people have the power, knowledge and competences to be the change for sustainability (in the broadest sense) that our world needs.

The starting point and background of the Cre-Com project is the social distance required as a result of the pandemic that broke out in early 2020 and the series of restrictive measures required for this.In this situation, professionals and organizations that organize informal learning activities for adults have suddenly stopped their entire activities for an indefinite period of time. After a brief relief, the second wave of the epidemic made it clear that they could not expect to return to their original activities for a long time.While formal subsystems of education have rapidly adapted to the use of digital tools and methods and much of education has moved to virtual spaces, this shift has been much more difficult for the adult learning sector. Here, too, especially in the case of formal training (eg language courses), the transition took place quickly, but those so-called informal learning programs, the essence of which is the coexistence and the common experience of activities and experiences, have not been found to date.The reasons for this are manifold, but according to our survey, they are not to be found in the absence of digital competencies or tools, but in the difficulties of transposing the nature of activities into virtual space.All this is a problem not only because groups of people cannot expand their knowledge in this way, but also because these activities are typically not only for learning purposes but much more necessary for the general well-being of the given communities and the supportive functioning of social groups. Examples of such programs are cooking clubs, where in addition to learning to prepare healthy meals with modern techniques, these events are also forms of social togetherness for participants.In the current situation, however, with their disappearance, a vacuum has been created, which also greatly worsens the mental state of communities.Informal learning programs are implemented in different contexts in different countries. While in many countries these are largely the responsibility of local authorities or one of their institutions, there are regions in the EU where NGOs and, in a self-organizing way, the population set up these programs themselves. However, regardless of their implementation, in all cases we find some kind of organization behind the programs and most educators, adult education professionals are the direct implementers who methodologically support the programs.Our project is aimed at these organizations and educators, program organizers, in which we develop an online modular training course and an action plan methodology for organizational and program development purposes.The project involves Romanian, Dutch, Portuguese and Hungarian partners, who represent a high level of excellence in the areas represented by the project.The training and the action plan cover the current special circumstances, but in general, regardless of the circumstances, they also contribute to the development of professionals and organizations to be able to innovate with a creative and innovative approach.In all elements of the project, we focus on digital and virtual implementation.At international partner meetings, we review project management processes and organize a multiplication event at the end of the project in all 4 partner countries to disseminate the results. However, beyond these, all project activities, from development processes to testing, are implemented virtually.As a result of the project, we will create tools that achieve measurable impacts and ultimately improve the well-being of small communities as a result of innovative and creative seed practice practices in community programs.

<< Background >>The world is changing fast and it is vital that education keeps pace. Yet, at a time when innovation is most needed, the world of education is lagging: only 38% of recent entrants to the education sector believe their school/college is adept at adopting innovations, new knowledge or methods (Innovating Education and Educating for Innovation, OECD, 2016). InDo will support educators to rise to the challenge, helping them transform their teaching methods and bring learning to life through innovative and inclusive learning spaces.According to the Digital Education Action Plan (2021 – 2027), fostering the development of a high-performing digital education ecosystem and enhancing digital skills and competences for the digital transformation are the strategic priorities of European Commission. Based on the above, the InDo project outlines this vision for high-quality, inclusive and accessible digital education in Europe by upskilling the digital skills of educators in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) through high-quality learning content and user-friendly tools so as to have confident and digitally competent teachers to maximize students’ capacity in the 21st classrooms. InDo project underlines the need of fostering digital capabilities among academic staff of HEIs and academia representatives, so as to improve their teaching, through a blended Understanding by Design (UbD) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) teaching by obtaining essentials skills, attitudes and techniques, based on the development of a curriculum and instructional teaching model in the 21st century classrooms.<< Objectives >>The main objectives of InDo project are to build capacities of educators in the deployment of UbD and DI as a structured approach to proactively cater for student diversity and inclusion through the developed resources, to empower educators to put technological solutions at the service of pedagogy and boost their teaching performance and finally to optimize relevancy and effectiveness for educators across Europe through rigorously research and test each resource. To succeed in this, the project will increase the visibility of digital technologies in the Higher education and it will support the incorporation of new teaching methods and learning tools into the curricula programmes of HE Institutions. It will encourage the educators and the professors to be more confident during the teaching by incorporating learning materials which will finally develop the maximum capacity of each student. Professors will be equipped with new skills and fresh teaching methods, while learners will be attracted by new digital applications during their learning path. The stronger the educators are as professionals in each of these areas, the more successful the students are likely to be. We firmly believe that “the quality of an educational system depends upon the quality of its teachers” (Teaching in Focus Brief 2, OECD, 2012) and so educators are at the heart of our work.<< Implementation >>Many educators sense that both teaching and learning have been redirected in ways that potentially impoverishing for those who teach and those who learn. Simultaneously, they find it increasingly difficult to ignore the diversity of learns who populate their classrooms. Educators need a model that acknowledges this gap so that young people develop powers of mind as well as accumulate an information base. The InDo project bridges that need and incorporated four (4) basic phases of implementation. Within this context, a number of activities affecting -directly or indirectly- the incorporation of the design and delivery of blended UbD and DI teaching and learning process, are being included in the InDo project. Our approach covers not only the training provision process of the educators (see R1) but also the practical application of the lessons learned (see R2, R3). Finally, the delivery of policy recommendations regarding ways of enhancing the digital competences of HEIs educators (R4) as well as a JST is going to provide a realistic testing of the blended UbD and DI functions and processes. • 4 Results and 18 Activities in total are foreseen, while a JST is going to provide a realistic testing of the UbD and DI functions and processes. • 3 TΜ (the first meeting will be organized with physical attendance. Ιf it is not applicable, budget will be transferred to other positions) • 5 MΕ• 1 Consultation with stakeholdersQuality classrooms evolve around powerful knowledge that works for each student. That is, they require quality curriculum and quality instruction. In tandem, UbD and DI provide structures, tools, and guidance for developing curriculum and instruction based on our current best understandings of teaching and learning.<< Results >>InDo project underlines the need of fostering digital capabilities among academic staff of HEIs, professors, researchers, trainers, HE practitioners, and academia representatives, so as to improve their teaching, through a blended Understanding by Design (UbD) and Differentiated Instruction (DI) teaching by obtaining essentials skills, attitudes and techniques, based on the development of a curriculum and instructional teaching model in the 21st century classrooms.On completion, InDo will have made it possible for educators in Higher Education to access training on inclusive and innovative pedagogic strategies which will help them create creative and differentiated learning spaces for their students. The long-term results will be improved learning outcomes for students from all backgrounds and more innovative, forward-looking educational institutions better equipped to address diversity and disadvantaged people. We will achieve this by working together to understand diversity and innovation best practice and creating accessible, engaging and practical training resources and tools for professors. We will work closely with specialists in pedagogic innovation, HE leaders and educators, generating results in two stages during the project: - stage 1 refers to tangible results that are produced by the partnership - stage 2 refers to the results generated when these results are used with the target groups, multiplier activities and the wider dissemination.Within this context, the following results (R) are going to be achieved during and upon the InDo project completion are:Stage 1: Tangible Results R1: One (1) Curriculum (available online as an interactive resource) covering the needs of ΗΕ for inclusive classrooms and fostering the educators with skills and attitudes R2: One (1) Compendium of experiential laboratory and Benchmarking for “Pedagogies for Innovative Classrooms” is going to be developed (available online for download)R3: One (1) App “InDo app for the 21st Century Classroom”R4: One (1) Policy Recommendation Report after consultation with representative stakeholders Stage 2: Results on participants and target group R1: 60 teachers and trainers assist in testing the resources and are immediately better prepared to begin implementing inclusive and innovative teaching and learning strategies R2: 400 teachers and trainers download/access the online course, compendium and app and develop: - improved awareness regarding the importance of addressing diversity and disadvantage in the classroom through innovation - increased knowledge of differentiated instruction as a discipline and of a wide range of specific pedagogic approaches that enable students to learn in their best way and develop 21st century skills and competences - strengthened ability to implement innovative and inclusive pedagogic approaches in their own classes R3: 150 mangers of educational organisations and education stakeholders download/access the online course, compendium, app and policy recommendation report and: - better understand and value differentiated instruction - explore new ways to empower and training educators to prioritise pedagogic innovation - commit to introducing InDo training and creating an implementation plan for innovative and inclusive education.R3: A strategic and differentiated dissemination campaign to ensure at least 550 educators, managers and stakeholders understand and use the resources in the short term.R4: A JST is going to provide a realistic testing of the blended UbD and DI functions and processes (12 participants)

Not all entrepreneurs / business owners / managers have a background in business and management. However, all of them need to master some knowledge regarding, precisely, business and management. Is, being aware of this context and the difficulties that aspiring entrepreneurs experience in their quest to become business persons that the project was created.As such, the Your Business Success (YBS) project developed an approach to enable the primary target group (aspiring entrepreneurs and business owner/managers of micro and small enterprises) to prepare practical and performance-focused business plans. This was achieved through the development of a new digital business planning tool and methodology supported by a new VET course and learning resources. The YBS digital business planning and management tool help participants to prepare business plans where the enterprise’s objectives are linked to and supported by operational plans, VET training and employees' skills, competences and performance targets. Partners created a new VET curriculum and course called Your Business Success. The project increased the quality of VET provision in the field of entrepreneurship and enterprise support through the delivery of a C1 training the trainer course. Once trained as YBS Coaches, the VET teacher/trainers can deliver the YBS VET course to the target group, thereby developing their knowledge and understanding of business planning and the use of the YBS digital planning tool. The project contributed to the development of an increased sense of entrepreneurship within the primary target group. It also increased the digital competence of VET teacher/trainers by exposing them to the effective use of digital technologies in the delivery of enterprise VET courses. At the end of the YBS project, Partners have created a new training course that promotes the use of innovative methods and a new pedagogical approach to the delivery of business and enterprise planning and management; Partners have created a new open education resource relevant to a wide range of different audiences, including aspiring entrepreneurs, business owners and managers and enterprise support agencies and VET institutes engaging in enterprise training. Partners seek to widen the impact of the project beyond the immediate target groups by preparing a good practice guide in the form of a book (Output 3: Best Practice Handbook: Planning for Business Success). Through the dissemination activities and the multiplier events (E1 - E6), Partners tried to influence the strategies and initiatives supported and sponsored by a range of other VET actors and stakeholders (e.g. regional/national government agencies, VET centres and education institutes, business support agencies and awarding bodies with responsibility for and/or an interest in raising interest in entrepreneurship and the development of micro and small enterprises).

CONTEXTApproximately 90% of jobs today require some level of digital and both the Council Resolution on a Renewed European Agenda for Adult Learning and the Upskilling Pathways Initiative recommend adult education provision is strengthened to improve the digital skills of many millions of low-skilled or low-qualified adults who are most vulnerable in the labour market. In addition to the need for digital skills to be an OUTCOME of adult education, digital tools are also increasingly recognized as an effective MEDIUM for the teaching of all types of competences (literacy, numeracy, languages, civic participation etc.) Indeed, digital and mobile resources are ideally suited for adult education since they: - generate a significant increase in learner engagement and information retention; - extend and diversify the provision of learning and enable it to be tailored in content (personalization) and time and place (flexible or distant learners) - require no large investments in hardware (79% of European adults now own a smartphone).In reality, however, the integration of digital tools into adult education is lagging behind in France and our partner countries. France and Germany’s digital learning environment for adult education was characterized as “tentative” (and Greece “traditional”) by a 2015 Ecorys/Bertelsmann report which also noted that the most important driver of integrating digital technologies is teachers’ own digital abilities and confidence. In addition, even educators who are keen to use digital teaching face such a large number of digital and cloud-based educational tools, platforms and learning environments that it can be difficult to know where to start. OBJECTIVEFor these reasons, we have designed DIGITAL with a clear objective: increase the ability and motivation of educators working with low-skilled, low-qualified adults to use digital learning strategies and tools in order to make learning more attractive, relevant and boost their professional and personal development. ACTIVITIESTo achieve our objective, we will: a. Raise awareness of the benefits of digital learning by sharing leading examples of digital learning innovation for disadvantaged and marginalised adults through developing a Good Practice Compendiumb. Provide educators with practical guidance and tools to merge best practice pedagogy with 20 of the best digital learning resources in a DIGITAL Toolbox.c. Enable educators to grow in confidence and skills by developing the DIGITAL e-learning course.PARTICIPANTSDIGITAL involves the direct participation of:Adult education teachers and trainers, especially those working in nonprofit organizations and colleges, who need to become more proficient in digital teaching so as to remain relevant in an ever-evolving education sector;Adult education organizations, who need the vision and tools to support educators in implementing innovative teaching strategies within their organizations.Adult education stakeholders, from the public and private organizations that policy and practice, who need strategies to boost the quality and attractiveness of adult education at scale.RESULTSThe first results produced by the project will be the intellectual outputs. They include:- O1: Good Practice Compendium. A digital publication that encourages knowledge sharing and peer learning among Adult Education organizations and stakeholders by identifying and sharing leading innovative approaches in using digital teaching for adults, with a special focus on disadvantaged and marginalised adults and NEETs.- O2: DIGITAL Toolbox. An interactive publication featuring the 20 best digital learning resources, tested and tried by our team, with practical guidance on how to use them.- O3: DIGITAL Online Learning Course. A course that adult education teachers can use to strengthen their own digital skills. Uniquely, each module of the course will be taught using a different platform, thus integrating learning outcomes with the delivery mechanism.IMPACTThe overall impact will be an increase in the number of educators incorporating digital tools into their teaching/training programmes and becoming digitally competent in managing their own workflows and collaborative capacities using digital technologies. This impact will be visible: they will use more online tools, software from the cloud, and vary the delivery of the training from classroom and one-to-one, to more flexible distance training and self-led training for adult learners. In the long term, teaching professionals working in adult education will enhance their own career prospects in a knowledge based society.By improving the skills and attitudes of adult educators to increase the use of digital tools we will impact not only the effectiveness of training to individual trainees and groups, but be able to create waves of change regarding the use of digital technology in adult education as a whole.