Abstract:

Quite often employees of public sector have the load of prejudice that they stagnate at their comfort zone due to their permanence and they are not interested in getting involved into new learning experiences. But the rapid technological and societal changes, the recent rising force of distance education due to the Covid-19 health pandemic outbreak, and the emphasis put on upskilling and skills intelligence set challenges not only to public sector employees but mostly to adult educators at the vocational education and training (VET) sector. Taking into account the principles of adult education, the characteristics of adult learners and the social aspect of learning some teaching approaches were designed and applied at different certified distance learning seminars offered to employees of public sector in Greece during the academic year 2022-2023. The main aims of these innovative approaches were to arouse the interest of the participants for both the learning itself and the context of each specific programme, to spark their imagination, to offer stimuli for becoming active learners, to gain digital skills, to enhance their collaboration and at the end, every learning experience to be a starting point of their transformation of becoming lifelong learners. These innovative approaches consisted of techniques such as a lightning talk of each participant’s brief description of some parts of his/her working experience, working in small groups, guided discussions, and other interactive activities. The implementation of these innovative approaches enhanced adult learners’ emancipation and reflection and revealed their creativity through the upgrading of their digital skills.

Keywords:

Adult education, distance education, digital skills, innovative teaching approach, learner emancipation, lifelong learner.