The Institute of Research & Training on European Affairs – I.R.T.E.A. in cooperation with seven other organizations from six European countries implement the project “SMART – Support Mobility Activities Running through Tech – SMART Youth Center”, which is funded by the Erasmus+ programme on youth via the Hellenic National Agency INEDIVIM (The Youth and Lifelong Learning Foundation) by the European Union.
SMART Youth Center. is a 24 months’ Strategic Partnership (Key Action 2 – KA2) of Erasmus+ and concerns Digital Youth Work (DYW).
More specifically, this project’s goal is to support and empower youth workers, develop their digital skills, to design and implement digital youth activities that will contribute to the participants’ professional development and progress. Moreover, SMART aims to ensure the inclusiveness of learning opportunities, to develop e-learning, mixed, and distance learning skills, as well as, the digital pedagogical skills of youth workers, and to empower them to provide high-quality digital, non-formal inclusive education.
I.R.T.E.A.’s partners in this project are the organizations ZAVOD MLADINSKA MREZA MAMA from Slovenia, CHANGE YOUR LIFE NOW – CYLN from Greece, COMUNE DI CINISELLO BALSAMO from Italy, VsI “Amicus Certus” from Lithuania, DYPALL NETWORK: ASSOCIACAO PARA O DESENVOL VIMENTO DA PARTICIPACAO CIDADA from Portugal, KEKS STODFORENING from Sweden and the private company BOLT Virtual Services and Productions.
SMART is the continuation of 2 previous Strategic Partnerships projects of I.R.T.E.A. (STEPS Youth Centers and the VR in School Education and Civic Participation). The partners decided for this project to focus on the latest developments and, especially, the needs caused by the COVID-19 pandemic putting the general emphasis on policies that promote the digitization of education and training.
The project, through its activities and produced Project Results, aims to develop the digital competences and skills of youth workers, to ensure the inclusiveness of learning opportunities, to develop e-learning, mixed and distance learning skills, to develop digital pedagogical skills of youth workers and to empower them to provide high-quality digital, non-formal inclusive education.
Participants in this process will be youth workers and their main feature is that they wish to develop their digital skills in the field of Digital Youth Work (DYW). As a result, people with or without much experience in the field of Youth will be sought who are interested in gaining a background in digital tools and methodologies that will allow them to adapt their work to the new trends of digital activities in the youth field. The expected results of the project are identified in empowering and educating youth workers to be able to understand how digitization shapes societies, including its impact on education and the youth sector in general, to take into account the ‘digital culture’ of young people, to foster a more flexible culture in the adoption of digital tools in education, to design DYW actions in line with the needs and hopes of young people and to encourage the participation of young people in all phases of DYW.
The foreseen Project Results are:
1) The development of Online MOOC courses under Cerebrum.gr platform and their attendance by participants on various aspects and tools of DYW and Digital Training,
2) The creation of VR environment for the implementation of activities aimed at young people
3) The pilot implementation of youth activities by the participants themselves
4) The creation of a toolbox containing tools, methods and applications useful in the field of Digital Education and Training based in the field of DYW.
In summary, SMART focuses on achieving a triple impact. First, it seeks to create opportunities for organizations, trainers and youth workers to innovate. Secondly, it aims at the increased use of Open Educational Resources, ensuring that educational materials produced with European or public funding are free, open and available to all for use or reuse. Finally, it seeks to improve the infrastructure of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and connectivity in youth centres.
For more information, you can xcontact us at the project’s official email (smartyouthcentre.eu@gmail.com).