"NEEDSCurrently, social groups of seniors use mobile phones and computers with Internet access more and more freely. It is increasingly common for seniors to fall prey to fraudsters as a result of reckless ""network use"". Cybercriminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods to ""steal"" personal or other sensitive data.Universities of the Third Age provide an excellent opportunity for improving this situation. However, they are generally urban-based and have limited resources, so not everyone can take advantage of their educational programmes.We don’t know the extent of neglect in this field, but by reviewing the education programmes of U3As and the description of their courses, one can conclude that the problem of cybersecurity and critical thinking is either treated marginally or completely ignored. Of course, we don’t know about specific cases, but one can suppose that concentration on basic computer skills (which is a fundamental part of such courses) is not conducive to introducing any additional content.Project objectives:Cybersecurity starts with critical thinking, thus the aim of the “crITic - Critical Internet usage” project to strengthen the self-confidence of Internet users and influence their awareness of the risks they may encounter. The innovative element of the project will be the use of ""creativity/memory training"" elements in the toolkit, which will have a positive impact on learning and assimilation of information by potential participants. It will also be diversified by the scenarios included in the toolkit which make the training more interactive. The participants will be able to memorise the content of the training more intuitively through the exercise elements using creative methods. The project will result in the creation of a user-friendly toolkit directed at practitioners, educators, trainers, local community leaders and authorities. On the basis of the created a toolkit will be conducted trainings among the local community. They will be conducted with the support of people who will be trained at a joint-staff training in Poland while sharing ideas and presenting their part of the toolkit. The toolkit will include activities aimed at implementing broadly understood critical thinking in the area of internet navigation. The group of participants in the international training will consist of a trainer, educator and project manager who will create a team to disseminate the content of the training. At the same time, based on the toolkit created among elderly adults with whom they work and which will be adequate to their needs. Through a 3-days training, the participants will acquire competencies that will complement their existing knowledge with educational values that will have an awareness effect on a group of adults when navigating the Internet using the concept of critical thinking. During this international training, experiences will be exchanged between trainers who work with diverse groups of seniors."

"The Strategic Partnership Project Projekt Key competencies for Lifelong Learning in education of seniors (KEY) was carried out from 01.09.2014 to 31.08.2016. The main goal of the project was the personal development of of older people and the acquisition of key competences for life in the information society.Specific objectives were:- To encourage elderly people to use networking ICT tools as well as mobile technologies and resources to take part in social community life.- To create opportunities for older people to stay active.- To contribute to the participation of older people in the current Information Society (InSoc).- To strengthen relationships and increase social inclusion.- To reduce the mistrust of networking ICT tools, resources and services and promote their benefits.- To obtain good and demonstrative practices by carrying out pilot training experiences during the life of the project.- To train trainers and management staff of adult and/or seniors training organizations and associations how to implement the outlines.Project PartnersThree European organizations participated in the project. It was co-ordinated by the Pro Scientia Publica Foundation from Poland, and the other partners are Ca' Foscari University of Venice and Kairos Europe, Great Britain.Why the project was createdThe inspiration for the project was the fact that education is at the core of the modern information society. Lifelong learning is essential in the new dynamic reality, because only through continual education is it possible to keep up with constant social change. In developing the project, therefore, reference was made to the key competences required for lifelong learning designated by the European Union. On this basis, three key areas in the development of the education of seniors were identified. Elderly people are the target group, because it is they who are most vulnerable to social exclusion, especially in the age of the dominance of new technology.Educational paramatersThree series of workshops, developing the key competences for lifelong learning for seniors, were prepared for the KEY project - interpersonal, English language, and new technologies (creation of an internet blog). The element linking all these workshops was a personal biography of the participant. In the interpersonal section, each participant developed their own biography, which was then translated from English during the workshops. The next step was to post the biography on a blog, as part of the new technolgies workshop. 47 seniors took part in the project - 15 from Poland, 22 from Italy, and 10 from Great Britain.Scientific aspect of the projectIt is worth noting that, apart from the educational aspect, the KEY project also had a scientific dimension. Qualitative and quantative research was conducted during the duration of the project. Quantative reasearch was conducted by means of questionaires, both before and after the project, with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of the workshops. Focus groups were also organized at each stage in order to evaluate the workshops. During these focus groups, the seniors expressed their opinions about the workshops, indicating both their strong and weak points. On the basis of this, valuable feedback was obtained, which enabled the programme of activities to be adapted and improved.On the basis of the experience gained during the project, it is possible too to apply practical conclusions for the education of elderly people. Project experiences, its achievements, applications, as well as a developed program senior teaching has been published in the book ""Key competences to Lifelong Learning in education of seniors""."

<< Objectives >>The main objectives of the project are the interaction between cultural and artistic enthusiasts of various generations from 3 European partner countries, sharing pedagogical and artistic experiences, practicing the common language of Arts, and finding inspiration through local culture and traditions. In the light of the above our project aims to promote the unifying feature of local artistic expressions among adults, with a special focus on elderly people, at local and international levels.<< Implementation >>During 16 months the partners will meet 3 times on Transnational Partners Meetings. 1 Joint staff and learners teaching/learning activity is planned for exchanging good practices in cultural activities and use of ordinary items for them with a special focus on reusing items for artistic purposes. In the second half of the project, there will be conducted local workshops for the transfer of the learned practices to the local ground.<< Results >>The main tangible results are:- 1 Toolkit- A project website (1)- 4 newsletters (in 4 languages version)- information leaflets in English and consortium partner languages (total: 4 languages version)- posters in national languages and English (total: 4 languages version)- project logo (1)- a paper (1)- evaluation reports.

"The project starts from the need to involve elderly people in an innovative cultural path, in order to give them new learning opportunities, aiming to meet the need for knowledge and physical and mental exercise as well as decrease their loneliness. The project is therefore aimed at the over 60 population of 4 European countries, who will participate in the project activities with the aim of increasing the cultural offer aimed at this age group that is increasingly in need of a rich and interesting social involvement. Together with them, the project will involve adult educators, who will develop new professional skills (new methodologies for lifelong learning for the elderly), deepen their knowledge of the world of the elderly, of their local territory from the historical-artistic point of view, becoming support and a reference point for the elderly population with whom they will establish a relationship of complicity and sharing of the experience.ObjectivesThe general objective of the project is to foster the exchange of good practices for the involvement of seniors in artistic, cultural and heritage promotion activities, in order to promote active ageing through lifelong learning through art.The specific objectives of the project are:- To improve the skills of lifelong learning experts in order to make them promoters of innovative educational methodologies for the elderly population, based on the valorisation of local cultural heritage;- To improve the artistic and cultural knowledge and skills of seniors, through a non-formal methodology based on artistic workshops, comparison between generations, study of the territory and its artists with their art forms, knowledge of the institutions that keep those works of art;- Strengthening cooperation between cultural associations, cultural heritage management bodies, museums, civil society organisations from different European contexts.The project will benefit the following target groups:GT1: Elderly population from the 4 partner countriesGT2: Trainers, educators, activity leaders with senior citizens. MethodologyProject partners were selected on the basis of their good practices in the field of involving older people in artistic and cultural activities. During the project, adult educators coming from project countries, will be trained on the selected good practice, “The jewels of Umbria”, through a transnational mobility experience.Once adult educators have been trained, they will develop a plan for the adaptation of the good practice identified by SiripArte, ""The Jewels of Umbria"", at local level. The plan will be put into practice by building art workshops for the elderly population, that will be linked with tangible reality such as museums and local cultural heritage. Workshops will end with visits to museums or places of art, in order to promote and complete the knowledge of the subject.At the end of the project, a video-tutorial will be produced containing the images and videos shot by the beneficiaries involved in the workshops.The results of the project can be summarized in brief:- People over 60 involved will be more active in society, reducing the risk of marginalization and involuntary loneliness;- Partner organizations and lifelong learning experts will have new tools for the involvement of the older community in activities of appreciation and dissemination of local cultural heritage;- Long life learning education experts will have the opportunity to improve their skills in different artistic fields;- The dialogue between cultural associations, adult training centres and associations working in the inclusion of older people will be consolidated;-A common line of action will be identified between the countries involved for the social inclusion of the elderly population through education through art."

Despite the vigorous development of andragogy methodology, there is still a lack of research tools typical for this field. Andragogy uses tools from related fields, mainly from psychology. Such a solution is not satisfactory firstly because many tools have limited access, and secondly, they are not specific to andragogic issues. There are no tools that can be used to study the needs of adult education organisations and the educational needs of their employees. Such tools, on the other hand, would significantly improve the education process and indicate the directions of development of this type of organisation. The aim of the present project is firstly: to identify such needs and secondly: to develop tools that can be used by other researchers. What is important, the fact that the research will be conducted in different countries, not only in the consortium countries, guarantees the obtained results will be symptomatic for European AE sector. The analysis of the results will focus both on the identification of the needs of the organisation and staff and on the comparison of these needs in the different countries and in the different types of adult education institutions. In addition, correlations between the reported needs of institutions and the needs of staff will be analysed.