In 2021, EAEA will focus on digitalisation and promote digital competences in adult education. Digitalisation is changing today’s society; it has a strong impact on different areas such as work and education. Therefore, digital competences are essential for promoting personal fulfilment, employment, social inclusion and active citizenship. The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating the process of digitalisation, making it necessary to adapt to new forms of working, teaching and learning, and increasing the reliance on digital tools for social interaction.
Closing the digital divide
While in some cases these changes can be seen as an opportunity to engage with digitalisation, to learn and explore how to benefit from it, this development leaves many behind. Inequalities in (basic) digital skills, awareness of the importance of digitalisation and access to electronic devices and Wi-Fi create a digital divide. Adult education can help to close this gap by teaching digital skills to vulnerable and marginalised learners, thereby facilitating their participation in society.
Closing the digital gap is one of the aspects to consider when looking at the impact of digitalisation on democracy. Adult education can foster digital literacy to empower learners and enable them to decide how to digitalise their work and life. Understanding underlying concepts of digitalisation helps adult learners to make informed choices about the tools they use. Critical media literacy skills help identify fake news.
To provide this, adult education professionals need to know how to teach digital competences to adult learners, as well as have pedagogical skills to teach in digital environments. Additionally, developing strategies for digitalisation would help organisations to adapt to digital learning.
Our aims:
To raise awareness of the opportunities, challenges and impact of digitalisation on adult learning and education
To raise awareness on the skills adult educators need in empowering learners in the digital world
Get involved:
- See the call for the EAEA Grundtvig Award 2021 on Digitalisation and Democracy. The Grundtvig Award publication is now available!
- Join our General Assembly and FutureLabAE conference on digitalisation and democracy in adult education on 22 and 23 June 2021
- Join our Annual Conference 17 – 18 November 2021
- Participate in a workshop on digitalisation at the EAEA Younger Staff Training.
Related information:
Context Paper on digitalisation and democracy written by the EAEA Working Group on Digitalisation
Infographic with policy recommendations drafted by the EAEA Working Group on Digitalisation – also available as a video:
:
EAEA Manifesto: Why adult education?
Why adult education: employment and digitalisation
Project DigitALAD. Digital Adult Educators: Preparing Adult Educators for a Digital World.