Emerging Technologies for Holistic Literacy in Adult Education

Emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, AR/VR, and robotics offer a wide range of potential applications across all sectors of learning and education, and society at large, shaping how we perceive the world around us and establishing new grounds for critical engagement. The inquiry into whether technology can facilitate learning and change for adult workers in vocational and adult education has been a subject of extensive examination by researchers and educators alike. Still, although these technologies have been mapped and explored in various projects and initiatives, there is an identified gap in the pedagogical approaches to embed them effectively in adult learning and education contexts, especially in the provision of inclusive and accessible holistic literacy and life skills programmes, as hinted at in the “On the Futures of Technology in Education: Emerging Trends and Policy Implications” report of the European Commission.

In this context, to better understand and tackle this pedagogical gap, the project ETHLAE: Emerging Technologies for Holistic Literacy in Adult Education comes to life! It aims to support systemic change for Adult Learning and Education (ALE) organisations in embedding technologies in the delivery of holistic literacy programmes for adults, supporting peer-learning and capacity-building activities among organisations and individuals of different countries and contexts. 

In particular, the project aims at supporting ALE educators in designing and delivering a holistic literacy education programme for adult learners in vulnerable situations, that embeds these emerging technologies, when beneficial, in a meaningful and accessible way, and developing new custom approaches, with a focus on considering social, contextual, economic, and personal needs of educators and learners, their potential challenges and benefits.

Main objectives

• Support systemic change for ALE organisations in embedding technologies in the delivery of literacy programmes for adults.
• Identify and analyse good practices and methods for embedding emerging technologies in ALE literacy programmes in a meaningful way.
• Adapt existing holistic literacy and life skills programme learning scenarios to meaningfully embed emerging technologies, considering the specific needs of ALE organisations and adults in vulnerable situations.
• Develop and run a capacity-building programme involving ALE learning designers, educators, and learners and that supports the views of both technological experts and ALE literacy experts.
• Test the ETHLAE Toolbox and pilot the new learning scenario in at least 5 countries and with European communities of educators, with different audiences and contexts, to support mainstreaming and potential exploitation.