In case you are interested in knowing a bit more about the things we have been telling you about over (almost!) the last couple of years, here you have the handbook that we have created together, a document that encapsulates what we have learnt from one another and offers some insight into how to approach adult motivation.
We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed drafting it!
Our Italian partners have recently become involved in a new and exciting project, which aims to engage students in active participation by narrating stories.
Check out their webpage http://www.storyap.eu/ and dive into a world of possibilities!!!!
Our final meeting, that was to take place in Vigo at the end of March, had to be altered because of the special circumstances caused by the Covid-19 pandemic worlwide. We feel deeply for those who have struggled in these uncertain times, and our sympathies go especially to our Italian partners.
But since the project was coming to its end and there was still some work to be done, we organised a final virtual meeting using the Cisco Webex app, which was not nearly as good as seeing our partners in the flesh, but it helped us to finalise some decisions and vote for the ideas to be introduced in our Decalogue of Good practices, that will be included as the final part of our manual.
As all virtual things go, the meeting was a bit strange at first, but we managed to make ir work with a lot of humour and European cooperation.
It feels very sad to finish this project, that has given us incredibly helpful insight on adult motivation, but all good things come to an end, don’t they? We will meet you in our next project! 🙂
We are almost reachind the end of the project and have asked students about their impressions to start drafting the Decalogue for good practices that we will include in the Manual for New Practices in Adult Motivation. This manual will be the final touch after these two years of hard and exciting work!!!!
These past few months we have been working in the drafting of our manual, which will explore the impact of TPRS, autobiographical learning and experiential learning in adult motivation. To do so, each partner has designed some activities (some of which are hilarious, and great fun to apply) that we have piloted with our students in class so as to extract some conclusions. Here you have some students after testing a TPRS activity called “Lost on a Desert Island”. They sure look amused, don’t they??
The third transnational meeting was held under the ShInRe project by the Addenda Foundation in Krakow, Poland. It took place in the historical centre of the city, giving the participants a chance to soak up the unique atmosphere of Krakow and become familiar with the architecture of one of the city’s most renown tenement buildings, normally unavailable to regular visitors.
The meeting was largely devoted to
discussing various learning models with a goal to deepen our understanding and
identify potential motivation problems among adult learners, hoping that our
joint efforts will help to find possible solutions and crate guidelines for a
more in-depth analysis of the issue.
Among other things, the participants of
the meeting had the opportunity to take part in the Experiential Learning Model
training course and become familiar with the innovative use of metaphors in
educational activities designed for adults. In order to demonstrate the concept
of metaphor in a practical context, a philosophical discussion and history
lesson was organized in the Wawel Royal Castle. The visit to the castle was
also an excellent chance for our guests to get acquainted with the form of
educational classes often organized by our organization.
An important part of the meeting involved discussing organizational matters and planning new activities as part of the further implementation and improvement of our project. Wa also spent time discussing the shape and content of the textbook, in which all tested learning methods and educational materials will be presented and thoroughly analyzed.
This year at the EOI Vigo we are lucky enough to welcome int our school’s Internationalisation and European projects team new colleagues, who will help us in the piloting and implementation of the project activities. Good news are that we are adding up a member from the German department, a new language to work with! Welcome onboard, Marta, Elena and Santi
In Italy, our partners are very busy with the beginning of the academic year, and in Poland they are busy as bees preparing for our incoming visit to Krakow. We expect to have a very exciting time in two weeks’ time learning some more about adult motivation!
yet we won’t stop working… September is already round the corner and we have our third project meeting and training in Krakow, an experience to which we are all looking forward!
In the meantime, we are already drafting some ideas to pilot with our students the next academic year derived from what we learned in Rome… Here are some of the results we expect to achieve when we use the the autobiograpichal method in class….
On 6th
of May afternoon, first day of the ShInRe II meeting, the group met at
UNIEDA headquarter. UNIEDA office is
hosted by one of the main associated, UPTER, People’s University of Rome. So
the group could visit also the office and the classroom of Upter, in order to
know better this important Adult Education provider, and in this way to improve
their knowledge about Adult Education in Italy.
At h.
20:00 all the participants took part to a welcome dinner.
Tuesday
07th – The second day started with a dance lesson by one the UNIEDA
teachers, Simonetta Montecchi, that is also part of the staff of this project.
After the lesson the participants could share reflections and experiences about
the following issues:
how to motivate adult learners in
physical activities (dance, tai chi, etc.);
how movement and physical activities,
can be used in any kind of teaching activity to motivate the learners.
After
the coffee break the working group shared the results of the questionnaire.,
and discussed about the collection of good practice.
Wednesday
08th – The third day saw the presentation of the results of the Memory XL and
InMete project, by Manuela Gazzano and Andrea Ciantar. Those previous projects
have inspired the present project, and for this reason was important to share
their results and methods.
At
the end of the day the group could participate to a lesson about “Melodramma”,
by Tito Schipa.
Thursday
09th – At the beginning of the fourth day the group met at the Etruscan Museum of Villa Giulia, in order to
participate to a “Outdoor Art History Lesson”, with Pina Micheli.
After
lunch a further activity was a workshop based on Autobiographical Method, whre
the group could have an experience of some educationa paths based on this
methodology, and aimed to enhance motivation in adult learners.
Friday
10th – The last meeting day was focused on the sum-up of
decisions made, on the planning of the next actions, and the evaluation of the
meeting.
During the kick off meeting in Vigo, we weren’t really sure about who the winner of the logo contest should be, and since a few students were delayed in turning in their proposals, we decided to establish an extension till late February to decide such an important matter. After all, the visual representation of our project shouldn’t be taken lightly!
We had some wonderful and insightful proposals that explored different aspects of motivation, yet finally the three teams decided that there was one that encapsulated the project’s spirit perfectly….and here you have it…..What do you think? Do you like it??