Heritage for Digital and Literacy Learning

<< Background >>Heritage is an important element of European culture and identity. It can also be an inspiring tool for developing key competences, sharing experiences, learning new concepts and skills. However, local heritage is often not present in the process of traditional education focused on events in a national or global context. At the same time, engaging and stimulating students' interest in education is crucial - in the project, we used the shared experiences and potential for development of three of the eight key competences through heritage. We focused on developing literacy skills as well as digital competences through the development of cultural awareness.For ARTeria, it is particularly important to develop inspiring teaching methods that connect the world of culture with the world of education - searching for and testing innovative tools useful in the teaching process. Logopsycom specializes in developing tools, including digital ones, for students with specific learning difficulties. For the William Gladstone and Salomėjos Nėries schools, the project created an opportunity to make the educational process more attractive and improve it by incorporating new content and work models based on digital materials.<< Objectives >>The project partners wanted to combine their knowledge and different experiences from their work to jointly develop and test innovative tools and methods that respond to the need to create engaging formats for developing key competencies (in particular literacy, digital and cultural awareness) of primary school students. Alternative and interesting ways of learning increase motivation, engagement and integration, especially for students with specific learning difficulties. ARTeria - designing educational experiences based on culture and heritage, Logopsycom - creating modern methods of working with SLD students, William Gladstone – implementation of work models based on values common to European identity, Salomėjos Nėries – development of education based on an individualized approach to the student, discovering his or her talents and predispositions. As a result, the partnership, combining the knowledge of expert organizations and schools, has developed and tested (based on valuable feedback and teaching practice) an innovative way of implementing educational activities that develop young people's key competences through heritage-based excursions.<< Implementation >>The project activities focused on two areas: content and project management.All planned results and tools were developed, including:1. the manual 'Heritage as a gateway to skills development'2. a practical guide for teachers 'Heritage and digital storytelling'3. four sample interactive tours (in the form of e-pubs and additionally available through the Genially platform)4. a test phase was carried out in schools, and conclusions and useful tips for future users were collected in the form of a “White Paper”. The partners developed content for the needs of students with special difficulties. All results were graphically developed in a visually appealing way and translated into the languages of the partnership. A project logo and website (available in all partnership languages) were developed, and a number of documents related to quality monitoring and ongoing project management were created. The only planned meeting took place in Gliwice (June 6, 2024) and a number of online meetings (including the kick-off meeting) were held. Intensive project promotion was also carried out - online and offline.All partners were involved in all stages of the project.<< Results >>The project results relate to two areas:An innovative method of working with young people from primary schools has been developed to enable the development of their key competences based on local heritage, including a set of tools for teachers:- “Heritage as a gateway to skills development” - a guide describing the project methodology- “Heritage and digital storytelling” - a practical guide on how to create stories based on the example of cultural heritage in the local area, while developing students' key competences - Four sample trips (two based on examples of heritage in Belgium and two from Poland)- “White paper” - practical tips collected after the test phase for future users enriched with examples of student trips The project also resulted in:- establishing a new partnership - improving the quality of work and practice of partner organizations- increasing the partners' ability to implement international projects- joint, transnational development of innovative tools and methods for developing students' key competencies- development of competencies of partner organization teams- implementation of results in the practice of partner organizations