EMODE News

The first meeting of the project took place in Athens at 8 & 9 December 2008! During this meeting the partners had the opportunity to meet each other, to provide more information about the status and the activities of each partner-organization and to discuss about the organization of the project's activities. There have been discussions about the training of trainers in each country and their attitudes and practices towards the design and use of their own educational material and modules and the use (or not..) of the ICT in this process, which was very interesting and helpful. From these discussions, based on the experience of the partners in the Adult education field, the fact that trainers need assistance in the preparation and use of their own modules and materials and in the use of ICT have been evident. A first draft of the general project management and communication framework have been drown, as well as a first organization plan of the project's activities. This first meeting took place in the centre of the city, while extreme riots were taking place: fires, smashed windows and fights between groups of young people and the police..

Interviews with adult trainers have been implemented in each partner country, during the first phase of the project which is about the further identification of the trainer's potentials and needs when it comes to the design and use of their own educational material and modules. Roskild University prepared and sent to all partners axes for questions and guidelines in order to help them contact the national trainers reviews. This process is not a research but a general review of the situation in each country, which took place the first months of 2009.

An intranet platform have been developed in order to facilitate the communication among partners and the exchange of products and results. This addresses to partners and it can be reached with a user name and password. In a second phase the platform will also be linked with the web site of E-MODE and -further- it will host the pilot training of the educational material that will be produced (a moodle application that will address to tutors and trainers, as well as the E-MODE partners)

The second meeting of the project was held in Copenhagen 4th and 5th of May 2009 - no riots this time, just the typical Danish spring time! In this meeting the results of the first actions were presented and discussed. As things in the project were more "mature" partners also discussed the "core" activities of E-MODE which is, among others, the development of the 3 Methodologies, the Educational package and it's pilot applications. An instructional workshop about the function and use of the project's intranet platform took place and was quite useful for the participants. Along with the preparation of the main activities to come, other issues have been brought up such as Evaluation and Quality management, Dissemination of the results, the first leaflet and newsletter of the project, financials issues, etc.

Material for the dissemination of E-MODE and it's activities is now ready, such as : the first newsletter of the project, a poster, and a leaflet.

The 3rd meeting of the project was held in Izmir, Turkey the 12 & 13 of November 2009, with the participation of all partners. It has been an important meeting since one of its major goals was to prepare the pilot applications of the educational material in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria. Partners discussed the transformation of educational material, the structure of the pilotings, the target groups and other related issues. The general structure of this platform was presented to the partners and several issues were highlighted, for example: how the tutors and the participants should read the electronic part, how the material should appear in the platform (since there is a different logic to it from the written text), how should the tutors interpret the results of the exercises, etc. Apart from the pilotings there has been a presentation of the mid-project evaluation report.

A preparatory training for the tutors of the pilot applications took place in Athens, at 22 & 23 April 2010, hosted by SQ LEARN . The training aimed at the preparation of the Turkish and Bulgarian tutors in order to facilitate the pilotings in a similar way – concerning methodologies, techniques and training contents. The Greek tutors, who are at the same time the ones that developed the theoretical content of the training (the 3 methodologies and the educational material of E-MODE) instructed the course and assisted the training process. When they got back home tutors were equipped with a solid base to start their training.

In Greece, the pilot application of the E-MODE educational material (addressing to trainers of Life Long Learning) started the 31st of May 2010 (first face to face meeting) and went on for 6 weeks. Four face to face meetings took place in the premises of KEK INE GSEE in Athens, with 18 participants which were life long learning trainers and key actors coming from different areas of the country. In Turkey the pilot training started the 3rd of June 2010, addressing to 16 trainers, hosted and organized by the Izmir University of Economics. In Bulgaria piloting started at 7th of June 2010, in Sofia, organized and hosted by the FSSK, addressing to 15 participants. Subjects of the pilot trainings were the 3 Methodologies of E-MODE : Methodology for the development of educational material, Methodology for the development of educational modules and Methodology for the authoring of e-learning courses. The face-to-face meetings were based on the principles of the participatory adult education (learner’s centred training).

In response to the enthusiasm and interest of the trainers during the pilot application in Greece, another round of pilot training took place in Athens in November 2010. A number of 44 trainers and key actors had the opportunity to get familiar with the educational material, to interact, provide feedback, get inspired and enhance their creativity. Although not initially planed within E-MODE, this second round of pilot application has been an initiative of the Greek partners that lasted for a month and allowed more participants to access the e-learning part of the educational material, without formally having face to face meetings and e-tutor support. Despite this fact, the tutors of the piloting, as well as the collaborators of the E-MODE team, did interact and provided support to the participants-trainers. This initiative contributed to the development of a wider network of trainers and facilitated dissemination of the products of E-MODE.

Activities for the dissemination and the promotion of the wider use of the E- MODE’s results,took place in all partner countries, including: round table discussions for key actors in the field of Life Long Learning, workshops for trainers, reviews of trainers opinions and suggestions, presentations in conferences and other events etc.

The final conference of E MODE took place in Athens the 19th of November 2010, with the contribution of the transnational partners. The results of E-MODE were presented to trainers and key actors– with a special focus on the educational material of E-MODE and the pilot applications. Presentations included examples, case studies and samples of training exercises that reflect the main philosophy and focus of the project. The MOODLE platform with the educational material was briefly presented and many of the participants asked if they can have temporary access – in order to view the material. Representatives of key actors’ organizations that can affect the status of training of adults in Greece send an encouraging message for the future possible use of the E-MODE products!