COOL -Competence Oriented Open Learning for disadvantaged Learners

The 21st century poses challenges like digitalization, migration, climate change, and social cohesion, necessitating new learning approaches. A shift from top-down to bottom-up education prioritizes competence over subjects, empowering learners in holistic open spaces. This transition is vital for disadvantaged adult learners, where open learning excels in reintegrating them into lifelong learning. Learning platforms like social innovation hubs and co-working spaces, driven by individuals with academic backgrounds, employ techniques like design thinking to create innovative products. Unfortunately, disadvantaged groups often lack access to these spaces and rarely act as innovators themselves. Open learning environments, different from formal setups, promote collaborative learning, fostering key competences. The COOL project emerged to address the unique needs of disadvantaged groups in open learning.

COOL aimed to establish open learning spaces, enhancing access to lifelong and civic learning for disadvantaged individuals. This initiative targets both European Adult Education sector learners and educators involved in various educational activities for these groups. COOL aimed to: 1. Empower Disadvantaged Groups: Develop key competences to transform them into social innovators. 2. Create Open Learning Spaces: Establish venues in local incubators, collaboration hubs, virtual spaces, and open mobility learning projects. 3. Develop a Methodology: Facilitate open learning across real-life, digital space, and mobility experiences. 4. Train AE Professionals: Equip them as "Learning and Development Facilitators" to establish open learning spaces, plan design thinking in projects, and facilitate collaborative, design-based learning. The COOL project intended to bridge gaps in education, empowering disadvantaged learners while enhancing the skills and capacities of educational professionals in the adult education sector.

The COOL project involved six partners collaborating across four work packages: 1. Curating the COOL Exhibition: o Collecting good practice examples of "Open Learning and Development Spaces" for disadvantaged groups (and their facilitators) o Showcasing real-life spaces in an exhibition format o Exhibition components include narrative stories, technical descriptions, videocasts, and video interviews with founders, professionals, and beneficiaries 2. Developing the COOL Facilitation Approach: o Utilizing "Design-Based Collaborative Learning" to enable Adult Education (AE) professionals to create open learning environments o Focusing on facilitating open learning through instruments applied to plan and deliver development offers for disadvantaged groups 3. Planning and Delivering the COOL Training and CPD Programme: o Implementing Continuing Professional Development (CPD) based on the facilitation approach for AE professionals o Offering a qualification programme for becoming "Facilitators of Open Learning" o Involving 18 professional learners in virtual and face-to-face training, followed by concrete open learning projects 4. Creating the COOL Virtual Learning and Development Space: o Developing a virtual space based on interlinked digital services o Integrating new project matching and funding platforms o Establishing a help desk and providing asynchronous (FAQ, chat, and forum functionality) and synchronous weekly counseling and exchange sessions, recorded and uploaded as support resources. The COOL project has been widely disseminated through online channels to European networks and local meetings within partner networks, NGOs and self-help organisations. Internal and external evaluations ensured the effectiveness of the project.

COOL generated four key outcomes: 1. The COOL Exhibition: - A virtual, multimedia compendium showcasing good practice examples of open learning approaches and spaces - Clustered materials, easily accessible, suitable for diverse Adult Education (AE) contexts, and user-friendly with specific AE criteria tags 2. The COOL Facilitation Approach: - An innovative method tailored for Learning and Development Professionals and those facilitating "open learning," particularly for disadvantaged adult learners - Integrates design thinking and competence-oriented learning and validation, offering planning and validation instruments for AE professionals 3. The COOL CPD Programme: - Targets "Learning and Development Professionals," guiding them on creating open learning spaces in real, online, and mobile modalities - Structured in three phases: pre-course with synchronous online sessions, a 5-day face-to-face course, and a follow-up pilot phase with 18 open learning projects - Utilises blended learning with competence validation, employing design-based collaborative learning and various digital communication method 4. The COOL Virtual Learning and Development Space – a comprehensive platform system featuring: - An open learning space with learning and facilitation offers - A matching platform connecting Learning and Development Professionals with clients and local projects - A web-based interface linked to a mobile app for open learning in mobility