Description of the project
E-DESIGN (financed by the Erasmus+ program: Key Action 3 – Social Inclusion and Common Values) is a project that aims at increasing social inclusion and combat social inequalities among disadvantaged groups, especially migrants and refugees, through strengthening their digital competences in order to enhance their labour market opportunities and social participation.
Through the establishment of decentralized structures of digital education – named ICT Training Hotspots – in social areas, schools and other suitable places like public libraries or municipalities, E-DESIGN aims at improving access to ICT training and strengthening digital competences of disadvantaged groups. Moreover, it aims at enhancing sustainable structures of volunteer work in communities and schools to improve societal systems for reaching out to underprivileged groups. By creating a free and easily accessible offer of digital education, the target groups get interested in participating and thereby also get in contact with other people from their community to further promote social inclusion.
The learning offers will be designed in such a way that learning of competence happens primarily through self-appropriation, supported by trainers, allowing for learning transversal competences such as problem solving, design thinking and communication, while at the same time allowing teachers without extensive ICT skills to be involved in the process. Possible learning offers could be: Microcontrollers such as Micro:bits, and Arduino, 3D printing, 3D modelling, app development and web development.
The project will run in two phases: in the first phase 13 hotspots will be implement in each implementing country (Germany, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus and Italy), in schools and in public community spaces such as youth centres or NGO’s. After implementing the learning offers and a thorough evaluation, best methods and practices will be identified. In the second phase, the elements that have worked particular well will be put together and adapted for a second, upscaling phase. At the end, a handbook will be developed, compiling all the best practices, supported with the visual materials (videos) published by the project’s participants on a learning platform.
ACTIVITIES
- Awareness-raising among local decision-makers, politicians and other interested stakeholders about of the need and benefits of the ICT training Hotspots.
- Research about the local situation in the 5 implementing countries, on the target group, job profiles, job opportunities, and local/regional learning offers that already exist, including interviews and desk research
- Establishment of at least 4 ICT hotspots in each implementing country and consequently the implementation of ICT training courses and ICT final projects
- Evaluation of pilot testing, creation of best practices and improved materials for an upscaling phase
- Transfer knowledge on designing courses and provide training to teachers/volunteers about ICT-based working materials and methods.
- Creation of a Handbook for setting up and implementing ICT Training Hotspots.
RESULTS
- Compilation of digital labour market information for the target group
- 23 ICT Training Hotspots in 5 partner countries with 42 courses in total
- Tested materials for teachers/volunteers available to use for free. The materials cover 4 modules: Microcontrollers, 3D objects, App-Development and Web-Development:
- Trainer handouts on all modules (general information annex III and course organization regarding the theme)
- Task Sheets Module A – Microcontroller (Activities)
- Task Sheets Module B – 3D objects (Activities)
- Task Sheets Module C – App-Development (Activities)
- Task Sheets Module D – Web-Development (Activities)
- 646 participants in the learning offers
- how-to videos made by participants placed on the E-DESIGN YouTube channel
- Learning platform connecting the different ICT hotspots
- Handbook for setting up and implementing ICT Training Hotspots, available here and on the project website
- 7 final conferences
