CONNECT-ED is a 12-month Erasmus+ small-scale partnership in adult education designed to increase the participation, motivation and retention of low-qualified and low-skilled adults in lifelong learning. The project addresses a central challenge in adult education: many of the adults who would benefit most from education and upskilling are also those least likely to participate in traditional courses because of previous negative educational experiences, low confidence, limited digital skills, unstable employment, family responsibilities or weak trust in formal institutions.
The project therefore does not simply create another conventional online course or learning platform. Instead, CONNECT-ED transforms a familiar everyday communication tool (WhatsApp) into a structured digital micro-learning environment. Short, practical learning units are delivered through a WhatsApp Community using simple text, voice messages, visuals and practical digital tasks. This creates a low-threshold learning space that adults can access through a tool they already use, without requiring them to learn a new platform before they can begin learning.
The primary target group is adults aged approximately 25–64 with low qualifications, limited digital competence and weak attachment to formal learning, including long-term unemployed adults, people who did not complete secondary education, migrants and adults with a migration background. The project particularly responds to their need for flexible learning, immediately useful digital skills, greater confidence in using online systems, recognition of small learning achievements and supportive peer environments.
CONNECT-ED is implemented by Alfa Edu in Italy and the Afghanistan Committee for Peace, Reconstruction and Culture in Germany. Combining structured adult education expertise with community-based outreach allows the model to be tested in different social and cultural contexts and to determine whether familiar messaging environments can function as effective “learning centres without walls.”
1. Identify the barriers preventing low-qualified adults from participating in learning.
The first objective is to systematically understand the motivational, structural and digital barriers that discourage adults from engaging in education. The project will collect evidence through 200 surveys, 20 semi-structured interviews and two expert focus groups, alongside an assessment of participants’ confidence in using smartphones, messaging applications and online services. The findings will provide an evidence base for designing the CONNECT-ED learning model and future outreach strategies for hard-to-reach adults.
2. Increase access to structured learning for 150 adults who are underrepresented in adult education.
CONNECT-ED aims to provide at least 150 adults with a flexible entry point into structured competence development. Instead of asking participants to enrol in a conventional course or unfamiliar digital platform, the project brings learning into an environment already embedded in their daily communication. This particularly supports adults facing educational, socio-economic or migration-related barriers.
3. Increase learners’ motivation, confidence and persistence in education.
The third objective is to encourage adults not only to join the learning community, but also to remain engaged. Short learning units, practical tasks, community challenges and peer interaction are intended to make learning achievable and immediately relevant. The project seeks to reduce fear of structured education, strengthen learners’ confidence in their own ability to learn and increase their willingness to participate in further training after the pilot.
4. Develop a mechanism for recognising informal and non-formal micro-learning achievements.
CONNECT-ED will test ways of recognising the small but meaningful competences that adults acquire through the micro-learning process. Practical task completion can trigger forms of recognition such as badges, certificates and acknowledgement within the learning community. The purpose is to give incremental learning visible value and reinforce participants’ motivation and sense of progress.
5. Create a transferable community-based outreach and learning methodology.
The final objective is to ensure that the project produces more than a temporary WhatsApp group. CONNECT-ED aims to establish a structured methodology that adult education providers and community organisations can reuse to reach adults who do not normally respond to traditional course offers. The partners intend to integrate this approach into their future operations and enable other organisations to participate as moderators or content contributors.
A major result will be a tested CONNECT-ED digital micro-learning model delivered through a WhatsApp Community. The project will produce an operational structure for the community and four mobile-friendly micro-learning units, each combining a learning prompt, short multimedia content and a practical digital task. These resources will be designed to work within familiar communication habits rather than requiring complex learning technology.
The project expects to establish a learning community of at least 150 adults. Success will not be measured only by the number of people joining: at least 50% of community members should actively interact with at least one learning prompt, at least 40% should complete the practical task associated with each learning unit, and at least 30% should participate in three or more of the four learning cycles. These indicators will show whether messaging-based micro-learning can produce sustained engagement among adults who normally participate little in formal training.
At participant level, the project expects improvements in digital autonomy, confidence and engagement with learning. Adults should become more confident in accessing online services, employment platforms and digital public systems, while experiencing learning as something practical, manageable and relevant to everyday life. The project also seeks to reduce fear of formal education and strengthen participants’ identity as active learners.
At organisational level, the partners will gain practical experience in designing and operating decentralised digital learning communities for adults who are difficult to reach. The project will leave behind the CONNECT-ED methodology, four learning units and operational guidelines for running learning activities through WhatsApp. If the pilot demonstrates sufficient engagement, the partners plan to keep the community active and continue publishing at least one new micro-learning prompt per month after the funded project ends.
Finally, CONNECT-ED aims to establish the basis for wider replication. The project seeks to involve at least three additional organisations interested in contributing as moderators or content providers after the project, while producing evidence and an evaluation of whether familiar messaging platforms can become cost-effective, community-based learning environments for adults who remain outside traditional education.
