proADAS Conference, 23rd September 2020 - XENIOS POLIS

After its wide and efficient implementation, proADAS project (promotion of Active Digital Ageing Skills) [Project number: 2018-1-CY01-KA204-046895] was completed in the end of October 2020. Before the program came to an end, all partner countries organized seminars and practical workshops for adult trainers, where the participants had the chance to implement some of the teaching practices, which had been developed during the researching development of the project. Finally, on the 23rd September 2020, an interactive Conference was held online, during which people from all over Europe were informed about the project and shared valuable experiences and ideas for the sustainability of the project. Xenios Polis’s team was glad at presenting its work on IO6, proADAS book, which was a result among a continuous cooperation among different background people, such as experts, academia, text editors, ICT experts and graphic designers, etc., and a dedicated work of Xenios Polis’ staff.

ProADAS project’ development was based on the fact that nowadays an increased life expectancy and ageing are without a doubt part of the European reality. As a consequence, one of the biggest challenges to date is that the elderly should remain a vital part of society. The answer to this troubling matter comes through ‘active ageing’, a process that helps senior citizens experience a better quality of life by taking advantage of their own skills in order to take part in social, cultural and mental activities. The procedure of active ageing requires/ demands the usage of new technologies and the acquisition of digital literacy skills, so as to be as much independent and autonomous as possible.

The project proADAS, which carried out with the cooperation of five countries (Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece and Italy), lasted two years and it took place in the framework of Erasmus+, KA2. The main goal of this project is about supporting and educating adults in acquiring and cultivating relative digital skills for their personal development and their participation in modern social situations. In particular, the project aims to:

• tackle the gap between ageing population and digital literacy and address the high necessity for digital key competences due to the proportion of seniors’ population in Europe, contributing at the same time in the alliance of societal challenges, technological developments and economic growth,
• strengthen and reinforce stakeholders, experts and practitioners in the fields of adult education and lifelong learning, digital education & promotion of active ageing competences, by empowering relevant training providers, such as adult educators and caregivers, to successfully implement training opportunities for seniors,
• make digital competences more accessible to seniors over 60 and increase the use of ICT at all levels,
• enhance seniors’ competences and skills -thus their social participation and quality of life- in such a way, so that they are positively included into society,
• provide innovative methods and supportive packages with digital tools and open educational resources to serve the needs of both senior citizens and their caregivers,
• enhance the international and European dimension of active digital ageing accompanied with an impact on relevant decision makers at a local, regional, national and European framework.

All partner organizations have decided to create appropriate tools and trainings in order to facilitate both senior citizens as students and trainers/ caregivers, due to existing linguistic, generational and cultural gaps. Traditional forms of learning (handbooks, guidelines) need to be used in seniors’ training in combination with new, modern ones (digital tools, open educational resources, e-learning platforms), depending on the individual’s features.

Five modules were developed aiming at enhancing seniors’ and caregivers’ knowledge and skills in the following topics: Frailty, Falls Prevention, Nutrition, Mental Health and Disease, Cardiovascular Health and Disease. Each module includes theory, statistics from each partner country, tips and recommendations, as well as interesting quizzes and self-development questionnaires. All modules are available on the Online Learning Platform, which was developed as part of the project’s website: http://proadas.eu/(link is external) and corresponding mobile application: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.proadas(link is external).

In addition, a handbook was created, which includes principles of gerontology, psychology, coaching and pedagogy, and provides guidelines on how to train older adults, as well as how to support trainers in their effort to contribute in this procedure. Also, there’s available an e-book, which aims to enhance the digital literacy of senior citizens. This book intends to present on a great scale the results achieved during the program and facilitates its application by any stakeholder.