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Update Learning, Training, Reflection, Awareness

2025-1-EL02-KA153-YOU-0003033542025Mobility of youth workersongoing
Countries: EL|RO|HR|ES|IT|SK|PL · Grant: €41,249
Digital skills and competencesQuality and innovation of youth work

Objectives

The project aims to introduce music and broadcast technology as innovative tools to enhance, improve, and sustain nonformal education. By building on the successful practices of Youthfully Yours and Udruga Better Me, it seeks to transfer these experiences to new contexts. The core idea is to modernize traditional methods of discussion, facilitation, reflection, and evaluation, incorporating less conventional tools such as podcasting, songwriting, and web radio broadcasting. These methods will not only enrich the participants' experiences but also help organizations promote the Erasmus Plus program more effectively. Youth workers and trainers will acquire skills in producing jingles and podcasts, which can be valuable for future projects. The project also responds to the growing importance of internet technology, especially during and after the Covid-19 pandemic, when young people increasingly relied on digital platforms to interact with peers, access information, and maintain social connections. During lockdowns, many from Generation Z (born between 1996 and 2010) turned to podcasting and broadcasting as a way to express their emotions and share their experiences. However, youth workers and educators often struggled to adapt to these changing preferences, which led to a disconnect between organizations and the new generation of Erasmus Plus participants. Many youth workers viewed the new trends with skepticism, which contributed to a communication gap. This project seeks to address this gap by engaging youth workers born before the 1990s in a meaningful dialogue with younger generations. It aims to help them stay updated, develop peer connections, and integrate more internet-based technology into training and education. The project's objectives are to: - Raise awareness among youth workers about the need to update their educational approaches to meet the evolving expectations of new generations. - Introduce podcasting and broadcasting as effective ways to engage young people. - Equip youth workers with technical skills in podcasting, editing, Creative Commons policies, and web radio broadcasting using tools like Audacity, Jamendo Portal, and Caster.fm. - Enhance the visibility of NGOs on the internet and attract more young people. - Bridge the generational gap to foster greater participation of young people in Erasmus Plus and youth work. - Provide organizations with new opportunities for young people by ensuring that youth workers are more adept at using IT technologies and more attuned to the needs of younger participants. - Update areas such as learning, training, evaluation, and mindfulness by incorporating digital tools and creative media like podcasting and web radio broadcasting. The project will use non-formal education methods to create a safe and enjoyable environment for youth workers to acquire new skills. A virtual mobility component will also be introduced to guide participants in podcast editing and web radio broadcasting, ensuring they are well-prepared for the project activities. All participating organizations face the challenge of adapting to a changing landscape. Founded in the 2010s, these organizations originally catered to peers, with youth workers in their 20s delivering non-formal education to others of a similar age. Over a decade later, the gap between youth workers (now in their 30s or 40s) and younger participants has grown, leading to two key issues: the loss of the "peer factor" and the rise of adultism. The former reflects the difficulty of older youth workers connecting with younger generations, while the latter refers to the tendency to judge or misunderstand young people due to generational differences, often leading to a lack of communication about their needs and expectations. ULTRA identifies a major cause of this disconnect as the lack of content creation skills among youth workers. By equipping them with IT-based tools, the project seeks to innovate leisure activities and platforms like podcasting and web radio. These tools will give young people a voice while offering youth workers the opportunity to break stereotypes, overcome adultism, and collaborate more effectively with younger generations. Once youth workers master these new technical skills and approaches, they will be able to transfer them to young people and work together on equal footing. The project also addresses the need to tailor activities to the current generation. Many youth workers continue to use outdated methods, largely out of inertia. The solution is not to discard these methods but to update them. ULTRA provides tools like jam sessions, where participants express their views on controversial topics through music composition, or podcasts for project evaluations, offering an engaging and lasting way to assess educational programs.

Project partners (7)