SALL2010 5th of November 2010 Patras, Greece

1. Exploitation Experience of VLW on the Example of Transnational Projekt IdA for Enhancing and Enriching Literacy of Rural CitizensbyAlexander Topchishvili SALL2010 5th of November 2010 Patras, Greece

2. Arbeit und Bildung e.V. is • Advanced training institute for 1600 teenagers and adults • Employment promoter with 330 jobs for formerly unemployed persons • Operational and external-operational training center for 140 trainees • Employer of 140 pedagogues, teachers, instructors and administrative specialists • Promoter of professional orientation of 100 teenagers • Specialized service for professional integration of unemployed and disabled persons • Partner of the EU for employment and education

3. Goals • Qualifying employment of unemployed persons • Psychosocial and vocational general education, advanced training and continuing education of the population • Support in bringing up and public education • Support of the youth care and the youth welfare

4. Arbeit und Bildung e.V.

5. Region of Central Hesse

6. University town Marburg • District town of Marburg-Biedenkopf County in Hesse • Population –approximately 80.000 residents • Area –124,5 km2 • Located on the banks of the River Lahn • Since the 12th Century possesses town ordinances and privileges • Fulfills the function of a regional center • Has a special status as a major medium-sized town • Has the oldest in the world, Protestant founded in 1527 university

7. University town Marburg

8. University town Marburg

9. Transnational Projectsat Arbeit und Bildung e.V. SoRuraLL (networking of different categories in rural areas for lifelong learning). IdA (promoting professional opportunities and integration of young adults in the labour market; biannual professional practical training embraces two months of work and learning from partners in various European countries such as Great Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands, etc.). Equijobs ( start-up and insertion of women in men dominated professions in rural areas). 9

10. SoRuraLL Project Aim Investigation of the potential for enhanced lifelong learning offered by social networking tools and platforms Determination how the existing potential can help those living in geographically and socially excluded communities with a particular focus on innovating and changing educational processes Creation of VLW specially developed platform for social networking of rural communities in partner countries of the project for life-long learning 10

11. Virtual Learning World (VLW) VLW – online environment, which envestigates the potential for learning offered by social networking tools and platforms available on the web. VLW – platform that enables users to adapt their interactive environment to their own specifications according to their needs. User may view the site in his native language or in English while accessing a common European user database for communicating and exchanging information. 11

12. Virtual Learning World: Functionalities Blog E-Learning platform External applications Forum Search Social networking platform Videoconference Video sharing Web Chat Wiki 12

13. Virtual Learning Worldhttp://daisy.cti.gr/sorurall/ VLW - specially developed platform for social networking of rural communities in partner countries of the project for life-long learning. 13

14. Startpage of German VLW User 14

15. Educational Scenario of Use from AuB Use of Social Networking Tools in the Pedagogical Work with Low Skilled 15

16. AuB Educational Scenario “Use of Social Networking Tools in the Pedagogical Work with Low Skilled”(original planning) Goals: • Familarizationof pedagogues to capabilities of the Virtual Learning World • Selection ofan appropriate tool, which could be used for lifelong learning • Using pedagogues as disseminators for social networking tools in educational work • Using Virtual Learning World 16

17. AuB Educational Scenario “Use of Social Networking Tools in the Pedagogical Work with Low Skilled”(original planning) Target Groups • Disseminators of training courses • Unemployed women and young people from rural areas • Young people in vocational training / professional development from rural areas 17

18. AuB Educational Scenario “Use of Social Networking Tools in the Pedagogical Work with Low Skilled”(realized) • Training pedagogues / participants of courses with different tools of VLW • Practical application in VLW • Blogs on different activities of several german groups in Spain, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain within the European transnational project „Integration through Exchange“ - IdA 18

19. Transnational Projekt IdA European project Professional opportunities and integration of young adults in the labour market Biannual professional practical training Two months of work and learning from partners in Great Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands Preparation phase (three-month in Marburg): Language courses Cultural courses Personal development courses Professional development courses Groups: First - May-June 2010 in Mallorca, Spain Second - July-August 2010 in Spain Third - August / September 2010 in France Fourth - August / September 2010 in the Netherlands Fifth -October-December 2010 in Spain Sixth - October-December 2010 in Great Britain Results: Participants and Pedagogues created and will create multiple blogs, wikis, etc. on various practical and everyday educational issues/problems during their visit overseas 19

20. Transnational Projekt IdA (continuation) 20

21. Transnational Projekt IdA (continuation) 21

22. Workshops with IdA participants 27th April 2010 – 1st IdA-group (Spain direction) (initial) 8th July 2010 – 1st IdA-group (Spain direction) (final) 20th July 2010 – 2nd IdA-group (Spain direction) (initial) 21st July 2010 – 3rd-4th IdA-groups (French and Netherlands direction) (initial) 13th October 2010 – 5th IdA-group (Spain direction) (initial) 22

23. Workshop with IdA participants 8th of July 2010 23

24. Workshop with IdA participants 20th of July 2010 24

25. Workshop with IdA participants 21st of July 2010 25

26. Workshop with IdA participants 13th of October 2010 26

27. Blogs Section of German Site at VLW 27

28. IdA´s Blog: Spanish Course, Culture, Sightseeing 28

29. IdA´s Blog: By the End of the Internship 29

30. IdA´s Blog: Once to Palma and Back 30

31. IdA´s Blog: Our Trip to Barcelona 31

32. IdA´s Blog: Excursions, Internship and World Championship 32

33. IdA´s Blog: Photos of Rotterdam (First Week) 33

34. IdA´s Blog: Photos of Rotterdam (First Week) (continuation) 34

35. IdA´s Blog: Photos of Rotterdam (First Week) (continuation) 35

36. IdA´s Blog: Hola 36

37. IdA´s Blog: Integration through Exchange in France (Diary) 37

38. Lessons Learnt by Using VLW VLW gives possibility for close networking for different groups of trainees within a group. VLW provides a stable contact for persons/groups being for instance in the other regions of the country or moreover in other countries, far away from their native place of residence (especially located in different rural areas), by allowing their families, friends, etc. to learn in details about current events in the mentioned above regions. Working with VLW gives possibility for a user to improve significantly his/her IT-skills. Broad use of VLW within the project IdA gave possibility for close networking of the various courses/classes of participants to each other, assisted for seeking and finding an advice from the others, getting acquainted in details with reviews of previous groups/ users concerning different aspects of life in other countries, etc. Using VLW within the groups of IdA had an important effect on the formation of "team's joint thinking/intellection": joint consideration of what should be the content of Blogs, which photos/pictures should be inserted in them, discussions within the group, etc. brought new ideas and significantly enriched the published Blogs as well. 38

39. Lessons Learnt by Using VLW (continuation) German IdA-groups consisted partly of low-skilled persons. It was especially important to motivate them to work frequently, on the regular basis, with the VLW-tool "Blog". The quality of the results depended not only on a personal group participant, who published the Blog, but also on the motivation of course instructors. Many young people are used to social networking tools in everyday life, but it seems to be a big difference to use them "freely" during free time/leisure and for educational purposes. To do something frequently, with high motivation, with a high quality, seems to be a barrier for young people, when they work with social networking tools. Social networks can not be used widely in the educational field, as the most users use social networks in their free time/leisure and moreover they are used to act freely. When they should work now in social networks like VLW under more strict/severe requirements, there arises some resistance to accept default requirements (based on the former experience). 39

40. THANK YOUfor Your Attention! Contact: Jochen Eisold, Alexander Topchishvili Arbeit und Bildung e.V. Krummbogen 3 35039 Marburg Tel.: +49 (0) 6421 9636 44/49 Fax: +49 (0) 6421 9636 37 E-Mail: eisold@arbeit-und-bildung.de; topchishvili@arbeit-und-bildung.de http: http://www.arbeit-und-bildung.de 40