The number of older people is rising in all European countries and the time people spend in retirement with good health conditions is also. At the same time, the interest and desire among older adults to participate in further education increases, too. In all European countries there are efforts to enable aging well, with an emphasis on health, social activity and cultural or learning activities. Many activities for seniors are designed with attendance and thus remain out of reach for several people, among others older adults with mobility restrictions, family commitments, or people from rural areas. Additionally, training offers are usually designed and prepared by professional trainers but do not involve a participatory approach for the target group itself.With regard to the above mentioned points, the aim of the GrandExpertS project is to empower older adults with expertise or skills in a particular field to develop their own high-quality, innovative and interactive ICT based courses to be shared with other seniors. The approach applied is based on innovative pedagogics and practices and includes a well-balanced combination of knowledge transfer and learning from experience. New forms of learning and the use of digital learning technologies make further education accessible for everyone, and support the target group in keeping in pace with technological developments.The activities of the project were centered on three main intellectual outputs, namely 1) Authoring training for the creation of digital content, 2) Innovative, interactive learning platform, and 3) Set of digital, multimedia enriched learning content. In the project 96 older experts were trained to become authors of digital content; among them 35 experts designed, edited and finished microlearning units in which they share their knowledge, skills and experiences. 194 older adults were directly involved in project activities through testing and evaluating the developed materials. In addition to that, more than 130 practitioners and stakeholders from senior organizations and education institutions were reached through multiplier events and more than 2000 people informed about GrandExpertS through presentations on relevant national and international events and conferences.The project contributes to innovation and internationalization in adult education, strengthens cooperation between seniors, raises the level of key competences and skills, stresses active participation in a European society, increases opportunities for further development of older adults, and helps to give everyone the chance to participate in education activities. Strongly included in this is an emphasis on EU 2020 goals (improving the quality and efficiency of education and training, enhancing creativity and innovation at all levels of education and training, making lifelong learning a reality).The set of project objectives serves the aim above and includes:• Improve and expand (digital) learning opportunities for older adults with Internet skills by enriching the learning offers with new contents and topics • Development of an innovative approach to enable seniors to create their own multimedia enriched learning offers. To guarantee high quality or learning materials, the seniors will be trained in an online course. • Facilitate access to learning opportunities through internet-based offerings • Promotion of interregional and European networking and cooperation among seniorsThe project consortium consists of 6 organizations working with and for older adults and experienced in training and adult education. It is led by the Innovation in Learning Institute at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany) and includes Dublin City University (Ireland), Art Age (Netherlands), Tulip Foundation (Bulgaria), Foundation for Women’s Issues (Poland), and German National Association of Senior Citizens' Organisations (Germany).

Nowadays, Social Networks and the Internet are more than a tool, they have totally changed the way in which society relates. Young people grow immersed in this information society, participating actively in its communication and socialization possibilities. Social networks are a virtual place where users interact through the Internet. The users themselves provide the major part of the content, through the web, social networks, forums, groups and/or virtual communities. Internet information and communication systems have an extraordinary power. This exploring line opens a whole world of possibilities for children, expanding their horizons and exposing them to different cultures and ways of life. This also involves their exposure to possible risks during this information way. Parentnets comes from a reality which is increasingly spreading: teenagers who use technologies that their parents do not know, communicating through on-line tools whose uses and risks parents do not know. Parentnets is an innovative project, since there are not concrete programmes to teach adults about this topic so far. This project will teach both parents and teachers about the main Social Networks and also about the activities that the underage do in the net, explaining its uses and advantages and emphasizing on detecting and preventing the risks that new technologies can be for the youngest. To make this learning process as easy and entertaining as possible, a webpage containing a Multimedia Guide and a Multimedia Game have been designed as the main products of the project. The project has been aimed at the following target groups: •Parents from any European country, mainly those with short or no knowledge at all of new technologies. •Teachers from primary and secondary schools interested in using internet security as a transversal subject in students' education.•Any other interested person and/or professional who is related to teenagers and finds these free materials useful.The main results of this project were creating a Multimedia Guide and a Game that contribute to prevent and solve the potential risks of the Internet for children and teenagers. There were three stages in the elaboration process of these materials:1. A preliminary research has shown the way forward in the project. It was based mainly in the habits and protection measures, so as to the attitudes and knowledge of the parents towards the risks that their children could be exposed to when using the Internet and Social Networks, the protection measures and the needs detected. With the collected data, a report with the most important results was written, both by country and for the consortium in general. This report is the basis for the following content.2. A webpage was developed in order to include the aforementioned multimedia tools. This page, apart from being a reference for the project, also supports its spreading. 3. Finally, the two main products and the leitmotiv of the previous stages were published: Multimedia Guide for parents: a full material where parents, teachers and other interested people can get information about each of the situations into which the game is divided, real situations concerning the topic of the project.Multimedia Game: it includes 6 teaching units designed as a role-playing game. In it, each player will go through a series of phases where he or she will learn about how to face any problem concerning the potential risks of the Internet and Social Networks. In addition to these products, there are some informational and explanatory videos that support the target group about the use of the multimedia tools provided. These videos are available in the webpage of the project and in the Youtube channel.Furthermore, there were four multiplier events in four partner countries of the project: DXEFPIE (Spain), CNP “Stefan Velovan” (Romania), ISCTE (Portugal) and DCU (Ireland). Complementarily, as intangible results of the project, it is worthy to mention the acquired competences with the target group of the project by using the developed tools. These competences can be defined as content competences, regarding the acquisition of new knowledge about the potential risks of the Internet and Social Networks, so as to digital competence in managing multimedia tools.

"<< Background >>The IN-Voice4Empowerment project arises from the partners' common vision to foster social inclusion through the development of an innovative multidisciplinary arts-based program. When referring to social inclusion in youth, the term refers to all children achieving and participating despite challenges stemming from poverty, class, race, religion, linguistic and cultural heritage or gender. In the context of a number of international policy initiatives to foster social inclusion, a wide range of related studies investigating the potential and social benefits of arts and music based interventions showed positive results. Most of recent research articles on engaging and re-engaging marginalized youth claim and emphasise the importance of multidisciplinary approaches and methodologies and the transformative potential of the arts in the context of social inclusion (Brader 2013; Ruthmann 2017 and 2020). What is more, new diversity perspectives and strategies for social inclusion are underpinned by recommendations for digital pathways to implement non-formal learning methodologies, thus strengthening the providers’ capacity to implement and maintain successful change and support youth at the same time.The field of teaching and learning in choral pedagogy and support for socially excluded youth is surrounded by challenges. There is little novel material and resources available that would help assist the choral pedagogue with best practices for including effectively socially disadvantaged youth in choral groups. Subsequently, teachers /choral leaders feel uninformed and not sufficiently equipped to recognize underlying issues concerning the nature of social inclusion while students remain in isolation. So, Teachers and Learners are the groups that this project aims to support, especially in a post covid 19 era, where social exclusion is accentuated in a series of lockdown periods resulting to minimum communication and interaction. Based on the premise that choirs are diverse groups that mirror our society, being themselves tools of transformation for the actors concerned in a constantly changing EU and world societies, this program builds on choral theatre, embodied music making and community building through choral singing, vocal soundscapes, choral sound painting, expressive movement, spoken word and visual elements. students the opportunity to create themselves part of the resources to be performed through training in digital composition and multimedia technologies, it will enhance their sense of ownership and self-efficacy, strengthen their agency, empower them and support them in finding their Voice literally and metaphorically. IN-Voice4Empowerment addresses the above mentioned issues, aiming to inspire and empower professionals working in school education, especially music teachers/ choral leaders, but also community workers and other professionals working in the field of social inclusion of disadvantaged youth.<< Objectives >>The strategic partnership has set the following main priorities for the program which are: 1. Inclusion and diversity in all fields of education, youth and sport; 2. Addressing digital transformation though development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity; 3. School Education: Supporting teachers, school leaders and other teaching professions. These priorities are intrinsically linked with the following concrete objectives: 1)Strengthening the capacity of music teachers/choral leaders in order to be able to recognize and identify underlying issues concerning disadvantaged youth and social exclusion2)Enriching music teachers’/choral leaders’ and subsequently students’ social, communicational, intercultural and musical skills and competences to foster social inclusion3)Strengthening teachers’/choral leaders’ and consequently students’ digital capacity to enhance arts-based creative practices4)Raising awareness of the effectiveness of innovative arts-based programs enhanced with novel multimedia and digital technologies for fostering social inclusion,5)Promoting cultural heritage equality and new cultural production at European level in inclusive choral practices.<< Implementation >>All activities have been planned in the light of achieving one or more of the objectives stated.Developing innovative multidisciplinary arts-based approaches, methodologies and resources in order to promote diversity, equality and social inclusion in school education is the essence of the project. All the aspects that can enrich communication, and authentic interaction (aspects from choral theatre, movement, vocal soundscapes, choral sound painting, spoken utterances, the creative use of multimedia) are the material that will develop into the novel choral practices program. Four transnational meetings and follow up on-line meetings will delineate the development of the project culminating with the development of an Inclusive Vocal Choral Multimedia Pedagogy Framework (IVCMPF) A training event will be organised aiming to offer trainees vocal/choral teachers a better understanding of the nature, the interaction between influences at different levels - individual, family, community, national and global, and the ways this develops in marginalization and deprivation. By interweaving vocal/choral performance and digital creative activities the training aims to enrich music teachers’/choral leaders’ and subsequently students’ social, communicational, intercultural and musical skills and competences to foster social inclusion"", as well as “strengthening teachers’/choral leaders’ and consequently students’ digital capacity to enhance arts-based creative practices”. Transnational meetings are points of exchange of cultural heritage among partners finding ways to embed a variety of different cultural products and practices in the projects resources collection. Multiplier events will be organised near the end of the project, including live presentations, transforming these into cultural events, where not only data and results, but cultural production itself will be disseminated. These presentations, along with the projects' results are expected to demonstrate that participating in collaborative cultural experiences with a focus in active communication has the potential to promote inclusive practices and raise awareness of the effectiveness of innovative arts-based programs enhanced with novel multimedia and digital technologies in fostering social inclusion.<< Results >>The project activities will lead to the following Project Results:PR1 Inclusive Vocal Choral Multimedia Pedagogy Framework (IVCMPF) The proposed Framework will be developed as policy recommendation and guidelines for European music curricula in primary and secondary schools. It will reflect relevant theory and informing practice and pointing towards methodologies and approaches that can be effectively implemented in practice in the school educational context as well as in community music programs, vocal, choir, multimedia projects.PR2 A Teacher Training Course for inclusive vocal/choral/multimedia teaching pedagogyThe training event will culminate in the development of that will be free to implement. PR3 A Teacher performance and effectiveness assessment and evaluation toolAn assessment tool developed for teachers following the teacher training course, in order to be able to assess its impact. PR4 E-Book Sound and visual material for inclusive vocal/choral/multimedia teaching and learning A resource book comprising all resources created for the specific course and during the implementation of its activities. PR5 the Collaborative Learning Digital Platform (CLDP) The In-Voice4Empowerment Project aspires to promote a sense of community and collective choral experience that has the potential to create safe spaces, enhancing social cohesion and a sense of belonging, helping marginalised youth overcome social exclusion. Introducing the creation of the resources to be performed by the students themselves through training in digital composition and multimedia technologies, will enhance a sense of ownership and self-efficacy, strengthening the agency and empowering disadvantaged youth. Music teachers/choral leaders will be trained according to their identified needs with regards to early recognition and identification of vulnerable youth and how they can approach and embrace them in choral environments employing appropriate sociological, intercultural and educational tools. Teachers taking part in this project, will be introduced to novel pedagogical approaches, while at the same time creating strong bonds with teachers from partner countries, as they will be sharing and exchanging their experiences, resulting in improved quality in their teaching.Participating organisations are expected to greater knowledge of partner countries’ inclusive practices and exchanged experiences, knowledge and learning on multi-disciplinary, inclusive pedagogies, methodologies and approaches from each other, and about each other’s cultures. PO will, according to their own impact in systemic networking, at small scale or larger scale systemic level, reconsider and re-assess their role in the system by reinforcing their profile in today’s challenging European world and beyond, that is, be active agents of the Sustainable Development vision by promoting and fostering social inclusion, intercultural competences and digital skills for coherent and successful growth."

A multidisciplinary network of experts incl. junior researchers from 28 universities across 19 European countries will be established based on the research and expertise of an already well established network.We wish to understand the experiences of all young people across Europe and formulate innovative and radical questions. The Network will thus be committed to educating and inspiring youth through the acquisition of civic knowledge, skills, and capacities to foster youth participation in democratic life and active civil society while finding out what they understand nowadays under the term (fundamental) European values and CitizenshipIn accordance with the new EU Youth Strategy, the network will help prepare young people embrace and adopt engaged and empowered forms of active citizenship. The network will foster a dialogue on the principles and practice of citizenship education to promote European citizenship, identities, and fundamental values including the respect for human rights, freedom, democracy, equality, and the rule of law (defined by the Treaty of Lisbon). The Network’s activities and outputs will operationalise the Paris Declaration of 2015 promoting citizenship and common values through education, which identifies the ”urgent need to cooperate and coordinate, to exchange experiences, and to ensure that the best ideas and practices can be shared throughout the EU” (EC,2015).Through a series of seminars, conferences and workshops, an intercultural and transnational dialogue embedding fundamental European values and active civil society will be promoted.The network partners will engage in transnational learning, creating new forms of knowledge and expertise, identifying the best methodologies to embed European values, attitudes, and behaviours through citizenship education. A research database providing a range of national and Europe-wide case studies and reports to develop a citizenship education policy and practice will be created.