BLOOM 5.0 Blended Learning in adult education: improved Online&Offline teaching Methods for better employability and active citizenship 5.0
Total Project Value: EUR 60,000.00
Co-financing: 100%
Project duration: September 1, 2024 – February 28, 2026
Program: Erasmus+, KA2 – Small Partnerships
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly altered the landscape of adult education systems. In these circumstances, the advantage of virtual educational programs and the flexibility they provide has been recognized. While children and young people generally possess advanced IT skills, there is a significant gap in such skills among adult learners, highlighting the need for their acquisition. According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (2019), only 28% of people aged 65 to 74 use a computer, and 35% use the internet. A nearly identical situation exists in the Czech Republic, where only 7% of the population has participated in digital skills enhancement programs. Although there are informal education programs in both countries that focus on digital skills in the native language, this offering is insufficient and inadequately tailored to the needs of adult learners. The project aims to change the current situation, and the results will be visible on a much broader level than the regional one. This project will develop digital skills among a target group that is often neglected in lifelong learning: the elderly, persons with disabilities, the unemployed, and others with fewer opportunities.
The purpose of the BLOOM project is to enhance the offering of educational programs in digital technologies necessary for work and active citizenship, aimed at adults, especially those with fewer opportunities, through the transnational collaboration of adult education organizations, TICM from Croatia and EduCentrum from the Czech Republic.
The eighteen-month project will begin by strengthening the educational capacities of the two mentioned partner organizations – employees will acquire theoretical and practical knowledge in the application of digital pedagogy and the integration of IT tools in adult education, which will be a prerequisite for creating internal plans for the digital transformation of education. This will be followed by the transfer of knowledge to organizations within the partners’ environments and the implementation of pilot educational programs through which employees will test and present the acquired skills among their colleagues. Parallel to the development of a simple, intuitive, and free eLearning system for end users, manuals will be created to provide training in digital skills for active citizenship as well as basic and advanced IT skills. The trilingual (Croatian, English, Czech) manuals will assist teaching staff who work with adults (including those outside the project) in creating and delivering programs targeted at adult learners. However, the most important activity of the project will be the preparation and implementation of eight blended learning sessions, four in each of the partner countries. The topics of the sessions will be the previously mentioned digital skills for active citizenship, as well as basic and advanced IT skills. Project management, visibility, and dissemination activities will be carried out continuously.
Through their joint efforts, TICM and EduCentrum will directly impact adult learners by strengthening their skills through direct participation in project activities by changing their own models of implementing informal education programs. The project will also have a broader reach – it will positively affect many learners who will use the developed eLearning systems for independent learning outside the project, as well as teaching staff working with adult learners who will use the developed materials to better prepare and deliver higher-quality educational programs.
