The ARTSKUL project proposes an innovative new service offering that uses performance arts disciplines including music, drama and storytelling to build a suite of embedded learning educational resources to build key transversal skills of low skilled adults. Partners are convinced that he traditional ‘sage-on-the-stage’ model of education is of little initial value in the current context. If educators are to attract adults on the margins of provision a new more holistic approach to teaching is required. In a pedagogic context, the performing arts of storytelling, drama and music have faded into the background and are rarely now considered as appropriate techniques for key competence building. However, in the current context, with the low levels of literacy and numeracy within the marginalised adult target group activities like storytelling, drama and music workshops could be considered as effective techniques to help overcome social and cultural barriers and build key competences among the marginalised adult communities.

It is the intention of the ARTSKUL partners to develop the following intellectual outputs to support the reintegration of adults:
1) A tool-kit of embedded learning resources to build basic skills and competences that are based around the different performing arts disciplines. Research conducted by Eurydice highlights the fact that even the briefest learning experience can be of real value for engaging marginalised adults,
therefore, a series of new modular resources that can be broken down into small individual lessons will be developed
2) A digital skills training framework that is based on the most popular digital media platforms to support adults to record the storytelling, drama and music ‘performances’ that emerge as a result of their engagement during the project life-cycle
3) An in-service training programme for adult educators to enable them to harness the potential of the different performing arts disciplines for building basic skills and key competences and to develop alternative teaching strategies that allow them to work as facilitators of learning within group settings
4) A bespoke online learning environment to support adult educators engaged in the project and to record the learning experiences of the adults engaged

Each partner in the ARTSKUL project will organize a Community Learning Festival in their local area in M22 with the specific task of engaging marginalised adults. At the culmination of all project activities a Final Conference to present the outputs developed will be held in Denmark.

In M17, two adult or community educators from each partner country will participate in a short-term joint staff training event in Italy where the pilot implementation of the in-service training will take place. This event will be followed by a local implementation of the in-service training with eight
additional adult and community educators completing the training facilitated by the adult and community educators who attend the training event in Italy. As there is significant demand for this type of training and it is anticipated that the ARTSKUL in-service training will be delivered on an annual basis into the future.

Partners anticipate that a minimum of 100 hours of learning will be achieved by marginalised adults during the planned learning festivals in each partner country. Beyond the life-cycle of the project it is the target of partners to ensure that on an annual basis a minimum of 100 marginalised adults in their local communities complete 20 hours of learning each year using the resources developed.

M1: First project meeting in Ireland

Objective: discuss the value proposition for the Performing Arts Toolkit of Embedded Learning Competence Building Resources (IO1). A schedule for production of 2 prototype resources by each partner will be agreed. Rural Hub will present a value proposition for the Digital Media Production Skills (IO2). A schedule for production of prototype training materials will be agreed. Speha Fresia will conduct Impact+ Workshops for IO1 and IO2.

M2: Second project meeting in Portugal

Objective: present an outline of the Online Learning Portal (IO4) for discussion. Each partner will present the 2 prototype resources developed for IO1 and a schedule for testing with the local advisory committees will be agreed. Partners will also agree a schedule for the production of the remaining 28 resources to be completed by M13 with translation and production in all partner languages by M15. Rural Hub and FO Aarhus will present the prototype resources developed for IO2 and a schedule for testing with the local advisory committees will be agreed. Partners will also agree a schedule for finalising this resource and for translating the contents to be completed by M13. Speha Fresia will conduct an Impact+ Workshop for IO4.

M3: Third project meeting in Croatia

Objective: discuss the value proposition for the In-service Training Programme (IO3) for discussion. A schedule for development and testing of all IO3 learning materials will be agreed. The in-service resources will be developed in English in time for piloting at the Short-term Joint Staff Training Event (TTE) scheduled for Italy in M17 and a schedule for revision and translation following the pilot implementation to be completed by M18. Speha Fresia will conduct an Impact+ Workshop for IO3. The first Impact Assessment Report will be reviewed by partners.

M4: Fourth project meeting in Spain

Objective: review the TTE in Italy and agree a schedule for production of all resources by M20 and local implementation plans for the in-service training. Partners will also plan for the Community Learning Festivals in M22 in each partner country when marginalised adults will be introduced to the full suite of resources developed. Partners will also plan for the Final Conference in Denmark in M25.

M5: Fifth project meeting in Denmark

Objective: present all project outputs and the video documentary at the Final Conference. Partners will also review the Impact Assessment Report produced by Speha Fresia and complete all financial reporting.

The ARTSKUL consortium will provide a suite of alternative educational resources developed through different performing arts disciplines to support adult educators addressing the basic skill needs of marginalized adults in the communities where partners are located. Partners will develop bespoke embedded-learning resources that are attractive and engaging and that will support target groups to build basic skills as a first step towards lifelong learning, personal fulfillment and integration. Partners will make these resources available in an educators toolbox complete with guidance notes for best results.
A suite of 42 learning resources will be produced; 14 resources for each of the three performing arts disciplines selected – storytelling, drama and music. Resources will be designed for incremental learning outcomes to endeavor to build skills towards the key competences that are essential for
working and living in modern day Europe. research shows that for marginalised adults, even the shortest learning experience has a value and deserves to be recognised. Partners will ensure that all learning outcomes achieved can be appropriately recognised.

Smartphones are in widespread use even among the most marginalised groups and they are today considered as essential for everyday life. Today’s smartphone devices, armed with high definition cameras, audio recording functions and a selection of apps for editing content have significant digital media production capacity. Partners will provide digital media production training using these devices to encourage marginalised adults who engage to stay engaged. Training will be provided to allow members of each group who are reluctant to participate in the performance actions to capture, edit and produce audio and audio visual records of the group’s activities. Partners believe that this particular training activity will be attractive to adult learners who perhaps lack the self-confidence to participate in other types of learning activities. With really low levels of digital literacy among the
marginalised adult target group the training provided will support the acquisition of key digital skills.
Providing training in audio and audio visual production based solely on the use of smartphones represents a significant innovation in the adult and community education sphere. Digital media production has in previous times been restricted to learners who have access to expensive media production kits. However, today, any adult with a smartphone can produce high-value digital media content with the right training and support. From an educational marketing perspective, partners are of the opinion that «Making Films on Your Phones» could be an attractive opportunity to encourage
marginalised adults to engage.

The in-service training programme will place a significant emphasis on working with non-traditional embedded-learning approaches and on capitalizing on the ubiquity of new digital media platforms like smartphones. It will explore the different roles that educators are required to adopt when working in these environments. The in-service training will also address some key considerations when working with the most marginalised adults to ensure that both the educators and learners fully understand what constitutes a successful intervention which can be completely different to teaching and learning in more formal, structured learning programmes and environments.
The emphasis of the in-service training programme will be to ensure that adult educators are:
a) properly trained to work in alternative, less formal educational programmes;
b) comfortable working with new pedagogic resources and suitably trained so they can deliver training in a blended learning environment;
c) familiar with different ways of structuring learning content especially into what may seem insignificant short exercises which research clearly demonstrates can have a significant impact on the hardest to reach target groups
c) comfortable with informal learning environments where different learners can take on completely different roles at the same time – performing or recording performances;
d) able to incorporate different approaches into their learning plans for each of the four different learning styles – visual, auditory, tactile and kinesthetic.
e) fully bought in to the benefits that engagement with digital media can bring and yet fully aware of the risks that pertain in on-line environments and able to safeguard against possible negative on-line factors.

The online learning portal will be an online hosted environment running on a web server tailored for the purpose. It will be built open source programmes, most likely Moodle, allowing for additions and upgrades as and when they become available through this dynamic online learning software. The object-based and modular nature of the framework and the services built on it allow for flexible combining of the available modules as well as cost-efficient creation of new ones should the need for special purpose-built extensions. The fact that the online learning portal will be built on Moodle means that partners can actively track usage levels for each of the individual resources developed. This will allow partners to identify the most popular resources from a content and presentation perspective which is important information for future developments in this specific area. A report of usage will be available to provide indicators of the levels of achievement.

A local learning festival will be held in each partner country in M22 to present the Performing Arts Toolkit of Embedded Learning Competence Building Resources; the Digital Media Production Skills Resources and the Online Learning Portal to marginalised adults and to encourage them to participate in one of the informal learning activities that will be ongoing throughout the half-day event. The event will be hosted by members of the local adult education community and a minimum of 20 marginalised adults will attend.

A final conference will be held in Denmark. It will attract an audience of at least 50 persons drawn from adult and community education at practitioner and management levels. This event will be used to promote the ARTSKUL model and launch the full suite of resources developed with a particular emphasis on the In-service Training Programme for adult and community educators. It will be scheduled to coincide with the final partner meeting in M25 and all partners will present an overview of the project achievements in their own country.

The in-service training will comprise 3 modules as follows:
Module 1 – The performing arts as viable learning environment through the use of embedded learning resources
Module 2 – Digital media training to build the skills of educators in using smartphones for audio and audio-visuaal production and editing
Module 3 – The changing role of educators with the growth in popularity of online learning.

This 60 hours will include a special 3 day, 21 hour training programme focusing on;
(1) how to develop alternative learning materials using storytelling, drama and music – to engage marginalised adults in lifelong learning;
(2) how to use smartphones to produce high-standard audio and audio-visual recordings;