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Our Digital Village

Our Digital Village – Co-designed digital education in rural areas

Our Digital Village aims to intervene in rural areas by promoting the acquisition of digital and transversal skills, preparing people to face the challenges of the future.

Project Number: 101087107

Funded by: Erasmus+      Duration: 01/01/2023 – 31/12/2025


Challenge

Digital skills are crucial for almost every aspect of daily life, particularly in the workplace, education, and preparing for future challenges. Therefore, the education and training system should adapt accordingly.

According to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI 2021), 56% of individuals in Europe have at least basic digital skills and this percentage should increase to 70% by 2025 according to the EU Skills Agenda. However, there is still a substantial gap between rural and urban areas when looking at the digital skills of the population: on the EU level, only 48% of individuals living in rural areas possess at least basic digital skills, while this percentage reaches 62% among people living in the cities. Moreover, the rate of early leavers from education and training is higher in rural areas and towns than in cities, and the schools there often struggle to provide quality education due to their geographical isolation, small size, and a lack of opportunities.

Consequently, the European Commission in the “long-term Vision for the EU’s Rural Areas” underlined the importance of measures in order to “ensure no one and no place is left behind” and the need to increase digital skills and connectivity in these areas.

Innovation

Our Digital Village aims to intervene in rural areas by promoting the acquisition of digital and transversal skills, preparing people to face the challenges of the future. It will do so by co-creating high-quality educational content that responds to the needs of the local context while simultaneously ensuring the long-term transformation towards digitalization through active awareness raising on all levels of society. 

Action

The Digital Village Community is an educating community, that brings together actors from different educational sectors (public, private, formal, and non-formal), active in specific geographical areas with the common objective to promote the education of learners, preparing them for the digital age.

The self-analysis process initiated in rural areas through the democratic and participatory “Reciprocal Maieutic Approach” aims to identify context-specific needs, increase motivation and raise awareness about the importance and potential of digital and transversal competences necessary for the current and future labor market, education, and social life.

Our Digital Village Activity Kit is an interactive online and printable tool, including practical ICT activities in the form of ICT challenges using maker technologies, as well as pedagogical guidelines and tools to accompany the implementation of those activities in class.

The educational materials developed through a co-design process are adaptable to different educational and geographical contexts, aiming to strengthen the digital and transversal skills of teachers, trainers, and learners while developing dedicated tools to evaluate and monitor their quality and transferability during the testing phase.

This activity involves the local training of teachers and trainers, working in educational institutions and community organizations, who are members of the Digital Village Community. The training aims to: 1) teach the basic skills of Coding, Robotics, Microcontrollers, 3D Modelling and printing, and web development, in order to be able to use the activities proposed in the Our Digital Village Activity Kit, 2) offer guidelines to be able to adapt activities to local needs and context, and pedagogical methodologies to implement the activities in a way to increase digital skills as well as other, transversal skills of learners.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. 

Project Partners

KMOP – Social Action and Innovation Centre (Greece)
CENTRO PER LO SVILUPPO CREATIVO DANILO DOLCI (Italy)
FabLab Palermo (Italy)
DIE BERATER (Austria)
DANMAR COMPUTERS (Poland)

CSI CENTER FOR SOCIAL INNOVATION LTD (Cyprus)

ASOCIATIA CONSULTANTILOR IN DEZVOLTARE COMUNITARA (Romania)
INOVA+ – INNOVATION SERVICES (Portugal)
UNIVERSIDAD DE ALICANTE (Spain)
ALL DIGITAL AISBL (Belgium)
ASSOCIATION DES AGENCES DE LA DEMOCRATIE LOCALE (France)

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