The training course “Digibox: Enriching Youth workers Digital Toolboxes for Involvement” took place from 28.04 – 05.05 in Trabzon (Turkey). The project was focused on the study of new digital tools and their use in educational processes with young people. During the project we had many different sessions and activities, some of which I really want to share with you:
Online debates: In the middle of the project, for several hours we became residents of the fictional city “Sleepyville”. In this city there was a question of building a new mosque. However, opinions were divided. The time had come for all parties and organizations to present their position, but this could only be done by writing Facebook posts in the city group. If you wanted to express disagreement you would write a comment, but following the rules, because administrators of the city online debates were following you. It was a very intense role-play activity in which we discovered our boundaries and explored our debating skills and our behavior in the group.
Photo hunting: We got the opportunity to study the “Actionbound” application in practice. With this application you can create and execute tasks that relate to recording video, sound, photos, etc. We used the app during our free day in Trabzon in order to enhance our discovery and interaction with the local community, we filmed videos of how we cooked traditional food or danced a local dance, recorded how we sang Turkish rap, made team photos or, as in my favorite task, we needed to follow the compass to find the necessary geolocation. In general, these few hours were incredibly fun and informative.
Study a new digital tool: We were offered a list of 50(!!!) various applications. We had to choose one of them and show its actual (legit) use. It was great to see how people use their creativity and, of course, to create something by ourselves. (We created a kahoot with a few known but interesting facts).
Show result of the week: In conclusion, we needed to create a product that really worked by using digital tools. It was very nice to see that people really created something that will be useful in our communities, for example, several teams have created Instagram where they wrote posts on topics such as helping animals or shared information about menstruation and about deconstructing the taboo around it. Some of us decided to raise awareness about the upcoming elections and created some comics about it. Me and Latvian participants created a series of video, called “30sec of Erasmus”, in which participants shared their Erasmus experiences.
While participating in project, it was possible not only to learn about new digital tools, but also to meet new people. We exchanged mugs, went to the beach together, played board games… We were one big team. I am very glad that I had the opportunity to participate with such an educational project with wonderful people.
You can find much more information about the activities and methods used during the week in the project’s website https://digiboxtc.wordpress.com/.
Anna Borodulja
Shokkin member and participant of #DigiboxTC