Study on the impact of EPALE in its first two years of operation (Jan 2015 - Dec 2016), and its potential future impact

1 2 3 4 EPALE’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats Key conclusions by evaluation criterion 2 Key recommendations 3 Four long outline textboxes slide with # NB! Keep height of textbox for same corner radius, width is changeable Discussion 4 Four long outline textboxes slide with outlined numbers

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Multilingual transnational online platform; ‘One-stop-shop’ that allows for discussion, networking, sharing of news, sharing of results, best practices and events; Up-to-date, useful content that covers multiple relevant themes on adult education; Brings together actors involved with or interested in adult learning across Europe.

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Technical difficulties, notably speed and issues with creating an account or logging in; Navigation menu and content organisation is not intuitive, difficult to navigate; visual presentation is considered outdated; Functionalities do not always work well (e.g. search, Partner Search, forum for discussions); Low visibility, low number of users and core activity centralised among small group of users; Considered a source of information rather than an interactive platform

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Potential to grow and expand user base if some issues are resolved; Various issues reported are already currently being addressed, e.g. new EU Policy mini-site which will probably satisfy stakeholders’ needs in part; Some functionalities, such as Partner Search, are positively viewed by users and have potential to grow and generate effective collaborations on adult education in Europe.

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats Risk that platform’s full potential is not used due to lack of awareness and guidance; Risk that users are unable to find information they are looking for because of unorganised content: creates disincentives for users to return; Risk that EPALE cannot further build on community of adult learners, as users might migrate elsewhere due to technical issues and difficulties contributing content; Risk that EPALE becomes redundant if user base does not expand or interaction is not incentivised.

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Key conclusions - Relevance EPALE is relevant in contributing to tackling challenges in adult education in EU, but there is a lack of clarity in relation to its mission and the broader adult education challenges it aims at tackling. The content and themes available on EPALE are generally relevant in meeting the needs of users but further streamlining and personalisation of content is necessary. The user base of EPALE is highly diverse and includes stakeholders with different expectations and needs. The relevance, utility and visibility of the platform varies depending on the target audience.

Key conclusions – Effectiveness (results and impact) 1 EPALE has, as yet, had a limited impact on building a fully-fledged trans-national community of adult educators but has contributed to building a ‘landscape of adult learning and training communities’. Efforts need to be made to further consolidate and foster these communities. User loyalty, engagement and contribution on the platform are relatively low. Interactions via the platform are generally concentrated around a small and active core group of stakeholders interacting recurrently. Training opportunities, learning materials and good practices are generally relevant but the information must be further streamlined and quality checked.

Key conclusions – Effectiveness (results and impact) 2 Improvements to calendar of events are necessary. EPALE has been a useful tool in setting up partnerships and project cooperation across Europe. The Partner Search tool is utilised and relevant, but improvements can be made to encourage more engagement and utilisation. The user experience on the platform is not optimal (e.g. technical issues) and should be improved to allow the platform to reach its objectives. The availability of information in all EU languages is considered a great advantage. The platform utilisation would decrease if the platform were available only in 3 languages.

Key conclusions – Effectiveness (Organisation and monitoring) The contribution from different actors is important and supports the good functioning of the platform. Good levels of cooperation between different actors. However, some of current organisational arrangements are very complex and require further delineation of roles and responsibilities NSS role needs clarifying to ensure comparable contributions across countries CSS and NSS – no contractual relationship / control mechanism Ambassadors’ role needs clarifying Role of NSS needs clarification to ensure comparable contributions across countries CSS and NSS – no contractual relationship / control mechanisms Amabassadors

Key conclusions – Efficiency There are variations in the efficiency of implementing EPALE in different countries. At this early stage in EPALE’s implementation, it is unclear whether the costs of running EPALE are commensurate with the benefits of the platform. The value added of the NSSs with respect to ensuring an efficient implementation of EPALE is clear, but their level of engagement varies.

NSS Cost (grant paid) per user and registered users

Costs per user (incl. NSS grant paid and CSS&EU) with registered users

Key conclusions – Coherence EPALE has supported the dissemination of European programmes and activities in adult education and training, but predominantly those of Erasmus+ Programme. The EPALE initiative is unique in Europe and overlaps only to a minor extent with other national initiatives in the field.

Key conclusions – EU added value EPALE brings added value to the field of adult education and training. A discontinuation of EPALE would have negative impacts. The platform should be maintained and investments in the project sustained.

Summary EPALE already proving its added value a unique initiative providing a multi-lingual, ‘one-stop-shop’ open source of information that stakeholders find relevant and useful supports cross-border networking and exchange of info, expertise and good practice between adult educators, policy makers, training organisations, third sector organisations and other stakeholders. Already has very diverse group of 00,000 users with clear potential to develop into a lively trans-national community already hosts nearly 15,000 items - teaching materials, good practice examples, events, training or funding opportunities There are some ‘teething problems’, many of which Commission had already identified: make it quicker to load make it more user-friendly make it even more interactive encourage people to get more involved improve efficiency by helping our NSS learn from each other we are looking closely at each recommendation to see how it can be implemented.

OVERVIEW of RECOMMENDATIONS Grow the community Systematise good NSS practices in reaching new users Add interactive features e.g. rating of content, commenting Deliver webinars and courses on EPALE Enhance user experience Resolve slow performance Streamline, present info in intuitive, user-friendly manner (e.g. filter content according to relevance for specific users; re-organise navigation menu). Further develop ‘How to’/ ‘Help’ section, with videos. Improve quality Use rating to increase trust in relevance and accuracy of content Moderators to facilitate discussions. Regular quality checks of content

NSS RELATED RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 7: Organising interaction in the 'real world' (physical meetings) Complementing opportunities of users interacting in the virtual world with opportunities to interact in the ’real world’ E.g. organising events, seminars and meetings to allow users, ambassadors and NSS representatives to network in real life, for: raising awareness about the platform (increasing visibility) and what it can offer potential users; and / or on instructing less digitally skilled people about how to use the platform and how it can benefit them in the short and long term and/or on discussing current themes and topics in the field of adult education. Partly already underway: stakeholder conference, NSS informal meeting, NSS regional meetings. To be further reviewed against experience (benefits and costs)

Recommendation 11: Incentivising participation through moderators dedicated moderators for facilitating discussions, validate opinions, rate content, as well as reach out to passive users Moderators' tasks: to be engaged in various spaces of the platform, in particular in the Communities of Practice and the EPALE Blog, but they can to be called upon in the organisation of webinars and courses on specific topics Partly in practice: inviting some regular users/ambassadors to take on a role; further low cost solutions to be examined

Recommendation 13: Performing regular and periodic quality checks streamlining the content available on the platform and perform more regular and periodic quality checks of the content published on the platform Quality check is an important point in the NSS Invitation 2019-2020

Recommendation 16: Partner Search Tool for activities other than application for EU funding Encourage more organisations to sign up for Partner Search Partner Search Tool is also for partnerships for activities other than ‘application for EU funding’ E.g. by participating in events related to project developments where organisations may be seeking partners

Recommendation 22: Translating most important content inTO EN translating the most important content generated in their national language into English and to facilitate its translation to other languages; and/or encouraging encourage users to post their contributions in both their native language and in English for a wider dissemination Partly already the case; to be further explored e.g. for key content, a two-line summary in EN could be posted

Recommendation 25&26: Systematic assessment and USE of good practice systematic assessment by the NSSs with regard patterns in user/visitor numbers and given activities (e.g. use of ambassadors, dual role of NSS) use of NSS good practices where the implementation of EPALE is more efficient (low cost per user/visitor) objective: to achieve more convergence of efficiency To be further explored: What constitutes good practice?

Recommendation 28: Disseminating results of projects other than Erasmus+ Incentivising the dissemination of results of projects funded by other European and national programmes (not limited to Erasmus+) Building a repository of links to other websites where information about projects funded by other programmes (European or national) can be found Ongoing, also within the new EU Policy mini-site

tHANK YOU