Piloting the Activability E-Learning course in Italy: key insights

As part of the ActivAbility project, Italy recently tested the new WP4 e-learning course, a digital training tool designed to promote active ageing among people with intellectual disabilities. Drawing inspiration from the content of the “Active ageing manual” developed in WP3, this course aims to provide both professional and non-professional caregivers with knowledge, strategies, and practical resources tailored to the needs of people with intellextual disabilities

Photo by Centre for Ageing Better from Unsplash

In Italy, the piloting phase was conducted by Anziani e non solo and involved a diverse group of participants: they ranged in age from 25 to 84, with an average age of 39; while in terms of professional background, the group was highly heterogeneous, with educators made up the largest share (34%), followed by psychologists, informal caregivers, occupational therapist, one healthcare professional, and one public health assistant. This mix of profiles provided a wide range of perspectives on how the course could be used in practice.
This diversity offered valuable perspectives on how the course could be applied in different contexts.
To maximize participation, the launch of the pilot combined targeted outreach (emails and SMS to professionals) with social media promotion. Two introductory online sessions were also held to guide participants.
The piloting results show that the e-learning course had a strong educational impact, increasing knowledge and reducing the gap between different learners’ levels. Participants particularly valued the integration of interactive activities after theoretical sections; the graphics of the course were considered attractive and user-friendly; additional resources were highly rated as practical.

​Let’s see some comment by the participants:

• “The interactive activities and graphics are excellent, great job!”
• “The extra resources really enrich the course.”
• “I appreciated the combination of theory with practical examples and reflections.”

While the overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive, participants also suggested enhancements to make the course more inclusive and engaging as adding narrated audio video to improve accessibility and offering a summary of the content.
A few participants also noted that some teaching materials could be better adapted for people with specific needs, such as those with dyslexia.
Overall, the course was widely described as clear, well-structured, and highly effective, with near-unanimous satisfaction among participants. One professional even expressed interest in using the course as part of a collaboration with an instructor working with young people with intellectual disabilities. Another appreciated feature was the flexible structure, which allows participants to choose modules in any order and proceed at their own pace.