Effect

During March 2022, the Slovak partner topcoach.sk organized a series of pilot trainings for our Erasmus + project.
During these trainings and meetings, the trainers had the opportunity to learn techniques and tools when working with adults, especially in the context of working with disadvantaged and unemployed adults.
The project is awaiting for the final multiplier event in Tartu on April 27, 22.

Thank you for our project partner from Latvia - Organizācijas attīstības centrs Spring Valley - who hosted us in Riga. Finally we could meet again!

Fun facts

✅ It was our first and final physical meeting with the project team! Due the pandemic we had to implement almost everything via online, but we made it. The project main results – the curriculum and toolkit – are in finale phase and will be made public soon.
✅ The 32nd project month is running, and we have 23 days left (counted from 8 April)
✅ We are looking forward to the Multiplier Event “How to re-lay a good foundation for learning in adulthood?” in Estonia, Tartu.

On April 8, 22, the last project meeting for the Effect project took place in Riga, Latvia. Subsequently, at the end of April, the final multiplication event awaits us, where we will present all outputs of this project.

Pilot courses are in motion by Spring Valley (Organizācijas attīstības centrs) in Latvia! 👏

Jaunu darba nedēļu uzsākam ar lielu gandarījuma sajūtu – veiksmīgi noslēgušās Erasmus+ projekta Effect’21 ietvaros izstrādātās mācību programmas “Praktiski rīki pasniedzējiem pieaugušo mācību efektivitātes uzlabošanai” pirmās pilotapmācības. Virkni vērtīgu atziņu ir guvuši gan to dalībnieki, gan arī mēs.

Galvenais secinājums – līdzīgi kā darbā ar bērniem un pusaudžiem, arī mācot pieaugušos izaicinājumu netrūkst.

Īpaši sarežģīts ir darbs ar mazizglītotiem pieaugušajiem “studentiem”, jo viņiem nereti “pieklibo” motivācija iesaistīties mācību procesā pilnvērtīgi un apgūt jaunas nākotnes darbam nepieciešamās zināšanas un iemaņas. To veicina galvenokārt psiholoģiskie šķēršļi, ko veicina zemās sociālās prasmes. Tomēr tieši no šīm zināšanām un iemaņām ir ļoti lielā mērā atkarīga šo cilvēku turpmākās dzīves kvalitāte. Tāpēc pasniedzējiem ir jāmeklē iespējas pielāgot mācību saturu un metodes ne vien šo cilvēku vēlmēm un vajadzībām, bet arī spējām un iespējām!

Paldies Liepājas Universitāte par viesmīlību, bet mācību dalībniekiem – dažādu programmu pasniedzējiem, – par aktīvo iesaisti mācību procesā!

Kas tālāk?

Septembrī mums šī projekta ietvaros ir paredzētas vēl divas pilotapmācību grupas. Pēc tām kopā ar partneriem no Igaunijas un Slovākijas pievērsīsimies mācību programmas pilnveidei ar mērķi padarīt to vēl efektīvāku, vēl jaudīgāku, vēl universālāku.

📣 Today we started in Estonia with the third pilot group!

Täna tegime algust Navi seltsimajas koostöös Loome OÜ-ga (DevelopDesign kaubamärgi esindaja) koolitajate Kadri Kõivu ja Mari-Liis Järg`iga kolmanda pilootkoolituse grupiga, kes õpivad ERASMUS+ rahvusvahelise koostööprojekti EFFECT raames välja arendatud õppekaval.

🔍 Koolitajate koolitusel on erilise luubi all koolitamise tõhusus- millised on need olulised printsiibid, mis võimaldavad parimal võimalikul viisil õppida

🔍 Otsitakse vastuseid muuhulgas küsimustele: meetodid ja nende valiku põhimõtted- kuidas üldse valikuid teha ja milline on optimaalne koolituse ülesehitus? Ajusõbralik ja tõhus?

Lisaks Navil toimuvale koolitusgrupile, toimub seesugune koolitus veel ka Pärnus ja Räpinas. Meie partnerid Lätis ja Slovakkias viivad ellu samasisulisi pilootkoolitusi.

Rohkem infot projekti kohta leiad siit: http://kasvulava.ee/projektid/
https://www.developdesign.eu/
Ja Facebookist lehelt "Effect"

Piloting has finally started!

⛳️Our project has moved to the piloting phase. Starting from the second half of August the first pilot course started in Latvia, followed by a second group in the beginning of September. Two more groups in September will start in Estonia. And there are more to come.

📣In total there will be 9 pilot courses carried out in Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia for testing the developed curriculum and toolkit with 100 adult teachers/trainers who deal with adult learners.
🇱🇻 🇸🇰 🇪🇪

“Participating teachers will be more motivated, methodologically prepared and open minded to adults in their training groups. The idea to develop and test this curriculum is to increase the adult learning efficiency. The adult trainer's knowledge and methodological approaches are crucial for achieving more learning efficiency. The methodological development is focused especially on how to support developing general skills, including for example social skills, learning skills etc.”

Still on online mode: From expert to expert - one of the main ideas of the project!

In the beginning of March we gathered again via online for the second part of our short-term training event, which originally should have taken place in Latvia. The first part of this event happened in the beginning of August 2020. Then it became really clear that we can not travel and we decided to continue via online - our virtual travel was about to begin! Since that we have stayed on this track!

This has not always been easy but opened up another world for international cooperation, full of challenges and experiences - until now there has been a lot of talk about digital skills and their importance. But now they are essential for making it work. And all our partners have worked hard. But in relation to our project and it’s main aim it is not anymore only about the challenge to co-operate via online, the global pandemic has changed our vision about the training process as well - we are working especially hard to adapt it to the "new reality" and maintain the benefits of face-to-face trainings.

We are now in the phase of curriculum development, where we have ready the first version of learning outcomes, main principles and each country's training plans.

This time we organised the short-term training event so that every partner organisation could share the methods/approaches of their training plans, which others wanted to know more about. So it was like a methods fair and from expert to expert session. All concluded to “steal something from another” due the fact they got interested to use it in their training plans as well. This captured one of the main ideas of this cooperation project - to share and gain professional expertise from different country partners educational training organisations. With the bigger aim to develop a curriculum with the focus on learning efficiency and helping to support teachers/educators who are involved with learners, who might not have that good earlier learning experiences and learning skills.

From our session we found it especially interesting - the ABCD method, the 4 C model and the roles of the facilitative trainer.

Continuing via online: the reality of our Erasmus+ project Effect …

In the beginning of November all four partner organisations from Estonia, Latvia and Slovakia gathered in Zoom to continue with our short-term training events. The Estonians and Latvians “e-flyed” to Slovakia, meaning as there are still due the Covid crises no options for us to meet in person, we continued in online mode. Our aim is to stay on the project track and introduce each other our organisations common practices and training themes, with the mission to develop along the project activities a curriculum with the special focus on increasing learning efficiency, learner-centeredness and basic skills of adult learners.

This time it was the turn of topcoach.sk from Slovakia. Topcoach is an innovative educational organisation, which has rich experiences in the design of trainings and workshops, to educate adults and youth. They have created their own keynote format leTalk and in-house academy for future leaders called NewLeaders Academy.

In this online session we focused on gamification, motivation and feedback in the training process. Ingrid Schostokova Krupickova introduced us to the topic gamification, and not only introduced, but also allowed us to experience it. For the bigger part of the participants gamification was known more or less, but not used as much. The session gave a glimpse to it as an option, but also questions arose – how to hold the balance in the learning process, so “playing” would not take over the deeper focusing. All agreed it needs more reading into, thinking and practicing.

The topic related to motivation of participants in training was addressed by Jana Lednarova and giving feedback in the training process by Zora Inka Groholova.
Amongst many other key principles for creating a learning environment which supports the learners self-directedness, the concept of a fixed and growth mindset, achieved special attention and should definitely be one of the core themes in our designed curriculum.
We as well got a reading tip from Zora - Radical Candor by Kim Scott hits the waves in the professional circle of coaches and trainers.

But there is more to discover of the experiences of Topcoach - in spring 2021 we still hope to really fly to Slovakia to continue our short-term training event. When it is not possible, we continue in online mode. Until then we can already use the experiences in our curriculum development process. Right now every partner organisation is working on their training plans.

On blending mode: the reality of our Erasmus+ project EFFECT …

Despite the situation due to the COVID-19 crises the ERASMUS+ strategic cooperation project EFFECT team continues to work on the development of the curriculum and toolkit for teachers/educators working with low-educated learners with the aim to support the development of basic skills. This situation makes us realize even more how important basic skills are.

In our project the focus is especially on social and learning skills. The importance of the social dimension of a learning environment came this spring perhaps to all people who had to learn and teach via online especially clear. And the crisis is not over. We still have to adapt in the online learning environment. And this does not mean to just use skillfully the web tools/environments, but also to adjust the learning approach, methods etc. The question of how we learn in the virtual learning environment becomes important. And even more important – how to support learners in e-learning?

Read more ...
http://kasvulava.ee/en/on-blending-mode-the-reality-of-our-erasmus-project-effect/