DDSKILLS project is a Sector Skills Alliance project (01.01.2020 – 31.12.2022), co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, which consists of twelve partners from seven different EU countries (Greece, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Lithuania, Italy, and Cyprus) and is coordinated by "To Ergastiri", a Greek non-profit organisation for the support, counselling, and social integration of adults with learning disabilities. The aim of the project is to design training courses for the development of digital skills of professional caregivers, so that they can make better use of new and emerging technologies and support persons with disabilities in the usage of such technologies for their social integration.
Within the proposed training qualification of the DDSKILLS project, existing courses for digital skills of professional caregivers will be identified and evaluated, skills shortages will be verified and addressed on EU scale, relevant knowledge and learning outcomes will be discussed, and these will be mapped to ECVET (European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training) points and EQF (European Qualifications Framework) Level 5.
Professional caregivers (occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers, special education teachers, nurses, gerontologists, rehabilitation experts) will be able to follow these courses to learn how the use of new technological devices (sensors, assistive devices, robots, virtual and augmented reality headsets, brain computer interfaces) can contribute to the confrontation of different disabilities and get certified with a cross-border certification.
National pilot trainings for testing of the methodologies, content, and tools that will be created, will be designed and implemented in 6 countries (Greece, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Italy, and Cyprus), targeting different professionals and allowing for the validation of the framework as well as the curricula and training materials of the project. Pilot trainings will include different innovative educational methods and will be based both on formal (presence learning and e-learning) and non-formal/informal learning.
Partners of the project are: Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences (Frankfurt UAS), The National University of Ireland (NUI) Galway, The Federation of European Social Employers, European Association of Service providers for Persons with Disabilities (EASPD), Jaunuoliu dienos centras (JDC), The Cyprus Certification Company (CCC), M.M.C. Mediterranean Management Centre Ltd, Tandem Societa Cooperativa Sociale Integrata, Omega Technology (THEOFANIS ALEXANDRIDIS KAI SIA EE), SenseWorks LTD, and Fondazione Santa Lucia.
The DDSKILLS project is implemented with the support of the European Commission.