The Europeana Education community brings together professionals dealing with digital culture and learning in cultural heritage institutions, educational organisations, schools, NGOs, ministries, local government and the private sector.
During our last face-to-face Steering Group meeting hosted in 2022 by EGInA in Foligno, Italy, we agreed that one of the most important activities to include in our Work Plan 2023 was the design of a digital skills framework for non-formal educators - cultural heritage professionals working in education (museum educators, librarians, archivist, mediators) - and CHI educators. This was a very ambitious goal, and we started our work asking ourselves why this is important.
Why are digital skills for CHI educators important?
The Steering Group agreed that digital skills for CHI educators are essential to transform and enrich the learning experience, engage different kinds of audiences through innovative approaches, share a diversity of knowledge and cultural expressions and contribute to the preservation and promotion of culture - our common ground - in the digital era.
CHI educators have to evolve, innovate and reinvent themselves to adapt to digital literacy - the ability to access, manage, understand, integrate, communicate, evaluate and create information safely and appropriately through digital technologies. This will help them to give new meaning and potential to their ‘art of teaching’, and understand and meet students’ needs. This is especially important to connect with young audiences who are digital natives.
It’s important to note that according to an EU report, there should be a clear awareness that being digitally literate does not mean being an expert in the digital environment, but requires at least basic knowledge and overview of why and how to use digital technologies.
Which skills for CHI educators are important?
An ideal digital skills framework requires agility, fosters innovation and enables rapid adaptation to changing conditions and requirements. But most importantly, CHI educators must understand and uphold ethical principles and commitments to safe, responsible, inclusive and respectful use of digital technologies for preserving, promoting, and educating learners about cultural heritage. With the rise of generative AI and other advanced technologies like XR, we should bear in mind the Fribourg declaration (2007), a document drafted for UNESCO, on the democratisation of knowledge and culture: ‘Cultural heritage resources must be accessible to all, regardless of physical or cognitive abilities, technological proficiency, or socioeconomic status.’
More specifically, a framework for digital skills for educators should aim to:
Transform learning in a free, joyful and inclusive way. There is a crucial need to enhance emotional intelligence skills so as to enhance the active, educative and emotionally engaging capital of a cultural heritage institution
Make communication, collaboration, and project management easier. Adopting digital storytelling skills can help CHI educators deliver cultural content more efficiently and respond to changing circumstances more quickly.
Empower educators using digital tools and platforms to create inspiring narratives around cultural heritage by multimedia presentations, virtual exhibitions, and interactive storytelling experiences to engage all kinds of audiences.
Foster digital research skills. Cultural heritage educators should possess strong digital literacy skills to guide learners
Facilitate digital curation. CHI educators should learn how to curate or co-curate digital content related to tangible and intangible cultural heritage
Understand copyright issues, metadata management of images, videos and documents related to their cultural learning project.
Gain knowledge of digital preservation techniques to ensure the longevity and accessibility of digital materials. Learn digital storage systems and back up strategies
Interact with virtual objects, explore historical environments digitally. Also the skill of using VR/AR technologies can help educators to bring an “alive” experience and artefacts to life for the learners.
Make society aware of the impact the digital transformation has on core human-values like truth, creativity, dialogue, ethics, accountability, existence and continuity. Play an active role in finding new ways to use information of the past in the present and preserving information of the present for the future.
Mapping existing initiatives
Our Work Plan for 2023 states that, ‘taking advantage of the momentum of the European Year of Skills we will start drafting a framework to describe digital skills for these cultural and educational professionals.’ Knowing that there was so much expertise in our community and some relevant projects with similar goals initiated, we followed the work described above by mapping all the existing initiatives in our network we were aware of. Discover them by expanding the box below.
TITLE OF RESOURCE
TYPE
LINKS
Digital skills frameworks
Digital Competence Framework for Educators (DigCompEdu)
Skills Framework
GEM’s Competency Framework
Skills Framework
Go the the website and contact Margherita Sani for more information
Reports and publications
Digital Attitudes and Skills for Heritage (DASH)
Report from Heritage Fund
Download the report and contact Margherita Sani for more information
Impulse paper on the role of cultural and creative sectors in innovating European industry
Report from DG GROW
Trends and skills’ needs in the Audio Visual & Live Performances sectors
Report from IME GSEVEE
Download the report and find out more
Museum Technology: A Critical Primer
Report from Irish Museum Association and IMMA
Mapping Digital Skills in Cultural and Creative Industries in Italy
Publication by Massimiliano Nuccio, Sofia Mogno
Self-assessment tools and working groups
MYDIGISKILLS
Online digital skills self-assessment tool
Access the tool and contact Margherita Sani for more information
SELFIEforTEACHERS
Online digital skills self-assessment tool
GEM's Core Competencies for Museum Educators
Online digital skills self-assessment tool
Access the tool and contact Margherita Sani for more information
Personal audit of digital skills for heritage
Excel digital skills self-assessment tool
Access the tool and contact Margherita Sani for more information
DigComp Community of Practice
Official CoP of DigComp
Find out more and contact Margherita Sani for more information
Pact for Skills | Large-Scale Skills Partnership on Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs)
Working Group on Skills for the Digital Environment
Join by invitation - contact Altheo Valentini for more information
Projects and programmes
BIBLIO. Boosting Digital Skills and Competences for Librarians in Europe
ERASMUS+ Sector Skills Alliance
Go to the website and contact Altheo Valentini for more information
Mu.SA. Museum Sector Alliance
ERASMUS+ Sector Skills Alliance
CHARTER. Cultural Heritage Actions to Refine Training, Education and Roles
ERASMUS+ Sector Skills Alliance
Go to the website and contact Margherita Sani for more information
DOORS. Digital Incubator for Museums
Horizon2020
CYANOTYPES. Anticipating Creative Futures
ERASMUS+ Blueprint Alliance
FAST45. Futures Art School Trends 2045
ERASMUS+ Knowledge Alliances Project
FILMEU. The European Universities Alliance for Film and Media Arts
ERASMUS+ University Alliance
INCREAS. Innovative and Creative Solutions for Cultural Heritage
Pilot project for CCIs (FLIP for CCis-2)
Creative Digital Transformation
ERASMUS+ KA2 Adult Education
#DiOtherCity
ERASMUS+ KA2 Adult Education
ReCCI – Rethinking Cultural & Creative Industries through digital and entrepreneurial competencies
ERASMUS+ KA2 VET
Go to the website and find out more
DigitalCulture. Improving the Digital Competences and Social Inclusion of Adults in Creative Industries
ERASMUS+ KA2 Adult Education
Go to the website and find out more
CHERISED. A European Framework for for Digital Cultural Heritage in Secondary Education
ERASMUS+ KA2 School Education
Common European data space for cultural heritage
Digital Europe Programme, DG CNECT
Opportunities and events
EIT Culture & Creativity
Funding programme
Next steps
After this exercise, we realise how much excellent work has been done by our colleagues and experts to research digital skills and design self-assessment tools and frameworks. We also learned how many projects are currently developing similar solutions from different professional areas (museums, audiovisual archives or libraries), domains (cultural heritage and creative industries) or approaches (cultural, educational, ethical). The Steering Group will follow up with the development of the different projects and initiatives, collect more of them by our community members and find possible synergies between the data space for cultural heritage and data space for skills.
Join us in this endeavour by:
Joining the Europeana Education Community to be the first to hear about new initiatives and work relevant to educators
Using some of the tools provided above and sharing your experience via our LinkedIn and Facebook community channels.
Telling us about other projects and initiatives with similar goals not listed yet by emailing [email protected]