In today’s society everyone needs to have a wide set of skills, knowledge and competences, including a sufficient level of digital competence, in order to play an active part in society, to access and progress in the labour market, and to engage in further education and training in a lifelong learning perspective. Around a quarter of the European adult population struggles with reading and writing and has poor numeracy and digital skills. Adults who do not possess a sufficient level of such skills face a high risk of social exclusion.
In this context, the DCDS project aims to establish a framework that will provide the low-skilled adult European population with the basic digital and transversal competences needed for employment, personal development, social inclusion and active citizenship.
The main objective of the project is to develop an integrated modular system, the “Digital Competences Development System - DCDS” and use it to develop basic digital and transversal competences of low-skilled adults in five European countries (Greece, Latvia, Italy, Romania and Spain).
DCDS’ specific objectives are:
- Improve the basic digital and transversal competences of 25+ years old citizens through an integrated system that combines an online environment and face-to-face training support;
- Support non-formal training providers in planning and delivering flexible and modular training offers, aimed at improving basic digital competences of adults, which are mapped to DigComp 2.1;
- Empower policy-makers and key stakeholders from different fields in formulating integrated policies for developing and recognising adult citizens’ basic digital competences; and
- Collect and analyse evidence to substantiate innovative policies and practices through a field test of the DCDS in five European countries.
The platform and methodology will be tested during pilots in five countries by trainers and 150 beneficiaries.
The methodology of piloting consists of a total of 60 hours in blended modality including:
- Online self-assessment of digital skills
- Online personalized learning pathways through the online game-like self-training
- Flexible and modular blended course with face-to-face support training sessions by trainers (e-facilitators)
- Online / offline self-study
- Final knowledge assessment
- Certification of acquired digital skills using open badges and a Europass-like CV supplement
- Evaluation of the proposed methodology, training contents and tools by trainees and trainers
DCDS is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union under the Action KA3 Support for Policy Reform, Forward Looking Cooperation Projects (FLCPs). It started on the 1st of January 2018 and will last 2 years.