TOY - Trainers Online for Youth
This is a reference for Joke Van Dooren
This training course aimed to train those preparing and guiding EVS volunteers (mentors, host and sending organizations, trainers) in the topic of Self Directed Learning within EVS. We explored what does it mean, how to prepare the volunteers, how to guide & support this process to get to a full and rich learning experience owned by the EVS-volunteers themselves.
- Explore EVS as a self-directed learning experience in the Euromed context;
- Understand what a self-directed learning experience (like EVS) is and what it needs in terms of support and facilitation;
- Learn about how to use coaching techniques to support the self-directed learning process of the volunteers;
- Explore how to use Youtpass as a tool for harvesting learning outcomes and giving recognition to the non-formal and self-directed learning experience of the volunteers;
- Exchange about how self-directed learning processes work within the framework for Euromed cooperation and how they can make the EVS experience richer and more supported for the volunteers;
- To establish an international network of actors involved in EVS in Euromed and offer support to mentors to better facilitate the learning within EVS;
- Raise awareness on the self-development opportunities that voluntary service offers for young people and how to validate these learning outcomes in their life after the voluntary period ends and by doing so get better access to the labor market.
The training is organized by the Belgian organization SWIRA in cooperation with 3 international partners: I-Dare (Jordan), Argania (Morocco) and International Centre for Sustainable Development (Greece).
The trainers for this training course are:
- Ann Daniels – member of the Flemish and Dutch pool of trainers, experienced in Euromed cooperation and passionate about everything that has to do with self-directed learning and coaching.
- Joke Van Dooren – a member of pool of trainers of the Flemish NA (BE), Euromed trainer and project coordinator of youth projects in Morocco. She did an EVS of one year in Morocco.
Rakia Hanine, president of the Moroccan organization Argania will support with the logistics.
During this training course we focused mainly on learning to learn competence in the most broad sense of the word considering that self-directed learning is both the approach and one of the topics of this training course. The participants experienced self-directed learning themselves by going through all the steps of self-directed learning as a learner. Then self-directed learning was also the topic which means that the participants looked at self-directed learning through their EVS glasses meaning that they focused on how they can better facilitate and support EVS as a self-directed learning experience with their volunteers. The learning happened through team building, discussions in small groups, worldcafé, brainstorm sessions, SDL experiences, group work, individual reflection, living library, coaching, open space technology, presentation during a public moment, ...
The participants understand the importance of the learn to learn competence and how an EVS can be a self-directed learning experience for young people. They know the different steps of an SDL process and learned how to support a volunteer during those steps. They understand better the support needs of international volunteers and learned how to create a safe learning environment. They learned about the different cultural contexts in the participating countries and how they can create new EVS projects.
Together with Ann Daniels, I was responsible for the design, implementation and evaluation of the training. I did also all the communication with partners and participants before and after the training.