The project “Education and life of adults aged 50+ after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Innovative supporting tools” is a response of institutions operating in the “Adult education” sector to the needs of people struggling with the negative effects of the pandemic. It changed the way of life for all people on earth. A large part of Europeans had to limit their social contacts, adapt to new ways of working, but most of all – they struggled with stress due to their own illness, illness of close people, and often also the tragedy of losing relatives and friends.
At the time of this project, Europe was recovering from the third wave of the pandemic, vaccination was carried out – which caused anxiety in many adults, and there was a gradual reduction of preventive restrictions. However, our life was still largely online. The organizations participating in this project analyzed all the factors described above, paying attention to aspects related to mental and physical well-being . Our research showed that people aged 50+ most need support in returning to mental balance and physical health.
As institutions dealing, inter alia, with non-professional and non-formal adult education, we have developed a solution that we want to address to all adults, especially people aged 50+ who seek support in regaining physical and mental well-being, using educational activities. We will use a medium that has irretrievably become a permanent element of our lives – the Internet.
As part of this project, we will create an online platform in the following languages: English, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Latvian and Slovak, as part of open educational resources, with an open license enabling the general public to use, reuse, adapt and share these resources, with the possibility of developing further language versions.
The platform will include:
- a minimum of 10 e-learning courses (4 courses using various forms of caring for physical condition: zumba, yoga, “Healthy spine and joints” program, strength and endurance training; healthy cooking and baking as the basis of our health; mindfulness course – ways of regaining balance; a course of living in harmony with nature;
- 2 DIY courses using various techniques; Internet communication course for health and mental balance “Express yourself online”),
- a channel with advice on, among others: coping with stress, coping with other negative emotions, safe search for social contacts on the Internet, safe use of the Internet, effective communication (also on-line) and others;
- the function of on-line (real-time) participation in free educational (non-professional) classes for adults in our organizations – in the blended learning model,
- a library of internet addresses providing free on-line access to: cultural events (e.g. theater performances), works of culture (e.g. galleries, online museums), meetings of interest groups, support groups, etc.
We are convinced that this tool will respond to the needs of many adults, especially people aged 50+ who are struggling with the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in their lives. What’s more, we see another potential in this tool – reaching a huge number of people with forms of non-formal education, who until now, due to various limitations – e.g. geographic or financial – could not use it. Therefore, the project has the potential to contribute to the inclusion of many people in non-formal adult education who have not been able to benefit from it so far.