Doing2Learn

The actions of this project will support older participants ( 50+)

The initial focus of the project will be to undertake action research with older populations to more clearly identify and understand the barriers to their engagement with learning and to identify opportunities to overcome such barriers, especially in relation to using new media, ICT and digital technologies.

The second focus of this project is to use the traditional knowledge and practice of the older participants as ‘hooks’ to capture their interest in learning; building skills and competencies along the way so that they can produce learning topics using new media and ICT as tools for recording and sharing the content (podcasting, webcasting, blogging, digital photography, digital film etc). An e-platform will be developed specifically to support the new content and to enable inter-regional learning and mentoring across the partnership. Both the learning and application of learning will enable greater social inclusion of older populations. It will also help create a useful bank of knowledge, skills and competencies to better enable their participation in active economies and communities of practice. The trans-national element enables all this at the wider European level, across borders and other boundaries and allows us to explore different approaches and solutions to the same problems.

Such developments are essential as Europe is getting older and there is a need to promote and develop older people’s capacity to continue to work and learn for as long as they want and to make an active contribution once they retire. The specific knowledge, skills and competencies of older people could be particularly useful in a society striving to attain sustainability and greater social cohesion, although their abilities are often overlooked and ignored by a society intent on the ‘new’. Older people’s contributions are easy to ignore as they have not adopted the skills and competencies needed to participate fully in modern knowledge economies, in a more or less borderless Europe and its myriad cultures and languages.

That is why it is important to create an environment where such learning is possible, so as to ensure the visibility and accessibility to local and traditional knowledge, to enable the aprticipants to build value in their own knowledge so enabling older populations to overcome barriers to and find the joy in learning and in contributing to the learning of others. Informal and experiential learning, intercultural exchange and understanding and the adoption of new media and ICT skills will form key elements of the approach. It will enable older people to build confidence and communication skills within an informal atmosphere and to build learning networks. To ensure a firm basis to the local and wider learning networks, the work will focus on working with communities

Aims and goals

The general goal is the sharing and transfer of knowledge and practices amongst the older populations and the development of skills and competencies. Through this project we will
Promote social inclusion through shared learning
Promote greater cohesion of local and international communities and build a European Learning Network for older populations
Increase self-confidence among older generations through them taking responsibility, teaching and learning, travelling between partner countries (learning weekend)
Promote new activities, including entrepreneurial activities
Increase knowledge and skills around chosen topics
Reduce the fear of difference and of travelling abroad, and build confidence according to the European priorities in this programme and in the idea of ‘Europe’.

The project will produce:

1. Action research report
2. Modular designed courses for the following topics:
   Mentoring and Communication skills, included Short, introductory language and culture sessions, which will become available as an online book
   How to use ICT/new media/digital technology for publishing learning contents
   How-to modules related to practical based knowledge, available on line
3. A multilingual web-based learning platform, that will contain all the weblogs of projects undertaken, online course materials and space to get in contact with (partner) participants and to build mentorships
4. A trans-regional learning network and a European residential learning weekend for the older population