Digitalisation

Adults in vulnerable and marginalised situations could face a double disadvantage in the future, due to a lack of awareness of, or the means to adapt to, these changes. EAEA recognises the importance of ensuring all adults have access to education and training for both basic, intermediate, and advanced digital skills.

Challenges

  • The need to use and understand digital tools in life and work.
  • New technologies (such as artificial intelligence) are disrupting labor markets and fundamentally altering the nature and future of work, education, and training.
  • The digitalisation of everyday life – e.g., banking and payments, self-checkout tills in supermarkets, communications, and even digital ballot boxes – is leaving many people behind, especially those without access to technology, broadband internet, and digital skills.

What adult learning and education can do for digitalisation

Understanding the opportunities, challenges, and impact of digitalization on work and learning is important for every adult. It is key to support employability, social inclusion, and active citizenship. Everyone now needs to have a sufficient level of digital competence to play an active part in society. EAEA is deeply concerned that “44% of the European adult population does not have basic digital skills” (Towards 2023: the European Year of Skills). Adults who do not possess a sufficient level of such skills face a high risk of social exclusion. “Over 70% of businesses have said that the lack of staff with adequate digital skills is an obstacle to investment. Europe also faces a shortage of digital experts who can develop cutting-edge technologies for the benefit of all citizens” (European Commission: Digital skills and jobs).

The ability to manipulate digital tools will become critically important in the next five years. The ability to seize the opportunities provided by digitalisation, however, is not evenly distributed. Adults in vulnerable and marginalised situations could face a double disadvantage in the future, due to a lack of awareness of, or the means to adapt to, these changes. EAEA recognises the importance of ensuring all adults have access to education and training for both basic, intermediate, and advanced digital skills.

Digital skills also encompass more than the handling of digital tools. An understanding of issues such as algorithms, fake news, and online ‘bubbles’ is necessary to use digitalisation positively. Technology is also altering the future of teaching and learning, providing a myriad of tools to enhance the way we educate, teach, and learn. Educators must utilise these tools to improve their work, create communities of practice, and share knowledge and skills. What is needed therefore is improved access to infrastructure and training. Online learning offers many possibilities but it needs to be done well—good e-learning is not a ‘cheap option’ but needs to be developed and implemented with good methodologies. Additionally, face-to-face learning remains an important part of ALE.

 

“If the need for digital skills is present in most personal and professional activities at present time, studies are forecasting a continuous growth in demand for digital skills for employment and professional careers, putting digital literacy at the core of transversal skills (OECD, 2021). Even more aspects of specialised domains in ICT are pouring slowly but continuously into the pot of digital skills for citizens as the last version 2.2 of DigComp has shown with the inclusion of references to Artificial Intelligence. As we have commented before, although progressing and making efforts to expand digitisation and qualification in digital skills, the indicators in Europe are still far from what the EU requires for a prosperous digital future. So, digital reskilling and upskilling with clear strategies for lifelong learning will be prominent trends from now on.”

“Digital Village” project increases the digital competences of individuals using a community-based approach. The project aims to give the residents of municipal buildings a low-threshold opportunity to ask questions in connection with digitalisation and to solve digital problems that arise in their daily lives.

Two digital Experts from the Volkshochschulen (VHS, Adult Education Centres) provide materials and equipment (Laptops, tablets, smartphones and free Wi-Fi) and offer “digital consultancy services” (“Digi-Info-Stand”) for 2-3 hours at a time in the courtyards of large municipal residential buildings. Residents can ask questions and obtain solutions for digital problems on site. No curriculum describes what the participants should learn; instead, the residents come with questions and challenges, seeking easy-to-understand “on-the-spot” solutions. This project is treating digitalisation itself as a topic (rather than applying digitalisation to another subject, like using digital tools in language learning, for example). The project deals directly with the digital transformation of society and the fact that many people cannot keep up with these rapid processes.