Long-term training course "Digital Superpowers: the Use of Digital Games and Tools for Youth Work"

Context Youth work needs to go where young people are. Quite big part of young people are using technology and digital games and they are experts in it. Youth workers often lack digital skills and understanding of potential of technology and video games. However they are skilfull in experiential learning. Therefore they could support young people in learning and empowering them through playing games, creating worlds (e.g. on Minecraft), simulating social interactions (through Sims), making impact on objects by coding or tinkering with technology (tools like Sphero or Makey Makey). Technology can empower young people in the way that they can use tools like Popcorn or App builder or Minecraft to create, remix, change existing media. Some questions we would like to answer during this long-term project: *how to use digital technology in non-formal learning settings? *how to go with digital technology instead of opposing it? *how not to lose the principles of youth work and non-formal learning by harnessing technology? *how to connection social skills development and use of digital games and technology? *how to increase digital literacies by harnessing young people’s passions in gaming and technology? Dates and Places: Digital Superpowers is a long-term project that incorporates a training course, a practice period, a youth exchange and an evaluation seminar. Trainer participants should take part in the training course and in the evaluation seminar, have at least one activity with youngsters in the practice period and send youngsters to the youth exchange (and maybe accompany them): Training course: 15 - 22/11/2015 - in Halle, Germany Practice January - June 2016 - in each country Youth exchange: 27th June - 7th July 2016* - in Lithuania Evaluation seminar - 3-8/10/2016* - in Madeira, Portugal * dates may change NOTE: each participant agrees to participate in the full duration of the project! STEP 1. Training course (designed for youth workers) To explore how does digital games and tools work in other organisations Showcase and try practically various digital games and tools. To develop clear plan how to implement youth work by using digital games and tools Develop youth workers’ digital literacy Learn to harness digital games and tools for critical media education and other diverse youth work objectives. To prepare and try out activities with young people at Digital Lab in the local community during the TC To give space for young people to showcase various games they play for youth workers. STEP 2. Practice period (youth workers work with young people) Local youth work activities to try out new digital games and tools for learning Live meetings of young people who would play with each other virtually - organising a youth exchange about the role of gaming in a life of young person. STEP 3. Youth exchange (young people leaded by youth workers as group leaders) International youth exchange involving young people to discover the role of gaming, coding and digital making in young person’s life as well as learning with technology. Programme will be re-build later on by young people who will participate in the youth exchange. STEP 4. Evaluation meeting for youth workers and young people (youth workers and young people actively involved in steps 1-3) Sharing results from the practice period. Evaluating achievements both by youth workers and young people. Making finding public: joining digital innovation conference or organising own conference/discussion about usage of digital games and tools for learning. Producing digital product for dissemination (e.g. video/ web/ game), giving possibility for participants to decide what product would make sense for their context and their youth work communities. Participant’s profile. We are looking for youth workers/educators and/or digital expert for the project who: *have experience in using digital media and are willing to use it in youth work or / and *have experience in youth work (training or/and non-formal education) and is willing to use digital tools (A couple of two people from the same organisation/country (one experienced in youth work another in digital media) taking part together could be an option) Recognition of non-formal learning All participants have the right to get a Youthpass describing their learning during the project. Furthermore we will use Open badge system (www.openbadges.org) to recognise learning steps and to use a gamified and partly digitalised tool. For further information please contact: Tobias Thiel by thiel@ev-akademie-wittenberg.de Agne Rapalaite & Laimonas Ragauskas by gamification@creativitas.lt And we are… …trainers, youth workers and facilitators of learning. We have experience in developing gamified learning activities, but we are still on the way exploring the possible application of digital games and tools in youth work. NGO Creativitas is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that has a mission to contribute to the development of continuous learning, open and tolerant society, which would be able to design innovative solutions in order to cope with emerging social challenges. Evangelische Akademie Sachsen-Anhalt is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation The academy organizes conferences, seminars, study tours, workshops, lectures and evenings for people of all age groups at national and international level. Therefore it contributes to social debate and decision making, as well as international understanding.