Abstract:

Aim:
This paper is framed in Ed-Way Erasmus+ KA2 project of the European Union (www.ed-way.eu). In this project we propose an educational methodology by means of information and communication technologies (ICT) that could be applied by teachers, trainers and professors in their courses, independently of the subject. We aim at the recognition and use of informal and non-formal learning in the field of adult education and training, especially to the acquisition of personal, social and formal skills and qualifications by integrating digital tools in the learning.

Method:
The methodology proposed is grounded on the force-field analysis theories of humanism (Kurt Lewin) and Gestalt psychology. The competences, skills and values proposed are going to be acquired transversally while learning other subjects; we guide the learners through several states, motivating them by mixing emotions, personal interest and the aim of personal growth to make possible, thanks to the ICT, that everybody could learn the subject from a net-based perspective. Thanks to this approach we make possible that students acquire transversal skills and values and keep learning informally once the course ends.

The informal way of learning is difficult to be evaluated, even more when those competences are soft skills, and transversal attitudes and values which require a long term process. However, we propose a method for evaluation based on individual subjective perception.

Results:
We finished the analysis phase and the project is on the stage of manual production, a draft of the manual is available to trainers and ready for evaluation. We guide the learner through several steps: awareness, teaching, collaboration, complex thinking, networking, power, and change management. In each of those steps, we propose learning methods that can be adapted to training activities: line map, empathy map, needs wheel, personal evaluation, action list, impact map. Thanks to this mix of ICT based activities and emotional activities we make possible that learners acquire competences such as control, autonomy, leadership, self-improvement, team-work, flexibility, initiative, and creativity, among others.

The manual can be used by trainers, offering the background, methods and experiences so they can use the Ed-Way approach in their courses by guiding the learners from a directed way of learning (in the first units of the manual) to a more independent and flexible education (the last learning units of the manual)

Conclusion:
The informal education, the teaching of soft skills and the validation and visibility of the competences acquired is being considered as one of the key aspects for a lifelong learning process. In Ed-Way we potentiate this informal education, making possible its permeability with interdisciplinary formal pathways. We offer a manual and an on-line environment where trainers will be able to practice the methods proposed to later on offer them to their students.

Keywords:

ICT, technology, adult, training, soft skills, motivation, emotion, informal.