Project title: “KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, AGE AIN'T MATTER!”

Number: 2015-1-PL01-KA204-016999

Project website: www.kipam.eu

Project objective:

To provide more opportunities for people aged 50+, make them more active, and counteract social and digital exclusion by developing and disseminating know-how on how to commence and conduct non-vocational education at higher education institutions within the framework of the Academic University of the Third Age.

Duration 01.12.2015 – 30.06.2018

Project leader: WSB UNIVERSITY IN POZNAN - WSB, Poznan, Poland

Project partners:

KUTAHYA DUMLUPINAR UNIVERSITY- Kutahya, Turkey

UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE - Dundee, United Kingdom

UNIVERSITY OF SALERNO - Salerno, Italy

UNIVERSITY OF VIGO - Vigo, Spain

Main result:

Academic University of the Third Age Guidebook – “AU3A Guidebook

an innovative tool which contains the knowledge how to create, run and develop Academic Universities of the Third Age at Higher Education Institutions.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

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Summary of the project “KIPAM” - “Knowledge is Power, Age ain't Matter”

The purpose of the project KIPAM - “Knowledge is Power, Age ain't Matter” project was - to provide more opportunities for people aged 50+, making them more active and counteracting their social and digital exclusion by developing and disseminating the know-how on how to commence and conduct non-vocational education at higher education institutions within the framework of the Academic University of the Third Age.

Five project partner universities took part in the project: from Poland – WSB University in Poznan, from Turkey – Kütahya Dumlupinar University, from the United Kingdom – University of Dundee, Italy – University of Salerno, Spain – University of Vigo.

This project was a response to the following problems:

• low level of activity or participation in non-vocational education by people aged 50+, in particular males. Which is a reason of the lack of a non-vocational training offer suited to their needs and interests, and lack of motivation due to insufficient awareness of people aged 50+ about the benefits from lifelong learning (LLL).
• low level of digital competencies- ICT, and lack of motivation to use them resulting in social and digital exclusion of people aged 50+,
• missing know-how at many higher education institutions related to the use of the potential they have: educational, organizational and infrastructural to promote and conduct non-vocational lifelong learning for people aged 50+
• lack of competencies among academic staff to prepare and conduct non-vocational courses adapted to the needs and learning capabilities of people aged 50+

To help counteract the above-described problems, the AU3A Guidebook - Academic University of the Third Age Guidebook - was prepared in the project. It is an innovative tool which contains the knowledge how to create, run and develop Academic Universities of the Third Age (AU3A) at Higher Education Institutions (HEI).

AU3A Guidebook

is a main result of the KIPAM project and it consists of 5 chapters prepared as Intellectual Outputs:

O1 - Research of 50+ interests

The research was designed to find out the interests of people aged 50+, their favourite activities and their motivation to undertake non-vocational development courses.

The main result of this Intellectual Output (O1), was the preparation of Report based on the results of the Research. The Report presents findings from the 5 partner countries: Poland, Turkey, Spain, Italy and UK. The conclusions from the research formed the basis for preparing: an offer of non-vocational courses for people aged 50+ (O2), the Marketing Strategy aimed at 50+ (O3) and designing the Moodle 50+ platform (O4).

The description, research methodology and examples of questionnaires can be used as a model for conducting research on the interests of people aged 50+ by institutions working for the activation of people 50+. The results and conclusions from the Report can provide knowledge on the preparation of a targeted offer of courses for people 50+ and promotion channels preferred by 50+ in a given country or region.

kipam.eu/GUIDEBOOK / Research of 50+ interests

O2 - Catalogue of courses for 50+

The main results is the Catalogue with an offer of 51 non-vocational courses for people aged 50+, adapted to their interests, taking into account different preferences of women and men.

The programs of 20-hour courses were prepared in accordance with modern principles of the methodology of teaching people aged 50+. Each course has been developed in the form of a course description, containing the following information: subject, learning objectives, subjects of particular lessons, duration, number of participants. For each of the 10 lessons, a detailed lesson plan was prepared with a description of individual activities, tasks and exercises, working methods, tools, teaching aids and duration.

hanks to the preparation of courses in the form of detailed descriptions, each of them is ready for use by trainers and lecturers teaching people aged 50+ or ​​by other universities and organizations under AU3A.

The programs of 51 courses is available on:

kipam.eu/GUIDEBOOK /Catalogue of courses for 50+

O3 - Marketing strategy for 50+

The result of this output was the development of a marketing strategy, promotional tools and materials adapted to people aged 50+ that will motivate them to undertake personal development activities and participate in AU3A.

They were based on the results of the Research on the 50+ age group’s interests and motivation towards learning, therefore they are tailored to 50+ needs and preferences.

The output contains very detailed description of Marketing Strategy and examples of promotional tools: posters, leaflets, rollups, etc.

They were designed by marketing specialists from Kutahya Dumlupinar University in Turkey and also tested on new opened U3A at DPU. Knowledge, experience and ideas contained in the Marketing Strategy that have proved successful on the pioneering Turkish market can be especially useful to AU3As which want to operate in regions where so far there have been no activities aimed at activating people

kipam.eu/GUIDEBOOK/Marketing Strategy for 50+

O4 - Moodle 50+ & ICT courses

This output contains preparation of the Moodle 50+ platform and ICT courses to motivate 50+ people to use ICT and to develop their digital competences.

The Moodle50+ has been designed in a way that meets the needs of people aged 50+ - it is easy to use, transparent and plays a big role in motivating 50+ to learn and get in touch with other learners. It can be implemented and used at the most Universities as it does not require additional systems.

There are also 5 ICT courses placed on the Moodle 50+: 3 in an online form and 2 in a blended form. They are designed in accordance with the modern methodology of adult learning and contain a variety of forms: illustrations, descriptions, drawings, videos, photos and exercises: quizzes, puzzles, tests, etc. that are fun and encourage to learn.

The courses are ready to be implemented and used by any organization or AU3A for their 50+ learners or may serve as examples or inspiration for preparing similar ones.

kipam.eu/GUIDEBOOK/Moodle 50+ & ICT courses

O5 - Manual for teachers of 50+ students

The result of this Output was to development of the teaching methodology Manual for teachers of students aged 50+ containing instructions on how to prepare and conduct classes or courses for 50+ learners.

“The Manual” and its shortened “Cheat sheet” version are practical guides for teachers and academic staff conducting classes for 50+ students, aimed at improving their teaching skills in accordance with the latest trends in adult teaching methodology.

The manual describes the characteristics of 50+ age group and contains practical knowledge and guidelines on how to design a class, a set of useful teaching methods, trainer tricks , a few suggestions on how to handle difficult situations and instruction how to use Moodle 50+ in teaching 50+.

Experienced teachers are likely to find in the Manual some new inspiration and ideas to make their classes more appealing. Practical ‘step-by-step’ guidelines will support less experienced teachers with the practical knowledge.

kipam.eu/GUIDEBOOK/Manual for teachers of 50+ students

O6 - Testing of AU3A Guidebook

An important goal of O6 - testing was to check the usefulness of the content, solutions and tools contained in the AU3A Guidebook. It was tested in real conditions by real users - people aged 50+:

the already operating AU3A at WSB in Poznan - Poland, EU
the newly established AU3A at DPU in Kutahya, Turkey
Testing the AU3A Guidebook contains

designing the strategy for O6 based on (Turkish and Polish) 50+ interests from O1
preparing and placing an offer of courses for 50+ from O2
conducting promotional activities and recruitment process based on O3- Marketing Strategy
training for teaching staff based on O5 - Manual
conducting courses for "50+" students with the use of Moodle 50+ and ICT courses (O4)
evaluation and improvement of the AU3A Guidebook
Then the AU3A Guidebook was placed on the kipam.eu website

Solutions, ideas and examples included in AU3A Guidebook are universal - they can be adapted in any country, because they have been prepared taking into account common features and cultural differences of people aged 50+ from 5 countries. AU3A Guidebook was also positively assessed as a useful tool by university staff, and 50+ students both in project partner countries as well as in other countries.

GUIDEBOOK is available on: kipam.eu/GUIDEBOOK

Apart from designing and preparing AU3A Guidebook and all Intellectual Outputs, several additional activities were carried out in the project

International workshops

training for 16 representatives of project partner university staff organized at the University of Vigo. The training was carried out using the knowledge and materials contained in the Manual. Its aim was to raise the qualifications of participants in the field of: teaching methodology of 50+ people, learning characteristics of people aged 50+ and methods of their activation, use of modern teaching methods and techniques adapted to this group of students. kipam.eu/GUIDEBOOK/Manual for teachers of 50+ students/no.6

Internal workshops

conducted at all partners universities for the academic staff teaching people aged 50+ at project. The workshops were conducted by the participants of the international training by using the scenario prepared by the team of WSB methodology experts. kipam.eu/GUIDEBOOK/Manual for teachers of 50+ students no.7

Project Dissemination

The KIPAM project, its activities and results were regularly disseminated on the project’s website kipam.eu and also by project partners with the use of different tools: mailings, websites, meetings, radio programs, leaflets, posters, advertisements and articles in newspapers and magazines.

At the end of the KIPAM project, international and regional dissemination conferences and events were organized by each project partner for more than 200 participants - academics and guests at all partner universities.

The long-term outcomes of the project were: opening or developing the Third Age Academic Universities at project partners’ Universities and encouraging 60 other higher education institutions to pursue non- vocational education of people aged 50+.