Abstract:

We are 5 partners working on an ERASMUS+ project. It is about creating a self-explanatory, learner centered education on an app. The topic is Active Citizenship. The app will be launched about October 2023 and can be downloaded for free from Appstore or Google Play.
We have chosen the app-format after having studied various e-learning platforms, none of which seemed to be really learner-centered. We believe that our product will be innovative.

The ACID education is to be learner-centered, which means:
• Don’t tell – show it! Let the participants discover new knowledge through exercises and reflections.
• Don’t teach the participants what they already know. Find out what they already know and make use of their experience.
• Stimulate curiosity and excitement. Use games and cases where the participants solve challenging problems and explore opportunities.
• Facilitate co-operation between participants. We have a “buddy” option where learners can team up with a fellow-student or a friend or a family member.
• Stimulate critical thinking! Don’t sermonize, invite the learners to reflect and disagree.
• Be as practical, hands-on and concrete (non-theoretical and non-abstract) as possible.

There are 6 modules and about 80 hours work on the app:
(1) Introduction, where the learner gets exposed to cases and asks him-or herself: Do I want to be active citizen? What does it take? Furthermore, the learner decides on a personal cause to be followed through during the next modules.
(2) Self-efficacy, personal clarification journey about values.
(3) The scope of Active Citizenship – discussing a broad variety of organizations and their approaches.
(4) Co-creating the future: The threat and a vision and what people can do.
(5) Advocacy.
(6) Social Entrepreneurship.
To help the partners create the app, we have included 20 young people with whom we meet physically 3 times and communicate with virtually. Currently, they give us feed-back on the drafts.

Keywords:

Self-study, Learner centered, Active Citizenship App.