The Third Reading Age Erasmus Project

Project Title

The Third Reading Age

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Open and distance learning; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

The THIRD READING AGE project aims to contribute to a measurable and visible:
– increase of accessibility to new communication technologies for older adults and develop the reading culture among citizens aged 60+
– development of competences for educators and library staff working with older adults so they can adapt their teaching to their local context and learner needs
– development of new educational material and resources aimed at activating older adults in the digital space

The partners are proposing to develop the following intellectual outputs in order to accomplish the set project aims.
IO1 Online Reading Curriculum for Older Adults: How to Become a Digital Reader
The Online Reading Curriculum Is aimed at facilitating, encouraging and re-thinking reading for older adults using new technologies. The main output objective is to increase accessibility to new communication technologies for older adults and develop the reading culture among citizens aged 60+.
The Curriculum will develop senior’s competences in:
– basics of using e-books and their possibilities (availability of titles in their national language as well as English, mode of use, user functionality, installation of applications, loaning and use of titles)
– running and maintaining a creative online blog (design, content maintenance, creative writing)
– designing an e-reader club (virtual discussions, online socialization)
The piloting of the Curriculum will use the blended learning approach and comprise 60 hours, with 30 hours of instruction being carried out face-to-face and 30 hours in an online environment. A minimum of 12 senior learners (2 of which with special education needs or difficulties) per partner institution will complete the training.

IO2 E-reading Community Portal: The Digital Reading Age
An open-source online learning portal featuring activities and tools in English and partner languages will be created to support senior learners in piloting the Curriculum. The activities and tools on the portal will also be available for self-directed learning for any (senior) citizen that is not directly included in the training programme but needs to develop competences of using digital tools, participating in reading clubs, or using national e-reading resources. The portal will also provide a space for senior learners to connect at the national level and form their online (reading) communities.
The partners agree that in this project the online learning portal will be used as a repository of online learning activities, tools, and materials for seniors attending the courses based on the IO1.

IO3 Training Programme for Adult Educators and Library Staff: Senior Learner Manual
A Training Programme For Adult Educators and Library Staff will be created in order to support the delivery of the developed outputs (IO1 and IO2) and ensure a quality training outcome is achieved. This training programme will be set as a package of learning manual and handbook. This training programme will place a significant emphasis on working with non-traditional learning approaches with the full consent of the digital media in its use. It will explore the different roles that educators are required to adopt when working in these environments. This training will also address some key considerations when working with older adults to ensure that both the educators and learners fully understand completely different teaching and learning process.

The THIRD READING AGE project plans to increase the target groups’ quality of interaction with senior learners/users due to increased didactic, communication, and motivation competences, better cooperation and communication through ICT tools, and better knowledge about digital reading tools. The desired result is to also have more competent and professional AE and library staff that can progress beyond their traditional approach to and culture of education and reading.

Thanks to the online portal, senior learners will also improve their access and use of online collections of digital training material. The piloting of the IO1 will be based on a practical and interactive training approach and tools in order to ensure proper adaptation to the specific learning and communication needs of senior learners.

The project will also have positive results for the participating organisations since project partners will improve their in-person and digital training approaches, strengthen their cooperation with the relevant lifelong learning institutions and libraries in their regions and countries as well as relevant stakeholders in other countries, contributing to their internationalisation.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 187066 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gradska knjiznica Rijeka & Country: HR

Project Partners

• Ustanova za obrazovanje odraslih Dante
• SDRUZHENIE YUNI PARTNERS
• SABIEDRIBA AR IEROBEZOTU ATBILDIBU ARTSMART
• GLAFKA s.r.o.
• Unione della Romagna Faentina