D1.1 “Needs analysis report” · 2012-01-09 · 502695-LLP-1-2009-1-GR-GRUNDTVIG-GMP D1.1 “Needs Analysis Report” 8 ‐ develop and evaluate the generic training curriculum

502695-LLP-1-2009-1-GR-GRUNDTVIG-GMP

D1.1 “Needs analysis report”

Project: No 502695-LLP-1-2009-1-GR-GRUNDTVIG-CMP

Work package: User Needs Analysis

Lead Participant: University of Barcelona (UB)

Authors: Mario Barajas, Frédérique Frossard

Document Type: Document

Distribution: Restricted (Project and EC)

Status: Final

Document file: RUeNTER_WP1_UserNeedsAnalysis_V1.0_ 30March2010_UB.doc

Version: 1.0

Date: 30 March 2010

Number of pages: 109

RUeNTER: Capacity Building throughICT in Rural Areas


D1.1 “Needs Analysis Report” 2



Summary

RURALeNTER aims to demonstrate an innovative approach that will help the adult population in rural areas across Europe to acquire and reinforce skills and knowledge so that they make best use of the new opportunities offered by the ICT technologies. The project aims at improving the quality, attractiveness and accessibility of the opportunities for lifelong learning for rural areas citizens. Moreover, it includes disadvantaged groups regardless of their socioeconomic background. To do so, the project studies existing e-services for these rural areas and their level of awareness, and will develop and evaluate a vocational training curriculum focusing on how to prepare rural population to use and exploit cases of e-services. In addition, an online portal of e- services for rural areas will also be deployed. In this perspective, Deliverable 1.1 – Needs Analysis report - describes the ICT training needs of rural adult populations. To this end, national workshops have been conducted in the different project’s countries, in order to identify the current level of ICT awareness, the local adult populations, as well as their training needs. Moreover, a survey conducted in four countries collected input from different stakeholders in the rural world, and especially connected to adult training. The present document - Needs Analysis Report - sums up the results of the national workshops and the survey. The first section presents the organisation of the workshops (settings, participants and structure), as well as the training offer, the ICT services available for the target users, and the users’ needs that have been identified. Afterwards, the second section sums up the data collected through the survey, by presenting ICT services and existing adult training offer in the countries’ rural contexts, the related audiences, and their training needs. Finally, an analysis of the results enabled to formulate training requirements, specific competencies that RURALeNTER should be aiming for, as well as special considerations to be taken into account when designing the training framework of the project.





Table of content

SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................................... 3

TABLE OF CONTENT .................................................................................................................. 5

1. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 7

2.1. AUSTRIA ................................................................................................................................. 11 2.1.1. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN TRAINING NEEDS IN RURAL AND URBAN SETTINGS .............................. 11 2.1.2. IDENTIFICATION OF TRAINING NEEDS .................................................................................... 12 2.1.3. DELIVERY OF IT TRAININGS AND BARRIERS TO BE CONSIDERED .............................................. 13 2.2. GREECE .................................................................................................................................. 14 2.2.1. ORGANISATION OF THE WORKSHOP ....................................................................................... 14 2.2.2. PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS ............................................................................................... 14 2.2.3 IDENTIFIED NEEDS OF THE PARTICIPATING RURAL COMMUNITIES ............................................ 15 2.3. ROMANIA ................................................................................................................................ 15 2.3.1. ORGANISATION OF THE WORKSHOP ....................................................................................... 15 2.3.2 PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS ................................................................................................ 16 2.3.3. IDENTIFIED NEEDS OF THE PARTICIPATING RURAL COMMUNITIES ........................................... 18 2.4. SPAIN ..................................................................................................................................... 18 2.4.1 ORGANISATION OF THE WORKSHOP ........................................................................................ 18 2.4.2 PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS ................................................................................................ 19 2.4.3 IDENTIFIED NEEDS OF THE PARTICIPATING RURAL COMMUNITIES ............................................ 21

3. SURVEY RESULTS .................................................................................................................. 23

3.1. AUSTRIA ................................................................................................................................. 23 3.1.1. ICT SERVICES AND ADULT TRAINING OFFER IN THE AUSTRIAN RURAL CONTEXT ....................... 23 3.1.2. TYPES OF AUDIENCES ........................................................................................................... 25 3.1.3. IDENTIFIED ICT TRAINING NEEDS FOR AUSTRIAN RURAL ADULT POPULATIONS ....................... 26 3.1.4. PERCEIVED IMPACT OF ICT TRAINING ON ADULT RURAL COMMUNITY .................................... 27 3.2. GREECE .................................................................................................................................. 28 3.2.1. ICT SERVICES AND ADULT TRAINING OFFER IN THE GREEK RURAL CONTEXT ........................... 28 3.2.2. TYPES OF AUDIENCES ........................................................................................................... 28 3.2.3. IDENTIFIED ICT TRAINING NEEDS FOR GREEK RURAL ADULT POPULATION ............................. 29 3.3. ROMANIA ................................................................................................................................ 30 3.3.1. ICT SERVICES AND ADULT TRAINING OFFER IN THE RUMANIAN RURAL CONTEXT ..................... 30 3.3.2. TYPES OF AUDIENCES ........................................................................................................... 34 3.3.3. IDENTIFIED ICT TRAINING NEEDS FOR ROMANIAN RURAL ADULT POPULATIONS ...................... 35 3.3.4. PERCEIVED IMPACT OF ICT TRAINING ON ADULT RURAL COMMUNITY .................................... 35 3.3.5. CONCLUSIONS OF THE SURVEY .............................................................................................. 35 3.4. SPAIN ..................................................................................................................................... 36 3.4.1. ICT SERVICES AND ADULT TRAINING OFFER IN THE SPANISH RURAL CONTEXT ......................... 36 3.4.2. TYPES OF AUDIENCES ........................................................................................................... 38 3.4.3. IDENTIFIED ICT TRAINING NEEDS FOR SPANISH RURAL ADULT POPULATIONS ......................... 39 3.4.4. PERCEIVED IMPACT OF ICT TRAINING ON ADULT RURAL COMMUNITY .................................... 40

4. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS ....................................................................................................... 41

4.1. ANALYSIS OF THE CURRENT TRAINING SITUATION IN THE PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES .................. 41



4.2. PROFILE OF ADULT RURAL POPULATIONS ................................................................................. 43 4.3. IDENTIFICATION OF TRAINING NEEDS ....................................................................................... 44 4.4. SPECIFIC COMPETENCIES TO TEACH ........................................................................................ 45

5. INTEGRATED CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................ 47

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE PROJECT’S NEXT STEPS .................................................................. 47

6. REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 49

7. ANNEXES .................................................................................................................................. 51

ANNEX 1. AUSTRIAN ONLINE TRAINERS’ QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................. 51 ANNEX 2. GREEK WORKSHOP’S AGENDA ......................................................................................... 56 ANNEX 3. ROMANIAN WORKSHOP’S AGENDA .................................................................................... 58 ANNEX 4. SPANISH WORKSHOP’S AGENDA ....................................................................................... 59 ANNEX 5. GREEK WORKSHOP’S PARTICIPATION LIST ........................................................................ 61 ANNEX 6. ROMANIAN WORKSHOP’S PARTICIPATION LIST .................................................................. 62 ANNEX 7. SPANISH WORKSHOP’S PARTICIPATION LIST ...................................................................... 63 ANNEX 8. GREECE - PRESENTATION GIVEN DURING THE WORKSHOP ................................................ 64 ANNEX 9. ROMANIA - PRESENTATION GIVEN DURING THE WORKSHOP .............................................. 81 ANNEX 10. SPAIN - PRESENTATION GIVEN DURING THE WORKSHOP .................................................. 85 ANNEX 11: NATIONAL USER NEEDS’ QUESTIONNAIRE ..................................................................... 105



1. Introduction

RURALeNTER - Capacity Building through ICT in Rural Areas – is a project funded by the European Commission, Lifelong Learning, GRUNDTVIG Multilateral programme (2010-2011). Its aim is to demonstrate an innovative approach that would help rural areas adult population to acquire and reinforce skills and knowledge so that they make best use of the new opportunities offered by the ICT technologies. The project supports the development of innovative ICT-based content, services, pedagogies and practices for lifelong learning for adult population in rural areas. Related studies [1] indicate that the citizens in these areas have fewer opportunities than urban citizens, and this is reflected in their educational profile and qualifications. Therefore, they are considered as candidate for discrimination. Consequently the need for qualification is highly supportable. Additionally, the fact that many services are physically located in urban areas constitutes an inequality that the project tries to address. Thus, RURALeNTER aims to improve the quality, attractiveness and accessibility of the opportunities for lifelong learning for rural citizens. Moreover, it involves population of all ages in lifelong learning opportunities, including disadvantaged groups regardless of their socioeconomic background. For facilitating the readability of this document, the following table summarizes the project’s partners, acronyms and countries.

Acronym Partner full name Country

EA Ellinogermaniki Agogi School Greece

FhG Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschun

Germany

UB University of Barcelona Spain

Die Berater "die Berater" Unternehmensberatungsgesellschaft Austria

INNOVATE4FUTURE INNOVATE4FUTURE-Center for Advanced Educational Solutions SRL

Romania

BM:UKK Bundesministerium für Unterricht, Kunst und Kultur Austria

ATiT ATiT, Audiovisual Technologies, Informatics & Telecommunication

Belgium

Table 1: RURALeNTER consortium

RURALeNTER partners will address the above aspects in the following manner:

‐ review and identify the existing ICT services for rural areas, as well as their level of awareness about how adults may benefit from using such services;

‐ analyse the needs of adult citizens in four rural areas of EU member states (Greece, Austria, Romania and Spain) regarding ICT services support;



‐ develop and evaluate the generic training curriculum focusing on how to prepare adult rural citizens to use and exploit ICT services, by means of blended learning models for adults and relevant and innovative e-learning content to be offered online;

‐ develop a web-based Portal of ICT services for rural areas;

‐ draft a set of recommendations to policy makers and regional authorities about the implementation capacity of the portal and the developed e-learning content in order to support the training of their citizens in taking advantage of ICT services.

The project work is organized according to seven work packages (WPs), as depicted in the table below. WP number WP title

WP1 User needs analysis

WP2 Content design and development

WP3 Portal and Social Networking Tools Development

WP4 Training Implementation and Validation

WP5 Evaluation & Quality Assurance

WP6 Dissemination

WP7 Exploitation

WP8 Management

Table 2: Summary of RURALeNTER work packages

WP1: User Needs Analysis

The objectives of WP1 (Users’ Needs Analysis) are the following:

a) To investigate the needs of the target user groups in the four countries (Austria, Greece, Romania and Spain) that implement the RURALeNTER project, in order to define their training requirements in relation to a better understanding and use of ICT services in rural areas.

b) To formulate these needs into a set of training requirements for each user group.

More specifically, Deliverable 1.1 – Needs Analysis report - aims at describing the rural area adult population needs concerning training in ICT.

The following partners have conducted the needs analysis process:

Die Berater (Austria)

EA (Greece)

INNOVATE4FUTURE (Romania)

UB (Spain)



In this perspective, national workshops have been conducted in three different countries, in order to identify the current level of ICT awareness the local adult populations, as well as their training needs. Moreover, through a survey process conducted in four countries, national users’ needs questionnaires were distributed to 188 institutions in order to collect the point of view of different stakeholders linked to the rural world, and especially connected to adult training. The present report sums up the results of the national workshops and the survey. The first section presents the organisation of the workshops (settings, participants and structure), as well as the training offer, the ICT services available for the target users, and the users’ needs that have been identified. Afterwards, the second section sums up the data collected through the questionnaires, by presenting the ICT services and adult training offer existing in the countries’ rural contexts, the types of audiences, and the identified training needs. Finally, the results of the study are being presented through an integrated discussion, which clarifies the general needs of target groups, the specific competencies that RURALeNTER should be aiming for and, as a consequence, some recommendations for the design of RURALeNTER web portal and of the training contents, strategies and scenarios to be adapted to the users’ profiles.





2. Organisation of the national workshops

In the framework of WP1, RURALeNTER national workshops have been conducted in three different countries (Greece, Romania and Spain) by the responsible partners. Moreover, an online survey enabled to gather significant data related to Austrian rural settings. The main objectives of the workshops / survey were the following:

To introduce target users to the RURALeNTER project, its objectives, organisation and consortium;

To demonstrate to participants characteristic public ICT services which have been developed at a European level for different sectors of activity (e-governance, e-learning, e-health, e-business and e-agriculture);

To identify the current level of ICT awareness, as well as the training needs of the target users.

Workshops / survey have been conducted between March and May, 2010. The complete results of these workshops / survey online survey are available in separated reports [2, 3, 4, 5], and are summed up below.

2.1. Austria

Trainers specialized in delivering IT trainings throughout Austria were asked to provide their insight on the situation of ICT-training needs in rural areas. For reasons of time constraints, conducting a workshop with the trainers was not feasible, so they were asked to submit their insights via an online questionnaire. Thirteen self-employed IT trainers – an important multiplier group for the RURALeNTER project – filled in a dedicated online questionnaire (see annex 1).

2.1.1. Differences between training needs in rural and urban settings

The trainers who filled in the online questionnaire were predominantly delivering half or more of their trainings in rural areas. Asked about their opinion on whether there are differences among perceived training needs in rural and urban areas, the majority of the respondents estimated that there are no or almost no differences (see Table 3). In your opinion, are there any differences in the IT training needs in rural and urban areas? n=13

If yes, what are the differences?

differences according to age and access… although internet is available across all areas, there is still a noticeable gradient; young people learn less, but get dumber (town and country-side)… older people have difficulties with access – both mentally and technically, and also for reasons of cost … availability of IT is one thing, awareness for a useful application and use another thing

interest and attitude

participants from rural areas often lack basic IT knowledge, participants from urban areas have much more basic knowledge and sometimes even know how to work with specific software products

access to IT education easier in the city

Table 3: Differences between training needs in rural and urban settings



2.1.2. Identification of training needs

Trainers were first asked an open question on what they thought were the most relevant fields for IT trainings for adults in rural areas. Almost all respondents mentioned that the need was predominantly to focus on basic knowledge in using computers, the Internet and MS Office software. Furthermore, one respondent pointed out that it was important to take away the participants' fears of using the computer, as well as clarifying security aspects and what the use of certain tools was (i.e. to focus the training on what the participants really need and not on what the software is able to do). Furthermore, the questionnaire sought to further clarify what kind of trainings for certain IT skills are most sought after (see Table 4). According to the trainers, these are: sending and receiving e-mails, general skills for using the internet, and spreadsheets. A little less, but still important are general skills for using a computer, installing and using software, personal research using the internet and word processing.

How do your rate the training needs in rural areas for the following IT skills?

n=11

item very little

demand (1)

little demand

(2)

average demand

(3)

high demand

(4)

very high

demand (5)

don't know

mean value

general skills for using a computer (keyboard, mouse, printer, drives)

2 4 5 4,27

installing and using software 1 6 4 4,27

file management 1 2 2 6 4,18

sending and receiving e-mail 1 1 9 4,55

general skills for using the internet 1 2 8 4,36

personal research using the internet 1 4 6 4,27

participation in web based discussion groups (e.g. chats, forums)

1 2 4 1 3 3,27

participation in online communities (e.g. Facebook, Flickr)

1 1 5 1 3 3,36

production of web pages 1 3 3 1 3 3,18

word processing 2 4 5 4,27

spreadsheets 2 3 6 4,36

database 3 4 2 2 3,27

presentations/desktop publishing 2 1 2 2 4 3,45

Table 4: Demand for certain IT skills trainings

Table 5 depicts the rating of importance for areas in which the trainers deem IT skills as relevant. The items rated as most important were "job search", "learning / further education", "networking", and "work".



In your opinion, in which spheres of life of adults in rural areas are IT skills important?

n=12

item very important

(4)

rather important

(3)

rather not important

(2)

not important at all (1)

don't know

mean value

contacts with bureaucracy and administration 6 4 2 3,33

E-commerce 4 4 4 3,00

agriculture 6 4 1 1 3,45

learning / further education 6 6 3,50

health / E-health 5 2 5 3,00

personal development 4 1 5 2 2,42

networking 7 4 1 3,50

job search 11 1 3,83

work 7 4 1 3,50

Table 5: Areas in which IT skills for adults in rural areas are relevant

2.1.3. Delivery of IT trainings and barriers to be considered

Trainers were also asked what in their opinion would be the most feasible way to deliver IT trainings in rural areas and what should be specifically considered in the course of developing the RURALeNTER products. More than three quarters of the respondents voted that the trainings should be delivered in a blended learning context including face-to-face and online learning. The following comments were made regarding the training to be developed within RURALeNTER:

the amount of presence training should be higher than the amount of online training;

focus on the individual needs, no mass processing of trainees;

suitable amount of computers with continuous maintenance;

good lecture of knowledge with beamer and qualified trainers;

many exercises with control and repetition;

training manuals that can also be used with minimum technical requirements;

consider the trainer fees;

assess prior knowledge, determine needs regarding ICT and adapt training according to goals of the participants.

Another question focused on the challenges towards the IT-implementation in rural areas, which have to be overcome. Two trainers suggested that the barriers were not different than those in urban areas (e.g. people with low income cannot afford computers and consequently cannot practice at home; with the information overflow provided by the internet it gets more difficult to



focus on what is important). Two other trainers mentioned that the distance to the training location and the time it takes to get there are barriers to be considered. Four trainers furthermore pointed out that the infrastructure for delivering the trainings (both in training institutions and at home) is sometimes suboptimal (e.g. outdated computer infrastructure, insufficient internet connection or low bandwidth).

2.2. Greece

2.2.1. Organisation of the workshop

a. Workshop’s settings

The workshop took place at the Chios Chamber of Commerce on March 17th, 2010. It was previously announced to participants via e-mail, and the related agenda was distributed to them (see Annex 2). The invited workshop participants were six representatives from rural area of Chios Island representing different rural communities. Moreover, three researchers of the Ellinogermaniki Agogi team were present in order to moderate the workshop’s activities. They introduced the RURALeNTER project and the public ICT services, and moderated the workshop in order to identify the users’ needs. b. Workshop’s structure

The workshop followed the following agenda:

Presentation of the RURALeNTER project (objective, timeline, etc.);

Discussion session: ICT infrastructures and equipment available to the rural population, adult training offer (pedagogical scenarios and modalities of training) and ICT services provided;

Demonstration: ICT training in rural contexts, politics and initiatives in Europe;

Focus group session: identification of training needs;

Debriefing and closing: summary and next steps of the project.

2.2.2. Participating institutions

Chios Chamber of Commerce

The Chios Chamber of Commerce has been established after the merger of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Chamber of Tradesmen and the Chamber of Small and Medium-sized Industries. It is administered by the Executive Council and the Executive Committee. In the framework of its responsibilities, it has presented a multi-faceted task in issues related with the economic development of the region and the social progress of its members. With its initiative and continuous interference it mobilises its members for their further education. It teams up with professional, scientific and cultural unions and mainly with the University of the Aegean. Its aim is to improve the educational level of its members and to expand the range of their interests. Chios Chamber of Commerce role in RURALeNTER project will be to participate as a rural users’ organisation. That is, to provide their input in defining the rural SMEs training needs and to



participate in the execution of the pilot evaluation sessions. The institution does not offer any regular training services, except some sporadic training events through other European or national projects. The workshop’s participants were people working at Chios Island SMEs. The Chios Chamber of Commerce helps these SMEs by providing them information and useful resources (e.g. learning, consulting, technical support). Participants were aged between 30 and 50, and have low knowledge of ICT.

Types of ICT services available

Chios Chamber of Commerce is hosting a computer laboratory where the local population can be trained at basic ICT skills. The institution is equipped with the following equipment:

An Internet Wi-Fi connection;

Windows XP (on 10 computers), Linux and Firefox (8 computers);

Open Office;

one printer, one scanner, one webcam;

one CD and DVD recorder.

2.2.3 Identified needs of the participating rural communities

The workshop has enabled to identify the needs of the adult communities in relation to training and ICT services.

Need for digital literacy - and use for every day work

Need for access to computers and Internet - which could initiate a new era in the rural communities, contributing to the bridging of digital divide; as soon as rural citizens become ICT literate they could be engaged in e-learning, e-health, e-government and any other distant based educational activity

Need for ICT awareness - in order to tackle the bureaucratic chaos in the relations of the citizens with the public administration

Need for maximization of use of e-government - which would lead to a more cost effective business operation model

Need for access to public services - that will help people that have no access to other communication-information sources and public administration offices

2.3. Romania

2.3.1. Organisation of the workshop


The Romanian national workshop took place on May 28, 2010, in Sinaia - Romania, in conjunction with the the project launching event Formarea profesională a cadrelor didactice din învăţământul preuniversitar pentru noi oportunităţi de dezvoltare în carieră (Professional development programme for pre-university teachers) coordinated by the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports and funded within the Sectoral Programme Human Resources



Development. This project is the follower of the Rural Education Project (REP), one of the most successful programmes designed and implemented especially for rural communities.

The invitation to attend the workshop has been sent to all eight respondents to the user needs questionnaire (see results on section 3) and to other key experts.

b. Workshop’s structure

The workshop aimed at finalizing the compilation of the user needs questionnaires findings within a face-to-face meeting by collecting additional feedback from the questionnaire respondents as well as from other experts working in the field of adult training provision in rural areas. The workshop agenda has been as follows (see Annex 3):

Presentation of the project main ideas and scopes

Presentation of the feedback received so far from questionnaires

Discussions and Conclusions

2.3.2 Participating institutions

The participants belong to different entities working either as training providers for rural communities or beneficiaries of the training programmes (see the Workshop Participants List in Annex 6).

Types of audiences / publics

The professional profiles of the trainees involved within the training activities organized within rural communities are as follows:

Teachers, looking for improving their ICT skills or / and extent their area of expertise;

Staff working within local government bodies, looking for improving their ICT skills in order to be able to efficiently use the eGovernment services and tools;

Local entrepreneurs, looking for new ways of promoting their business including e-commerce;

Parents, who want to know what their children are doing with computers and want to learn about safety on Internet;

School pupils and youngsters, looking for learning how to use the communication tools and social networking environments;

Besides the unemployed ones, the trainees belong mainly to the following sectors of activities: Education Local government Agriculture Health Commerce Tourism

Types of ICT services available

The majority of ICT services provided to adult rural communities are done through the following national strategic initiatives:

a. Delivered through Knowledge Economy Project – KEP:

Perhaps the most important professional training service has been the organisation of the intensive course on ICT use in school and business, completed in the summer of 2009 with the granting of



over 5000 certificates. Addressed to all members of the KEP communities, especially to teachers, librarians, entrepreneurs and public officials, the course was conceived and structured in a personalised manner, using the basic indicators of the socio-professional profile of beneficiaries, their needs, the degree of familiarity with computer use and digital resources. The main outcomes of KEP intensive course on ICT use in schools and business can be summarised as follows:

25% increase in ICT skills in the teaching staff from KEP communities 55 teachers initiated in Web 2.0 34 teachers started to use advanced ICT in education and writing projects 14 school twinning projects Romania-EU based on contacts realised through

Internet.

Both teachers and students had the opportunity to improve their professional experience in ICT substantially participating in the contest e-Vacanţă (e-Holidays) has reached its 4th edition (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009). The competition was conducted in partnership with MECI and offered participants the opportunity to experiment new methods of creative learning in the virtual environment, during the summer holiday. The first 2 editions addressed schools in the pilot phase of the project, but in 2008 43 other schools joined in the beneficiary EBC communities.

b. Delivered through IT-Based Educational System (SEI):

One main component of the programme has been dedicated to train the human resources and the following results have been achieved:

65.000 pre-university teachers were trained until 2006, 1.674 multimedia lessons for 10 curriculum subjects were elaborated considering

rigorous pedagogical principles.

The final evaluation report of SEI shows that more than 35% of rural teachers that undertook an ICT course were involved within its training programme. The distribution of ICT training provision versus the organizing body is presented below.

Organizing body Total Rural Urban

1. Teacher training units 38,22% 27,07% 44,82%

2. SEI 24,85% 35,67% 18,46%

3. ECDL (Romania)/ ICDL 0,95% 0,64% 1,13%

4. For-profit provider 3,79% 5,10% 3,01%

5. Non-profit organisation 0,59% 0,64% 0,56%

6. Higher education institution 12,19% 11,15% 12,81%

7. Own school/Other school 13,49% 12,10% 14,31%

8. Other institution 5,92% 7,64% 4,90% Table 6: Distribution of ICT training provision versus the organizing body

c. Delivered through Rural Education Project (REP)

The REP aimed to include a compulsory subject on basic ICT skills within all its training programmes. This has been followed by all 2,432 trainees involved so far.



d. Delivered through Telecenters – communications to all

The implementation of the programme produced the following outcomes: Life of almost 230.000 persons had been changed as they can easily communicate

with dear ones and can have access to information More than 17000 children will enlarge their horizons having access to information

and knowledge

2.3.3. Identified needs of the participating rural communities

The main findings from user needs questionnaires and workshop discussions in terms of needs of the rural communities are as follows:

Digital Literacy / Expanding access to ICTs and improving knowledge of computer use with special regards to the implementation of ICT in schools - to increase the quality of education in primary and secondary schools by means of integration and expansion of information and communication technology (ICT) in the teaching and training of human resources on ICT. Foster the development of a digital culture in primary and secondary school.

Professional and economic development / Human resource development of local communities - to provide support for activities designed to increase the potential for accumulation of knowledge by means of information and communications technology (ICT). Improving the stock of digital literacy in the community to facilitate its use of electronic services offered through the project, and establish their skills to launch and implement local projects.

Improving access to information - to improve the access to a means of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for disadvantaged communities through e-centers.

E-Governance / Develop and promote e-government services - to create electronic services such as e-government: (a) a system of on-line notification and authorization of authorized individuals (PFA) and family associations (FAs) and (b) an integrated system for issuing / renewal of marital status documents for citizens. These services are targeted to foster an effective and direct interaction between the civil society and specialized agencies of the Government.

E-Commerce / Promoting e-commerce and financial and technical assistance for the adoption of innovative solutions in SMEs - to foster the development of private sector by facilitating a virtual network in the sector of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), stimulating the absorption of innovative features in the entrepreneurial environment. Developing the private environment, using electronic means (such as e-business solutions), is considered a key tool for disadvantaged communities in terms of access to information

2.4. Spain

2.4.1 Organisation of the workshop


The workshop took place at the University of Barcelona (UB) on March 11th, 2010. It was previously announced to participants via e-mail, and the related agenda was distributed to them (see Annex 4). The idea was to organise a focus group session with a small number of



participants, in order to gather in-depth information about users’ needs, and to stimulate active discussion on the concrete subjects posed by the project. Thus, five participants, from three representative institutions of the Spanish rural adult community, were introduced to RURALeNTER project. Three researchers of the University of Barcelona team were present in order to moderate the workshop’s activities. The workshop was informal, stimulating active discussion and sharing of ideas among participants.

b. Workshop’s structure

The workshop was organized according to the following agenda:

Presentation of RURALeNTER project (objective, timeline, etc.);

Discussion session: ICT infrastructures and equipment available to the rural population, adult training offer (pedagogical scenarios and modalities of training) and ICT services provided;

Demonstration: ICT training in rural contexts, politics and initiatives in Europe;

Focus group session: identification of training needs;

Debriefing and closing: summary and next steps of the project.

The PowerPoint presentation that enhanced the workshop is available in Annex 10.

2.4.2 Participating institutions

PuntTIC

PuntTIC is a network of 35-40 active Catalan telecenters that provide similar ICT services to all citizens. The participating telecenters aim to promote the use of technologies in the socio-economic context of Catalonia. Moreover, the network aims at promoting the integration of local governments and businesses in the information and communication society, as well as improving the autonomy and quality of life of local citizens. PuntTIC technical office enables communication among the participating telecenters. Moreover, it provides a virtual space of the network (http://www.punttic.cat), which has two objectives:

For citizens, to provide information related to the telecenters, as well as online learning resources related to digital literacy, Internet and ICT in general;

For telecenters’ coordinators, to provide a meeting point in which to share experiences and good practices, as well as to offer a repository of online training resources. Moreover, a Moodle platform covers several topics, such as “virtual education and training”, “design of training activities related to ICT” and “telecenters as tools for social promotion”.

Moreover, the portal provides social software tools such as a Blog and a wiki, in order to promote communication among the telecenters.

The audience of PuntTIC is made of both telecenters’ coordinators and citizens, especially rural communities. Tremp telecenter

Tremp is a Catalan rural municipality located in the pre-Pyrenees, which has 6228 inhabitants. Tremp telecenter is part of PuntTIC network. It focuses on the development of the municipality, by providing ICT services and training for citizens.



The telecenter has different types of audiences, such as women over 40, mainly unemployed; parents who want to know what their children are doing with computers and want to learn about safety on Internet; immigrants, for digital literacy and professional insertion issues; professionals who are looking for specific training; young people, for using the internet connection for chat and browsing; adults over 30 who are interested in professional insertion issues; retirees, for digital literacy issues. Age range is 36-50, 51-65, and over 65. Generally, the telecenter’s users have basic-medium ICT skills, or no skills at all.

About 40 people use the telecenters’ services on a regular basis.

Tremp telecenter uses the following equipment:

An ADSL Internet and Wi-Fi connection;

Windows Vista, Ubuntu (on 10 computers), Linux, Firefox (on 8 computers);

Open Office;

One printer, one scanner, one webcam, one CD and DVD recorder;

The following services are available for the telecenter’s users:

Counseling in ICT, orientation and guidance;

Counseling for unemployed people;

Renting of the computer room;

Space for Internet connection for people with laptops;

Touring courses (digital literacy for seniors located in the other villages).

Tremp telecenter offers training on many topics according to the different users’ needs, ICT skills and demands:

Digital literacy: basic and advanced courses on the use of the computer and Internet;

E-government: talks are organized on the electronic ID (how to get it and use it);

Photoshop: advanced courses are given, as continuation of the basic courses;

Use of digital devices (mobile phones and digital cameras) for seniors;

Social software (Blogs, Facebook) for seniors (e.g. Blogs for historical memory);

Professional insertion: courses to learn how to look for a job and to create a CV.

Moreover, the telecenter is promoting teleworking.

Regarding learning resources and applications, trainers mainly use already existing online resources to create their courses. All courses are face-to-face, given the low level of ICT competence of users. The evaluation process of the courses is based on the participants’ satisfaction. Trainers evaluate their students and give them a certificate of attendance. Rellinars adult community

Rellinars is a municipality of 658 inhabitants located in the province of Barcelona, in Catalonia. It has a large population of second residents and tourists.



Rellinars’ school director has been collaborating with UB in the context of several EU projects, such as Rural Wings and SoRuraLL. The school has been conducting ICT based common activities with other centers to share practices and teaching methodologies. As a result of these projects, the director observed a significant increase in the number of families who connect to the Internet, as well as a high level of interest, for adult communities, in communicating and come to the school if they need to use computers. Some meetings with parents also take place on a regular basis in order to plan common ICT-based activities. In this context, Rellinars adult community, represented by the school’s director, will participate in RURALeNTER project. Rellinars’ adult community is diversified, including professionals, unemployed and other types of profiles. Generally, people have low ICT skills. Parents are interested in the ICT tools used by their children, and are eager to communicate with the school and the other parents. Rellinars’ school is equipped with a computer room that the adult community of the village can freely access. Thus, the school provides a common access point to the Internet. The room is equipped with seven PCs and one laptop, as well as an ADSL connection. While no specific training is offered to the adult community of the village, the school regularly involves parents in common activities / projects based on the use of ICT. As an example, one of the projects was to plan an imaginary trip. Thus, participants had to look for information on the Internet (e.g. find a flight ticket, book a hotel in a foreign country and look for touristic information) and present their projects in a digital format. To this end, the schools’ teachers organized several sessions in which they guided the participants in using computers in order to realize their projects. These activities are conducted at the school’s premises. Generally, the school wants to promote lifelong learning in the adult community.

2.4.3 Identified needs of the participating rural communities

The workshop has enabled, through a focus group session, to identify the needs of the adult communities in relation to adult training and ICT services. Some needs relate to the end-users (adult rural communities), and others to the trainers (telecenters’ coordinators).

Need for digital literacy - Generally, most of the rural adult communities have low ICT skills. Thus, there is a need for popularizing the Internet and ICT in general. Moreover, the communities need to become aware of the possibilities offered by the Internet in their specific contexts. As stressed by Rellinars’ school director, the whole community constitutes potential ICT users, as all can benefit from its possibilities according to their specific interests. The most requested courses are basic ICT skills, from simple usage of the computer (how to use the mouse and the keyboard), to the creation of documents and Internet use (how to use Google for an effective search, safety issues on Internet, etc). Moreover, seniors are interested in increasing their digital literacy in general, including use of mobile phones, photo and video cameras, digital television, GPS, etc.

Need for access to computers and Internet - Some users do not have computer / Internet connection at home and need an access point. Thus, the telecenters (or the school’s computer room in the case of Rellinars) are used as access points. This need is less and less important, as more and more people have adequate technology at home. Therefore, the current needs are more related to specific training.

Need for ICT awareness - Generally, communities are not aware of the possibilities that the Internet offers for their specific interests. Training regarding e-government, e-commerce (e-agriculture, e-tourism) and e-health areas would enable users to know what



can be useful, and how to find the relevant information for them. As an example, it would be useful for artisans / farmers to know that they can sell / buy local products online.

Need for professional and economic development - Generally, there is a need for the rural communities to acquire knowledge necessary to enlarge their businesses and support local economic development.

Need for access to flexible learning opportunities - Users need courses adapted to their space-time constraints.

Need for multiplication of job opportunities - Young and unemployed people need to be aware of their professional opportunities, as well as the ways to reach them, by effectively searching for and accessing the necessary information on the Internet. Also, teleworking is perceived as crucial in order to multiply the professional opportunities in rural contexts.

Need for training for telecenters’ coordinators - Coordinators need to be trained regarding social software such as Skype and Blog. Moreover, they need to learn about issues related to the rural context specificities, in order to improve counseling and creation of training activities.

Need of specific goal-driven scenarios - in order to learn how to use some ICT tools

Need for contact and collaboration, exchange of experiences and practices with other cultures - Collaboration among telecenters’ coordinators, facing similar situations and needs, would be useful in order to exchange good practices and rich experiences.

Need to stimulate new learning culture in the rural society - by focusing on appreciation of education and active involvement in learning activities through life.



3. Survey results

The workshops conducted in each country enabled to gather in-depth information regarding user needs. In order to obtain data to a broader level, a national “users’ needs questionnaire” was developed with the purpose to collect the point of view of different stakeholders linked to the rural world, and especially connected to adult training. The aim of this survey was twofold:

‐ To identify trends and training issues for the rural adult populations;

‐ To identify general training needs in rural areas, in connection to the use of ICT.

The questionnaire was distributed in the four implementing countries (Austria, Greece, Romania and Spain), to more than 180 institutions. In total, 45 questionnaires were gathered. The present section sums up the results of the survey, in each participating country. The complete results of the national surveys are available in separated reports [2, 6, 7, 8], and are summed up below.

3.1. Austria

More than 40 national stakeholders from the fields of rural development, agriculture, adult education and e-learning were identified and contacted by e-mail and asked to give feedback on the issues of RURALeNTER from their point of view. Overall, 12 persons filled in an online questionnaire (see annex 11).

3.1.1. ICT services and adult training offer in the Austrian rural context

a. Training services provided for adults rural communities

The training services in rural areas mentioned by the respondents are mostly provided by both non-profit organisations and adult education centers (Seniorenbund, Volkshochschule), regional branches of training institutions of business/employee/farmer associations (WIFI, BFI, LFI), or private institutions (BIT Media).

The trainings offered cover a broad spectrum across various fields of adult education:

languages

personal development, soft skills

business administration, management

job training and qualifications

engineering

health

agriculture

environment

consumer education

services and combined income opportunities for farmers

construction



energy and agro-engineering

leisure / creativity / crafts

special vocational trainings for certain professions

culture

regional development

One respondent added that lectures, courses and workshops are flexibly offered according to interest. One respondent mentioned that trainings particularly take place in the main towns of the districts.

b. ICT training services available for rural adult communities

The training offers in the area of ICT offered by the respondents' institutions or institutions they know about include:

IT and IT basics

MS office

various software for users

internet

Web 2.0

e-skills and social media

web accessibility

ECDL, ECDL Advanced

MS Excel basic and advanced

MS PowerPoint

digital photography

creating videos

photo processing and design

homepage design

dedicated software solutions and internet portals for agriculture

Safer PC

PC maintenance and security

10 finger system

internet software

accounting software

As institutions where the courses are being offered, the following were mentioned:

courses offered by universities for teacher education



courses offered for the continuing education of teachers

adult education centers

offers for pupils in schools

clubs and private associations

c. Dedicated ICT offers and services for adults in rural areas

We asked the respondents of the national stakeholder survey to inform us also about dedicated ICT offers and services (e.g. online courses, telecenters, and pedagogical scenarios) that they were aware of and that could be interesting in the context of the RURALeNTER project. We had a look into their answers and hereby sum up, which services and offers seem to be especially relevant for our project:

e-LISA academy: This is Austria's E-learning network for teachers, coordinated by Education Highway. It offers 17 basic online courses for teachers on the issues of internet, computers and e-learning in schools. For advanced users, co-operative online workshops are offered that cover all areas of using computers in the class-room such as digital photography, e-portfolios, media education, Twitter and Moodle etc. Schools and teachers can register for an annual fee and courses are offered for free or at low cost. While the training offer clearly focuses on teachers, some courses are also open to pupils and parents.

Subject-oriented portals on Education Highway: Originally created for schools, these portals also offer content that is relevant for adult education.

Organic.Edunet: This web portal provides access to more than 10.000 online educational resources in the area of organic farming and agroecology.

Bildungs- und Heimatwerk Lower Austria: offers online language courses, IT courses and second chance school leaving exam online in co-operation with clickandlearn.at.

The Metaschool Online Repository links available e-learning content across a broad range of online portals availabe. It offers a program of in-service training on topics related to the organisation, sharing, use and re-use of digital learning resources that can be accessed through online learning repositories. This training framework is open to every person interersted in e-learning, with a focus on school, and ICT staff.

The Fenicia e-learning framework as used in the EU-project Forestur: The goal of the Forestur project was to provide tourist professionals in rural areas with high quality and specific on-line continuous training. The Fenicia e-learning framework was used as an approach to ICT-based learning with a focus on asynchronous communication and social interaction as the medium for learning.

A study provided by the OIEB on experiences made with e-learning for female job returners in rural communities in Lower Austria.

One respondent highlighted that it is important to have a common start with a face-to-face phase and that later on various platform can be used.

3.1.2. Types of audiences

The majority of learners in the respondents' institutions is in the age range of 36-50 years and employed. All other questions regarding the profile of trainees were only answered by three respondents, so it is not feasible to derive general conclusions from the data.



3.1.3. Identified ICT training needs for Austrian rural adult populations

a. Identified ICT training needs for rural adult populations

Digital literacy was identified by the national stakeholders as the top priority training issue for adults in rural areas. The areas with the least need are e-Agriculture (which is in line with the fact that agriculture is no longer the main source of income of the majority of the rural population) and e-Health. Three respondents entered "other" important topics ("social media", "languages and commercial competences", "e-skills=basic IT skills / Digital Immigrants").

What are the most important ICT training needs for rural adult populations (please classify from 1 to 8)? 1=the most important, 8=the least important

n=11

rank item mean value rank

1 Digital literacy 1,8

2 e-Commerce 3,6

3 e-Learning 3,8

3 e-Governance 3,8

5 e-Administration 3,9

6 e-Agriculture 5,2

7 e-Health 6,3

8 other (respondents added: social media, languages, commercial competences, e-skills: basic IT skills / Digital Immigrants)

7,8

Table 7: Ranking of ICT training needs by national stakeholders

b. Identified difficulties of access to adult training in rural contexts

The biggest hindrances for potential training participants according to the national stakeholders are the cost for trainings, the low level of digital literacy, the low number of offered trainings and difficulties to get to the training facilities (e.g. because of lack of public transport). Furthermore, one respondent highlighted that in order to reach people that are usually disadvantaged in education (as opposed to those who actively plan their lifelong learning activities), community-based training offers and e-learning should be fostered. Another respondent pointed out that many people nowadays pretend to have IT-knowledge, and that it becomes harder to admit that one does not know everything.



What are the biggest obstacles for training and further education for adults in rural areas (multiple selection possible)?

n=12

other obstacles:

lack of internet connection (at home or at work) – 2 respondents

attitude towards education – 1 respondent

lacking interest towards ICT – 1 respondent

lack of time – 1 respondent

not enough participants to hold courses – 1 respondent

confidence in technique, inhibitions, no digital natives – 1 respondent

Table 8: Obstacles for training and further education

c. Needs for specific pedagogical scenarios

Respondents were also asked to suggest topics for actual training courses that should be adopted for rural areas. The majority of respondents suggested

topics related to digital literacy such as general IT skills and IT basics (e.g. text processing, file management),

but also using the internet, Web 2.0 applications and research systems as well as transfer processes for Digital Immigrants to become Digital Natives were suggested as topics for courses.

Three respondents mentioned that

personal development, quality of life and soft skills would be important topics.

Further topics mentioned were

languages

quality online training curriculums including PR strategies for them

second chance school leaving exams

and business topics (marketing for business owners, management)

As a dedicated target group for new training offers older citizens were mentioned. One respondent, however, highlighted that there was no linkage between the topics and the area, but rather only the structure of the training offer would be different in rural than in urban areas.

3.1.4. Perceived impact of ICT training on adult rural community

As desirable outcomes for adults attending IT trainings in rural areas the following responses were entered as open text:



accessibility

relatively low cost

broad spectrum of offers available (partially not yet developed, e.g. in the area of basic education)

low level of mobility necessary; not persons, but data move

there's already lots of knowhow available

competitiveness of enterprises, further development, qualifications

independence from time and space, increased self-confidence, networking

3.2. Greece

National users’ needs questionnaires were distributed to 40 people from Greek institutions (such as associations for rural development, telecenters, policy makers, agencies of regional governments devoted to rural development, rural teachers associations, parent’s associations, etc.) in order to collect the point of view of different stakeholders linked to the rural world and especially connected to adult training. About 7 filled-in questionnaires have been collected. When classifying the user participants according to the main industry sectors, most of them were involved in the agricultural sector in one form or another, with a further 5% involved in forestry, 15% in tourism, and 5% in fishery. It was noticeable that some of the users were active in more than one of these sectors. In terms of business size, just over a third of respondents were self-employed, and a further had 1-2 employees.

3.2.1. ICT services and adult training offer in the Greek rural context

The training services in Greek rural areas mentioned by the respondents are mostly provided by private institutions and adult education centers. The trainings offered cover a broad spectrum across various fields of adult education:

languages

personal development, soft skills

business administration, management

job training and qualifications

agriculture

environment

regional development


This section aims at describing the adult rural trainees regarding their age, professional profile and ICT skills.



a. Age range

All participants were male and the age of the respondents varied from those in the 20-25 to those in the above 66 age category. The median age was the 41-45 age bracket, although just over a quarter of users attendees were 30 and below, and 47% were 46 and above. Nearly 70% of the participants were owners, with a further 10% being managers, and the remainder employees.

Most of the trainees are aged between 36 and 50.

b. Professional profiles

Generally users pertain to the following audiences:

- Professionals who are looking for specific training;

- Unemployed over who are interested in professional insertion issues (how to find a job, how to write a CV, etc);

Moreover, trainees of the following sectors attend some courses:

- Construction;

- Tourism;

- Agriculture;

- Commerce.

c. Level of ICT skills

Perhaps surprisingly 50% of all user respondents classified themselves as having good PC skills, whereas only 25% believed they had either poor or very poor PC skills. The remaining 25% felt they had fair, or average, PC skills. Some rural population are fearful of computers and many lack confidence in their IT skills and in using the Internet and this may be putting them off using ICT services. These findings are consistent with many other recent IT and e-business benchmarking reports.

3.2.3. Identified ICT training needs for Greek rural adult population

The greatest demand for training from the users was for help with using ICT transactional services, followed by communicational services, and then informational services. Some of the users also pointed out they need further training with regard to ecologic agriculture and e-governance. A number of specific training elements were mentioned including – on-line form filling (i.e. tax returns) and help with downloading information. In some cases, rural areas do not dispose of any adult training services. The workshop discussions brought to light the fact that many of the participants were little more than casual users of computers, and that they had not had the opportunity to master their IT skills. At the same time, the workshop also helped to highlight the fact that it is worth remembering that younger members of the agricultural community tend to be far more IT literate. Clearly addressing the above needs via appropriate training would prove extremely worthwhile to “time poor” rural areas.



3.3. Romania

The questionnaire was distributed to stakeholders pertaining to the following entities: associations for rural development, telecenters, policy makers, agencies of regional governments devoted to rural development, rural teachers associations, parent’s associations, etc. About eight filled-in questionnaires have been collected. Most of respondents are representatives of bodies running projects within the rural areas, experts working in the field of adult training as well as representatives of rural communities.

3.3.1. ICT services and adult training offer in the Rumanian rural context

As mentioned in section 2, most of the training services provided for adult rural communities are done through the following national strategic initiatives:

Knowledge Economy Project – KEP

The Knowledge Economy project is implemented by the Government of Romania through the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), and is financed by the World Bank with a total budget of USD 70 million.

Knowledge Economy Project (with a lifespan from 2006 to 2010) aims to support knowledge-driven activities at the national level, as well as directly within local rural and small urban communities, and in particular to accelerate the participation of knowledge-disadvantaged communities in the knowledge economy.

Knowledge Economy Project’s components: Access to ICT in Knowledge Disadvantaged Communities and Improved Digital Literacy, Development and promotion of e-government services and Promotion of e-commerce and innovation support for MSMEs.

KEP finances the establishment of 255 Local Communities e-Networks (LCENs) through which rural and small urban communities will have access to knowledge via a number of modern electronic services and technologies, including infrastructure, broadband Internet and communication services.

The value added of this project consists in providing specific content provision for local administration, citizens, local businesses and pupils in rural and small urban communities; LCENs would interconnect multiple nodes: main secondary school, all secondary schools from the belonging villages, the town hall, public library and a Public Point of Access to Information – PPAI.

Within PPAI, the following training services are offered: Program of Technical Assistance regarding integrating ICT into Secondary Education; Training program for IT skills, whose beneficiaries were civil servants, teachers, the staff

of Electronic Network of Local Communities, entrepreneurs, and other people in the pilot communities;

Introduction to using Computers Fundamentals of managing networks Interdisciplinary management for local communities GLOCAL: Think globally! Act locally! Sustainable development (DD), ″UMBRELLA″ of

local economic development (DEL) How we measure sustainability? A conversation about SMART indicators Local economic development (DEL), vector of sustainable development (SD) Leadership: from complexity to change FINIS CORONAT OPUS: year of reflection, learning and personal growth

Sistem Educational Informatizat - SEI (IT-Based Educational System)



Enhancing education with new ICTs was stated in 1998 by the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports as a priority, and concrete actions were taken beginning 2001. The premises and incentive of SEI national programme are three-folded, based on: the social and political commitment (harmonization within EU framework principles, objectives and actions), the ereadiness objectives and the education process efficiency development.

Figure 1: The share of SEI components within the project

The goal of the SEI programme is to introduce IT as a teaching / learning tool in lower and upper secondary education. Schools are provided with computerized laboratories in order to support the IT-Based teaching/learning process. Besides the availability of technology in the school, it aims to establish a high level of interactivity and direct, personal experimentation of phenomena and scientific theories by learners. The program was approved in early 2001 by the Information Technology Promotion Group – a task force integrated by several ministries and presided by the Romanian Prime Minister – with an initial estimated budget of 200 mil. USD. It is implemented in cooperation with the state administration and the private sector, the main companies involved being SIVECO Romania, HP Romania, and IBM Romania. Several parts of the programme have been run since 2001 – equipping schools with IT labs; developing educational software and eContent; training human resources; connecting education institutions to the Internet and continuous technical support –, and important goals have been achieved:

4.780 IT labs, each comprising a network of 15 to 25 computers have been delivered and configured (a total figure of 78.000 computers),

basic operating software was installed on every computer, An AeL learning (and) management system was installed on every network, 65.000 pre-university teachers were trained until 2006, 1.674 multimedia lessons for 10 curriculum subjects were elaborated considering rigorous

pedagogical principles.

Along with the management and delivery of various content types such as interactive multimedia, tutorials, exercises, simulations, educational games etc., AeL allows the development of various learning modules. Within the limits of their confidence, skills and know-how, teachers can:

create content (built-in HTML editor, mathematical formulae editor, test editors and wizards, glossaries/ dictionaries editor);

import/export content from files, archives/folders of resources, standard packaging formats;

adapt or modify content; derive their own courses from common content components.



Content can be structured and adapted upon teacher’s needs, and enriched with metadata related to curricula, keywords, version, author etc. Access privileges on user/ user-group level may be applied to any part of the knowledge base. The knowledge base may be browsed hierarchically, filtered or searched. Tests are integrated with study records, keeping the system track of each student’s history and evolution. After the initial phase of development and implementation, AeL was re-considered in the view of strong pedagogical and psychological basis for further curricular content. More than an option, the pedagogical principles integration is recognized today as a must for high-quality added value of educational software to be used in the Romanian education system. Within the SEI programme some additional projects were also developed, such as: the national computerized evaluation of text-books (EvalMan); high-school computerized admission (ADLIC); IT support for the national examination for teaching positions in all Romanian schools; the development of a SEI education portal, etc. Rural Education Project (REP)

Rural Education Project (REP) is an important part of the Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports strategy to improve the learning opportunities and the students’ achievements from rural areas. This is a Romanian Government Project co-financed by the World Bank (the value of the project is of 91 millions USD), whose implementation began with November 14, 2003. The overall objective of the project is to have rural schools students benefit from improved access to quality education, as evidenced by higher achievement scores and completion and transition rates. The project addresses all rural school units from compulsory education (10,757 schools and more than 2 mill students). The REP is focused on the major aspects of the Romanian education system within the rural area:

Professional development of rural teachers Basic education conditions in rural schools and teaching-learning materials; School - community partnerships in rural areas; and Monitoring, evaluation and policy making capacity of the education system.

The number of teachers that are teaching different subjects from the one for which they are qualified, if they are, in the rural schools, it is not exactly known. In the rural area the number of pupils in each class and number of classes are often very small, so a teacher cannot cover the required number of hours in one school, or at one discipline. That it is why, either they teach in several schools, either they teach several disciplines. Many of them are tenured for one discipline, so they are officially “qualified”, but in fact they also teach disciplines for which they are not formally qualified through academic level training. Universities are not currently offering training solutions for this category of beneficiaries, so that is why, through the Rural Education Project, first of all there were developed and accredited postgraduate. The implementation started in the academic year 2005 / 2006. From the 3,060 students that joined the study programs at that time, 336 have never frequented the classes or submitted the evaluation papers. 2,432 students have taken all exams and another 218 promoted to the next year according to the ECTS system. Only 74 failed to accomplish the conditions needed for promotion. This high promotion rate is explained by the high level of motivation and interest of students, but is also due to appropriate implementation conditions.



The implemented training systems have given very good results so far, that we expect to show impact on the school results of pupils from rural area. Moreover, generalization at national level, also for urban areas, is required by stakeholders that in one way or another have come in contact with this modern approaches to teacher training. Telecenters – communications to all

Aiming to ensure access to communications services for all citizens of Romania, The National Regulatory Authority for Communications and Information Technology together with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology faced the challenge of low penetration of telephone services in a large country, with great geographical diversity and many small communities without access to fixed or mobile telephony. Telephone service providers target mainly the urban areas, where business users and higher income population ensure profitability, while the state budget resources are insufficient to subsidize the net cost of providing an individual connection to all those who request it. It was therefore necessary to design a national programme aimed at ensuring community access to telephone and Internet services in the rural areas deprived of/with limited availability of communications infrastructure. The cost-effective solution for connecting around 600 isolated villages consists in providing access to the public telephone network, at a fixed location, for an entire community at a time, by means of telecenters. The telecenters are meant to offer, in the vicinity of people's homes, at affordable prices, telephone, fax and Internet services and non-stop access to emergency calls. In the telecenter there are at least 2 telephone sets, 2 computers connected to Internet and one fax machine. Telecenters establish infrastructure "bridgeheads" in the areas with extremely low or no coverage at all, aiming to stimulate future market supply, and therefore facilitate natural rollout of communications networks, while not distorting competition. Deployment of telecenters helps educating consumers to use communications services, increasing market demand and fostering social, economic and cultural development The national programme for installation of telecenters in communities without access or with low access to electronic communications can be expressed in numbers as follows:

‐ 253 telecenter installed by now, almost half of total 600 de remote communities included in programme

‐ 208 localities where the universal service suppliers were designated already and where telecenters will be installed

‐ Life of almost 230.000 persons had been changed as they can easily communicate with dear ones and can have access to information

‐ More than 17.000 children will enlarge their horizons having access to information and knowledge.

Pedagogical approach

Training providers offer is delivered using the following pedagogical scenarios:

School-based / face-to-face training, through a mentoring process;

Distance learning training with special regards to the use of eLearning specific tools and methodologies

Project-based / Game-Based Learning scenarios within summer camps and short training events.




a. Age range

Most of the trainees are aged between 30 and 55, although many of them are aged over 55. Few of them are aged less than 30 as they are usually enrolled within an initial education institution.


The professional profiles of the trainees involved within the above mentioned training activities ‐ Teachers, looking for improving their ICT skills or/and extent their area of expertise; ‐ Staff working within local government bodies, looking for improving their ICT skills in

order to be able to efficiently use the eGovernment services and tools; ‐ Local entrepreneurs, looking for new ways of promoting their business including e-

commerce; ‐ Parents, who want to know what their children are doing with computers and want to learn

about safety on Internet; ‐ School pupils and youngsters, looking for learning how to use the communication tools

and social networking environments;

Besides the unemployed ones, the trainees belong mainly to the following sectors of activities: ‐ Education ‐ Local government ‐ Agriculture ‐ Health ‐ Commerce ‐ Tourism


The ICT skills level is quite low within the rural areas being induced by the low penetration of the broadband services within these areas and low level of households having Internet access. Nevertheless, the level of ICT skills is improving continuously due to the actual national strategy that supports several strategic initiatives aimed at improving the digital literacy and access to ICT services within rural areas. The evolution of the percentage of teachers that undertook an ICT training is presented below. It can be seen that after 2005, the percentages for rural and urban areas are quite equal.

Graduation year Total Rural Urban 1. Before 2001 3,13% 2,85% 3,28% 2. 2001 2,78% 1,58% 3,47% 3. 2002 3,36% 1,27% 4,56% 4. 2003 3,94% 2,53% 4,74% 5. 2004 8,91% 3,80% 11,86% 6. 2005 20,95% 23,73% 19,34% 7. 2006 32,52% 39,56% 28,47% 8. 2007 24,42% 24,68% 24,27%

Table 9: Percentage of teachers that undertook ICT training



3.3.3. Identified ICT training needs for Romanian rural adult populations


The needs that have been identified through the Romanian survey have been mentioned in section 2, together with the workshop’s results (p. 14).

b. Identified difficulties of access to adult training in rural contexts

The main difficulty in accessing the adult learning training provision is the low level of digital literacy and the low level of households having Internet Access. This obstacle started to be overcome, as mentioned, by setting up local e-centers that offer access to information and quality training provision in actual topics for the rural communities. The pilot initiatives dealing with e-centers development, are planned to be integrated and continued by a national programme aimed at setting up e-centers within all Romanian villages by 2013.


Respondents suggested the need for training scenarios especially designed to meet specific needs of rural communities. The Rural Education Project (REP) training scenario designed to meet a given need of primary and secondary schools teachers has been considered as an example of good practice.


Respondents are aware of the opportunities that ICT can offer to the rural communities, such as: Ensuring access to information for reducing the digital gap (to ensure dissemination of

knowledge) Improving the digital literacy and skills for an inclusive society (human factor as

producers and consumers of knowledge) Promoting and providing local eGovernment services to establish a correct relationship

between the taxpayer and the State Stimulating entrepreneurial initiatives for a sustainable local development

3.3.5. Conclusions of the survey

In general, there is a wide provision of adult education delivered using different scenarios and settings but few are adapted and targeted to rural needs. Having in mind the example of initiatives designed especially in order to fulfill a given need (i.e. Rural Education Project), initiatives that produced significant impact, respondents stressed the need to have customized implementations of training programmes targeted to specific needs of rural communities.

Furthermore, as most of them are offered using distance education tools and methodologies, the main identified barrier is the lack of access to ICT infrastructure, tools and services. The availability of a public, free of charge e-centers is the key element to achieve a significant impact of any training programme within rural areas.

Finally, it has been pointed out that once the rural communities members get in touch with the science of using ICT tools and services, there is no need for external intervention to keep awake the need created. They themselves will be relays development. It is an irreversible process of cultural change, which creates a recipe applicable throughout rural communities.



3.4. Spain

National users’ needs questionnaires were distributed to more than 100 Spanish institutions (such as associations for rural development, telecenters, policy makers, agencies of regional governments devoted to rural development, rural teachers associations, parent’s associations, etc.) in order to collect the point of view of different stakeholders linked to the rural world and especially connected to adult training. About 18 filled-in questionnaires have been collected. Most of respondents are telecenters, women associations and other representatives of rural communities.

3.4.1. ICT services and adult training offer in the Spanish rural context

a. Training services provided for adults rural communities

Most of the respondents mention training courses related to ICT, and more specifically to basic digital literacy (discovering the computer, Internet, office automation, etc.). Moreover, personal assessment and orientation services are provided to people that need it. This training is usually provided by local telecenters.

In addition, training courses related to specific subjects are available, such as:

Culture, music, sport – this courses are usually provided by cultural houses, community centers and municipalities;

Environment, immigration, equity – this courses are usually provided by local social services;

Ecologic agriculture;

Local languages, such as Catalan;

Vocational training for unemployed and workers – this courses are usually provided by local governments;

Professional training, such as management and administration of companies, home care, geriatric nurse, coordination of social and cultural activities, workplace accident prevention, tourism, etc.;

Preparation for accessing degree level training cycles;

Specific training for women living in rural areas, in relation to the agricultural sector (agricultural management, modernization of farms, ecologic agriculture, etc.) and to rural development (rural tourism, craft industry, community care, etc.).

In some cases, rural areas do not dispose of any adult training services.

b. ICT training services available for rural adult communities

Telecenters aim at promoting the access and the use of ICT by all citizens, as well as at bringing them closer to the Information and Communication society. Telecenters are used as tools for professionals, students, associations, companies, and others, that need a physical / virtual space in order to use ICT applications. To this end, telecenters offer the following ICT services:

- Free access to computers, ICT equipments and Internet;

- Free digital literacy training courses.

As an example, one of the respondent telecenters mention that 150 free courses have been provided to more than 1700 persons, as well as 4300 hours of free access to Internet.



Other types of institutions, such as women associations, mention informatics and Internet courses for women living in rural areas, as well as personal assessment and orientation related to ICT usage.

Rural training institutions offer various types of pedagogical scenarios that are described below.

Learning subjects

The courses offered by respondent institutions to adult rural communities are usually related to different subjects, such as:

Digital literacy: basic level (discovering the computer, Windows, Internet, Office automation, blogs, digital photography, etc.) and advanced level (graphic design, web design, image editing, video editing, Autocad, etc.)

Professional training: job searching through Internet, management and administration of companies, home care, coordination of social and cultural activities, ecologic agriculture;

Rural development: rural tourism, craft industry, community care, etc.

As an example, a respondent telecenter mentions 10 hours workshops on the following topics:

Discover the computer;

Basic course of Word;

Advanced course of Word;

Internet and e-mail;

Basic course of PowerPoint;

Basic course of Excel;

Applications/tools required

In order to enhance the courses, the following applications are used by the training institutions:

Software operating systems such as Windows and Linux;

Processors such as Microsoft Office;

Internet browsers such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox;

Graphic design software such as Gimp, Photoshop and Indesign;

Printed materials such as handbooks and tutorials;

One of the telecenters uses a Moodle platform in order to enhance online courses.

Pedagogical approach

The pedagogical scenarios are usually oriented to learning by doing and exploratory learning (project-based scenarios). Moreover, many institutions use interactive tutorials in order to enhance their courses. Some institutions use self-regulated learning scenarios and which students learn in an autonomous way.

Evaluation approach

Generally, students are evaluated on exercises or final projects. In some cases, evaluation is continued, or final exams (e.g. theoretical questionnaires) take place. One of the centers uses a self-evaluation process.



Generally, the course itself is evaluated by students through filling in a survey.

Modalities of training

Training courses are mainly face-to-face, as users prefer to have direct contact with trainers. Moreover, a women association states that many of their courses include practical “on the field” sessions, which have a very positive impact on the learning outcomes.

In some cases, online training enhanced by Moodle platforms offer complementary learning spaces. Although most of the training courses are collaborative, some centers provide one-to-one training sessions.


This section aims at describing the adult rural trainees regarding their age, professional profile and ICT skills.

a. Age range

Most of the trainees are aged between 36 and 50, although many of them are aged between 51 and 64. Moreover, some trainees are retirees who are more than 65. Very few people are less than 35.


Generally, telecenters’ users pertain to the following audiences:

- Women over 40, mainly unemployed;

- Parents who want to know what their children are doing with computers and want to learn about safety on Internet;

- Immigrants, for digital literacy and professional insertion issues;

- Professionals who are looking for specific training;

- Young people, for using the internet connection for chat and browsing;

- Adults over 30 who are interested in professional insertion issues (how to find a job, how to write a CV, etc);

- Retirees, for digital literacy issues.

Moreover, trainees of the following sectors attend some courses:

- Construction;

- Tourism;

- Agriculture;

- Commerce;

- Health;

- Education;

- Craft industry;

- Transportation / communication.




Generally, most of the trainees have basic / middle ICT skills or no skills at all. Only a small number of them have high ICT skills. Nevertheless, one of the respondent institutions stresses that less and less people are not at all computer literate.

3.4.3. Identified ICT training needs for Spanish rural adult populations

This section aims at identifying the needs of rural adult communities regarding ICT, and more specifically the difficulties to access training and the perceived impact of technologies in rural contexts.


Digital literacy is identified as the main training need by all the respondents. Indeed, the most requested courses are related to basic ICT skills as most of the rural adult communities have low ICT level. Thus, there is a need for popularizing the Internet and ICT in general. Moreover, the communities need to become aware of the possibilities offered by the Internet in their specific contexts. E-learning opportunities, adapted to the space-time constraints of the rural adult populations, are considered as one the most important needs. Moreover, there is a need for the rural communities to acquire knowledge related to e-agriculture and e-commerce services, in order to enlarge their businesses and support local economic development. However, we could identify a lack of awareness of these services and the opportunities that they can offer. E-administration / e-government services are usually perceived as useful in order to improve the quality of life of rural citizens, although adult communities and training institutions need to become aware of the possibilities they provide. Finally, we could perceive some slight interest regarding e-health services, although they seem to be not well known by rural citizens and training institutions. b. Identified difficulties of access to adult training in rural contexts

Some obstacles to adult training have been identified by the respondent institutions. First, the low level of digital literacy constitutes an obstacle for rural adult communities to access training. Rural persons need personal orientation and assessment in order to familiarize with ICT. Once this handicap is solved, telecenters can work on the lack of equipment and offer training and free ICT access. Moreover, rural areas are isolated and do not have quality access to Internet. Indeed, some respondents mention that some little villages do not have broadband access, which complicates quality training. In addition, space-time constraints are considered as a significant issue. As an example, it is sometimes difficult for trainees to access training centers that are inexistent in some isolated areas. Moreover, the training centers have to adapt their activities to the rhythms of life and work that characterize the rural environment. They also have to take into account the situation of municipalities regarding e-administration services.



Finally, it seems crucial that the training centers constitute entities that are aware of the rural realities, and are experienced in working with rural communities. Indeed, a lack of training offer oriented to the real needs of the population has been identified.


Respondents were asked to suggest possible training courses which would be adapted in rural adult learning contexts. Respondents have mainly suggested courses related to basic digital literacy (discovering the computer, communicating, Internet, Office, etc.), as well as to e-administration (learn how to communicate with local administrations and to carry out online administrative procedures at both national and European levels), e-health, e-learning, and e-communication (e.g. 2.0 social networking tools, communication through the Internet with e-mail, instant messaging and videoconferencing tools). Moreover, there is a need for training scenarios which can support professional and entrepreneurs who need adapted ICT tools and skills to enhance the activities of their companies. Finally, some respondents have given examples related to specific professional training (e.g. geriatric auxiliary / home care) and ecologic agriculture.


Respondents are aware of the opportunities that ICT can offer to the rural communities, such as:

To promote the sustainable development of rural areas: rural communities dispose of a lot of resources but are not aware of the potential of ICT. Moreover, the digital divide does not provide equity between rural and urban communities. The technological integration of rural areas can improve the efficiency of rural socio economical activities. As an example, e-commerce services enable communication and diffusion of activities and products; this can contribute to the local development of localities, as well as to the generation of employment.

To connect rural communities to the world: the use of social software tools can enable the creation of rural social networks, which can create new opportunities for collaborations (e.g. sharing of experiences, projects and good practices). Moreover, rural training centers constitute sociability spaces, in which citizens of different generations and sectors can meet, thus forming a community that shares a common culture.

To make rural citizens aware of their possibilities: the use of ICT can help rural communities to become aware of the different opportunities opened to them at both national and international levels. Thus, it can contribute to promote the human development.

To make rural communities aware of the potential of ICT: adequate training opportunities regarding ICT can foster rural communities’ motivation in learning more about e-communication, e-learning, e-governance opportunities adapted to their contexts, and in developing new professional and personal projects. More generally, ICT can improve the rural communities’ quality of life.



4. Analysis of results

This section aims at analyzing the data gathered in the context of the workshops and the questionnaires’ surveys. First, it describes the status of the current adult training offer within the rural areas of the participating countries. Afterwards, it defines the characteristics of the targeted populations. Finally, the results of the study are formulated in training requirements and in specific competencies that the project should be aiming for.

4.1. Analysis of the current training situation in the participating countries

Both workshops and questionnaires enabled to gain insight regarding the training activities available for adult citizens, within the rural areas of the four countries that will implement the project. The following table presents the entities / institutions that provide training for adult rural populations in each country, together with the available training services / subjects.

Austria Greece Romania Spain

Training providers

Non-profit organisations

Adult education centers

Regional branches of training institutions of business / employee / farmer associations

Private institutions

Universities

Austria's E-learning network for teachers

Education Highway

Private institutions

Adult education centers

Knowledge Economy Project (Governmental initiative)

Sistem Educational Informatizat - SEI (IT-Based Educational System)

Rural Education Project (REP)

Telecenters

Cultural houses,

Community centers and municipalities;

Local social services, local governments, regional policies

Telecenters

Women associations

Training services / subjects available for rural adult communities

Languages

Personal development, soft skills

Business administration, management

Languages

Personal development, soft skills

Business administration, management

Fundamentals of managing networks

Interdisciplinary management for local communities

GLOCAL:

Culture, music, sport

Environment, immigration, equity

Ecologic agriculture



Job training and qualifications

Engineering

Health

Agriculture

Environment

Consumer education

Services and combined income opportunities for farmers

Construction

Energy and agro-engineering

Leisure / creativity / crafts

Special vocational trainings for certain professions

Culture

Regional development

Job training and qualifications

Agriculture

Environment

Regional development

Think globally! Act locally! Sustainable development (DD), ″UMBRELLA″ of local economic development (DEL)

How we measure sustainability? A conversation about SMART indicators

Local economic development (DEL), vector of sustainable development (SD)

Leadership: from complexity to change

FINIS CORONAT OPUS: year of reflection, learning and personal growth

Local languages

Vocational training for unemployed and workers;

Professional training (management and administration of companies, home care, job searching through Internet, ecologic agriculture; etc.)

Specific training for women living in rural areas, in relation to the agricultural sector and to rural development

Rural development: rural tourism, community care, etc.

ICT training services available for rural adult communities

IT basics

MS office

Internet

Web 2.0

Web accessibility

ECDL, ECDL Advanced

Digital photography

Creating videos

Technical Assistance regarding integrating ICT into Secondary Education;

IT skills Introduction to

using Computers

Specific teacher training (built-in HTML

Basic digital literacy (use of digital devices, discovering the computer, Windows, Internet, Office automation, blogs, digital photography, etc.)

Advanced digital literacy



Homepage design

E-agriculture

Safer PC

PC maintenance and security

10 finger system

Accounting software

editor, mathematical formulae editor, test editors and wizards, glossaries/ dictionaries editor)

(social software, graphic design, web design, image editing, video editing, Autocad, etc.)

E-government

Training for rural telecenters’ trainers

Table 10: Analysis of the current training situation in the project’s countries

As shown in Table 10, there is a wide offer regarding rural adult education in the four countries, both related to ICT skills and to other subjects (e.g. professional training, vocational training, languages, etc.). These services are provided by different types of entities (private, non-profit, regional and national institutions). However, these services, in some cases, are not adapted and targeted to rural needs. Moreover, in some cases, rural areas do not dispose of any adult training services.

4.2. Profile of adult rural populations

This section describes the characteristics of the local adult trainees, per country, according to their age, ICT skills and professional profile.

Austria Greece Romania Spain

Age range 36-50 26-35 / 36-50 30-55 36-64

ICT skills Basic-medium Basic Basic-medium Basic-medium

Professional profile

Workers Workers / unemployed

Teachers

Staff working within local government bodies

Entrepreneurs

Parents

School pupils and youngsters

Unemployed

Parents

Professionals

Young people

Retirees

Table 11: Users’ profile

As shown in the table, the age ranges of users vary according to the countries. The majority of trainees have basic-medium skills of ICT. It is possible to observe different professional profiles, such as workers, unemployed and retirees.



4.3. Identification of training needs

The results of the study enabled to define, for each country, users training requirements. As presented in the table below, many of these needs are common to all the countries.

Identified needs Austria Greece Romania Spain

Need for digital literacy - basic ICT skills, awareness of the possibilities offered by the Internet in specific rural contexts

Need for awareness regarding e-services – such as e-government, e-commerce (e-agriculture, e-tourism) and e-health)

Need for awareness regarding 2.0 social networking tools – such as blogs, Facebook, etc.

Need for multiplication of job opportunities - be aware of professional opportunities, as well as the ways to reach them, by effectively searching for and accessing the necessary information on the Internet

Need for professional and economic development - acquire knowledge necessary to enlarge local businesses and support the economic development

Need for access to flexible learning opportunities - courses adapted to rural contexts’ space-time constraints

Need for training for telecenters’ coordinators - regarding social software, ant to issues related to the rural context specificities

Need of specific goal-driven scenarios - that enable to contextualize the use of ICT tools to the users’ specific contexts

Need for contact and collaboration, exchange of



experiences and practices with other cultures - collaboration among telecenters’ coordinators, facing similar situations and needs, in order to exchange good practices

Need to stimulate new learning culture in the rural society

Need for access to public services -help people that have no access to other communication-information sources and public administration offices

Need for access to computers and Internet

Table 12: Users’ training requirements per country

As shown in the table, the main training needs are related to basic ICT skills, as well as Internet awareness: e-services on one side (with a high level of interest regarding e-government and e-administration), and social networking tools on the other side. In an objective of professional development, users need to learn how to look for job opportunities in Internet. Moreover, the Spanish survey enabled to identify more specific needs, such as the access to flexible learning opportunities, specific goal driven scenarios, training for trainers, which may be adaptable to the other countries’ reality, and should be taken into account.

4.4. Specific competencies to teach

More specifically, the study brought up a set of specific competencies that users should develop.

The competencies are listed below by importance.

a. General skills for using a computer

In relation to the need for digital literacy, the rural adult population should learn basic ICT skills, such as how to use the mouse, the keyboard, the printer, etc., as well as file management, installing and using a software and Office (e.g. Word processing and spreadsheets).

Moreover, it has been pointed out that it was important to take the participants' fears of using the computer, as well as clarifying security aspects and what the use of certain tools was (i.e. to focus the training on what the participants really need and not on what the software is able to do).

Finally, seniors are interested in increasing their digital literacy in general, including use of mobile phones, photo and video cameras, digital television, GPS, etc.

b. General skills for using Internet

In order to become aware of the possibilities offered by the Internet, users need to learn basic skills, such as Internet search, sending and receiving e-mails, etc.

Moreover, users would need to learn about the security on Internet, in order to take away their fears and to help them to make a good usage of online tools.



c. E-governement

E-administration services are perceived as very relevant in order to increase the quality of life of rural citizens. They need to learn how to contact with local bureaucracy and administrations, as well as to carry out online administrative procedures at both national and European levels. As an example, some needs have been identified in Romania, to create a system of on-line notification and authorization of authorized individuals (PFA) and family associations (FAs), as well as an integrated system for issuing / renewal of marital status documents for citizens.

d. E-commerce

Professionals should learn how to promote and enlarge their businesses by taking adavantage of the Internet marketing and public awareness possibilities (e.g. by using social networking tools, e-business solutions, or by creating dedicated web portals).

e. Social networking tools

A need for learning how to use social networking tool (such as Facebook, blogs, instant messaging, videoconferencing tools, etc.) has emerged for both trainers and trainees. For trainers, such tools would enable to share good practices and experiences with other telecenters featured by similar characteristics and interests. On the other hand, it would enable trainees to open to the world and to promote their local activities.

f. E-agriculture

For Spain and Greece, a need for becoming aware of e-agriculture services has emerged. Users would need to learn how to promote their activities through Internet, as well as to enlarge their professional practices (e.g. by learning about ecologic agriculture).

g. Job search and networking

Young and unemployed people need to be aware of their professional opportunities, as well as the ways to reach them, by effectively searching for and accessing the necessary information on the Internet.

h. E-health

Some slight interest regarding e-health services has been observed. Indeed, these services are generally unknown by trainees and trainers, who cannot perceive the possibilities they can offer. In consequence, rural citizens and related training institutions should learn about the opportunities provided by e-health services.

Moreover, a Greek respondent mentioned the relevance of e-health courses, covering the thematic of “First Aid” and basic guidelines for handling emergency situations having as target group non- professionals.

i. Other topics

Trainers and respondents mentioned e-learning courses corresponding to the needs of professional community, organized according to their interests, and addressing the following topics:

foreign languages

quality online training curriculums including PR strategies for them

second chance school leaving exams

specific professional training (marketing for business owners, management, geriatric auxiliary, etc.).



5. Integrated conclusions

The ‘RURALeNTER’ project aims to focus on and analyse the needs regarding public services support of users in four rural areas of EU member states with different degrees of e-services deployment and adoption. After studying existing e-services for these rural areas and their level of awareness, it will develop and evaluate a vocational training curriculum focusing on how to prepare rural population to use and exploit cases of e-services. In addition, a Portal of e- services for rural areas will also be deployed. The aim of WP1 – User Needs Analysis – is to lay the foundations of the project by analising the training needs of adult rural populations and to a set of training requirements. This deliverable - Needs Analysis Report – has described the results of a study that was conducted in four countries, in the context of RURALeNTER project, including national workshops with training institutions and national surveys with different stakeholders linked to the rural world, and especially connected to adult training. The national workshops were organized with local institutions related rural training, and enabled to gather in-depth information which help in meeting the characteristics of rural adult trainees, as well as identifying their ICT awareness and training needs. Moreover, the questionnaire surveys, that gathered data from 45 entities in Europe, enabled to obtain information to a broader level. The current training situation in the participating countries could be elicited, regarding ICT and other subjects. Moreover, the surveys provided relevant information in relation to the targeted audience characteristics and needs. The results of this process enabled to gain insight into the current level of ICT awareness in European adult rural communities, as well as into the status and type of currently offered ICT services and trainings available to citizens in rural areas. Moreover, the report has described the profile of related audiences, as well as a set of ICT training requirements and specific competencies resulting from the user needs evaluation in the Austria, Greece, Romania, and Spain. Generally, there is a need for initial training in order to popularize technologies by teaching their uses. Indeed, community members need to become aware of the possibilities that ICT offers them, according to their specific needs and interests, both at personal and professional levels. As ICT proficiency develops, there are new emerging needs for more specific goal-driven trainings. Therefore, it is important integrate technologies in the daily life of rural communities, in order to enable them to promote their rich resources and position in the Information and Communication society. The deliverable will contribute to defining the training framework of the project, including specific training contents, strategies and scenarios adapted to the users’ profiles.

Recommendations for the project’s next steps

As an outcome of the study, we are able to provide a set of guidelines to be taken into account within the next steps of the project, i.e. “Content Design and Development”, and “Portal and



Social Networking Tools Development”. Indeed, the study enabled to identify the preferences of trainers regarding learning subjects and modalities of training, as explained below.

Pedagogical approaches

Through the training services that exist in the institutions, it is possible to state that pedagogical scenarios should be oriented to learning by doing and exploratory learning (project-based scenarios). Indeed, Austrian respondents stated that they prefer scenarios including many exercises with control and repetition. Moreover, some institutions use self-regulated learning scenarios and which students learn in an autonomous way.

Evaluation approaches

The project should consider evaluation strategies in relation to the provided content and scenarios. Indeed, students should be evaluated either on exercises / final projects /exams, or in continue way. Self-evaluation processes could be considered as well.

Modalities of training

Most of respondents highly value face-to-face training, as users prefer to have direct contact with trainers. Thus, the amount of presence training should be higher than the amount of online training. Thus, RURALeNTER should provide materials for helping trainers to enhance face-to-face training courses.

Additionally, online training materials could offer complementary learning spaces. Indeed, more than three quarters of the Austrian respondents voted that the trainings should be delivered in a blended learning context including face-to-face and online learning.

Training the trainers

Training the trainers appeared as an important issue to be taken into account when designing scenarios and curriculum. As shown within the Spanish context, in order to propose training adequate to the specific rural settings, trainers should be aware about rural realities specificities (e.g. space-time constraints, socio-economical settings, etc.).

Technical resources

Finally, the training material provided by the project, as well as the RURALeNTER portal, should take into account the technical resources of the participating institutions. As an example, Austrian respondents stated that training manuals and platforms should also be adapted to weak PCs).



6. References

[1] Gelb, E., Offer, A., (2005). “ICT Adoption in Agriculture: Perspectives of Technological Innovation”. http://departments.agri.huji.ac.il/economics/gelb-main.html

[2] Austrian Needs Analysis report – Internal document available on the RURALeNTER BSCW platform of the project

[3] National Workshop Report – Greece – Internal document available on the RURALeNTER BSCW platform of the project

[4] National Workshop Report – Romania – Internal document available on the RURALeNTER BSCW platform of the project

[5] National Workshop Report – Spain – Internal document available on the RURALeNTER BSCW platform of the project

[6] Greek National User Needs Report – Internal document available on the RURALeNTER BSCW platform of the project

[7] Romanian National User Needs Report – Internal document available on the RURALeNTER BSCW platform of the project

[8] Spanish National User Needs Report – Internal document available on the RURALeNTER BSCW platform of the project





7. Annexes

Annex 1. Austrian online trainers’ questionnaire











Annex 2. Greek workshop’s agenda


RUeNTER: Capacity Building through

ICT in Rural Areas

WP1:

RUeNTER Chios Workshop Programme

Version: 1.0 (final version)

Editors:

Argiris Tzikopoulos ([email protected])



9.30-10.00 Arrival of attendants – Welcome - Coffee

10.00-11.00

Welcoming the guests - day agenda

Presentation of the project main ideas and scopes

Outline the objectives and approach of the RURALeNTER project and how it aims to help rural population;

Introduction to basic topics and terms; Short section about EU policies and initiatives that are relevant to

population in rural areas; The envisaged benefits of using ICT services for rural areas

population. 11.00-11.30 Coffee break

11.30-12.30

Preparation for the group work and answering the questionnaire

Demonstration of characteristic ICT services at a national, regional and sectoral level (with a focus on the services that will be used as training case studies for each country);

Posing the questions that the workshop aims to answer: do rural area people know about the presented services, have they ever used them, what are the reasons for not using them, what kind of training would they consider useful for this purpose, etc.

12.30-13.15 Executing the survey on the basis of the structured questionnaire:

The data collection instrument to be used to support the identification of the training needs for each country.

13.15-14.00

Feedback on questionnaire and discussion After filling out the questionnaire the auditorium has the chance to

give feedback on it and to start with a open discussion. The open discussion serves to verify the answers from the questionnaire and to go beyond these questions. The participants will have the opportunity to give further recommendations through the group work in order to find out the relevant e-government-services and training needs.



Annex 3. Romanian workshop’s agenda

502695-LLP-1-2009-1-GR-GRUNDTVIG-GMP RUeNTER: Capacity Building through ICT in Rural Areas

RUeNTER Romanian Workshop Programme

28 of May 2010

Hotel Sinaia, Sinaia –ROMANIA

18.30 - 19.00 Presentation of the project main ideas and scopes

19.00 - 19.20 Presentation of the feedback received so far from questionnaires

19:20 – 20:30 Discussions and Conclusions



Annex 4. Spanish workshop’s agenda





Annex 5. Greek workshop’s participation list



Annex 6. Romanian workshop’s participation list

502695-LLP-1-2009-1-GR-GRUNDTVIG-GMP RUeNTER: Capacity Building through ICT in Rural Areas

RUeNTER Romanian Workshop Participants List

28 of May 2010

Hotel Sinaia, Sinaia –ROMANIA

Participant name Organisation 1. Gabriel DIMA Innovate4Future 2. Florentina Alina BORCOS Innovate4Future

3. Cristina GHITULICA

Rural Education Project & Professional Development Programme for Pre-university Teachers, Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports

4. Nicoleta LITOIU

Rural Education Project & Professional development programme for pre-university teachers / Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports

5. Teodora CHICOREANU Teacher Training Department / University Politehnica of Bucharest

6. Pavel MOS Teacher, Primary&Secondary School Dezna, Arad County

7. Danut STAICU Teacher, Primary&Secondary School Cozieni, Buzau County



Annex 7. Spanish workshop’s participation list



Annex 8. Greece - Presentation given during the workshop



































Annex 9. Romania - Presentation given during the workshop









Annex 10. Spain - Presentation given during the workshop









































Annex 11: National user needs’ questionnaire

QUESTIONNAIRE

ICT TRAINING NEEDS OF RURAL ADULT POPULATIONS

The aim of this questionnaire is to collect the point of view of different stakeholders linked to the rural world, and especially connected to adult training (associations for rural development, telecenters associations, policy makers, agencies of regional governments devoted to rural development, rural teachers associations, parent’s associations, etc.), in order to identify trends and training issues for the rural population.

Please answer the following questions:

1. Personal data

> First name: ........................................................................................

> Last name: .........................................................................................

> E-mail address: ..................................................................................

> Profession: .........................................................................................

> Institution/company: .........................................................................

2. Existing training services

> Within your specific field of action, which training services are provided for adults from rural areas?

...........................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

> Within your specific field of action, which training services are provided regarding ICT?

...........................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................



> Please fill in the following table by giving examples of representative pedagogical scenarios provided in your field of actions.

Examples of pedagogical scenarios

Learning subjects (digital literacy, administration, governance, etc.)

Applications/tools required

Pedagogical approach (learning by doing, collaborative learning, exploratory learning)

Evaluation approach (how the learning impact is being measured)

Modalities of training (online, f2f, blended learning, etc.)

3. Profile of trainees:

> What is the typical age range of trainees in your field?

18-25

26-35

36-50

51-64

65 or more

> Are trainees professionally active?

Yes

No



If yes, please check with an X the corresponding professional categories in the table below.

Sector / Position Management / executive

Administrative Technicians Qualified workers

Non-qualified workers

Self-employee

Agriculture

Commerce

Industry

Construction

Tourism / restoration

Health

Education

Transportation / communication

Craft industry

If no, which is the status of trainees?

Retired

Disabled

Homemaker

Unemployed

Other, please specify: ...................................................................................................................

> Which is the level of ICT skills of trainees?

Expert

Good

Average

Beginner

No ICT skills

Other specificities: ............................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

4. In your opinion…



> … what are the most important ICT training needs for rural adult populations (please classify from 1 to 8)?

… Digital literacy

… e-governance

… e-administration

… e-commerce

… e-agriculture

… e-learning

… e-health

… Others (please specify): ................................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................

> … which are the difficulties of access to adult training in rural contexts?

Low level of digital literacy

Lack of Internet connection at home/work

Difficulties of access to training facilities

Difficulties of access to computer

Cost of training

Low training offer

Other, please specify: ...................................................................................................................

Comments:

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> According to your background, please suggest three possible training courses which would be adapted in rural adult learning contexts?

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> Generally, which would be the most desirable impact of ICT training on adult rural community?

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Documents

D1.1 “Needs analysis report” · 2012-01-09 · 502695-LLP-1-2009-1-GR-GRUNDTVIG-GMP D1.1 “Needs Analysis Report” 8 ‐ develop and evaluate the generic training curriculum