ADaPT4Future: ADult People create Technologies for their Future

Development of STEAM skills, as mostly related to highly qualified jobs, is already a major priority across formal and non-formal education sectors in European countries and beyond. However, an emerging offer of technological education is still of limited availability for adults, especially those with fewer opportunities due to economic, social, geographical, or migrant background obstacles. Local community learning centers can fill in this gap as they have already established themselves as non-formal digital education providers. In the needs analysis carried out in the project initiation stage, we observed that local learning centers, however, face skill-related challenges when it comes to providing technological education to adult learners: lack of relevant skills (technological and andragogical) among educators as well as a lack of skills, motivation, and confidence among adults to enroll to a technological activity. Therefore, a partnership was set up in order to strengthen local learning centers by facilitating the acquisition of needed competencies among the adult educators’ target group (staff of public libraries, FabLabs, and local community centers) and adult learners.

Following the above-mentioned context and lack of relevant skills that occur in all three partner countries Lithuania, Poland and Italy, the Consortium set a goal to develop 3D printing and design-based thinking skills among adults and to strengthen adult educators’ competencies in delivering innovative non-formal activities. The objectives of the project were to: 1. Develop an innovative methodological toolkit aimed at the development of 3D printing, Design Thinking, and andragogical skills. 2. Provide competence development for adult educators, as key actors in the implementation and sustainability of the produced methodology in partner and associated organizations. 3. Engage adult learners, including with fewer opportunities due to social, economic, geographical or migrant background obstacles, in exciting technological activities based on non-formal learning principles in their community/city/town. 4. Disseminate the project’s intellectual outputs across various educational fields, governmental and non-governmental sectors.

Project partners implemented these activities: 1. Mapping the skills and needs of the learner and educator target groups. 2. Development of a methodological toolkit, containing learning content for adults for design-based learning activities, and accompanied by methodological materials for adult educators. 3. Delivering international training for staff of partner organizations to equip them with the necessary knowledge of the application of Design Thinking principles in 3D education. 4. Testing and validating the methodology with target group learners at partner organizations. 5. Implementation of product quality research to collect feedback from the testing activities for the upgrade of the materials and the collection of good practice examples. 6. Implementation of ex-post research to measure the adult learners’ digital, technological, creative, personal, social, and employment-related skill development. 7. Dissemination of the project’s results at local, regional, national and European levels.

A methodological toolkit was developed, including: 1) methodological materials for adult learners on 3D printing technology; 2) methodological guidelines for educators; 3) research tools (questionnaires) and reports from 3 different surveys implemented at different stages of the project. All elements of the toolkit are available here: toolkit.adapt4future.gaminu.eu. 213 target group learners, more than half of them with fewer possibilities, were involved in learning activities during local 3D workshops. Based on the ex-post research results, 58% of the respondents found the skills gained through 3D printing workshops either useful or partly useful for their work/professional occupation. 70% of the participants of the in-depth interviews stated that gained skills could help in finding a job and/or for career advancement. Adult learners also developed essential 21st century skills. According to the research results, the biggest impact right after the workshops was indicated in the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and innovation skills. 15 adult educators developed their competences during a 5-day transnational learning activity. 130 participants were involved in multiplier events in 3 partner countries.