Workshop slides from the european academy on youth work in Slovenia on May 22nd 2019 by Suvi Tuominen and Juha Kiviniemi from Verke.

1. Digital Youth Work in
Policies and Practicies
Suvi Tuominen & Juha Kiviniemi, Verke
@verkeorg
EAYW, Kranjska Gora 22.5.2019

2. • What is digital youth work?
How is it promoted at policy
level in Europe?
• Examples of digital youth
work: maker activities
• Innobox - Tool for
innovating new practicies
in youth work
In this session

3. Round of introductions

6. Verke - National Centre of Expertice for Digital Youth Work

8. Verke’s goals 2018-2019
1. Knowledge of ways of using digital media and technology
will increase and expand in the field of youth work
2. The structures of youth work will support the use of digital
media and technology in youth work
3. Innovative youth work services and concepts using digital
media and technology will be created

9. What does Verke do?
Train professionals:
Last year over 2600 participants
in 14 provinces
Produce materials:
videos, guides, article
publications, podcasts etc.
Consult:
Innovation partnerships,
memberships in steering groups
Facilitate networking:
SomeCamp, Friday chats, other events
Research:
Surveys on digital youth work,
research collaborations
Communicate:
newsletter, blog,
social media, #digi10-challenge

10. Policies

11. EU Expert Group for Digitalisation and Youth 2016-2017

12. European Union Work Plan for Youth 2016–2018
Youth work and cross-sectorial cooperation shall be strengthened with the following aims, in line
with the priorities agreed in the joint EU Youth Report 2015:
A. Increased social inclusion of all young people, taking into account the underlying European values;
B. Stronger participation of all young people in democratic and civic life in Europe;
C. Easier transition of young people from youth to adulthood, in particular the integration into the
labour market;
D. Support to young people's health and well-being, including mental health;
E. Contribution to addressing the challenges and opportunities of the digital era for youth
policy, youth work and young people;
F. Contribution to responding to the opportunities and challenges raised by the increasing numbers
of young migrants and refugees in the European Union.

13. • Definition of digital youth work
• Policy recommendations for
developing digital youth work
• Examples of innovative good
practices
• List of relevant training needs for
digital youth work
• List of online available training
material
• Full report: https://
publications.europa.eu/s/fouj

14. Definition of digital youth work
• Digital youth work means proactively using and/or addressing digital media and
technology in youth work.
• Digital youth work is not a youth work method - digital youth work can be included in any
youth work setting (open youth work, youth information and counselling, youth clubs, detached
youth work…).
• Digital youth work has the same goals as youth work in general, and using digital media and
technology in youth work should always support these goals.
• Digital youth work can happen in face-to-face situations as well as in online environments - or
in a mixture of these two. Digital media and technology can be used either as a tool, an activity
or a content in youth work.
• Digital youth work is underpinned by the same ethics, values and principles as youth work.
• Youth workers in this context refer to both paid and volunteer youth workers.

15. Two dimensions of digital youth work
Technological viewpoint Sociocultural viewpoint
- Online councelling - Making YouTube videos
- Participation via online tools - Discussions about media
- Marketing on social media - Hacklabs and maker culture
EXAMPLES
Digitalising
youth work
services
Increasing
young people’s
digital skills

16. Policy recommendations
• Common understanding of digital youth work: every youth
worker should understand the importance of digital youth work
• Strategic development of digital youth work: plans for
developing digital youth work, incorporated into strategies &
training plans
• Youth participation and youth rights: inclusive approach,
safety & privacy
• Knowledge and evidence: research and impact assessment is
needed

17. Invites the commission and
member states to include digital
youth work to relevant policies

18. EU YOUTH STRATEGY 2019-2027
Youth goals include aspects of digital
inclusion & accessibility, information
literacy, new digital forms of participation

21. 2019: Council conclusions on digital youth
work. Promoting the organisational
development of digital youth work and
competence building.
2020: EU-CoE Partnership - Youth
Knowledge Book & Research on "Social
Inclusion, Digitalisation and Young People"
What’s next?
What’s next?

22. Why are policies so important?
• Policies draw a wider picture and
sets goals to youth work’s
digitalisation
• If youth work fails to embraze
digital technology, it risks of
becoming irrelevant for young
people
• To allocate funding for digital
youth work

23. www.verke.org

24. www.intercityyouth.eu

25. InterCity Youth working group
• A Working Group to exchange experiences to design a
municipal digital strategy and a process to implement
digitalization in youth work
• The Working Group runs until the end of 2020 meeting at least
twice face-to-face plus 2-4 times online plus work at home. Each
participant covers its own travel and accommodation costs.
• Each participating city can be represented by a manager of youth
services and, if needed, assisted by a member of staff working
with digitalization
• Deadline for applying May 31st
• Apply at: http://tiny.cc/dyw

26. In the making: Guidelines on digital youth work
• Will be launched in September
2019
• Want to participate in making the
guidelines? Answer our survey!
• Part of Erasmus+ KA2 project,
more info on the project +
materials on
www.digitalyouthwork.eu

27. • Will be launched in September
2019
• Want to participate in making the
guidelines? Answer our survey!
—> http://tiny.cc/digitalyouthwork
• Part of Erasmus+ KA2 project,
more info on the project + materials
on www.digitalyouthwork.eu
In the making: Guidelines on digital youth work

28. Maker activities in youth
work

29. Who here is a maker?

31. Maker culture?
Maker activities?

32. Roots in traditional craftsmanship

33. ”The Maker Movement…is the umbrella term for
independent inventors, designers, and
tinkerers. A convergence of computer
(programmers) and traditional artisans, the niche is
established enough to have its own magazine,
Make, as well as hands-on Maker Fairs
that are catnip for DIYers who used to toil in
solitude.”
-Joan Voight (2014)

34. 21st century making includes
technologies such as..

35. 3D printing

36. Laser cutting

37. Robotics and
coding

38. But it’s not about the technology!

39. “Youth work values are what’s most
important, and then we build the
technology around that:
It’s less about building technical skills
and more about being a tool to express
themselves.”
- Youth Worker in
Screenagers -study (2016)

40. Youth work stays in the core.

41. “One prevalent theme in these contributions*
is the long-lasting effect of early experiences
on the road to becoming a maker.
Even if we wouldn’t strive to have all young
people become maker activists, many of the
views expressed hereafter resonate with
youth work professionals.”
* Maker activities in youth work (2019)

42. “Any activity that supports young
people’s self-reliance, creativity,
lifelong learning and, above all,
their healthy belief in their own
abilities is bound to belong in the
youth work bag of tricks. “

43. Maker activities are also about..
(See if this feels familiar)

44. Doing things together

45. Learning by experimentation

46. Creativity

47. Building and fostering communities

48. Changing society

49. Our context

50. Our context
• Non-formal education
• Youth work
• Digital youth work
• Technology education
• Closely related to STE(A)M

51. Possible goals for maker activities can include..
• Building new and engaging activities around new technologies to
attract young people
• Fostering young people’s technological and digital skills
• Providing access to technology for young people (thereby
addressing the digital gap)
• Updating existing activities to make them more attractive in the
digital age

52. In maker activities we are learning about..
• How technology works
• How we can take advantage of technology
• How we can take control of technology
• How we can apply our practical technology skills
• How technology can be used to influence society

53. The essential tasks for us
• Give youth workers tools and competencies to implement maker
activities in their work
• Give a wider perspective of the effects of digitalisation and
technological progress (i.e. “why is it important for young people
to know how technology works”)
• Remove possible fear of technology
• Explore and co-learn with practitioners in our trainings

54. Examples

55. Group activities built around robotics kits

56. mBots in church youth work

57. LED hobby horses

58. Hacking old rotary phones

59. Making a basic tester for circuits

60. Interactive art (by Exploring Senses UK)
Find @exploringsenses on instagram

61. Go to digitalyouthwork.eu for good practice videos

62. Innobox

63. www.digitalyouthwork.eu

64. Innoboksin idea ja sisällöt

66. Innovointiharjoitus

67. Strategic planning starts by
looking into the the future:
where are we headed?
Young people
Technology
Youth Work
Society

68. Megatrendit

69. Let’s try it out!

70. • This exercise will awaken your creativity.
• In this exercise, the task is to combine two different objects and
come up with as many new uses as possible for the combination. At
the end, the best idea for both pairs of objects will be selected.
• Remember, as this is a warm-up excersize, all ideas are bad at this
point. Be creative!
Innobox: combination

71. Divide into groups of 5-6 people

72. • A data projector and
• A scale (for weighing yourself)
List as many uses as possible for..

74. Innoboksin loput sisällöt