How can policy-makers, education and active citizens work together?
The Xploit project is funded by the European Commission for a 3 year period. It is a new kind of project: instead of working in a specific and clearly defined EU project, this type of project will address the use of the projects and the way communities can capture and exploit these projects. Thus the Xploit project make two scenarios meet: on one side, the many strong and innovative learning resources should be more widely disseminated and exploited; on the other, European cities or regions should be empowered to find out what learning resources they mostly need – and how they might capture European learning resources to meet these needs. The Xploit project is embedded in a long term strategy aiming to develop role-model learning communities systematically interacting with innovative European learning resources. Therefore Xploit is focused on the development of new forms of cooperation in the communities between policy-makers and education, between authorities and groups of active citizens. The Xploit project will contribute to the development of learning communities through practical cooperation between the stakeholders on the learning scene, developing their ability to capture and implement European learning resources, based on the identification of community needs. The Xploit Model, the role-model learning communities, will emerge from this practical work. But, how can the local project partners make this happen? What will happen in the local communities participating? By establishing of strong local cooperation based on a systematic view on the learning profile of the community: What kind of strong learning resources can be identified in the community? What kind of innovative learning initiatives was taken in the community? What kind of educational and social challenges is the community facing, now and in the future? How does the knowledge society affect the learning needs of groups of citizens in the community? Are there groups of disadvantaged citizens with special needs, not met by initiatives that could make a clear difference to these groups? Have the city or regional authorities developed a lifelong learning strategy; do they have a lifelong learning vision? What people and organisations have been involved in innovative learning initiatives in the community? How could they be mobilized to participate in further initiatives? What are the benefits of a systematic lifelong learning approach for the city and the citizens? How would European cooperation contribute to the development of the learning community?
After the development of the community learning profile, a number of key persons from the governmental and educational partners will be trained and empowered to be the key resources in the progression of the project and the local cooperation. Then the long practical phases will be launched: two long periods of identifying, capturing and assessing useful innovative European learning resources that might meet the challenges of the community’s learning needs, interests and visions; each action phase will be followed by a time-out phase for reflection on the results as well as the work methods. The local Xploit network should be involved in this process and be the link from the project activities to the real world of the community: how can the identified learning resources, not only be debated, but also be practically implemented in different ways to benefit groups of citizens with special learning needs – elderly, unemployed, children, parents, migrants, etc.? The activities will be organized in different ways in the different communities, according to the different profiles and interests of the participating communities, as well as to cultural and political differences. This diversity will be reflected in the final outcomes and is regarded a resource for the project, not an obstacle. One of the core aims of the project is precisely to empower the communities to find their own ways in the lifelong learning landscape. The final products of the Xploit project – the Learning Community Model presented in the form of a combined book and multimedia website, as well as the European Learning Communities Network – will be a result of the project’s documentation and elaboration of these practice based community activities. ⇒ European contact Coordinator Jan Gejel – jan.gejel@skolekom.dk ⇒ Country contact [name + @]
How can we use European learning resources in our community?
USING EUROPEAN LEARNING RESOURCES TO BUILD LEARNING COMMUNITIES ⇒