TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Gvantsa Mezvrishvili
Primary aim was to empower youth workers with practical knowledge, digital tools, and ethical frameworks to successfully integrate Artificial Intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and gamified learning into modern youth work practice.
Core focus was to serve as a practical, hands-on journey helping youth workers bridge the gap between traditional youth work and the modern digital world, moving away from heavy theory to focus on real tools, building AI agents, and creating interactive activities.
Needs we address during the training was:
- Bridging the Digital Gap: Addresses the need for youth workers to transition from traditional practices to engaging with emerging technologies (AI, IoT, and gamified learning) in a practical, hands-on way.
- Digital Competence & Ready-to-Use Skills: Addresses the need for youth workers, regardless of their technical background, to move beyond abstract theory and gain firsthand experience building AI agents and setting up gamified learning activities that they can immediately apply.
- Well-being and Screen Fatigue Balance: Addresses the physiological and mental challenges of digital work by explicitly building screen fatigue discussions, well-being, movement, and downtime into routines and project plans.
- Local Context & Peer Exchange: Addresses the need to understand how youth work operates locally through field visits (such as the Trakai Youth Center) and provides structured spaces for sharing good practices and ideas with international peers.
Training supported the goals of the organisations with:
- Empowering Youth Workers and Upgrading Methods: Fits the core mission of organizations working in non-formal education (such as Innovative Generation and Creative Youth Platform) by equipping youth workers, leaders, project managers, and educators with upgraded methods to design and implement impactful local and international activities.
- Promoting European Cooperation and Innovation: Aligns with Erasmus+ goals by bringing together participants from EU Member States, third countries associated with the program, the Western Balkans, and Neighbourhood East to foster innovation, digital competence, and cross-border cooperation in youth work.
Youth workers, youth leaders, project managers, and educators actively working with young people who design and implement local or international youth activities (such as youth exchanges, training courses, or community workshops) and want to upgrade their methods.
Experience Level: Open to anyone curious about technology in youth work, ranging from absolute beginners to those wanting to integrate digital tools more intentionally into their projects (no heavy technical background required).
Mindset: Individuals ready to experiment, share good practices, explore new ways of learning (including AI, IoT, and gamification), and reflect on how technology impacts both youth work and personal well-being.
Participants came from EU Member States and third countries associated to the Programme, as well as countries not associated to the program from the Western Balkans and Neighbourhood East, specifically including:
Lithuania
Slovenia
Slovakia
Spain
Romania
Hungary
United Kingdom
Georgia
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Ukraine
Türkiye
Serbia
Bulgaria
Non-Formal Educational Principles & Experiential Learning: The training is built entirely on non-formal education principles. The program follows a hands-on, experiential learning approach that blends active digital tool creation, peer collaboration, and practical experimentation with daily reflection and well-being routines.
Concrete Examples of Methods & Activities:
- Digital Tool Creation & Hands-On Production: Participants actively build practical creations, such as building AI agents, setting up gamified learning activities, and choosing and producing digital tools during dedicated production and practice sessions.
- Field Learning & Local Case Studies: Stepping outside the training room to visit the Trakai Youth Center, where participants explore how youth work operates locally in Lithuania and meet a local youth worker to discuss daily practices and experiences.
- Peer Collaboration & Showcase: Collaborating in teams, sharing good practices, and preparing structured presentations/showcases of what they created.
- Well-being & Reflective Practices: Integrating movement, daily reflection sessions, screen fatigue awareness, sauna/well-being times, and structured debriefing routines directly into the project plan.
Learning outcomes:
- Empowerment with Practical Digital Competence: Successfully equipped youth workers, leaders, project managers, and educators with practical knowledge, digital tools, and ethical frameworks to integrate AI, IoT, and gamified learning into youth work.
- Creation of Ready-to-Use Artifacts: Enabled participants to move past abstract theory by actively building AI agents, setting up gamified activities, and designing digital solutions to take back to their local communities.
- Enhanced Local-International Linkages: Connected international youth practices with local realities through a structured study visit and exchange with the Trakai Youth Center in Lithuania.
- Balanced Well-being Frameworks: Embedded screen fatigue management, reflection routines, and movement directly into project schedules, ensuring participants learned how to balance digital integration with personal well-being.
How we can tell the training was a success?
- Tangible Production & Showcasing: Success is measured through the hands-on final production and structured showcasing sessions where participants presented their newly built digital tools, AI agents, and gamified learning designs.
- Structured Reflection and Debriefing: Validated through dedicated daily reflection spaces, peer feedback sessions, and a comprehensive debriefing of the learning experience.
- Formal Evaluation Loop: Assessed through the project's built-in evaluation milestones, including an online evaluation call scheduled on December 10, 2026, to measure long-term impact, dissemination, and follow-up actions.
Senior Trainer: Served as an official member of the international trainers' team, responsible for designing and facilitating sessions on emerging technologies (such as AI, IoT, and gamified learning), mentoring participants, and guiding the overall experiential learning process.