The “e-Backpack” concept meets the recommendations adopted on 16 June 2022 by the Ministers for Employment and Social Affairs of the Council of the European Union to respond to the training needs of citizens and thus increase the proportion of people who participate in training each year. The Council has recommended that Member States consider setting up individual training accounts to allow citizens to participate in training relevant to the labour market, thereby facilitating access to or retention in employment. It is also recommended, by the Member States to decide to introduce such accounts, that an appropriate supporting framework be put in place. As the core implies – individual training accounts would provide working-age people with a training budget to improve skills and employability throughout their lives, regardless of their labour market status. As the recommendations suggest, widespread information and awareness-raising activities and campaigns are key to significantly improving adult take-up rates of learning opportunities, particularly among groups with low awareness of upskilling and retraining possibilities, such as those furthest from the labour market. The effectiveness of such information and awareness-raising activities can be improved through cooperation between public authorities, social partners, civil society organisations, and other stakeholders, based on a shared understanding that up-skilling and re-skilling are a type of investment. Paying attention to accessibility should make participation easier for adults with disabilities.
NATO DEEP approach. Within the NATO DEEP ADL Portal, in the ‘e-Backpack’ dedicated tile (box), each user with an active account will be able to collect and share any micro-certificates obtained. It relates to the courses completed, on the NATO DEEP ADL Portal, as well as on MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) platforms, i.e. Canvas Network, Cognitive Class, Coursera, and edX. Also, it will be possible to collect digital badges, but not only.
Practical approach. Five areas will be available to gather different types of content:
- External certificates – to upload certificates from, for example, MOOC platforms.
- Digital badges – badges that the user will receive after completion of the ADL courses on the NATO DEEP ADL Portal. Also from other sources, accordingly
- NATO DEEP ADL Portal certificates – for courses completed on the portal, to be printed if necessary,
- Portfolio – to create a professional CV, save it as a PDF file, for further distribution.
- Notes – an area for creating and storing individual notes/ files, etc.
Instructions will be given in the step-by-step format document “e-Backpack. Tutorial” to be launched in due time.