Smart Entrepreneurship for People with Dyslexia

"<< Background >>Dyslexia is one of the most common specific developmental disorders - about 80% of people with problems in reading and writing suffer from development disorders (Büttner 2009). The frequency of occurrence is quite high and is still growing: about 5%-15% and all kinds of dyslectic disorders are one of the most frequent development disorders (Bartl-Pokorny et al. 2011). People with dyslexia have normal intelligence and usually normal vision. Most people with dyslexia can succeed education with tutoring or a specialized program. Emotional support also plays an important role (Mattke 2019). Furthermore, studies underline that there is a higher incidence (19%) of entrepreneurs with Dyslexia than in the general population (5%-10%) (Logan, 2009) which need optimal individual support.With handing in the project, the team wanted to support people with dyslexia in becoming successful entrepreneurs because there is an absolute need to support European adult education in becoming more inclusive by combining certain aspects of adult education with those of other educational sectors like VET. The final results underline that we could develop products which fully fit to the needs of this specific target group. << Objectives >>The project Lex(e)con aimed to support adult learning providers and consultants in supporting adults with dyslexia who want to start their own business or who want to raise their promotion prospects in worklife by developing and offering e free digital ISO 17024 certified training course ""DET-Dyslexia Entrepreneurship Trainer"". The acronym Lex(e)con itself describes the main objectives and characteristics of the project: ""Lex"" underlines the need of enabling people with Dyslexia to become people with ""Lexia"" - to get fully integrated in daily life. Furthermore, ""(e)con"" underlines the need of creating full participation in work life, in economy and to open leading management positions for people with Dyslexia. Finally, ""(e)"" stands for the digital setting of the training which bases on latest ICT solutions which combine aspects of adult, vocational as well as special education.By developing and offering a modular digital training course which enables single persons and organisations to perfectly support adolescents/adults with dyslexia in many issues related to entrepreneurship, the project team aimed at opening the European adult education community towards new inclusive topics which still need to be improved.<< Implementation >>The development of the project results and outcomes was embedded in numerous activities ""around"" the work on concrete content. The activities can be outlined as follows and finally are the same as described in the proposal:1.) PROJECT MANAGEMENT:- Development of a Project Handbook plus partner contracts and further common PM-documents- Using a PM-Platform as a common ""working memory"" for all partners- Regular contacts via MS-TEAMS- In addition to regular online-conferences, 4 transnational project meetings are scheduled- Establishing of an internal steering group which will do monthly monitoring meetings- Writing half-year monitoring reports to check the work progress as well as the time plan and financial issues- Regular reporting due to the regulations of the Erasmus+ program2.) DISSEMINATION:- Development of basic marketing material: project logo, presenations, brochures- Online marketing: project website, social media accounts, 4 newsletters- Implementation of national dissemination events: Each partner has to prove at least 10 national dissemination events topromote the project- Multiplier Event: YASAR University will organise, implement and evaluate a final conference after the 4th meeting- Regular informal meetings with associated partners for dissemination and further purposes (evaluation of projectresults)3.) KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER:The partnership consisted of specialists in different fields which are needed to achieve the defined aims and objectives. The team covered all needed fields of reasearch, professional aspects and practical experiences which are needed to develop such a comprehensive training cours which can be described as a""cross-section"" of adult education, special education, higher education and vocational education and training.A well structured knowledge transfer strategy was needed to ensure that first, all partners do have the same level of knowledge after the project and second, people who want to get certified ""Dyslexia Entrepreneurship Trainers"" reach the same level of quality in all partner countries.Knowledge transfer in Lex(e)con based on two main pillars:3.1) First, all partners sent at least 2 employees as attendants to the Trainer Course (C1) which was organised by SMARTUP by providing the needed ICT-environment and framework and it will train the group in handling the learning platform. In this course, all partners presented their modules plus background information on contents and didactical approaches. Therefore, C1 aimed at conveying two different fields of content with regard to the main Project Results. First, the learning platform (PR3) in general and its use for different purposes and settings were presented. Second, the training course ""DET-Dyslexia Entrepreneurship Trainer"" with all its comprehensive teaching and training material (PR2) was taught and the attendants could use the optional chance for getting ISO 17024 certificated (PR4). Finally, 15 single certifications could be reached. 3.2) After the Trainer Course, the partners conducted national training courses which aimed at training at least five consultants and/or emplyees of adult education centres from their respecitve organisational environment (especially associated partners) for implementing own trainings in entrepreneurship for people with Dyslexia. All trainings were evaluated. The course will be further used for several years.These mentioned activities are just a rough outline of all the activities during the project life-time of Lex(e)con. << Results >>1.) PHYSICAL PROJECT RESULTSPR1 - Analysis Report:This scientific report was developed under the responsibility of YASAR University from Izmir and presents the actual situation in the partner countries as well as needs analyses plus a final conclusion at two different levels: national and European. The findings of this documents were used as the starting for developing PR2.PR2 - Training Course:The project´s core part is the modular training course for staff in adult/special education and/or business development which is working with adults with dyslexia. Basing on a curriculum developed by THESSALIA University,the partners developed the parts of the modular training which covers all needed topics for future entrepreneurs in an inclusive pedagogic and didactial setting. VINCO supported this process with its practical know-how in dealingwith adults with development disorders. Especially didactical aspects (fonts, pictures, simple language, voiceover, etc.) had to be considered because of the specific target group. The modules are:Module 1: „I can name it-become an entrepreneur” (THESSALIA University)Module 2: “Let´s start-building up the company” (BRAINPLUS)Module 3: “Get connected with customers” (KDRIU)Module 4:“Money matters-funding, finance, taxes” (YASAR University)All modules were internally and externally evaluated several times.PR3 - Learning Platform:In addition to PR2, PR3-Learning Platform was the second core-result of Lex(e)con and it is like the technical framework for ""embedding"" and presenting all developed contents in a way, that they reach a high level of pedagogic and didactical quality and transferability. SMARTUP embedded all developed material from PR2 in a state-of-the-art ICTenvironmet.This Project Result is crucial for the future use of the training because a modern ICT-background is needed to implement results with long-term impact. The platform was evaluated several times by internal as well as external test-users (3 associated partners per project partner) from different point of views and professional backgrounds.PR4 - Certification:ISO 17024 is a personal certification which is recognised worldwide and it ensures the same level of quality in training course. ""DET-Dyslexia Entrepreneurship Trainers"" are certified persons who are able to support adults with dyslexia in becoming an entrepreneur or in further aspects of career planing. After closing the project, it can be stated that all certified trainers are experts in start-up scene. This certification was implemented under the responsibility of BRAINPLUS and VINCO acted as the assessment partner in coordinating the certification process. It ensures European wide use of the training because each partner had certified 3 experts. All physical project results are structured to enable and support a gradual knowledge transfer strategy which was based on guided and evaluated trainings on several levels by involving as many associated partners as possible which are absolute experts in their fields and essential multipliers.2.) KNOWLEDGE TRANSFERThe project´s knowledge transfer strategy was outlined in the box above (project meetings, train the trainer course, national training courses) and all the different activities on different levels aimed at ensuring an internal and external knowlegde transfer with no loss of information.3.) POST PROJECT SYNERGIESOne main objective of all partners was to define and set concrete post project scenarios or synergies basing on the active involvement of numerous associated partners during the whole project. Especially the university partners actively worked on implementing the training course and/or certain contents in existing curricual of study courses to improve their quality.The final outcome which is a heartfelt desire of each partner was to actively support adults with dyslexia in their way becoming succesful entrepreneurs."