Pilots – Professionalisation in Learning Technology and Science is a two-year project with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union, which started in November 2008 and ended in October 2010.

Download the project presentation here.

Pilots follows two principal lines of action:

1. the collection of data on European practices concerning explainers;
2. the planning and testing of training modules to enhance the role of explainers in lifelong learning in science, with particular attention to the new needs of explainers in response to the requirements of adult learners: facilitating dialogue and discussion, tackling controversial and sensitive issues, taking into account gender differences and presenting current research.

Four European courses on these topics have been organised during the two-year project.

The project aimed to contribute substantially to the updating of explainers modes of interactions with adults in informal learning settings at a European level, but also to involve the partner institutions and the larger community of European explainers extensively.

After the end of the project the activity continues with a summer school, organised every year, and through the project web platform, the Pilots Hub, a social network dedicated to the explainers’ learning community.