AR4YOUTH
“Ar4youth” project will digitalise and promote fairy tales, myths and legends. This Erasmus+ strategic partnership project involved partners from Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania and the Netherlands in an international cooperation.
Covid-19 has caused irreparable damage to the global social, economic, and educational systems. However, it has accelerated technological advancements and innovations to combat the pandemic's valuable effects. This has facilitated society's adaptation to the unprecedented demands of the virtual world, and Augmented Reality (AR) is anticipated to be one of the technological innovations that will experience exponential growth during this time period (Le and Dinh, 2010).
AR is an interactive experience of a real-world environment in which real-world items are augmented with computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes spanning many sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory, and olfactory. Because of the innovative features of this technology, it will likely spread all over different sectors. Thus, to prepare young people for a labour market that is undergoing rapid change, it is crucial to train them in advanced digital skills such as AR, which have become a necessity in light of the different policy frameworks being implemented at the EU level that are driving technological development and transformation (e.g. European Digital Strategy; Digital Education Action Plan).
To join the international efforts to train young people in advanced digital skills and support the cultural sector that was majorly impacted by the pandemic, the European funded project Ar4youth was launched. The project aims to train young people in conceiving, designing and implementing an AR project for digitising and augmenting books, guides or manuals by using as case studies Greek, Lithuanian and Estonian fairy tales, myths and legends. After being augmented and digitised, these tales will take on new life, allowing users to immerse themselves in their cultural heritage in a way never previously possible.
The project will engage a youth team as project’s consultants for the selection of fairy tales, myths and legends to be used for digitisation and augmentation. Then, the partner organisations will develop an AR Facilitator, which will guide the users into distinct steps for the development of an AR project, and will engage a youth team to pilot the AR Facilitator by digitising and augmenting cultural heritage fairy tales, myths and legends. Finally, the project will develop the "AR4Youth Impact Evaluation Kit" to be used by young individuals and youth workers to assess the knowledge and skills gained from the use of the AR Facilitator in order to receive the project’s Certificate.
A Training Activity will be organised in Lithuania to equip youth workers and trainers with the necessary knowledge and skills required to deliver the AR4Youth training to young people and young people not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET) effectively.
"Ar4youth” is a highly innovative project, capable of uniting digitalisation and cultural heritage, innovation and tradition. “Ar4youth” will use AR technology to bring many folkloristic stories to life, and thanks to the project partnership's international cooperation, it will make them known outside of partners countries. This process will eventually promote culture and national identity on a European scale, thereby preserving cultural heritage. Furthermore, the project will provide youth with augmented reality resources that will help them learn new skills and stand out in an increasingly competitive labour market.
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This project has been founded with support from the European Commission by Erasmus+ program . This publication reflects the views only of the author and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
