Drawn Together: Visual Tools for Youth Work was a training course on visual facilitation and working with young people at risk of exclusion. It gathered youth workers fromPoland, Greece, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Hungary
The aim of the training was to explore how visual tools can be used for creating better, more engaging educational content, with a special focus on how to make the teaching materials we use more accessible for youth at risk of exclusion. During the week we explored both theory and practice of the topic.
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Day 1
During the first day we focused on forming relations between participants and establishing a safe, comfortable space for further learning planned for the upcoming days. To achieve that, participants engaged in different getting to know each other activities, including name games, speed dating, and human bingo. In the end of the day we talked about expectations, contributions, and fears, as well as the concept of self-assessment in learning and YouthPass key competences.
Day 2
The content part of the training started with introduction to visual facilitation with theoretical input on the most important aspects of the concept. After that participants got a chance to practice their drawing skills and explored topics like 7 elements of visual facilitation, basic shapes, and basic lettering.
Day 3
Day 3 was devoted to exploring how to work more effectively with young people at risk of exclusion. Participants got to know some basic theories of learning and learning types (the Kolb cycle, Mumford and Honey learning types theories). They also discussed the topic of inclusion/exclusion and took part in two simulation games (let me in, labels) to make them more sensitive towards the needs of young people at risk. At the end of the day, participants made a visual reflection, drawing what they have learned.
Day 4
Day 4 was devoted to visual reflection on what competences (skills, knowledge, attitudes) participants already have as facilitators/teachers. They had time to think of their learning goals and important milestones they need to reach to become better at working with youth. Then their task was to draw, present, and discuss their personal visual journeys.
Day 5
On day 5 participants continued to draw and practice their skills related to visual facilitation. They focused on using different techniques (mapping the ideas, visualising emotions) to learn how to produce engaging and visually appealing teaching materials to be used in their work with young people at risk of exclusion.
Day 6
Day 6 was focused on learning and practicing how visual tools can be used for community mapping and need assessment. To explore the topic, participants were divided into groups and their task was to create maps of Puck – a small town where the training was taking place – focusing on visually presenting important landmarks and things they found surprising/interesting/inspiring.
Day 7
On the last day of the training course participants used all their knowledge and skills to design educational content adjusted to the needs of people at risk. To do this, they went back to the concept of different learning types (reflector, activist, theorist, pragmatist) and thought about how a topic of human rights can be visually presented. During the last session participants underwent a reflection on what they have learned and what YouthPass key competences they have gained.
