TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Mojca Galun
The training activity aimed to develop and strengthen skills in graphic facilitation and other visual methods for youth workers and trainers within the participating organizations. It addressed specific needs, including the desire to improve the effectiveness of youth training, enhance creativity, and increase confidence in visual methods like drawing. By introducing new techniques, the training sought to make youth work more engaging, interactive, and memorable, particularly for overcoming intercultural learning barriers and working with youth from rural areas.
Additionally, the training was designed to foster long-term international partnerships, allowing participants to exchange knowledge and support each other in skill development. The training aligned with the organizations' goals of enhancing the quality of their educational programs and expanding the use of visual methods in the youth sector. This initiative aimed to raise awareness about graphic facilitation and supported the broader dissemination of these skills among various stakeholders in the youth sector.
The activities' target group was the youth organisation staff (mainly youth workers and trainers). Partners came from countries: Slovenia, Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain.
The training activity used a variety of non-formal methods to engage participants and address different aspects of graphic facilitation. Let me list some:
1. Getting to know each other, ice breakers and team building activities: The training began with evening icebreaker games, such as name games and human bingo, fostering an informal and friendly environment. Participants also set basic ground rules and explored the venue layout, helping them settle in and feel comfortable. Participants were guided through graphic exercises like speed dating, sketching on balloons, and drawing graphic snapshots of each other. This session included discussing their expectations, fears, and contributions.
2. Graphic facilitation and learning by doing: Participants were introduced to the basics of graphic facilitation, visual symbols, and doodling techniques. We covered basic of graphic facilitation, followed by hands-on activities like a drawing race. Participants then practiced creating posters, receiving feedback on their designs combined with practice activities (let me name a few “squiggly birds” as creative drawing warm-up or visual alphabet practice like Pictionary, test graphic recordings, visual story telling.
3. Daily reflection: Each evening, small group reflections helped participants process their experiences. These sessions used tools like body movements, discussions, and Sketchbooks, encouraging self-reflection and group bonding.
4. Cultural exchange: Participants shared their cultures in an International Evening, featuring traditional foods, drinks, and cultural customs from their respective countries, enhancing cross-cultural understanding and camaraderie.
5. Learning by doing: participants prepared short workshops in local high schools, where they practiced implementation of visual elements and graphic facilitation in youth work activities.
6. Templates and graphic recording: Participants learned to use and create templates, practiced graphic recording by watching videos and creating visual summaries, and explored different methods for recording visually.
7. Storytelling and local engagement: Day 8 involved promoting Erasmus+ projects at local high schools and conducting reflections through graphic storytelling. Participants also prepared for local workshops by planning and organizing content tailored to their community.
8. Final reflection and planning: The last days involved evaluating the training, completing Youthpass reflections, and preparing for follow-up actions. The group held a closing session to share learnings and outline plans for implementing new skills in their work contexts.
These methods created a rich blend of hands-on practice and reflective learning, effectively engaging participants and equipping them with valuable skills in graphic facilitation.
Since this was a follow up we managed to produce a lot of concrete results, which you can find on our webpage https://socialna-akademija.si/graphicfacilitation/.
To list them: short manual, instructional videos and where to start presentation for youth workers.
I was the lead trainer active in most activities of sharing graphic facilitation knowledge and skills.