Digital Youth Work Transformation

Aims & objectives

The training aimed to strengthen youth workers’ ability to respond to the digital transformation of youth work and to use digital approaches more strategically in their organisations and activities with young people.

The main objectives were to:

increase awareness of personal and organisational digital identity and digital presence;
strengthen participants’ understanding of digital transformation in youth-work organisations;
introduce strategic approaches to planning organisational digital development;
present practical digital tools and platforms that can be used in youth work;
strengthen participants’ ability to design and implement digital learning activities;
explore how digital tools can support the participation and engagement of young people;
address digital wellbeing and the balance between digital and analogue environments;
support participants in transferring the acquired knowledge into their organisations and daily work.

Target group & international/intercultural composition of the group & team

The target group consisted of youth workers and representatives of youth organisations interested in developing their digital competences and improving the use of technology in their work with young people.

The activity was implemented in Sremski Karlovci, Serbia, as part of an international Erasmus+ cooperation project.

Participants and team members came from:
Slovenia
Serbia
Lithuania
Netherlands

Training methods used & main activities

The training used non-formal learning methods that encouraged active participation, practical experimentation, exchange of experience and reflection.

Methods included:

interactive presentations;
facilitated discussions;
individual and group reflection;
practical demonstrations of digital tools and platforms;
hands-on testing of digital tools;
small-group tasks;
case-study analysis;
peer learning and exchange of organisational practices;
collaborative development of digital youth-work activities;
evaluation and reflection exercises;
action planning for transferring the acquired knowledge into participants’ organisations.

Outcomes of the activity

The training strengthened participants’ understanding of digital transformation and its implications for youth work and youth organisations.

As a result of the activity, participants:

increased their awareness of personal and organisational digital identity;
developed a better understanding of strategic digital transformation;
became familiar with digital tools and platforms relevant to youth work;
explored approaches for designing participatory digital learning activities;
reflected on digital wellbeing and the balance between online and offline youth work;
developed ideas for applying digital tools in their regular activities;
identified possible improvements to the digital practices of their organisations;
prepared to transfer the acquired knowledge into their local youth-work contexts.

The activity’s success was assessed through participant involvement in practical tasks, group discussions, reflection activities and the final evaluation.

Evidence of the activity may include:

participant evaluation results;
photographs and programme materials;
project or partner social-media posts;
the Erasmus+ project website;
outputs or activity plans developed by participants;
the final project report.

Your tasks and responsibilities within the team

I worked as a full-time co-trainer throughout the activity and was responsible for both the preparation and delivery of the training programme.

My responsibilities included:

developing and adapting the programme according to the objectives of the Erasmus+ project;
participating in preparatory meetings with the organiser;
preparing training content, activities and supporting materials;
facilitating sessions on digital awareness, digital identity and organisational digital presence;
facilitating sessions on the digitalisation and digital transformation of youth work;
introducing and demonstrating digital tools and platforms;
supporting participants in designing digital learning activities for young people;
facilitating discussions on digital wellbeing and the balance between digital and analogue youth work;
supporting participants with different levels of digital experience;
facilitating reflection, evaluation and the transfer of learning into participants’ organisations;
coordinating with the organiser and other members of the project team during the implementation of the programme.

I worked on this training for 5 days as a full time trainer.