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This padlet is no longer actively updated

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This padlet is no longer actively updated

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Thanks to everyone who supported this project - it went far and wide as quick way to share resources with people at the start of the pandemic. That time has now passed - keep an eye on participationpool.eu for updates on digital transformation in the youth sector

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Find out more about the history of the concept (smart youth work), its development and the way it works in practice.
Published: June 2018.

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A practical manual with tools to design and facilitate online training of youth workers including real life experiences and examples.
Published: September 2018

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A practical manual with tools to design and facilitate online training of youth workers including real life experiences and examples

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SEEYNs online portal on online learning and digital tools in youth work and NFE containing categorised tools and how-to.
Published: 2019.

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RESOURCES: Mobile App with Good Practices in the Field of Youth Social Entrepreneurship

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RESOURCES: Mobile App with Good Practices in the Field of Youth Social Entrepreneurship

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SE-HUB stands for “Empowering Change makers: Youth Social Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation in the Citizen Sector” – an international project that supports youth and youth organizations in becoming more aware and skilled to lead social entrepreneurial ventures and to apply social innovations in their communities.
Direct link: https://empowering-changemakers.eu/
Published: 2019/2020.

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KNOWLEDGE: Future labs - Youth Work podcast platform

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KNOWLEDGE: Future labs - Youth Work podcast platform

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& eBook: eHandbook is focused on Innovation in youth work; it is intended for practitioners who are looking for innovative tools to use in their activities with young people, including digital youth work.
Published: 2019.

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Futurelabs - Tools for the digital youth work

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Hello dear listeners, In this episode, we talked to Snežana Bačlija Knoch, an educational consultant in the European youth field [...]

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& a Step-by-Step guide to run these online meetings.

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Only schedule a meeting if you are clear on why you need one and what its goals are. If you have an online meeting of 30 people for an hour, that's 30 people hours! That's a lot of time if you're wasting it.
To reduce wasted time during online meetings, make sure to:

Test the online system (Skype/conference call/Google hangout) ahead of time. Try to know it as much as possible so that you are comfortable using it and can explain it to others;

Teach people to learn to use "mute" button-especially for large groups-so they get used to being on mute when they're not talking;

If you do a lot of online meetings, encourage people to use headphones since Skype and many conference calls create an annoying echo without them;

Instead of asking "who has something to say about this" you can use mechanisms like a go-round (see below) or small groups. When they do a go-round, have people get into the habit of calling on the person after them ("And now onto Hakim...") rather than waiting for the facilitator to un-mute themselves, step in, and say, "Hakim, are you ready?" If they don't remember who comes after them, they can finish by saying "check" so it is clear they are done speaking.
People learn by acting, not by hearing someone else talk, so get people engaged as much as possible.
For example, rather than spending 30 minutes talking about a time management technique, one climate change organisation decided to just have people try it. They explained it very briefly in the first 10 minutes, gave people a chance to practice the tool in small groups for 10 minutes, and then debriefed the experience for another 10. The same amount time resulted in far deeper learning than if people had just heard it talked about.

Here is a sample agenda to help you create your own online meeting:

Before the Call

* Make sure everyone has been sent information about when and where the meeting is (and any technical needs they have);

* Create an agenda ahead of time (send it out if you can).

Gathering Time

(5-15 minutes, depending on your group)

* Arrive online a few minutes early to test the technical specifications;

* Welcome folks as they arrive and keep track of who has and has not arrived (decide when to start);

* For large groups, delegate a second person to be present for technical problems.

Warm-Up / Get to Know Each Other

(10-15 minutes)

Offer ways for people to check-in or get to know each other (see go rounds). For example:

Ask each person to share honestly, for example, how they are doing, a lesson from their work, or one thing they're proud of at work;

Ask each person to share something silly ("If you were a vegetable, what kind of vegetable would you be and why...")

Agenda Review

This is after the warm-up so if people are late you don't have to keep repeating the agenda;

Review the goals of the meeting;

If you need notes for the meeting, make sure there is a note-taker.

Group-Building Activities

If you have the time or if it's a helpful for your goals, you may want to add a group-building activity. For example:

Create an online circle: (See Creating Online Small Groups) Ask each person to draw a circle on a piece of paper. Establish a place for each meeting participant in the "circle" by asking each person what number they want to sit at on a clock face. (This can be used for go-arounds and as a way of choosing people.) You can also create an online circle via the drawing tools on Google Slides, with a drawn circle and people "sit" on the circle, e.g.

Meeting Agenda Items

If at all possible, start with something that can be dealt with reasonably easily. This will give the group a sense of accomplishment and energy;

The harder, longer and more urgent items come next. If there are several, plan to have quick breaks between them to restore energy and attention (for example stretching, singing, a quick game or a bathroom break);

A big item may be broken into several small items and discussed one at a time to make it easier. Or it may be helpful to try presenting the item with background information and clarification, breaking into small groups for idea sharing and making priorities, and then returning to the main group for discussion;

Finish with something short and easy to provide a sense of hope for next time.

Announcements / Closing / Evaluation

Depending on your goals, you may want to provide some time for announcements and an evaluation, which allows people to express their feelings about the meeting and a chance to learn how to have better meetings in the future. Evaluations should be done immediately before the end of the workshop because people may forget to fill them out later or forget important details about the experience (see Evaluations);

Try to close a few minutes early-it creates a sense of abundance and energy to end the meeting a few minutes early.

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Only schedule a meeting if you are clear on why you need one and what its goals are. If you have an online meeting of 30 people for an hour, that's 30 people hours! That's a lot of time if you're wasting it.

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25 useful free online tools for workshop planning and meeting facilitation.

Updates: March 2020.

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Effective online tools are a necessity for smooth and engaging virtual workshops and meetings. But how do you choose the right ones? Do you sometimes feel that the good old pen and paper or MS Office toolkit and email leaves you struggling to stay on top of managing and delivering your workshop?

Fortunately, there are plenty of online tools to make your life easier when you need to facilitate a meeting and lead workshops. In this post, we'll share our favorite online tools you can use to make your job as a facilitator easier.

In fact, there are plenty of free online workshop tools and meeting facilitation software you can use to become more productive when in the process of preparing or following up on a facilitated session.

We collected the most useful tools we have encountered while talking to SessionLab users: facilitators, corporate trainers, and service designers as well as our own personal experiences. Many of these tools also include a fully functional free version available without time limitation so you can incorporate them into your workflow easily!

We grouped the tools according to the tasks they are primarily used for so you can find precisely what you need. The primary use case we considered was to support a digital facilitation process while running workshops. Most of these tools are equally useful when you need to prepare for other online sessions or work with virtual teams.

Let's jump in!

Online whiteboards: Miro, Mural, Stormboard, FigJam

Meeting planning: SessionLab, Google Sheets

Virtual facilitation platforms: Stormz, Butter, Thing.Online, Toasty.ai, Klaxoon

Virtual space tools: Spatial, Gather, Welo

Engagement tools: Mentimeter, Slido, Kahoot

Video conferencing: Zoom, Whereby, Skype, Google Meet, Big Marker

Survey tools: Google Forms, Typeform, SurveyMonkey

File storage and document sharing: DropBox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Box

Online communication tools: Slack, MS Teams, Discord, Chanty

Online Learning Platforms: Padlet, LearnWorlds, Nearpod, Teachable

Task management: Trello, Todoist, Asana, Notion

Note-taking apps: Evernote, OneNote, Google Drive & Docs

Online design tools: Canva, Figma, Invision

In 2022 SessionLab ran a survey of over 1100 facilitators from all over the world. A whole section was dedicated to tools, and you can now read the results in the State of Facilitation Report. What tools do facilitators use for design, delivery, and evaluation of sessions?

Based on these results, online tools coexist alongside pen, paper and sticky notes for session design, while whiteboards and videoconferencing software have become essential for session delivery. Go to the report to learn more! Is your favorite tool not on the list? Let us know in the comments or start a discussion in our Community!

Online whiteboards offer an endless flexible space where you can collaborate and share ideas. You can create an online canvas and use that as a simple whiteboard for jotting down ideas, or as an infinite board for building a project with a remote team. They allow the creation of mockups and schemes, you can quickly add stickers, write down ideas and leave feedback.

Complex problem-solving can be made easier by using a visual platform to brainstorm and collaborate. Online whiteboards are not only useful for preparing your workshop with a remote team, but also for online meeting facilitation. They can also help to replicate the feeling of working together in person. Here are our favorites!

Miro is one of the most popular online whiteboards on the market. It offers a flexible suite of features and templates that make it easy to start collaborating remotely.

We particularly love Miro's large collection of integrations and apps - there are so many ways to do something exciting for your virtual workshop with Miro. It also scales well with large numbers of participants and it's easy to invite people to the board in the middle of a session. Miro includes a free version that offers up to 3 boards for your team.

Miro and Mural were mentioned in the State of Facilitation in 2023 report as the top two most-used whiteboards, so you're in good company if you choose either of these for your next online session!

Mural is a versatile online whiteboard tool for remote team meetings. It is particularly strong as a tool for teams, allowing you to create different rooms for your board with differentiated access rights. It offers a wide range of workshop and meeting templates, including planning, design, issue analysis and idea generation board templates.

We've found Mural one of the best solutions for creating visually pleasing whiteboards and it's been used by many conference organizers as a result. Mural's free plan includes 3 murals with unlimited members.

Stormboard focuses on helping facilitators with idea generation, organization, and prioritization. You can add different types of notes, combine them together, comment in threads, and vote on ideas using colored dots.

Stormboard also has a strong reporting functionality that allows you to instantly turn your online sticky notes into structured meeting reports. Great when working with external clients. For a more guided approach to virtual meetings, Stormboard is a worthy option of online whiteboard. The free version offers 5 boards with a maximum 5 collaborators for each.

Figma is a great design tool for visual collaboration. FigJam is an online whiteboard that is especially useful for teams wanting to ideate around their Figma designs and collect all their online collaborations in one ecosystem.

FigJam is simple and intuitive to use and we love that we can access our designs easily. You can even add widgets such as a code editor and donut for team building! FigJam features a free version with 3 FigJam files and unlimited collaborators.

If you are planning to facilitate a group session that spans more than a couple of hours and you have different workshop activities, theory blocks, team building games and energizer activities, then you likely need to have some sort of agenda to plan the sequence of these activities.

A simple pen and paper might just do the trick for you, but what if you're working together with some other people on the agenda or simply need to share it with your client? If you want to avoid having dozens of different versions of Excel or Word files, then an online agenda builder might come in handy!

SessionLab is an online workshop planner tool for anyone who designs and facilitates workshops and meetings. It provides a drag and drop interface that is designed for the flexible and iterative process of building up a workshop or meeting agenda - making your process design work a real flow experience.

When it comes to running your workshop, stay on time with Time Tracker and adjust your agenda on the fly. You can collaborate in real-time, create a personal library of reusable assets and create quality printouts to share with your clients.

If you're looking for new inspiration, you can find more than 1000 workshop activities in a public library of facilitation methods and a set of expert-designed complete workshop templates too. And yes, we're blowing our own horn, but mainly because we're facilitators too and we love using it!

Using a template in SessionLab.

Google Sheets is a worthwhile online alternative to Microsoft Excel. So if you are a hardcore spreadsheets fan loving to tinker with rows and columns to turn them into workshop timetables then Google Sheets offers you most of the features you need for creating and sharing session agendas.

Real-time commenting and revision tracking is highly useful for collaborative work and integration with Google Drive cloud storage allows you to easily find content in your sessions in your Drive.

Virtual facilitation platforms

While Zoom still dominates as a video conferencing tool, what about when you're facilitating workshops that require more bespoke features? Or how about if you'd prefer to host your agenda, engagement tools and video software in one place?

These virtual facilitation platforms are designed to be a single spot for all your facilitation needs. They can be great if you're not already wedded to a video platform or prefer having all your tools in one spot.

Stormz is an app for professional facilitators. It enables you to design and facilitate digital and live workshops in one platform.

You can use Stormz to ask your participants to give their input on questions you generate in the app, generate ideas and make collective decisions directly from their laptop, tablet or mobile phone. It's a great way to create engagement and visualize responses during a session.

Stormz also offers a unique on-site solution to manage large group workshops involving hundreds of participants by using their portable Stormz Box device which provides secure and reliable local network infrastructure for collaborative workshops at any venue.

Butter is a new video conferencing tool dedicated to online meeting facilitation that is packed full of features. With in-built polls, icebreakers, a queue to enable equal participation, and time tracking, Butter is an effective alternative to Zoom for facilitators.

Butter has a free plan for up to 100 participants running 60-minute group sessions. It's certainly worth looking at if you're looking for a more robust facilitation toolbox in your video conferencing software.

Thing.online is a virtual facilitation platform that aims to recreate the feel of a live workshop online. With features like spatial discussions, breakout tables and integrations, Thing.Online aims to provide a single space for facilitating complex online events.

We like that Thing.online makes moving between presentations and individual discussions easy while keeping all your materials available and easy for participants to access. Running a virtual conference with a mix of keynote speakers and workshops? Thing.online might be the tool for you.

Combining interactivity and video conferencing, Toasty.ai seeks to make meetings more engaging and interactive. In the left sidebar, you'll find features like icebreakers, polls and whiteboard integrations you can add to your virtual meeting in a cinch. The integrated polling made for a simple participant experience, and Toasty features a heap of host tools to make running meetings easy too.

Toasty.ai's pricing is based on the number of agendas and participants in your sessions. Get started for free with 3 agendas and 20 participants and move up to premium plans as your scope expands.

Designed for those wanting to run more engaging online meetings and workshops, Klaxoon aims to be the one tool you need for online delivery. With a suite of features including a virtual collaboration space, polls, engagement apps, and more, Klaxoon can empower and uplift your online meetings.

The free version of Klaxoon includes a one-shot template with up to 15 participants, though you can also try the full version of Klaxoon with a 30-day trial.

Virtual space tools

Virtual space tools are great for creating an online alternative to a physical event or office space. With these tools, you can create virtual events and conferences that recreate that sense of navigating a festival ground or moving from keynote speeches to breakout rooms. You might even create a virtual office where people can gather, work and have chance interactions.

Virtual spaces such as those below can help create a sense of wonder and excitement in participants, though note that they do often require more set-up and overhead that a simple virtual meeting. For the right use case, they can be more than worth this time investment and can add something special to your team's online interactions.

Spatial Chat is a wonderful combination of video conferencing and virtual space designed to help remote teams work together. We used Spatial to host many of our Christmas events. Being able to move around the space and sit next to the virtual fire or arrange into teams for a quiz certainly elevated our experience!

Spatial Chat is free to start with teams of 5, though if you want to record meetings and have more than 3 rooms, you'll want to look at some of their premium plans. It's a great way to make digital facilitation more organic and engaging.

For teams looking for a virtual space that encourages playfulness, Gather might be the best shout. By including avatars that you move through a virtual space, Gather feels like an old-school videogame! It brings a sense of fun and embodiment to remote working, while also featuring heaps of tools to boost productivity.

We loved the customization features of Gather, and for teams that are looking for something different in a virtual space, it's worth playing with! Fully virtual teams looking for ways to connect and have fun outside of Zoom energizers will find lot's to love here.

Conference and virtual events looking for a festival atmosphere should check out Welo. With a bird-eye-view style that emulates maps or isometric games, Welo is great for creating large-scale events and conferences online. Welo has a whole suite of features for virtual events and team building, but we especially love how easy it is to explore.

Our experiences in Welo have been memorable, such as attending NeverDoneBefore festival for facilitators. We love what's possible in this platform and the potential wow factor a virtual conference organizer can achieve here! Welo is free to try and integrates with Zoom, too!

Engagement tools

Engagement tools are a suite of tools that allow you to quickly poll participants, run quizzes, visualize responses and even run simple games inside your meetings and events. This kind of workshop engagement tool can be key to creating memorable experiences. For virtual team building sessions and remote teams, this can be the missing ingredient to truly engage and delight participants.

For facilitators, such tools can also be useful to get feedback or facilitate group discussions in a way that makes sense for an online session. Quickly getting a read on how a group of 100 participants is feeling can be so helpful for determining the next stage of your workshop!

Mentimeter allows you to create questions (such as multiple choice questions) in their web application and participants can answer them from their mobile devices. The great thing is that you can instantly visualize everyone's opinion and display the results in real-time to the group. It helps your participants to feel engaged, which is especially important for a large group workshop.

Mentimeter works really well on mobile devices with a streamlined user experience and the free version allows you to create two polls and five quiz questions per presentation.

Slido also offers participant polling functionality and a mobile app for your participants. The free version allows you to have 3 polls per event. Similarly to Mentimeter, it also supports Q&A, so your meeting participants can post their questions at any time via the mobile application.

Slido has a heap of integrations including Google Slides and Microsoft Teams. We also loved the analytics suite: polling large groups and visualizing outputs in a word cloud was also a neat engagement feature that can help elevate your sessions.

Kahoot is an online platform for creating and sharing learning games with large audiences. It has a suite of features that make it great for classrooms, board meetings and workshops alike.

You can even create self-paced assignments for asynchronous engagement: great for hyping up a group before or between sessions. By using prizes and rewards, Kahoot's engagement tool is a great way to gamify your virtual sessions.

In a world of remote work and digital facilitation, video conferencing tools have become near mandatory. Many of us spend our working days inside virtual meetings and video chats, so choosing the right video tool is important!

Whether you're looking for a simple drop-in solution or something more robust for your next webinar, these video conferencing tools are some of the best. Each aims to make it easier to connect and work together online. You can expect to see screen-sharing options, participant management tools and useful integrations with other software too!

Zoom provides exceptionally reliable quality, minimizing audio or video latency issues that you usually encounter with most video conferencing applications. It has a wide variety of features available both for individual and business needs including the scheduling of calls, a dial-in phone number and recording audio and video calls even on the free service plan. The only downside is the 40-minute call limit.

One of the benefits of using Zoom for digital facilitation is audience familiarity. Most people working remotely are now familiar with the tool and you rarely need to explain how to use it. It's become the industry standard for good reason - it just works! With integrations, you can also use many of your favorite tools inside your meeting, making it a robust and simple option for your virtual sessions.

Whereby comes in to help when all other tools fail: you just open a video conferencing room, send the link to your guests and they can join without having to install any application or create an account. (Only a browser extension is needed to be added).

Whereby is a lightweight video chat tool with fewer features than Zoom but offers unprecedented ease of use. The free plan offers group video conferencing and screen sharing up to 4 people with one fixed meeting room. There's no need to create different meeting links each time, the same link will work for your team to meet anytime. We enjoyed using Whereby for quick meetings and to chat about something that email or Slack couldn't cover.

Skype was among the first players in peer-to-peer video conferencing and as it has been widely adopted now it's often a straightforward option for calling contacts who have Skype accounts.

As the market has expanded, Skype has grown to include screen sharing, group video conferencing, and file sharing too. Though it lacks some of the more collaborative elements of other tools, it's pretty good for a free option! For peer-to-peer communication with businesses and clients who prefer phone calls, Skype still has a place in your video and audio toolbox.

If you're hosting online workshops and conferences with large numbers of people and need to handle ticketing and recordings, Big Marker might be the tool for you. It's especially useful for those running webinars and who want to create a content hub of past sessions.

Breakout groups for workshops might not be as intuitive as Zoom, but it's easy to run conference-style sessions with speakers, Q&As and presentations. Creating a repository of recordings on your channel is a great feature that can be a massive boon if you're running an ongoing series or training course.

Google's popular messaging app offers an easy-to-use video conferencing tool that works really well even if you need to talk with people both in and outside your organization. Having a native integration with Google Calendar and Gmail means this tool gets a lot of use here at SessionLab!

Additionally, Google Meet offers many standard features such as breakout rooms, attendance tracking, and live streaming. While it may not be as robust as some of the other tools on this list, it is easy to use and requires little setup.

If you ask for feedback from participants and you want to go beyond using 'happy sheets', paper forms filled out right after the workshop on the spot, then you may decide to create an online survey after the session.

Alternatively, you might want to conduct a needs assessment survey while preparing your session. You can choose from a wide range of online survey tools that can do the job for you, ranging in complexity and use case. Here are some of our favorite tools for data collection and surveys.

Google Forms allow you to create unlimited surveys with 6 types of questions and skip logic that can guide your participants through your survey depending on their answers.

The service has seamless integration with Google's other apps including Gmail, Google Sheets and Drive, allowing you to take advantage of file storage and simple results sharing too. Google Forms also has a great advantage: unlike most of the competition that has usage limits in their free versions, Google Forms is absolutely free.

Typeform has made filling out forms engaging and interactive. The forms look fresh and modern, promising that users are more likely to enjoy the survey experience and complete it. It also offers some great insights on response rates and question drop-offs to help you improve your surveys and polls.

Typeform offers three surveys with a maximum of 10 questions and 100 responses in the free version while the paid version adds extra features, such as advanced question types and conditional logic.

Having been around since 1999, SurveyMonkey is one of the longest-running online survey services in the world. SurveyMonkey does the basics and does them well, providing a reliable alternative that has heaps of integrations with other tools. In the free survey version, however, you will be limited to 10 questions, 40 respondents per survey and no possibility to export your data.

For most projects you take part in, sooner or later you will have an endless amount of documents: meeting memos, PowerPoint decks, a batch of documents you receive from your client and dozens of spreadsheets with session agendas, registration forms... and the list can be continued.

Online file storage and sharing solutions allow you to store all your files in the cloud and access them whether you are on your desktop, phone or tablet. What's more, you can easily share the documents with your colleagues and work on them simultaneously: a must for any data collection process and effective project management too.

Dropbox is a pioneer in this market with their reliable and easy-to-use syncing and file-sharing system. The free option offers 2GB of storage, although the full-text search that helps you find any piece of information within your document is only available in the paid version. The service is very easy to set up and rightfully praised for its clean design.

Google Drive, offering 15GB free storage, this has the added benefit of a built-in office suite where you can edit documents, spreadsheets, and presentations even if you created the document in another program. Working together real-time on shared Google documents is a great feature and, similar to Dropbox, you can easily invite collaborators to any document or folder.

As with some of the other tools on this list, it's worth noting that many people are fluent in Google Drive and have a linked Gmail account. Even if you prefer Notion or One Drive, having a Google Drive for working with clients in that ecosystem is helpful.

OneDrive offers 5GB of free storage, a seamless integration to Windows, therefore it works especially well if you have a Windows PC, tablet and phone, and need to get to your files from any device with minimum effort. if you use Microsoft Teams or Office 365, chances are this is already part of your tech stack. As with Google Drive, it pays for digital facilitators working with different clients to have some familiarity with this tool.

As with many online tools, some of your clients might be sensitive about having data about their business stored in the cloud. For this reason, it's useful to consider Box, which has more sophisticated collaboration and privacy control options for business and enterprise users.

Collaborating across devices and ecosystems with peace of mind and advanced security features makes Box a worthwhile alternative to some of the basic file storage options above.

Online communication tools

Successful workshops and meetings are built on effective communication and this is even more true in online settings. While many meetings can be done over free video chat software, finding online communication tools that work asynchronously or allow groups to work together over longer periods have their place in your toolbox too.

When working with clients, co-facilitators or internal teams, you'll often be working collaboratively and asynchronously. Email often isn't conducive to these kinds of back-and-forth conversations and so the online communication tools below have a chance to shine!

If you work as a team online, chances are you have tried Slack. Slack is designed to make working with others easy and is full of features that help groups and teams connect, chat, and share in a virtual space. The free version of Slack has everything you need to communicate better online with your co-facilitators, clients, and workshop participants: a workspace, channels, 1:1 calls, 5GB of file storage, and up to ten integrations.

As an asynchronous tool, it's wonderful for using with hybrid events or longer sessions that span multiple days. Ensuring groups can stay connected and ask questions in the right place can help ensure everyone is on the same page, even across time zones.

Coming as part of Microsoft's Office 365 suite of tools, Microsoft Teams is group chat software designed to help teams collaborate across text chat, video and audio calls, and more.

By tightly integrating with familiar tools like Excel and Word, Microsoft Teams can help a team integrate their workflow and communication channels with ease! The free version offers storage of 2 GB/user and 10 GB of shared storage, 1:1 and group meetings and much more!

Immensely popular with gamers, streamers, and developers, Discord features a heap of features and is free and easy to use, making it a great alternative to other online communication tools. Discord's free version features screen sharing, voice chat, and no member or message limits.

For longer training courses and learning communities, Discord can prove to be a great tool that can be an ongoing source of communication and information usable for everyone in the group.

A business messenger tool, Chanty is a great alternative to Slack and other messaging apps. With competitive pricing, a fully-featured free version, and built-in task management, Chanty can be your online communication tool of choice. Chanty's free version allows ten team members to collaborate and communicate online, and it features unlimited chat history, voice messages and audio calls, and more.

Online Learning platforms

Delivering online courses, workshops, and training sessions can be made easier by using a dedicated learning platform. These tools are designed for hosting classes, sharing materials, setting tasks, and for presenting more complex sessions or courses over a longer period of time.

We'd especially recommend such a system if you're setting up an ongoing development or training program internally or for a client. Centralizing learning resources and keeping records can be what makes or breaks such a program!

Padlet is an online learning platform that can work for everyone from virtual teachers to facilitators, managers, and course leaders too! Padlet is flexible enough to be used to publish course materials online, collaborate with others, or to deliver online sessions. Especially for those involved in online teaching, it's well worth exploring!

Padlet's free version includes 3 boards, which is plenty to start collaborating or for delivering an online course or workshop!

For large-scale training programs and development processes, LearnWorlds is a great learning platform. You can build comprehensive in-house programs or courses you can deliver to clients again and again. LearnWorlds has a free trial, but it is one of the more expensive learning management solutions on this list.

If you're an agency or in-house training provider looking for a platform for hosting your courses, this could be what you're looking for. If you're running shorter workshops or courses and want something that requires less set-up, one of the other tools on this list might be more suitable.

Nearpod is an online teaching platform primarily designed for teachers and facilitators involved in e-learning and virtual course delivery. Nearpod features a library of learning methods and formative assessments to help make online learning interactive and a suite of features to enable virtual teaching.

Nearpod has a free version that allows 100MB of storage, 40 students per session, and 20+ formative assessments too. Absolutely check it out if you're a teacher or a facilitator regularly working with students.

Teachable is a platform for creating and selling online courses. While it's often used by content creators wanting to monetize their knowledge, facilitators and trainers can make use of the easy-to-use platform to create courses to support digital faciliation too!

Teachable is very simple to use out of the gate. While it lacks some of the customization features of the other tools here, Teachable is great for putting together a course at speed. If you're switching to an asynchronous model and need a learning management system in a snap, it's a great choice.

Do you have an endless to-do-list while managing multiple facilitation assignments? Arranging client meetings, working on designs and aligning with co-facilitators: the list can feel endless when you need to juggle multiple sessions and manage projects.

There are a vast amount of task management software tools available on the market. Some are part of complex project management suites, while others are dedicated only to keeping your tasks in order. You can find our favorite ones below.

Trello offers a flexible and visual way to organize anything with anyone. Trello is organized in boards inspired by Kanban methodology. You can add lists to the board and cards to the lists. Each card can have individual checklists, uploaded documents or pictures, and discussion in the form of comments.

Trello is an effective project management tool for any complex task, though it's especially useful when collaborating with a team. It's often favoured by lean teams using Scrum and other agile practices.

Todoist is more specialized towards personal organization in their free plan: you can compile tasks and subtasks into simple lists which is practical to use for a specific workshop.

One of the handy features is that it tracks progress over time and gives you insight into your personal productivity trends. The app monitors how many tasks you're completing and gives karma points as rewards for accomplishing them.

Todoist allows you to switch between Kanban and simple to-do lists, and it can be used to itemize recurring tasks too. When trying to balance bigger projects with business-as-usual tasks, Todoist is a great shout for the solo facilitator.

If you have a bigger project you may want to use more specialized project management software to help your team collaborate without getting flooded by emails. Asana is an intuitive task-management system that works best for teams seeking real-time interaction and its basic version is free for up to 15 users.

As with the other tools in this section, Asana has an easy-to-use mobile version that allows syncing over devices. Where they differ is in the specialization: Asana, for example, is great for working on complex tasks with many stakeholders and contributors. Check it out if this is what you and your client are after!

Notion is a sophisticated workspace app with a sleek design. It offers a highly flexible interface for doing everything from managing work, creating to-do lists, and organizing your tasks into tables, kanban boards, and calendar views. Many organizations use Notion as their internal documentation and collaboration center too! This flexibility is great if you like to tinker and tweak settings to create a perfect workspace to fit your needs.

For virtual teams, Notion becomes much more powerful and can be used to collaborate and organize work, much in the same way as Google or Microsoft's suite of tools. We use Notion at SessionLab and we love it!

Noting down various bits of information during a session design process is crucial: when talking with clients, jotting down some personal follow-up steps, saving useful links, and so on. Having your trusted notebook with you is essential to register all the information you need in one place, but organizing, finding, and sharing your notes is easier when using digital tools.

Doing this online has never been easier. There are plenty of apps that allow you to write down thoughts, sync them across devices and share them with your colleagues. Below you can find the most popular options with somewhat different strengths.

Evernote lets you easily capture, organize, and find content from the Web. You can highlight text on the web, take screenshots, write your own notes, etc. The notes can be tagged, shared, and formatted (to some extent) and you can even assign tasks to them. We like that Evernote also has some robust presentation features, and supports visual note-taking - it's a blast using it on a tablet!

Microsoft OneNote has a similar set of features to Evernote but the approach in organizing your notes is different. OneNote supports a more defined structure, as you can have several levels of notebooks, pages, and subpages. It also provides richer formatting options, which are especially useful when doing creative work as it allows you to start typing anywhere on the page.

We mentioned Google Drive combined with Google Docs earlier as a full-stack alternative for cloud storage and document management. Using Google Docs for collaborative note-taking in combination with a well-structured Drive and be a great way to simplify note-taking. It also has the benefit of offline doc support, easy collaboration and synchronization to multiple devices.

Google Docs isn't expressly designed for note-taking, but when running virtual sessions, we've found it to be a reliable and simple way to take notes.

A key bit of advice for any facilitator taking notes: whatever software you choose, you actually need to remember to use it! These tools really become useful when all your notes are in the same place and you can use powerful search and sharing features to share insights with your clients.

For taking quick notes during a meeting, you can actually use SessionLab's simple notes feature. This is useful for keeping track of what changed during a live workshop, or leaving instructions for a co-facilitator.

Online design tools

When running sprints or design workshops, being able to collaboratively work on visual assets for product and marketing initiatives can often mean the difference between a productive or unproductive session.

Whether you're brainstorming, prototyping or aligning on final designs, these collaborative design tools can be hugely beneficial to your sessions. It can be especially useful to work with something asynchronously before a meeting, leaving comments and suggestions that a designer might iterate on before a sign-off session.

For facilitators wanting to create visual assets for their online workshops or participants working together on new materials during a workshop, Canva is a great tool that makes creating beautiful designs easy. Canva really shines when it comes to ease of use and the fact it enables less design-savvy individuals and teams to create something attractive quickly and easily.

Canva's free version includes real-time collaboration, 5GB of cloud storage, and hundreds of thousands of free images and graphics to help you create great designs!

Figma is a great design tool that works to help designers and collaborators create and test prototypes together. Like Invision, Figma lives in the cloud, and so designs and prototypes are updated and ready for everyone who needs them instantly. With some unique and interesting features like the Arc tool and Vector Networks, Figma is well worth checking out for any folks involved in virtual design workshops.

Figma has a free plan that offers unlimited viewers, 2 editors and 3 projects and is great if you need to work together on visual assets as a part of a small team.

Invision is a design tool that is well suited to remote teams wishing to work on product or feature prototypes collaboratively online. It features a whole suite of features to support every part of the design process - freehand mode is great for commenting and ideating on a design, while Studio is awesome for creating and showing off prototypes with animations and interactions.

Invision's free plan is suitable for individuals and small teams and supports up to 3 active users working on up to 3 documents and unlimited freehands.

What's next?

Tools are only part of the solution and while they can make your work easier, the quality of your sessions will come from a thoughtfully designed workshop. Check out our post on how to design a workshop for help designing an effective session.

Need help with digital facilitation? Check out our guide for facilitating a meeting to get tips on engaging your participants!

All these online tools are worth checking out, and hopefully, they will save you time and make your facilitation-related work go even more smoothly.
Which is your favorite online tool from the list?
Let us know in the comments, and also if you missed something on the list!

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47 useful online tools for workshops and meetings! | SessionLab

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Effective online tools are a necessity for smooth and engaging virtual workshops and meetings. But how do you choose the right ones? Do you sometimes feel that the good old pen and paper or MS Office toolkit and email leaves you struggling to stay on top of managing and delivering your workshop?

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Examples of innovative practices in delivering digital youth work
--> Policy recommendations on digital youth work;
--> Identification of trainings of youth workers relevant for digital youth work,
--> Collection of training material.
Published: February 2018.

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Aims of the tool

The results of this expert group will be of interest to anyone involved in developments in youth work in the 21st century, especially youth workers, organisations, training providers, policy-makers, other practitioners, and researchers:

--> Youth workers (the results are relevant to their daily work, professional development, changing working field/demands; they will help them adapt, play an active role in children and young people's personal development). Youth workers are provided with a simple overview of competences;
--> Organisations (they need to provide youth workers with tools and support them, offer training, organisations and youth workers should know where to find appropriate training;
--> Policy-makers (the recommendations on the development of innovative methods in youth work, including digital tools, are addressed to policy-makers at local, regional, national and European level);
--> Various others: training providers, professional and standard-setting bodies, curriculum developers, software developers to provide appropriate tools, researchers, etc.

Description of the tool

This publication contains the main outcomes of the expert group:

--> A working definition of 'digital youth work';
--> Examples of innovative practices in delivering digital youth work and upskilling youth workers' digital competences;
--> Policy recommendations on the development of digital youth work;
--> Identification of training needs of youth workers relevant for digital youth work, based on existing competence frameworks for digital skills and for youth work;
--> Collection of training material which is available online and which addresses the identified training needs of youth workers relevant for digital youth work.

Disclaimer

SALTO cannot be held responsible for the inappropriate use of these training tools. Always adapt training tools to your aims, context, target group and to your own skills! These tools have been used in a variety of formats and situations. Please notify SALTO should you know about the origin of or copyright on this tool.

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The results of this expert group will be of interest to anyone involved in developments in youth work in the 21st century, especially youth workers, organisations, training providers, policy-makers, other practitioners, and researchers: --> Youth workers (the results are relevant to their daily work, professional development, changing working field/demands; they will help them adapt, play an active role in children and young people's personal development).

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From the partnership between the European Commission and the Council of Europe in the field of youth.
This webinar of 12 June 2018 introduced the main aspects of Smart Youth Work. It was organised in view of the Symposium "Connecting the Dots: Young People, Social Inclusion and Digitalisation" (26-28 June 2018 Tallinn).
Link to the Symposium page:
https://pjp-eu.coe.int/en/web/youth-partnership/symposium-2018
Published: 2018.

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Dance4Life have created a COVID-19 Youth Guide to support young people to navigate their lives in these challenging times.It contains information, links, and resources that can also inspire young people to become leaders in dealing with the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
! All written in a youth friendly language!
Updates: April 2020.

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All young people around the world can choose to be healthy, even in these disruptive times. Dance4Life has compiled this awesome COVID-19 Youth Guide to support them to navigate their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read, love and share! #besafeandkind #stayathome #youthguide #covid19youthguide #youthempowerment #coronavirus #covid19 #srhr #dance4life

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This digital knowledge repository aims to capture all the latest but also best practices, tools and methodologies to better enable youth work.
Updates: 2020.

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The ICT4YOUTHWORK project aims to better enable youth organizations, youth services and youth workers in reaching young people and delivering to them activities that will ensure responsiveness to the trends in society such as the latest progress in technologies and digital media.

The project's effort will allow for these types of organizations to update and adapt their methods to the new technologies to improve outreach to youth. Thus, youth organizations will be better empowered to increase the quality of the youth sector in Europe by sharing know-how across sectors, generating and disseminating new knowledge on methods and practices for use of the latest digital tools and media in youth work.

ICT4YOUTHWORK is a project that is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships.

The ICT4YOUTHWORK sets to:

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The ICT4YOUTHWORK project aims to better enable youth organizations, youth services and youth workers in reaching young people and delivering to them activities that will ensure responsiveness to the trends in society such as the latest progress in technologies and digital media.

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RESOURCES: Coyote magazine on digital and smart youth work

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RESOURCES: Coyote magazine on digital and smart youth work

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Published: June 2018.

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Council of Europe published the Internet literacy handbook (2017) which provides links to more in-depth information and resources for those who wish to delve further into the topics related to working with children and young people online.

Verke, the national Centre of Expertise for Digital Youth Work in Finland offers a wide range of publications and materials to develop and implement digital youth work. Some of the publications can be ordered in hard copy with free shipping in European Union countries. Worth starting with:

The Digital Youth Work Project (2017-2019) aimed to build capacity to deliver digital youth work at local, national, regional and European levels. They have:

YouthLink Scotland, the national agency for youth work, offers resources for safe, secure and empowered youth work online and resources to develop digital youth work.

SkillIT digital pathways (2018-2019) for youth work aims to increase the quality and relevance of youth work through digitalisation. They developed and offer:

Future Labs project offers the eHandbook (2019) which is focused on innovation in youth work. It is intended for practitioners who are looking for innovative tools to use in their activities with young people, including digital youth work.

Youth Access created a beginner's guide to adding online support to your young people's mental health and wellbeing service (2017). This guide has arisen out of the DigiTalk project, a one year Health Education England funded programme, which aimed to increase the capacity of 15 local Youth Information, Advice and Counselling Services (YIACS) to provide an online counselling service.

ICT4YOUTHWORK (2017-2018) collected good practice case studies of online youth work practices.

Aye Mind project (2015-2016) created a digital Toolkit for staff or anyone on a mission to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people - by making better use of the internet, social media and mobile technologies.

Leading groups online (2020) is a down-and-dirty guide to leading online courses, meetings, training, and events published by Daniel Hunter and Jeanne Rewa.

Videos, webinars and podcasts on smart and digital youth work:

Verke compiled a list of some of the tools that can be a good starting point for online youth work.

A long-term training course 'Effective Digital Habits for Youth Work' (2019) collected tools, activities and content to develop digital youth work. Download a list of tools from the seminar and training course for youth leaders and youth workers.

Keep it going! Online tools review for Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps National Agencies can be useful for organisations and partnerships locally and internationally.

Michele Di Paola created a series of blog posts to share online youth work tools and tips. Start from part 1 and continue reading on his blog.

Dan Moxon, People Dialogue and Change and PEYR, Marinela Szymańska SEEYN, and Adina Marina Şerban, CSCD & PEYR curate the Padlet board with tools, tips and practices for online youth work and participation.

The ICT4YOUTHWORK developed guidelines on the web-based tools and practice examples of their use in the daily life of an organization and in digital youth work.

Digi youth portal by SEEYN offers a fine selection of different digital tools and inspiring practices to be used in youth work, online learning and non-formal education.

A number of organisations contributed to experimenting and adopting digital Open Badges to support learning and recognition in youth work and non-formal education. Find some examples of how badges can be used: Trusted Badge Systems, European Badge Alliance, Unique Learning Badges. Currently the Open Badges technology is scaling up to Cities of Learning. Any organisation or informal group can offer their activities on Cities of Learning platform and issue badges.

The following references provide links to online learning and training opportunities for youth leaders, youth workers and youth work organisations to stay up to date on developments in digital youth work.

The main stakeholders at European level are constantly updating their web sites to take account of the increased need for digital youth work. You may want to check the European Youth Portal by the European Union, the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, the EU-CoE youth partnership, European Youth Forum.

Digital Youth Work project created useful tools for digital youth work developments:

Online courses offer opportunities to learn and develop competences necessary for youth work in the age of the internet.

The HOP platform fosters online learning and offers a growing number of online courses and podcasts targeting different aspects of European youth work.

Some of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) available in the youth field:

The Partnership between the Council of Europe and the European Commission in the field of youth is also working on MOOCs and has offered several editions of online course on Youth Essentials of Youth Policy and is in the process of developing online courses on youth work.

The Star of Europe: digital resources for Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges is a very innovative platform with digital resources to involve young people throughout all the stages of a youth exchange project.

Cities of Learning platform has an increasing number of local and online learning activities for young people and lifelong learners. Learning organisations can publish single activities or a learning pathway and issue digital badges to recognise skills and achievements. Municipality youth departments can run the platform to transform a city into an ecosystem of learning and recognition.

Appraiser platform for trainers' professional development offers free solutions for professional development, which includes self-assessment, feedback from participants, colleagues, and a competence development plan.

The Network of Professional Open Youth Work in Europe (POYWE) published the 5th issue of their online magazine "Logbook" focused on the theme of Digital Youth Work ; and the 6th on Exploring Digital Competences

Join Facebook groups like Digital Youth Work, NFL goes online and Online Tools for Learning to follow and exchange news and good practices for digital youth work.

Several European partnerships developed guidelines on how youth work and training organisations can create and deliver online learning and training activities:

Online Training of Youth Workers (2018) is a practical manual with tools to design and facilitate online training of youth workers including real life experiences and examples.

DOYIT eLearning Guide offers step-by-step guidance towards delivering a quality eCourse to youth information workers.

Digi youth portaloffers practical tutorials and theory behind online learning in youth work.

Both, the Council of Europe and the European Commission offer funding for international projects aiming to develop digital youth work.

The European Youth Foundation supports projects including digital and smart youth work objectives and activities.

The Erasmus+ in the youth field funded a number of projects that led to important outputs contributing to the development of digital youth work in Europe. Some of the examples of such projects: Digital Youth Work Project, Skill IT for Youth, ICT4YOUTHWORK and more... Each National Agency and Resource Centres offer an increasing range of support for developing digital youth work.

National governments and local municipalities begin prioritising digital youth work as an important development. Check funding opportunities available at national, regional or local level in your country.

SkillIT policy brief Enhancing Youth Services' Digital Youth Work Practice (2019) summarise the key findings of the SkillIT for Youth Project and to put forward proposals for improvement in this area at European level. The project developed the Competence Framework for Digital Youth Work Practice (2019).

The expert group on ' Risks, opportunities and implications of digitalisation for youth, youth work and youth policy' set up under the European Union Work Plan for Youth 2016-2018 released the publication " Developing digital youth work - An agile mindset is crucial " with policy recommendations, training needs and good practice examples

Council of the European Union published Council conclusions on smart youth work (2017) that defines 'smart youth work' as the innovative development of youth work encompassing digital youth work practice, and including a research, quality and policy component.

The report European framework for the digital competence of educators (2017) looks at a common European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu). DigCompEdu is a scientifically sound background framework which helps to guide policy and can be directly adapted to implementing regional and national tools and training programmes. In addition, it provides a common language and approach that will help the dialogue and exchange of best practices across borders.

During Estonia's presidency of the Council of the European Union, Estonian Ministry of Education and Research developed the Concept of smart youth work (2017).

The Estonian youth field continues working hard on smart and digital youth work concepts and practice, see for instance Anne Kivimäe and Maria Žuravljova's Discussing the Digital Age and Youth Work (2019)

Council of the European Union: Council conclusions on smart youth work

There is a growing body of researchers and studies focused on young people, digitalisation and digital youth work.

Social Inclusion, Digitalisation and Young People is a follow up work of the Symposium, in 2018, by the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership to explore this theme, with the support of the Expert Group, reflecting on how we can make use of inclusion opportunities arising from the new digital reality and draw conclusions for youth policy, practice and research.

The Study on the impact of the internet and social media on youth participation and youth work examines the impact of the internet, social media and new technology on youth participation and looks at the role of youth work in supporting young people to develop digital skills and new media literacy.

SillIT report of comparative study on digital skills and youth work provides comparative data-driven knowledge on digital youth work, youth workers, youth organizations and young people's needs regarding ICT, and the labour market's needs and expectations with regards to young people's digital skills.

The report Young people in digital era and youth work explores the impact of current trends concerning usage of digital technologies by young people on youth work practice. This report starts by discussing data on young people's patterns of internet usage. The lack of any reflection of these changes in youth work manuals is discussed before going on to analyse group dynamics theories and research on the possible impact on participation of young people in youth groups.

The Screenagers International Research Project published the Report on using ICT, digital and social media in youth work (2016)

Perspectives on youth - Vol. 4 - Young people in a digitalised world is a publication with the aim to bring new perspectives and varied visions to the key questions of understanding how young people interact with all the opportunities the digital space has to offer, and how they can use this space for causes relevant not only for themselves, but also for the democratisation of the societies in which they live.

The State of the World's Children 2017 (Children in a Digital World) is focused on how digital technology affects almost every aspect of life for millions of young people around the world. This is an interesting but essentially academic debate. Because for better and for worse, digital technology is a fact of our lives. Irreversibly.

Exploring the Role of ICT-enabled Social Innovation for the Active Inclusion of Young People reviews the state of the art in the domain of active inclusion services for young people, with a specific focus on how ICTs can support active inclusion of disadvantaged youth to strengthen their skills and capacities and support them to participate fully in employment and social life.

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Smart and digital youth work resources: where to find more

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Council of Europe published the Internet literacy handbook (2017) which provides links to more in-depth information and resources for those who wish to delve further into the topics related to working with children and young people online.

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KNOWLEDGE: Podcast on Digital Youth Work from Jane Melvin

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KNOWLEDGE: Podcast on Digital Youth Work from Jane Melvin

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Based on her research on the impact of digitalisation on youth work, how to convince hesitant youth workers, how to train digital topics to youth workers and professional ethics in digital environments.
Published: October 2018.

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Session #5: Jane Melvin | Digital youth work sessions

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In this session, we talk with Jane Melvin about her research on the impact of digitalisation on youth work, how to convince hesitant youth workers, how to train digital topics to youth workers and professional ethics in digital environments. Tune in!

View episodes

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Session #5: Jane Melvin | Digital youth work sessions

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In this podcast, we host 1-on-1 discussions on digital media and technology, and how they relate to youth work practice. The guests are digital youth work practitioners and experts from the European youth work field. Digital youth work sessions is hosted by Verke, the Finnish centre of expertise for Digital youth work.

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Not just vidya games but you know other games too. This book is a cooperation between gamers, game designers, game educators, researchers and people working with problem gaming, thereby striving for a neutral, objective and helpful end result.
Published: 2015.

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TOOLS: Tool for making collaborative online docs

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TOOLS: Tool for making collaborative online docs

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Hints: Similar to Google docs with with additional issues related to privacy.

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Etherpad is a software libre web application that allows for real-time group collaboration of text documents. Riseup does not store IP addresses, we require https, and pads are automatically destroyed after 60 days of inactivity.

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The Digital Youth Work Project aims to build capacity to deliver digital youth work at local, national, regional and European levels. It is a transnational Erasmus+ project with seven partners from six different countries across Europe and it is implemented during 2017-2019.
Updates: 2019.

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Der #ABHackathon war ein Geistesblitz einer Jugendlichen, die in einem ländlichen Gebiet lebte und an einem Hackathon teilnehmen wollte. Aber es gab keinen in der Nähe des Wohnortes, also beschlossen wir, einen eigenen zu planen! Ziel war es, jungen Menschen in Argyll und Bute die Möglichkeit zu geben, Zugang zu neuen Technologien zu erhalten und sie durch Bildung für STEM-Themen zu begeistern.

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Der #ABHackathon war ein Geistesblitz einer Jugendlichen, die in einem ländlichen Gebiet lebte und an einem Hackathon teilnehmen wollte. Aber es gab keinen in der Nähe des Wohnortes, also beschlossen wir, einen eigenen zu planen! Ziel war es, jungen Menschen in Argyll und Bute die Möglichkeit zu geben, Zugang zu neuen Technologien zu erhalten und sie durch Bildung für STEM-Themen zu begeistern.

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KNOWLEDGE: Estonia leads the way on the concept of *smart* youth 

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KNOWLEDGE: Estonia leads the way on the concept of *smart* youth 

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Including policy background &research findings.

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GUIDE: European guidelines on digital youth 

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GUIDE: European guidelines on digital youth 

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The European Guidelines for Digital Youth Work have been designed to clearly define Digital Youth Work, its impact and the value of youth work as an important educational practice which can empower young people in a digitalising society.

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"This takes a bit of work to get people using it! but slack is a good space where you create on online community . Think of it like old school chat rooms ...or a more complex what's app chat!
Useful for business, community groups and definitely an useful tool for youth workers as well!
*Trendy in March/April 2020!

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RESOURCE: Digital Youth Work Dig-It-Up! Publication

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RESOURCE: Digital Youth Work Dig-It-Up! Publication

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This publication is one of the outcomes of the 2017 edition of the training course Dig-It Up! - the European training course funded by Erasmus+ / Youth in Action TCA and aimed at youth workers interesting in learning and improving practical skills regarding digital youth work.
Published: 2017.

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This publication is one of the outcomes of the 2017 edition of the training course Dig-It Up! - the European training course funded by Erasmus+ / Youth in Action TCA and aimed at youth workers interesting in learning and improving practical skills regarding digital youth work. It has been published by Agenzia Nazionale Giovani, the Italian National Agency for Erasmus+ / Youth in Action. In these pages you will find insights, recommendations and guidelines coming from the ongoing European debate on digital youth work, enriched by the contribution of Dig-It up! trainers' team and participants; you will find information on EU and EC steps in defining and supporting digital youth work, either in terms of statements and documents, and in terms of studies and official collection of best practices, among which we are pleased to count our training course, too. The publication also contains examples and out-takes from the training course's programme, to show how digital youth work activities can be designed and delivered with simple means and tools, even outdoors. We also collected a set of good practices shared and presented by some participants, together with their profiles, expectations and evaluations of the training course. To learn more visit the website http://www.digitup.cloud

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This publication is one of the outcomes of the 2017 edition of the training course Dig-It Up! - the European training course funded by Erasmus+ / Youth in Action TCA and aimed at youth workers interesting in learning and improving practical skills regarding digital youth work.

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KNOWLEDGE: Webinar on connecting to young people online 

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KNOWLEDGE: Webinar on connecting to young people online 

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This presentation is one part of a webinar: Young People & Youth Workers in Online communities which was organised by SALTO Participation and Information Resource Centre (SALTO PI) and is co-funded by the National Agencies from Iceland, Bulgaria, Greece, Estonia, Slovakia, Italy, Lithuania and Poland. The training is part of a TCA (Transnational Cooperation Activities) project "Media and Information Literacy Training Programme" coordinated by SALTO PI.
Published: December 2019.

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SALTO Participation & Information Resource Centre

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Juha Kiviniemi: Reaching young people online

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Some advice on how to run a large interactive meeting with zoom!
This paper tries to summarise what we did to plan for and run a meeting of people working in charities to support involvement in research, and the lessons we learned. Meetings of the Charities Research Involvement Group normally take place four times a year and up until now have always been face-to-face. We normally have 35-40 attendees.
Published: March 2020.

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A tool for recognising and reflecting on learning through a series of electronic badges. Think  "challenge unlocked" type stuff like you get in gaming.
Description:

Content

Badgecraft offers a multilingual web platform to manage achievements using digital open badges. Organisations and individuals can earn, create, issue, share, sort and display badges online, plus use them to communicate achievements in the places which matter.

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Управлять всеми достижениями онлайн

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Build recognition pathways with levels and milestones. Track progress and monitor skills development.

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RESOURCES: Verke - Finnish agency for digital youth work.

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RESOURCES: Verke - Finnish agency for digital youth work.

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Intro to the Blog: Digitalization is a vast cultural and societal change that has affected most spheres of lives of young people. In Finland solely, most of the young have access to digital environments by using their own digital devices. Using internet and digital applications has changed profoundly their daily life practices, communication and free time activities.
Updates: 2020.

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Read more

Digital youth work means proactively using or addressing digital media and technology in youth work.

Verke coordinates the Centre of Expertise for Digital Youth Work in Finland. We promote the digitalisation and development of digital youth work in the field of youth work by training and producing materials and reports. Our target groups include youth work operators in municipalities, associations and parishes. Verke is funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Get to know us

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Verke - Digitaalisen nuorisotyön osaamiskeskus

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Read more Verke coordinates the Centre of Expertise for Digital Youth Work in Finland. We promote the digitalisation and development of digital youth work in the field of youth work by training and producing materials and reports. Our target groups include youth work operators in municipalities, associations and parishes.

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KNOWLEDGE: Corona advice for young people

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KNOWLEDGE: Corona advice for young people

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ind out more about what's happening and the simple steps you can take to help prevent catching COVID-19 and spreading to others. & Youth Friendly Language.
Updates: April 2020.

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GUIDE: Unesco handbook on online learning

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GUIDE: Unesco handbook on online learning

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published specifically for covid-19 times.
The Handbook describes several flexible online learning strategies implemented in China under the Chinese Ministry of Education initiative Disrupted classes, Undisrupted Learning which ensured flexible online learning to over 270 million students from their homes.
Published: March 2020.

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As COVID-19 continues spreading in many countries of the world, how to keep learning in disruption has become a major challenge to the global education community. As stated by UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay: "We are entering uncharted territory and working with countries to find hi-tech, low-tech and no-tech solutions to assure the continuity of learning."

At this critical moment, UNESCO IITE, UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED), Smart Learning Institute of Beijing Normal University and other partners have jointly released a Handbook on Facilitating Flexible Learning During Educational Disruption: The Chinese Experience in Maintaining Undisrupted Learning in COVID-19 Outbreak.

The Handbook describes several flexible online learning strategies implemented in China under the Chinese Ministry of Education initiative Disrupted classes, Undisrupted Learning which ensured flexible online learning to over 270 million students from their homes.

The Handbook is available here

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Handbook on Facilitating Flexible Learning During Educational Disruption - UNESCO IITE

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As COVID-19 continues spreading in many countries of the world, how to keep learning in disruption has become a major challenge to the global education community. As stated by UNESCO... Read more Handbook on Facilitating Flexible Learning During Educational Disruption

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TOOLS: European toolbox for youth eParticipation projects

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TOOLS: European toolbox for youth eParticipation projects

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A very interesting project for online coproduction. I think their tools will be available to all at some point too.
Description: OPIN is an all-in-one digital and mobile participation toolbox, easily embedded in the web presence of youth organisations or public administrations.
Updates: March 2020.

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RESOURCES: LGBT+ Digital Youth Work Risk Assessment (Safeguarding)

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RESOURCES: LGBT+ Digital Youth Work Risk Assessment (Safeguarding)

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Here at www.theproudtrust.org we are developing a rapid suite of digital youth work resources for use with LGBT+ Youth Groups. This is our risk assessment for Digital Youth Work in the COVID-19 public health crisis.

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KNOWLEDGE: Life lessons through tinkering

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KNOWLEDGE: Life lessons through tinkering

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*Tinkering School is a place where kids can pick up sticks and hammers and other dangerous objects, and be trusted.

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Get a daily email featuring the latest talk, plus a quick mix of trending content.

By subscribing, you understand and agree that we will store, process and manage your personal information according to our Privacy Policy

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Gever Tulley: Life lessons through tinkering

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Gever Tulley uses engaging photos and footage to demonstrate the valuable lessons kids learn at his Tinkering School. When given tools, materials and guidance, these young imaginations run wild and creative problem-solving takes over to build unique boats, bridges and even a roller coaster!

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TOOLS: Estonia has offered all of its digital education tools out for 

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TOOLS: Estonia has offered all of its digital education tools out for 

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Mobile devices, social networking sites and the internet are great tools to help organisations and groups engage with children and young people. However, if used inappropriately, they can also pose potential safeguarding risks and this may lead to abuse, both online and offline.
On this page we’re sharing best practice for online safety in your group or organisation.
Published: September 2019.

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Lehte ei leitud | Haridus-ja Teadusministeerium

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RESOURCES: Hot chocolate trusts youth work ideas during Corona  

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RESOURCES: Hot chocolate trusts youth work ideas during Corona  

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*An alternative youth work idea - keep on updating it! :)
Updates: March 2020.

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KNOWLEDGE: Young Harrows Covid-19 support webinars

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KNOWLEDGE: Young Harrows Covid-19 support webinars

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Lots of exploration about safeguarding on here:
- Hearing from Education about how they are currently delivering support, what the new pressures from Government are having on teachers and how the Charity Sector can support them over the coming months.
- Hearing from a HR consultant about Furlough, HR and Legal Changes. The Need to Knows and the Do's and Don'ts
& Much More
Updates: April 2020.

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Anthony Scott - qualified counsellor/psychotherapist with 17 years' face-to-face work with young people, families, communities in both statutory and voluntary services.

Extensive experience in working with young people at risk of offending, serious youth violence, designing and delivering training which is respectful, truthful and challenging to enable professionals to understand institutional racism, unconscious bias, and how these nuances impact communities from the African and Asian diaspora and the role that generational trauma has to play in how our young people and families present to services.

Patrick Vernon OBE is a social commentator, campaigner and cultural historian. He has over twenty years' senior leadership experience working across mental health, public health, heritage and ethnic equality and is well known in health, local government and the voluntary sector. In 2018 he kick started the campaign for an amnesty for the Windrush Generation. Patrick is currently Associate Director for Connected Communities at the Centre for Ageing Better, Equality and Diversity Adviser to Lambeth Council, Chair of Citizens Partnership for Healthcare Investigation Branch (HSIB) and Senior Associate at OLMEC.

Patrick is a Patron of ACCI a long established black mental health charity in Wolverhampton and Patron of Santé a social enterprise in Camden which supports and befriends refugees and asylum seekers across London. Patrick is Vice Chair of the Bernie Grant Trust and a board member of 38 Degrees. He received and OBE in 2012 for his work in Ethnic Equality and Health. He was awarded an honorary PhD by Wolverhampton University in 2018 for his campaigning and writing on culture, history and migration. In 2019 Patrick received the SMK Lifetime Achievement Award for campaigning

Dr Adrienne Milner
is an expert on race-ethnic inequality and Senior Lecturer in Public Health at Brunel University London. Her research focuses on racial attitudes, policy preferences, and health outcomes to examine issues such as police brutality, discrimination in the NHS, and affirmative action.

Errol Donald, Director of Mindspray

As a qualified child therapeutic wellbeing practitioner, Errol has worked extensively in community settings where he observes creative, intercultural practice with an awareness of the cognitive, emotional, and educational needs of young people. Errol is the founder and director of Mindspray, a creative practice delivering projects that meet at the intersections of art, culture, and wellbeing.

Acknowledged as a leading figure within the development of British graffiti art, Errol has since established a track record for creative leadership within education, corporate law, youth leadership, cultural heritage, and therapeutic wellbeing.

Veronica Mason

Veronica Mason (BSc, MA, PGCHE) is a Professional Youth and Community Worker (JNC Qualified) and university lecturer. She is very passionate about creating programmes of change which encourages the formation of positive self-identity and racial identity awareness. Veronica currently works for London Metropolitan University

and holds a master's degree in Applied Anthropology, Community and Youth Work, a BSc Degree in Sociology and Psychology as well as a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching in Higher Education.

Questions and Answers from the audience and answered by Veronica Mason, Errol Donald, Dr Adrienne Milner, Patrick Vernon OBE and Anthony Scott

James Banks (CEO) London Funders - giving an update on how funders have been collaborating over the past three weeks to jointly look at thematic areas and to update on the London Community Response Fund portal.

and

Erik Mesel (Senior Grants and Public Policy Manager) John Lyon's Charity and Chair of the Young People's Thematic Area group of 30 plus funders - talking about why and what the funding available will focus on.

Presentation download

Lesleyann Russell (Compliance and Risk Manager) Children in Need - Looking at the funders response to Safeguarding and how they will assess practice to ensure children and young people are protected.

Presentation download

Leigh Middleton: CEO NYA (National Youth Agency): gives us an update of the work NYA have been doing, how charities can have a say and what they are doing to support government in this period of time

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Anthony Scott - qualified counsellor/psychotherapist with 17 years' face-to-face work with young people, families, communities in both statutory and voluntary services.

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A beginner's guide to offering digital mental health support.
Guide to adding online support to young people's mental health and wellbing services - which was previously only distributed to Youth Access members - freely available online.
Published: 2017

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The ICT4YOUTHWORK project aims to better enable youth organizations, youth services and youth workers in reaching young people and delivering to them activities that will ensure responsiveness to the trends in society such as the latest progress in technologies and digital media. (Erasmus +, K 2 - Strategic Partnerships in the field of Youth Project).

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The ICT4YOUTHWORK project aims to better enable youth organizations, youth services and youth workers in reaching young people and delivering to them activities that will ensure responsiveness to the trends in society such as the latest progress in technologies and digital media.

The project's effort will allow for these types of organizations to update and adapt their methods to the new technologies to improve outreach to youth. Thus, youth organizations will be better empowered to increase the quality of the youth sector in Europe by sharing know-how across sectors, generating and disseminating new knowledge on methods and practices for use of the latest digital tools and media in youth work.

ICT4YOUTHWORK is a project that is funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships.

The ICT4YOUTHWORK sets to:

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The ICT4YOUTHWORK project aims to better enable youth organizations, youth services and youth workers in reaching young people and delivering to them activities that will ensure responsiveness to the trends in society such as the latest progress in technologies and digital media.

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RESOURCES: Covibook - supporting you to talk with young children about Corona 

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RESOURCES: Covibook - supporting you to talk with young children about Corona 

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A short book to support and reassure our children, under the age of 7, regarding the COVID-19. This book is an invitation for families to discuss the full range of emotions arising from the current situation. It is important to point out that this resource does not seek to be a source of scientific information, but rather a tool based on fantasy.
Published: 2020.

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Is this your domain?Connect it to your Wix website in just a few easy steps:

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KNOWLEDGE: Great article on the ethics of digital youth work

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KNOWLEDGE: Great article on the ethics of digital youth work

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Published: June 2018.

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Digital Spaces

Digital spaces can be defined as the digital "locales" where young people gather, with digital places giving meaning, memories and feelings. Spaces provide the arena or setting, whilst places represent attachment, belonging and significance. Belongingness for young people is usually associated with a physical sense of place created by meeting up with friends in spaces such as home, school, youth provision, shopping centres and parks, but also increasingly through digital places such as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram or gaming environments. Young people, as part of their identity development, describe belonging as "fitting in" and "feeling accepted" and this is associated with connections to specific spaces and places through friendship, "mates" that can be counted on, support, and intimacy (not necessarily of a sexual kind); for many young people, digital places provide a constant connection to their peers, a way of validating who they are becoming, and receiving emotional reassurance that they belong.

One of the advantages of youth work practice is that it can take place in the spaces where young people choose to gather (detached youth work, streetwork or outreach work), and dedicated youth provision (youth clubs, projects and building-based work) can work with young people to create a sense of place to keep them gathering there. However, digital spaces and places present challenges for youth workers, not least because they cannot compete with commercial social media platforms which generate concerns related to access, privacy, purpose, appropriateness and safety. Youth work often states in its offer to young people that it provides safe spaces, yet in the context of using digital spaces and places, the notion of "safe" is subjective, especially when spaces and places for digital youth work are outside a youth worker's control, in that content may be too visible, and can be shared, cloned and changed, and advertisements targeting users may not be appropriate in the context of professional youth work practice.

So, I would encourage you to think about the physical spaces within which young people gather. Are they the same or do they differ from the digital spaces and places in which they meet? Youth workers have the unique ability to be able to work with young people on their own territory, in their own spaces and places. Should this not, therefore, extend to digital spaces and places? John Dewey (1938), whose work on informal and experiential education underpins youth work approaches in the UK, recognised the significance of space and place, in relation to where learning is situated or where it takes place. He talks of the responsibility that educators have to exploit the environment, spaces and places in which they "meet" and work with young people.

I believe that youth workers can work with young people in digital spaces and places in the same way that they might work with young people in a local park, on the streets or through a building-based project. However, in the digital world some of the parameters are changed, and it requires careful planning to protect young workers, youth work organisations and young people, as well as to produce powerful learning outcomes. There are also two essential principles that have come through my research: firstly, that working with young people using digital spaces and places is most effective when it is an extension of an existing face-to-face relationship. This doesn't preclude working with young people virtually, that is where a youth worker only knows a young person through a website. However, I believe this to be a completely different way of working in that such interventions need to be formally structured to protect staff from allegations of inappropriate contact or behaviour, and that it is difficult to know whether the virtual contact is indeed a young person. The UK youth workers that I have worked with describe their best work as a combination of face-to-face and digital engagement, that is where digital spaces and places can extend the possibilities for existing relationships, adding an extra dimension, and a continuation of activities or conversations started face to face.

Secondly, working in digital spaces and places is most effective when young people choose which tools, spaces and places are the best ones to use. As with many physical spaces and places in which young people meet and socialise, youth workers need to go to them. There's no point in trying to get young people to sign up to platforms and apps that they don't use and therefore won't visit.

From my research, four headings have emerged and these can be used to drive both professional and ethical practice, as well as interventions with young people. These can be summarised as follows:

Safety - safe or unsafe digital practices, duty to safeguard and educate about the safe use of digital technologies;

Production - digital literacy skills and behaviours, digital footprint, production of artefacts (campaigns, video, photo, blog, podcast, etc.);

Information - critical consumers of the internet, and broader information, advice and guidance needs;

Communication - marketing and publicising of youth work, generic digital communication skills, self-promotion, digital footprint.

Within the headings, issues related to both professional practice and interventions with young people can be placed on four continuum representations as follows:

safe-unsafe

productive-unproductive

information-misinformation

communication-miscommunication.

These continuums are not intended to represent good and bad aspects of the digital world. Rather, they represent areas to be aware of and supervised in relation to professional practice, and they are also areas that can form the focus of both planned and unplanned work with young people.

© Jane Melvin

These different continuums can be placed into a model as represented here. It is set contextually in digital spaces and places, and these would represent the spaces and places where young people are meeting and socialising, as well as those agreed as spaces and places where youth workers can engage with young people. The four spaces of safety, production, information and communication are represented as interconnected circles, as it is very difficult to view these in isolation. The continuums are also shown as interrelated and connected to each other, and some issues, for example, the impact of a young person's digital footprint, occur throughout.

As a way of illustrating this, at a conference last year in South Africa, I was asked about how this model could support youth workers working with young people around the issues of extremism and radicalisation, and the fact that many young people are known to have been radicalised initially through the internet. Within the safe space of the model, youth workers can raise young people's awareness of safe and unsafe practices, particularly in relation to extremist groups online, but also of the reporting processes if they have concerns about themselves and their friends. Equally, youth workers using digital spaces and places to work with young people on such issues need to be backed and supervised by their employing organisations, operate under professional profiles, and be transparent about their presence and role, so that they are not placing themselves at risk.

The production space might look at what constitutes unproductive behaviour, for example, how a young person's digital footprint is impacted by liking certain pages, or sharing photos or posts relating to radicalised or extremist ideas on social media sites. The digital footprint of a youth worker's professional profile is also of relevance, in that it can serve to positively promote the work of the wider youth work organisation as well as the individual practitioner. Here, there is also the possibility for young people to produce artefacts to promote positive aspects, for example how a group of young people is working to challenge extremist views, such as those of the far right.

The information space includes the idea of creating critical consumers and supporting young people to know what online information is true and what isn't; so it would support working with them to question what they encounter on the internet and not take at face value propaganda, for example. It also encompasses training that youth workers need to be able to support young people who are at risk of being radicalised, which might include knowledge of online resources or specialist organisations.

Within the communication space, youth workers could work with young people to look at how extremist views are communicated, and how targeted individuals can be tracked and contacted. They might, for example, work with young people using gaming sites such as World of Warcraft, to educate them about how gamers are being profiled through organisations like the FBI through such games, but also how extremists can target and contact players.

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Digital spaces can be defined as the digital "locales" where young people gather, with digital places giving meaning, memories and feelings. Spaces provide the arena or setting, whilst places represent attachment, belonging and significance.

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GUIDE: Nice blog on facilitating online sessions 

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GUIDE: Nice blog on facilitating online sessions 

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& Top tips in facilitating these sessions.

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Going virtual: Top tips for trainers and facilitators | CB Legacy

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This is the start of a series of blogs written by Bootcamp lead trainer Nim Ralph to advise trainers and facilitators on how to run effective online trainings in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. This blog introduces the topic and Nim's top 10 tips.

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This is a tool for doing interactive polls and making live word clouds as part of a presentation. It's mainly designed for in person events, but if you screen share you can use it over a video chat.
! Sign in for a free account!

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RESOURCE: MindEd - educational resource on children and young people's mental health

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RESOURCE: MindEd - educational resource on children and young people's mental health

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It's a stressful time for all right now...especially children and young people.
Additional info: It is not compulsory, but the best way to use MindEd is by creating a learning account. If you are already a registered MindEd user, or you want to sign up for a free account you can do so here.

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MindEd is suitable for all adults working with, or caring for, infants, children or teenagers, adults and older people, including people with a learning disability and autistic people; all the information provided is quality assured by experts, useful, and easy to understand. We aim to give adults who care for, or work with people:

the knowledge to support their wellbeing

the understanding to identify a child, young person or adult at risk of a mental health condition

the confidence to act on their concern and, if needed, signpost to services that can help

MindEd is multi-professional, and can be used by teachers, health and mental health professionals, police and judiciary staff, social workers, youth service volunteers, school counsellors among others to support their professional development.

All registered learners can access a learning path tailored to their needs.

Throughout the MindEd site we make use of images and videos. In all cases, except where specifically noted, these images and videos use actors and are not intended to represent any specific person.

Disclaimer

Please note that the advice provided on MindEd is written and quality assured by experts in mental health and is accurate and comprehensive as possible. It is however only general advice and should not be used as a substitute for any individual advice you might receive from consulting your own doctor/mental health professional. Please use your own judgement when deciding how best to apply our information to any specific situation or proposed treatment. This applies to any clinical professionals, who should use their own clinical judgement when interpreting the information on MindEd and deciding how to best apply it in the treatment of patients.

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MindEd is suitable for all adults working with, or caring for, infants, children or teenagers, adults and older people, including people with a learning disability and autistic people; all the information provided is quality assured by experts, useful, and easy to understand.

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KNOWLEDGE: Modes of online youth work presentation

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KNOWLEDGE: Modes of online youth work presentation

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Here's a video I shot explaining some different ways to think about how to 'do' youth work online.

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GUIDE: Advice and guidance on data protection (GDPR) for EU countries

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GUIDE: Advice and guidance on data protection (GDPR) for EU countries

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Each EU country has an information commissioner, which provides support and regulatory guidance around GDPR.   GDPR means thinking about what personal data you are  collecting and how , and ensuring you use it legally. Even a pen and paper can be used to break GDPR if you use it incorrectly.
And for additional info on GDPR and Youth Work you can also check this link: https://mikehopemmu.wordpress.com/2017/03/31/general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-and-how-it-might-affect-youth-work/

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The material (opinions, working documents, letters etc.) issued by the Article 29 Working Party (Art. 29 WP), available on this website reflect the views only of the Art. 29 WP which has an advisory status and acts independently. They do not reflect the position of the European Commission.

Croatia

Croatian Personal Data Protection Agency
Martićeva 14
10000 Zagreb
Tel. +385 1 4609 000
Fax +385 1 4609 099
e-mail: azop@azop.hr or info@azop.hr
Website: http://www.azop.hr/

Finland

Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman
P.O. Box 800
FIN-00521 Helsinki

Ratapihantie 9
FIN-00520 Helsinki

Switchboard: +358 (0)29 566 6700
Registry: +358 (0)29 566 6768
e-mail: tietosuoja@om.fi
Website: http://www.tietosuoja.fi/en/

Art 29 WP Alternate Member: Ms Elisa KUMPULA, Head of Department

France

Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés - CNIL
8 rue Vivienne, CS 30223
F-75002 Paris, Cedex 02
Tel. +33 1 53 73 22 22
Fax +33 1 53 73 22 00
e-mail:
Website: http://www.cnil.fr/

Art 29 WP Alternate Member: Ms Florence RAYNAL

Germany

The competence for complaints is split among different data protection supervisory authorities in Germany.
Competent authorities can be identified according to the list provided under
https://www.bfdi.bund.de/bfdi_wiki/index.php/Aufsichtsbeh%C3%B6rden_und_Landesdatenschutzbeauftragte

Art 29 WP Alternate Member: Prof. Dr. Johannes CASPAR, representative of the federal states

Hungary

Data Protection Commissioner of Hungary
Szilágyi Erzsébet fasor 22/C
H-1125 Budapest
Tel. +36 1 3911 400
e-mail: peterfalvi.attila@naih.hu
Website: http://www.naih.hu/

Art 29 WP Alternate Member: Mr Endre Győző SZABÓ Vice-president of the National Authority for Data Protection and Freedom of Information

Ireland

Data Protection Commissioner
Canal House
Station Road
Portarlington
Co. Laois
Lo-Call: 1890 25 22 31
Tel. +353 57 868 4800
Fax +353 57 868 4757
e-mail: info@dataprotection.ie
Website: http://www.dataprotection.ie/

Art 29 WP Alternate Members: Mr John O'DWYER, Deputy Commissioner; Mr Dale SUNDERLAND, Deputy Commissioner

Netherlands

Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
Prins Clauslaan 60
P.O. Box 93374
2509 AJ Den Haag/The Hague
Tel. +31 70 888 8500
Fax +31 70 888 8501
e-mail: info@autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl
Website: https://autoriteitpersoonsgegevens.nl/nl

Art 29 WP Member: Mr Aleid WOLFSEN, Chairman of Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens
Curriculum Vitae (5 kB)

Poland

The Bureau of the Inspector General for the Protection of Personal Data - GIODO
ul. Stawki 2
00-193 Warsaw
Tel. +48 22 53 10 440
Fax +48 22 53 10 441
e-mail: kancelaria@giodo.gov.pl; desiwm@giodo.gov.pl
Website: http://www.giodo.gov.pl/

Romania

The National Supervisory Authority for Personal Data Processing
President: Mrs Ancuţa Gianina Opre
B-dul Magheru 28-30
Sector 1, BUCUREŞTI
Tel. +40 21 252 5599
Fax +40 21 252 5757
e-mail: anspdcp@dataprotection.ro
Website: http://www.dataprotection.ro/

Art 29 WP Member: Ms Ancuţa Gianina OPRE, President of the National Supervisory Authority for Personal Data Processing

Art 29 WP Alternate Member: Ms Raluca POPA, Department of International Affairs

Slovakia

Office for Personal Data Protection of the Slovak Republic
Hraničná 12
820 07 Bratislava 27
Tel.: + 421 2 32 31 32 14
Fax: + 421 2 32 31 32 34
e-mail:
Website: http://www.dataprotection.gov.sk/

Art 29 WP Alternate Member: Mr Jozef DUDÁŠ, Vice President

Slovenia

Information Commissioner
Ms Mojca Prelesnik
Zaloška 59
1000 Ljubljana
Tel. +386 1 230 9730
Fax +386 1 230 9778
e-mail: gp.ip@ip-rs.si
Website: https://www.ip-rs.si/

Sweden

Datainspektionen
Drottninggatan 29
5th Floor
Box 8114
104 20 Stockholm
Tel. +46 8 657 6100
Fax +46 8 652 8652
e-mail: datainspektionen@datainspektionen.se
Website: http://www.datainspektionen.se/

Art 29 WP Alternate Member: Mr Hans-Olof LINDBLOM, Chief Legal Adviser

United Kingdom

The Information Commissioner's Office
Water Lane, Wycliffe House
Wilmslow - Cheshire SK9 5AF
Tel. +44 1625 545 745
e-mail: international.team@ico.org.uk
Website: https://ico.org.uk

Art 29 WP Member: Ms Elizabeth DENHAM, Information Commissioner
Curriculum Vitae (5 kB)

Art 29 WP Alternate Member: Mr Steve WOOD, Deputy Commissioner

European Data Protection Supervisor

Rue Wiertz 60
1047 Bruxelles/Brussel
Office: Rue Montoyer 63, 6th floor
Tel. +32 2 283 19 00
Fax +32 2 283 19 50
e-mail: edps@edps.europa.eu
Website: http://www.edps.europa.eu/EDPSWEB/

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The material (opinions, working documents, letters etc.) issued by the Article 29 Working Party (Art. 29 WP), available on this website reflect the views only of the Art. 29 WP which has an advisory status and acts independently. They do not reflect the position of the European Commission.

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TOOLS: Digital Youth Work Toolkit for Youth Workers

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TOOLS: Digital Youth Work Toolkit for Youth Workers

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LOTS of step-by-step session plans on how to run digital workshops with young people. Using an online video tool like Zoom, the activities can easily be adapted for facilitation in an online youth work space!
Published: 2019.

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RESOURCES: German scouts are collecting ideas for how to run activites online

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RESOURCES: German scouts are collecting ideas for how to run activites online

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English speakers can read through Google translate  https://www.scoutingneverstops.de/

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Cookies, die für das Funktionieren der Website möglicherweise nicht besonders notwendig sind und speziell dazu verwendet werden, personenbezogene Daten von Benutzern über Analysen, Anzeigen und andere eingebettete Inhalte zu sammeln, werden als nicht benötigte Cookies bezeichnet. Es ist obligatorisch, die Zustimmung des Benutzers zu erhalten, bevor diese Cookies auf Ihrer Website ausgeführt werden.

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KNOWLEDGE: Who doesn't have online access? (Eu stats)

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KNOWLEDGE: Who doesn't have online access? (Eu stats)

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Who are we excluding when we begin to move all our lives online......check these stats to find out

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The current health crisis has highlighted the necessity of internet connections in the normal functioning of modern economies. ICTs have become widely available to the general public, both in terms of accessibility as well as cost. A boundary was crossed in 2007, when a majority (53 %) of households in the EU had internet access. This proportion continued to increase, passing three quarters in 2012 and four fifths in 2014 and 90 % in 2020. By 2022, the share of EU households with internet access rose to 93 % (see Figure1).

In 2022, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland reported the highest proportion of households with internet access with 98 % (see Figure 2). Spain (96 %) and Denmark (95 %) were also among the EU Member States with the highest rate of household internet access. Greece (85 %), Croatia (86 %) and Bulgaria (87 %) presented the lowest rates of household internet access among the EU Member States. Nevertheless, while a saturation of household internet access is seen among some of the top Member States, a catching-up was observed between 2017 and 2022 with increases of 20 % for Bulgaria, 15 % for Cyprus, and 13 % for Spain, Latvia, Romania and Lithuania. In 2022, the proportion of household with internet access was 99 % in Norway, slightly over the EU Member States highest scores of 98 % presented by the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Finland. The share in Türkiye was 94 % a percentage point over the EU average of 93 %.

Figure 3 highlights the urban-rural divide within the EU in terms of internet access. In 2022, cities presented greater household internet access with 94 % compare with 92 % for towns and suburbs and 90 % for rural areas. Belgium, Slovenia and Estonia were the exception to that general trend with towns and suburbs presenting highest household internet access compare with cities and rural areas. Malta was the only EU Member State where the highest household internet access was in rural areas. In Germany, cities and rural areas shared the highest percentage of household internet access. Among some of the Member States close to saturation, the difference in household internet access between cities, suburbs and rural areas was very narrow in 2022. In Finland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, the difference was around 1 or 2 percentage points between the three geographical areas. Norway shared a similar situation. In Greece and in Portugal, the gap between cities and rural areas in household internet access reached 14 % (each) and 12 % in Romania.

Use of internet

In 2022, 90 % of EU individuals aged between 16 and 74 years used the internet at least once within the three months prior to the survey date. Fourteen Member States were above that EU average in 2022. The highest share of internet users were in Luxembourg and Denmark with 98 % of individuals, followed by Finland and Sweden with 97 %. In 2022, Bulgaria (79 %) Croatia (82 %) and Greece (83 %) reported the lowest rates of internet users in the EU. The proportion of the population that had never used the internet was 7 % in 2022 in the EU, but reached 14 % in Greece and Portugal, and 13 % in Croatia and Bulgaria. In 2022, 84 % of individuals in the EU accessed the internet on a daily basis(see Figure 4) with a further 5 % using it at least once a week (but not daily). As such, 89 % of EU individuals aged between 16 and 74 were regular internet users (at least weekly). Norway reported a share of 100 % of individuals having used internet in the last three months before the survey. The share dropped to 96 % for the daily users of the internet. In Montenegro, the share of individuals having used the internet in the last three months prior to the survey was 88 %, close to the EU average of 90 %. In Serbia and Türkiye, the share of internet users was 84 % and 83 %, respectively, in 2022.

Purpose of the use of internet

The internet is basically a means of communication. However, communication is an indispensable activity in all areas of everyday life. As a result, the internet has spread in a wide variety of domains. ICT surveys collect data on the mediation of the internet for a very large number of purposes such as communication, access to the information, use of entertainment, etc. In this publication, the focus has been restricted to 3 purposes: e-learning, civic and political actions, and the seeking of health information online.
E-learning: In 2022, the proportion of individuals in the EU who followed an online course was 16 %. In the Netherlands and in Finland, more than 30 % of individuals aged between 16 and 74 had followed an online course in 2022. By comparison, the share of individuals who followed an online course was under the double digits in Romania (3 %), Poland and Bulgaria (8 % each).

Civic and political actions: EU Member States present a contrasted figure as regards to the role of the internet in the domain of civic and political actions. Only 8 % of EU individuals reported having participated in online consultations or voting to define civic or political issues in 2022. The share grew to 14 % for the individuals who expressed opinions on civic or political issues on websites or in social media and 18 % for those who reported civic or political participation (see Table 1). Among the Member States with the highest share in these three categories, the internet appears to play a significant role when it comes to participating in civic and political actions. In Finland and in Malta, 26 % and 28 % of individuals respectively had civic or political participation online. By contrast, the share dropped to 9 % in Germany. In Norway and in Montenegro, the internet played a significant role in civic and political participation in 2022.

The seeking of health information online: In 2022, 52 % of EU individuals sought health-related information online (e.g. injuries, diseases, nutrition, improving health, etc.). In Finland, the proportion reached 81 % and it was over 70 % in three other Member States: the Netherlands (78 %), Cyprus (73%) and Denmark (71 %). Romania (29 %) and Germany (37 %) reported the lowest share among the Member States in 2022 (see Figure 6).

The collection of indicators on Green ICT is necessary for the policies related to the European Green Deal. In 2022, a limited number of indicators has been proposed, aiming at investigating mainly: - Information on recycling habits of individuals/households regarding IT equipment not used anymore; - Information on the importance of sustainability aspects for purchasing decisions of IT equipment. While data on a large number of IT equipment are available, this publication focusses on mobile phones and smartphones. Looking at mobile phones and smartphones no longer in use, almost half of the EU individuals aged between 16 and 74 kept the old device in their household compared with 10 % who recycled their old device. 17 % of the individuals gave or sold the old device while an average of 2 % simply threw it away without recycling. In 2022 among the Member States, the proportion of individuals that kept the old mobile and smartphone ranged from 65 % in Latvia and Finland to 14 % in Croatia. Regarding the individuals who sold or gave away their mobile or smartphone, the highest shares in the EU were in Croatia (32 %) and the Netherlands (24 %). Recycling is still to be further developed in the EU as a credible destination of the old ICT devices at least for mobiles and smartphones. Greece (18 %) and Austria (17 %) reported the highest rates in the EU of individuals who had recycled their old mobile or smartphone in 2022. See Table2

Concerning the importance of sustainability aspects for purchasing decisions of IT equipment, it appeared that, in 2022, the price was considered as an important characteristic for 66 % of EU individuals in the purchase of their mobile or smartphone. The other important characteristics were: hard drive or processor speed (54 %), energy efficiency (22 %), eco-design (13 %), the possibility to extend the life span (9 %), the take-back scheme by the seller or the manufacturer (7 %), none of these characteristics (6 %). 5 % of EU individuals reported to have never bought a mobile or a smartphone.

Ordering or buying goods and services

The proportion of individuals aged 16 to 74 in the EU who ordered or bought goods or services over the internet for private use was 68 % in 2022, up from 54 % in 2017 (see Figure 7). With 88 %, Denmark and the Netherlands reported the highest shares of people having ordered or bought goods and services online. In the following Member States, the share of individuals who ordered or bought goods and services exceeded 75 %: Sweden, Luxembourg, Finland, Czechia, Slovakia, Germany and France. By contrast, this proportion was the lowest in Romania (30 %) and Bulgaria (23 %). The largest increase in the proportion of individuals who ordered or bought goods or services over the internet between 2017 and 2022 were observed in Hungary (up 31 percentage points), and in Romania (up 30 percentage points).

Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)

Data sources

Rapid technological change in areas related to the internet and other new applications of ICTs pose challenges for statistics. As such, there has been a considerable degree of development in this area, with statistical tools being adapted to satisfy new demands for data. Indeed, statistics within this domain are reassessed on an annual basis in order to meet user needs and reflect the rapid pace of change.

This approach is replicated in Eurostat's survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals. This annual survey is used to benchmark ICT-driven developments, both by following developments for core variables over time and by looking in greater depth at other aspects at a specific point in time. While the survey initially concentrated on access and connectivity issues, its scope has subsequently been extended to cover a variety of subjects (for example, e-government and e-commerce) and socioeconomic analysis (such as regional diversity, gender specificity, differences in age, education and the employment situation). The scope of the survey with respect to different technologies is also adapted so as to cover new product groups and means of delivering communication technologies to end-users (such as introducing new questions about online peer-to-peer accommodation or transport services in 2017).

The reference period for the survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals is in most cases the first quarter of each year; in most countries, the survey is conducted in the second quarter of each year.

Coverage and definitions

The household ICT survey covers those households having at least one member in the age group 16 to 74 years old. Internet access of households refers to the percentage of households that have an internet access, so that anyone in the household could use the internet at home, if so desired, even simply to send an e-mail.

Internet users are defined as all individuals aged 16 to 74 who had used the internet in the three months prior to the survey. Regular internet users are individuals who used the internet, on average, at least once a week in the three months prior to the survey.

The wired technologies most commonly used to access the internet are divided between broadband and dial-up access over a normal or an ISDN telephone line. Broadband includes digital subscriber lines (DSL) and uses technology that transports data at high speeds. Broadband lines are defined as having a capacity higher than ISDN, meaning equal to or higher than 144 kbit/s. Popular devices to access the internet at home include desktop and portable computers, while more recently there has been an expansion in other internet-enabled technologies.

Mobile internet usage is defined as using the internet away from home or work on portable computers or handheld devices via mobile phone networks or wireless connections.

The ordering of goods and services by individuals refers to the 3-month period prior to the survey and includes rented accommodation or transport services, purchasing financial investments, telecommunication services, video games or software, as well as information services from the internet that are directly paid for. Goods and services that are obtained via the internet for free are excluded. Orders made by manually typed e-mails, SMS or MMS are also excluded.

In 2019, the new European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, described how she wanted the EU to grasp the opportunities presented by the digital age. Such a digital transformation is based on the premise that digital technologies and solutions should: open up new opportunities for businesses; boost the development of trustworthy technology; foster an open and democratic society; enable a vibrant and sustainable economy; help fight climate change.

Data from this survey supports measuring the implementation of one of the six priorities for the period 2019-2024 of the von der Leyen European Commission - A Europe fit for the digital age. The strategy is built on three pillars: (1) Technology that works for the people; (2) A fair and competitive digital economy; (3) An open, democratic and sustainable society. Furthermore, it facilitates the monitoring of the EU's digital targets for 2030, set by the Digital Compass for the EU's Digital Decade, evolving around four cardinal points: skills, digital transformation of businesses, secure and sustainable digital infrastructures, and digitalization of public services. On 15 September 2021, the Commission proposed the Path to the digital decade, which introduces a governance framework to reach the targets set out by the 2030 Digital Compass. Data on the use of ICT in households and by individuals appears among the monitoring indicators of the European Skills Agenda.

Other links:

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Digital economy and society statistics - households and individuals

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The current health crisis has highlighted the necessity of internet connections in the normal functioning of modern economies. ICTs have become widely available to the general public, both in terms of accessibility as well as cost. A boundary was crossed in 2007, when a majority (53 %) of households in the EU had internet access.

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GUIDE: Ambitious About Autism Groundrules for Zoom

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GUIDE: Ambitious About Autism Groundrules for Zoom

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These were written for / by young people with autism , but might well be useful for other groups.

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TOOLS: Free apps and resources to support distance learning

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TOOLS: Free apps and resources to support distance learning

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Free apps and resources to support distance learning in schools affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
What works for formal education, can also be adapted to non-formal. There are some pretty good ideas!

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Free apps to support distance learning due to the coronavirus outbreak

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Koulu.me - Free apps to support distance learning due to the coronavirus outbreak

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Free apps and resources to support distance learning in schools affected by the coronavirus outbreak

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RESOURCES: Resources to support children and young people mental  health during Covid-19

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RESOURCES: Resources to support children and young people mental  health during Covid-19

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Updates: March and April 2020.

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Resources and toolkits for children, young people, parents and carers

We would like to use this space to share our members' resources and information on children and young people's mental health that could be helpful for children, young people, parents and carers.

If any of our members would like to add their resources to this list, please get in touch with Shizana.Arshad@cypmhc.org.uk

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We would like to use this space to share our members' resources and information on children and young people's mental health that could be helpful for children, young people, parents and carers.

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KNOWLEDGE: Who doesn't have online access (UK)

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KNOWLEDGE: Who doesn't have online access (UK)

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If you are from the UK and want to identify which groups of young people (or any people ) are less likely to have access to internet connected computers and tablets at home this data would be useful.  Keep in mind being accessible dormant just being connected as well....for example using technology that isn't usable by people who are blind, or have learning difficulties etc can also exclude access.

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1. Introduction

In an increasingly digital age, those who are not engaging effectively with the digital world are at risk of being left behind. Technological change means that digital skills are increasingly important for connecting with others, accessing information and services and meeting the changing demands of the workplace and economy. This is leading to a digital divide between those who have access to information and communications technology and those who do not, giving rise to inequalities in access to opportunities, knowledge, services and goods.

The importance of internet usage ¹ is reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) ². The SDGs include an indicator for the proportion of individuals who have used the internet in the last three months ( Indicator 17.8.1). However, it is important to recognise that digital skills are as important as internet usage. Users of the internet can still be digitally excluded because they lack the skills to be able to confidently and safely navigate the digital world.

This article explores the scale of digital exclusion in the UK and its impact, the characteristics and circumstances of those who are not currently using the internet, how internet use and digital skills vary for different groups of the population and barriers to digital inclusion.

In this article, we use various data sources to explore the UK's digital divide, as there is no single source that covers all aspects of digital exclusion. Small sample sizes in some cases mean that it is not always possible to achieve the level of granularity we would like, both in terms of the characteristics of different groups and for small groups of the population.

Notes for: Introduction

1. In this article, internet use refers to those who have used the internet in the last three months, internet access refers to those who are able to access the internet by whatever means (including via a smartphone or through a connection in their homes) and digital skills refers to those skills that are needed to safely and competently use the internet.

2. The SDGs are a set of 17 goals that are designed to save the planet, end hunger and ensure peace, described as a "to do list for the planet". Each goal focuses on a different part of life including: poverty, education, work, equality, the environment, innovation, justice, and the economy.

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2. The scale of digital exclusion in the UK

The number of adults who have either never used the internet or have not used it in the last three months, described as "internet non-users", has been declining over recent years. Since 2011, this number has almost halved, but in 2018 there were still 5.3 million adults in the UK, or 10.0% of the adult UK population, in this situation (Figure 1).

The Tech Partnership Basic Digital Skills framework ¹ describes five basic digital skills that can be used to measure digital inclusion (PDF, 3.16MB) and the activities someone should be able to do to demonstrate each skill. These are:

1. managing information: using a search engine to look for information, finding a website visited before or downloading or saving a photo found online.

2. communicating: sending a personal message via email or online messaging service or carefully making comments and sharing information online.

3. transacting: buying items or services from a website or buying and installing apps on a device.

4. problem solving: verifying sources of information online or solving a problem with a device or digital service using online help.

5. creating: completing online application forms including personal details or creating something new from existing online images, music or video.

To be considered to have a digital skill, respondents need to be able to do one of the activities listed under it.

The Lloyds Bank UK Consumer Index 2018 (PDF, 3.16MB) uses this framework to estimate the digital skills of the UK population (for details of the methodology, see " Annex"). It estimates that the number of people in the UK lacking basic digital skills is declining, but in 2018, 8% of people in the UK (4.3 million people) were estimated to have zero basic digital skills (are unable to do any of the activities described in the five basic digital skills). A further 12% (6.4 million adults) were estimated to only have limited abilities online (missing at least one of the basic digital skills). Although there is a pattern of declining numbers of people lacking digital skills over time, in 2015, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) estimated that 7.9 million people will still lack digital skills in 2025 (see The economic impact of Basic Digital Skills and inclusion in the UK (PDF, 1.73MB)).

Notes for: The scale of digital exclusion in the UK

This has now been replaced by the Essential Digital Skills framework (PDF, 351KB) .
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3. Why does digital exclusion matter?

The internet is being used increasingly across all areas of life. Digital technology offers a number of benefits to the individual, which those who are digitally excluded are missing out on.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) have identified five areas in which individuals who acquire basic digital skills are able to benefit (PDF, 1.73MB):

1. earnings benefits: these relate to increased earnings of between 3% and 10% through acquiring digital skills.

2. employability benefits: this reflects the improved chances of finding work for someone who is unemployed and an increased likelihood that someone who is inactive will look for work.

3. retail transaction benefits: shopping online has been found to be 13% cheaper on average than shopping in-store.

4. communication benefits: basic digital skills can enable people to connect and communicate with family, friends and the community 14% more frequently.

5. time savings: these relate to the time saved by accessing government services and banking online rather than in person, estimated to be about 30 minutes per transaction.

In terms of earnings and employability benefits, the Industrial Strategy (PDF, 8.5MB) identified Artificial Intelligence and Data as an important challenge and opportunity for creating good quality jobs and driving economic growth. In 2016 it was estimated that within the next 10 to 20 years, 90% of jobs will require some sort of digital skills (PDF, 735KB) and in the Lloyds Bank research, half of those online indicated that the internet had helped them find a job (PDF,3.1 MB). This highlights that the digitally excluded will be increasingly at a disadvantage in the employment market unless they are specifically catered for.

Figure 2 shows the main activities of all adult internet users in 2018. The top four activities undertaken were sending or receiving emails (84%), finding information about goods or services (77%), internet banking (69%) and social networking (65%), reflecting three of the benefits identified by the CEBR (retail transaction benefits, communication benefits and time savings).

Figure 2: The most popular activities of adult internet users were sending or receiving emails, finding out about goods or services, internet banking and social networking

Percentage of internet users by activity undertaken, Great Britain, 2018

Source: Office for National Statistics - Internet Access, Opinions and Lifestlye Survey (OPN)

Notes:

1. "Internet users" refers to those who have used the internet in the last 3 months.

2. (eg injury, disease, nutrition, improving health etc).

3. (eg Skype or Facebook).

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The communications benefits were also reflected in the results of the Lloyds Bank research. 40% of online respondents indicated that being online helps them feel less alone, a benefit that is felt even more strongly among disabled people online, who are 27% more likely to express this view than non-disabled people (PDF, 3.16MB).

The UK Digital Strategy 2017 outlines the Government's aim to become a world leader in serving its citizens online, using digital technology to improve services in the UK, and there is evidence of growing use of the internet to interact with public authorities or services (Figure 3).

The increasing use of the internet for these activities has implications for those who are not equipped to take advantage of this technology, or are unwilling to do so. The prevalence of internet banking and provision of government services online in particular raises questions about whether these services will continue to be made available to those wanting to engage with them in person and highlights the continuing need for this type of provision.
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4. What is the pattern of digital exclusion across the UK?

Patterns of internet usage vary across the UK regions. A decline in the percentage of internet non-users across all UK regions since 2012 has led to some narrowing of the gap in regional internet usage in 2018 (Figure 4), however a digital disparity persists across areas of the UK. London has the lowest proportion of internet non-users (7.0%) while Northern Ireland continues to have the highest proportion (14.2%), followed by the North East of England (12.1%).

There is also regional variation in basic digital skills (Figures 5 and 6). In 2018, Wales had the lowest proportion of people with all five basic digital skills (66%) and the highest proportion of those with zero basic digital skills (19%), while the reverse was true for the South East of England (86% and 5% respectively). The demographic composition of these areas may well play a part in this difference (see Sections 5, 6, 7 and 8 for differences by demographic characteristics).
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5. How does internet usage and digital exclusion vary for men and women?

Although the number of internet non-users has been declining, in 2018, 58% (3.1 million) of these were women, a proportion that has remained broadly consistent over time (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Women have consistently made up over half of internet non-users, although the overall number has declined over time

Number in millions by sex and percentage of women adult internet non-users, UK, 2011 to 2018

Source: Office for National Statistics - Internet Users, Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Notes:

"Internet non-users" refers to those who have never used the internet or last used it more than three months ago.

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There is also a disparity between men and women in digital skills. Of those having zero basic digital skills in 2018, 61% were women (PDF, 3.16MB).
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6. How does digital exclusion vary with age?

In 2018, 12% of those aged between 11 and 18 years (700,000) reported having no internet access at home from a computer or tablet (PDF, 3.16MB), while a further 60,000 reported having no home internet access at all. Of those in this age group, 68% who did have home internet access reported that they would find it difficult to complete school work without it, suggesting that there may be educational implications for those without internet access.

Since 2011, adults over the age of 65 years have consistently made up the largest proportion of the adult internet non-users, and over half of all adult internet non-users were over the age of 75 years in 2018 (Figure 8). This reflects the pattern of the younger generations becoming more likely to be frequent internet users.

However, the generational divide in those using the internet regularly is narrowing (Figure 9), although women in the older age groups continue to lag behind men.

Figure 9: The gap between the proportion of internet users over the age of 65 years and younger age groups is narrowing for both men and women

Percentage of adults who have used the internet in the last three months, by age group and sex, UK, 2011 and 2018

Source: Office for National Statistics - Internet Users, Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Notes:

1."Internet users" refers to those who have used the internet in the last 3 months.

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The pattern of internet use by age is replicated when looking at digital skills, with 76% of those with zero basic digital skills aged over 65 years in 2018 (PDF, 3.16MB)

The ways in which the internet is accessed also varies with age. In 2018, 77% of adults in Great Britain reported accessing internet "on the go" (which refers to accessing the internet away from home or work, for example via a smartphone or tablet). However, this declines with age, with only 69% of those aged 55 to 64 years and 39% of those over the age of 65 years reporting it (Figure 10).

The pattern of increasing internet usage among the older age groups is important given that the UK's population is ageing (see Living Longer: how our population is changing and why it matters). However, it is difficult to know how this will affect the digital engagement of future generations. While those in the older age groups in the future will be part of a generation who are more digitally engaged than their predecessors, this may not persist as they age. For some, health problems as they age could lead to a decline in digital engagement, particularly if ageing impacts on cognitive ability. Technology may also change again so that the digital skills they have developed through their life will no longer be the skills that are needed. However, it is also possible that technology in the future may enable the older age groups to engage more easily than is currently the case. This can already be seen, for example, in the development of voice activated internet services that remove the need for specific skills. Part of the challenge will therefore involve ensuring that support is available to help the older generation make the best use of new technology.
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7. What is the pattern of internet usage among disabled people?

Across all age groups, disabled adults make up a large proportion of adult internet non-users (Figure 11). In 2017, 56% of adult internet non-users were disabled, much higher than the proportion of disabled adults in the UK population as a whole, which in 2016 to 2017 was estimated to be 22% (see Family Resources Survey 2016/17). For internet non-users aged between 16 and 24 years, 60% were disabled in 2017, a proportion that is the same as for those aged 75 years and older.

Figure 11: Across all age groups, a large proportion of adult internet non-users are disabled

Composition of adult internet non-users by disability and age group, UK, 2017

Source: Office for National Statistics - Internet Users, Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Notes:

1. "Internet non-users" refers to those who have never used the internet or last used it more than 3 months ago.

2. Disability is defined using the Government Statistical Service (GSS) harmonised definition for the Statistical Measures of Disability, as someone who has a current physical or mental health condition(s) or illness(es) lasting or expected to last 12 months or more and that limits their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

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Though the percentage of disabled adults not using the internet has been declining, in 2018, it was 23.3% compared with only 6.0% of those without a disability (Figure 12).

Figure 12: The proportion of disabled adults who are internet non-users has been declining since 2014 but remains higher than for non-disabled adults

Percentage of disabled and non-disabled adults who are internet non-users, UK, 2014 to 2018

Source: Office for National Statistics - Internet Users, Labour Force Survey (LFS)

Notes:

1. "Internet non-users" refers to those who have never used the internet or last used it more than 3 months ago.

2. Disability is defined using the Government Statistical Service (GSS) harmonised definition for the Statistical Measures of Disability, as someone who has a current physical or mental health condition(s) or illness(es) lasting or expected to last 12 months or more and that limits their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.

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There is also a difference in the percentage of disabled people accessing internet "on the go" compared with non-disabled people. In 2018, the figure was 59% for disabled people compared with 82% for those without a disability.
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8. How does internet usage vary for different ethnic groups?

Across the ethnic groups for which breakdowns were available, the proportion of people who have either never used the internet or have not used it in the last three months came down between 2011 and 2018 (Figure 13). In 2011, there were wide disparities in recent internet use among the different ethnic groups, however, in 2018, this gap had narrowed. This is particularly the case for adults of Bangladeshi ethnicity. In 2011, 31.4% of them were internet non-users, higher than the figure for UK adults overall (20.3%). In 2018, the figure for Bangladeshi internet non-users had dropped to 8.0%, a figure that is now lower than for the UK overall (10.0%).
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9. What other patterns are there in internet usage?

Among those of working age, the economically inactive are the most likely to be internet non-users (Figure 14), particularly those adults on long-term sick leave or disabled, as might be expected given the patterns among disabled people.

Figure 14: Among working age adults, a higher proportion of the economically inactive are internet non-users than those with other economic activities

Percentage of working age adults who are internet non-users by economic activity status, UK, 2018

Source: Office for National Statistics

Notes:

1. "Internet non-users" refers to those who have never used the internet or last used it more than 3 months ago.

2. Economically inactive people are those of working age who are not in employment but do not meet the internationally accepted definition of unemployed because they have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or they are unable to start work within the next two weeks. It includes those looking after a home, students or family and temporarily sick and disabled people.

3. Long-term sick leave relates to health conditions that last 12 months or more.

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There is also evidence to suggest that those on low incomes are less likely to have an internet connection in the home (Figure 15).

Although the percentage of households without an internet connection has generally been declining, those who live alone are less likely to have an internet connection at home, than their peers (Figure 16). In 2018, 9% of households with a single adult aged between 16 and 64 years did not have an internet connection, compared with only 1% of households with two adults aged between 16 and 64 years. Similarly, 41% of households with a single adult aged 65 years and over had no household internet connection compared with 13% of households with two adults, at least one of whom was 65 years or older.

It is important to note that these results do not include the non-private household population, which includes those living in caravans, communal establishments, temporary accommodation and homeless people. It is likely that many of these will not have an internet connection within the household, though may have access to the internet via smartphones and tablets.
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10. What are the barriers to digital inclusion?

Figure 17 shows the reasons given for not having internet access in the household in 2017. The most common reason given was that they didn't need it (64%), followed by a lack of skills (20%), 2% also identified a physical or sensorial disability as a reason.

The barriers to digital inclusion can be seen most clearly when looking at the groups that have been identified as least likely to have used the internet in the last three months or those lacking digital skills. In line with the reasons given for not having internet access in the household, among these groups, a lack of inclination and a lack of skills are frequently reported as reasons for not having engaged with the digital world.

A lack of inclination is particularly prevalent among the older age groups. In 2018, 84% of those over the age of 60 years said that nothing could help them get online (PDF, 3.16MB). Similarly, 38% of disabled people who are not using the internet reported that the internet does not interest them (PDF, 3.16MB). These views may in part reflect a lack of understanding of the benefits, for example, that they may be paying more for some goods and services.

Figure 18 shows the reasons given by disabled and non-disabled people when asked about their reasons for not buying goods or services online. A lower percentage of disabled people indicated that they prefer to shop in person (65% compared with 73% for non-disabled people). This suggests that some disabled people could benefit from shopping online by gaining access to a wider range of goods and services. A higher percentage of disabled people identified security or privacy concerns as a reason (28%) compared with non-disabled people. Almost double the percentage of disabled respondents identified a lack of skills or knowledge as a reason (29%) compared with non-disabled respondents (15%). The security or privacy concerns suggest that there may be some apprehension in using the internet for buying goods and services.

A lack of skills has also been reported by many older people who express the feeling that it is simply too late in life for them to start learning digital skills, saying that since they have always managed perfectly well without a computer or internet access, they see no reason to start using them now ( Ofcom, 2017 (PDF, 1.43MB), BT and RNIB, 2012 (PDF, 1.48MB), and Age UK, 2013 (PDF, 1002KB)) . This again suggests that they may not realise the benefits that being online may offer although it may also reflect that they consider the benefits are insufficient to justify the effort.

Accessibility can also be an issue for these groups. Lower rates of internet usage among the older age groups may in part reflect the fact that they are more affected by access issues associated with age, such as poor eyesight (PDF, 1.48MB). In 2018, 5% of those not using the internet also reported that their disability prevented them from doing so (PDF, 3.16MB).

While digital inclusion has been increasing in recent years and there are some clear benefits for both the individual and wider society, some people remain digitally excluded. This is particularly the case among certain groups, including older people and disabled people as well as potentially those not living in private households and who are unlikely to be well reflected in this analysis. The barriers to digital inclusion suggest part of the education for digital skills may need to start by highlighting the benefits of being online and overcoming any apprehension to engagement. However, the fact that people remain digitally excluded also highlights the importance of ensuring that non-digital alternatives continue to be made available to enable everyone to participate fully in society.
Back to table of contents

11. Annex

The Lloyds Bank UK Consumer Digital Index 2018 (PDF, 3.16MB) uses a number of sources to produce its estimates. Behavioural data comes from a UK representative sample of 1 million consumers aged 18 years and over based on 12 months of transactional behaviour, including a longitudinal element to understand changes in digital capability over the past year. 4,073 quantitative surveys were conducted by Ipsos MORI for basic digital skills for those aged 15 years and over and a further 1,006 on young people aged 11 to 18 years. More than 2,700 adults were followed up from the 1 million sample in a telephone interview to assess digital attitudes and capabilities.
Back to table of contents

12. Sources

Age UK, Digital Inclusion Evidence Review (2013)

British Telecom and the Royal National Institute for the Blind, Tackling digital exclusion: Older blind and partially sighted people and the internet (2012)

Carnegie Trust and Ipsos MORI Scotland, The role of digital exclusion in social exclusion (2016),

Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), The economic impact of Basic Digital Skills and inclusion in the UK (2015)

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, UK Digital Strategy (2017)

Department for Work and Pensions, Family Resources Survey 2016/17 (2018)

HM Government, Industrial Strategy (2017)

Lloyds Bank UK Consumer Digital Index 2018 (2018)

Ofcom, The Communications Market: UK [5. Internet and online content] (2017),

Office for National Statistics, Internet Access (2018), Opinions and Lifestyle Survey

Office for National Statistics, Internet Users (2018), Labour Force Survey

Skills Funding Agency, Review of publicly funded digital skills qualifications (2016)
Back to table of contents

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The scale of digital exclusion in the UK; those who aren't currently using the internet, how digital skills vary for different groups of the population and some of the barriers to digital inclusion.

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GUIDE: Ambitious about autism risk assessment for zoom chats

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GUIDE: Ambitious about autism risk assessment for zoom chats

# data[].attributes.body
these were written for work with young people with autism, but might be useful for other groups

# data[].attributes.headline
TOOLS: Webex - video and team collaboration

# data[].attributes.subject
TOOLS: Webex - video and team collaboration

# data[].attributes.body
it is an online platform for teachers and students but not only.  You can meet and do online lessons or follow other lessons:
https://www.webex.com/

# data[].attributes.headline
RESOURCES: Advice and support for language teachers 

# data[].attributes.subject
RESOURCES: Advice and support for language teachers 

# data[].attributes.body
This is intended for langauge teachers and focuses on how to deliver onlone learning ....but will.br useful for other educators too

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Advice and resources to support language teachers in response to the Coronavirus outbreak  

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KNOWLEDGE: Policy recommendations on developing digital youth work

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KNOWLEDGE: Policy recommendations on developing digital youth work

# data[].attributes.body
Developing digital youth work
Policy recommendations, training needs and good practice examples
For youth workers and decision-makers
Expert group set up under the
European Union Work Plan for
Youth for 2016-2018.

# data[].attributes.headline
GUIDE: Special interest soapbox sessions

# data[].attributes.subject
GUIDE: Special interest soapbox sessions

# data[].attributes.body
An online activity to use in video chats.
Recommended for the online youth work activities - young friendly language, easy to follow flow!

# data[].attributes.body
Please for the love of everything that works on the internet don't suggest Skype .....real-time events for 100s of people with breakout rooms and whiteboards is what you want

# data[].attributes.headline
RESOURCES: Guidance for Teenagers to Stay Mentally Strong During the Pandemic

# data[].attributes.subject
RESOURCES: Guidance for Teenagers to Stay Mentally Strong During the Pandemic

# data[].attributes.body
An article that provides a short guideline on how to take care of mental health for teenagers in pandemic times.

# data[].attributes.headline
KNOWLEDGE: MOOC platform with courses for youth workers

# data[].attributes.subject
KNOWLEDGE: MOOC platform with courses for youth workers

# data[].attributes.body
for now you will find there courses on:
1. Invisible Racism
2. Gender
3. Global Education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
YOUTH-MOOC | Online courses platform for youth workers and educators

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Enroll in our open online courses especially designed for youth workers and educators worldwide

# data[].attributes.body
a tool produced by ambitious about autism for online work

# data[].attributes.headline
TOOLS: Online voting tools (list from YFJ)

# data[].attributes.subject
TOOLS: Online voting tools (list from YFJ)

# data[].attributes.body
ONLINE VOTING TOOLS (for running elections, voting on online assemblies, etc)

The following tools will allow you to easily set and vote features, run multiple election at time. Available for free, and paid subscriptions.

Polys

Choice voting

ElectionBuddy

HeliosVoting

Poll-maker

Electionrunner

Opavote

# data[].attributes.headline
KNOWLEDGE: POWYE magazine digital youth work edition 

# data[].attributes.subject
KNOWLEDGE: POWYE magazine digital youth work edition 

# data[].attributes.body
POWYE magazine logbook on professional open youth work in Europe ran an edition on digital youth work.
Including as well definitions, concepts, developments, examples, etc.

# data[].attributes.headline
GUIDE: How to make video chat engaging and fun

# data[].attributes.subject
GUIDE: How to make video chat engaging and fun

# data[].attributes.body
Excellent article here if you are struggling with facilitating video chat.
Published: April 2020.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tactic 1: Check-In & Check-Out

A short ritual at the beginning of a session helps everyone to focus on the common process. It can be very simple, for example: a round in which everyone says their name and how they feel at the moment in one word. It should be short and involve everyone.

Closing the cycle: a conclusion as a group at the end of the meeting is just as important to end the meeting positively and exit the no longer necessary working mood. For example, you could say in a round again in one word how everyone feels after the meeting.

Remember to thank everyone for attending before saying goodbye!

Tactic 2: Align expectations

It is the first win-state in the meeting when everyone knows they are in the right place at the right time. Make this clear by asking participants to state their expectations for the meeting in one word. There are some nice digital tools you can use to collect the answers and display them in a word cloud. Some of our favourite tools for this are Mentimeter, Slido and Wooclap. Use these tools to make your events more interactive and engaging!

Tactic 3: Make your goals and intentions clear

This is obviously important for any meeting, but even more crucial when Facebook or Twitter are just a click away. For virtual meetings we recommend having only one overall goal and regularly reaffirm it during the meeting. Ideally, this should happen immediately after the expectations round to reassure the participants they are in the right place.

Why? We often tend to jump straight to work and forget why we do it in the first place. It's important to remember what drives us to be where we are.

Maximise motivation: make sure the goal contributes to a bigger picture. What is the overarching purpose behind this meeting? Does it contribute to a social or environmental purpose? Perhaps it helps fulfil the broader vision of your company (if this is a company meeting). A reminder of how this meeting and your attendees' efforts fit into this bigger picture will help motivate them and reassure them that their time is well spent. The connection to the greater benefit is also an appreciation of your own time.

Tactic 4: The way to the goal - break it down

Break down the overall goal into small action steps to follow so that it feels feasible. What practical steps are required for your group to achieve the desired goal? The progress of the meeting should follow these steps.

Be sensible with your agenda points: steps lacking relevance can derail the focus of your meeting, while too many steps can affect its effectiveness.

A visual reminder of each completed step can keep the group focused, motivated and engaged! Keep reading for more suggestions on using visual aids!

Tactic 5: Digital warm-ups - 3 ideas for more energy

As important as it is in real meetings to break the ice and build rapport, it is even more so in online meetings. It appears to be a little more difficult without the benefits of physical space and less body language. Here are a few ideas for digitally breaking the ice:

1. Share a spontaneous photo! Everyone will most likely be home anyway. Ask them to share a photo of an object on their desk they feel connected to (a book they are reading, a cup of their favourite coffee, something related to their hobbies, etc.) and say a few words about it. Keep it short and informal - the goal is just to break the ice.

2. Share something personal! For meetings aiming at team-building and sharing: Ask meaningful open-ended questions, eg about their personal relationship to the meeting goal, followed by a round of quick answers. This helps to achieve the goal while creating a safe space for opening up. Examples of suitable questions would be "What did you do last week that you are proud of?", "What are you grateful for today?" or "What daily routines do you follow to keep your motivation up?". This may not be relevant for a technically oriented work meeting.

3. Be creative: If you'll be using a whiteboard or similar app for brainstorming or ideation, have a playful on-boarding activity on the same tool before jumping into working with it! For example, ask participants to draw a unicorn together if you'll be working on a whiteboard, or write down their favourite foods and group them in different cuisines if working with sticky notes. Digital tools for this purpose are the embedded whiteboard of Zoom, Google Jamboard, Whiteboardfox, Groupboard, Conceptboard, Twiddla, Miro, Ziteboard or a shared document on Google Drive or Microsoft 365.

Bonus inspiration: A good friend and fellow facilitator asked his participants during a session on Emotional Intelligence to depict their current emotions with Emoji Maker and then used those depictions as the topic of the relevant follow-up discussion into breakout groups (more on those below). Brilliant!
Tactic 6: Keep everyone involved

You have put together a group for a specific goal. Use all resources to achieve it, especially the skills of your participants, and ensure they're involved. Appreciate the competence of your participants: give them an active role during the meeting!

If you have used any of the digital tools previously mentioned, now is the time to put them to practice for each of the steps you've defined. How exactly you will do this depends heavily on your goal and content, but keep in mind the following:

If your goal has to do with discussing a topic, the discussion is more likely to be efficient and inclusive in smaller groups;

If you aim for your attendees to learn something, they're more likely to learn it by applying it in practice, especially when it comes to skills development;

If it's a working meeting, motivation and productivity significantly increase in small group work sprints. It's easier to pay attention and be inspired by others in a small group, as well as to feel comfortable sharing any concerns or asking for help;

The active participation of your audience is fundamental to their sense of achievement;

But also for your own comfort as a facilitator: an overworked moderator is a bad moderator - so let your participants develop the content!

The digital era provides a wide array of tools to use for collaborative work on the web, from those already linked above, to collaboratively developing documents using Google Drive, Zoho's office suite, or an Etherpad.

Even if your goal doesn't require collaborative document development or brainstorming, it's always beneficial to come up with activities to keep your attendees involved in the process.
Example from online classes on physics: the students were supposed to find out about voltage on household appliances, during the introduction to electricity. Since they already looked tired, Karl turned it into a competition: who can find the most information on household appliances in 10 minutes? They were very motivated, and the winner found 24 entries!
Tactic 7: Maximise engagement with small groups

Small groups can increase participation, feeling comfortable to speak up and share your thoughts, while maintaining effectiveness and productivity. Think from the perspective of an attendee while designing the meeting you intend to facilitate.

How can you divide a large group into smaller teams using digital tools? Use the embedded breakout rooms from Zoom, the open source Unhangout from MIT or Qiqochat (combination of Zoom, breakout rooms and collaborative document creation).

Tactic 8: The rule of small numbers

A key rule for digital communication is: less is more. Based on our experience, we can recommend the following to increase the engagement of your participants:

1. Keep the overall group small: Up to 12 people if active participation is required.

2. Use smaller groups of 3-5 people for the more intensive work phases.

3. Take a short break once an hour (human needs remain present in digital meetings) and change the working mode every 15 to 20 minutes (introduce group discussions, exercises, work sprints, etc.).

4. Keep your sessions short: up to 45 minutes for a discussion or presentation, and up to 90 minutes for work, exercises, or skills development. If you have to go longer, use more breaks.

5. One goal per session: Use different sessions for different goals.

Tactic 9: The power of stories

Nothing beats the power of a good story! Personal stories, educational stories, funny stories ... Our tips:

Use short videos to highlight learning points and simplify complex concepts with a cinematic narrative or simply as an entertaining break. A good internet connection and understanding how screen sharing works is necessary.

Tell a short story or invite your participants to share one.

Share a story in advance, in the form of a video or text document.

Bonus suggestion (for advanced facilitators): what if your entire meeting structure follows a storyline? A concept that can help with that is the "Hero's Journey". Can you draw any parallels between the action steps on your agenda and Campbell's stages of the monomyth? See if you can build a narrative around the structure of your meeting. Hint: Check-in and Check-out can easily signify the departure and return to the "ordinary world".

Tactic 10: Use visual aids

Since we mentioned videos, it's worth mentioning that enhancing your meeting with visual aids can have a positive impact on the motivation of your attendees. The more senses are addressed, the more active and motivated the brain becomes. How can you do that?

When you share a presentation, make sure it's well designed, with minimal text and appealing graphics. Use templates on PowerPoint or Google slides, or use Canva as an alternative way to design them.

A picture is worth a thousand words: add graphics, infographics, mind maps and other visual elements to your presentation. This allows to convey your message in an efficient, convenient and aesthetically pleasing way, which will help maintain your attendees' motivation and attention.

Particularly valuable: visualise the progress of your meeting! Hopefully you have already broken down your goal into achievable action steps. After completing each step, present clear visual cues for the proximity to the goal. The sense of accomplishment created will increase the motivation of your participants and ensure a smooth transition to the next step.

Tactic 11: Reward at the end

Continuing the use of visual aids, you can of course use a nice thank-you illustration, but more importantly, you can give your participants something that will feel more rewarding and is relevant to their needs. We have two suggestions for that:

1. Use digital open badges to recognise the participants' achievements during the meeting. This is particularly relevant if the purpose of the meeting is related to learning and/or developing skills (badgecraft is our favourite tool for this purpose). It may be less relevant for a simple discussion, but everyone is happy to have their efforts recognised.

2. Reward the participants with something of practical value, e.g. a discount on a future course, a voucher for an event or a donation to a charity of their choice. This can link the intrinsic value of their efforts during the meeting to an external purpose that matters to them and/or is linked to the vision of your company (remember that bigger picture from tactic 3?).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Online meeting effective - 11 tactics for gamifying your next zoom meeting - MYTRAINER

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A short ritual at the beginning of a session helps everyone to focus on the common process. It can be very simple, for example: a round in which everyone says their name and how they feel at the moment in one word. It should be short and involve everyone.

# data[].attributes.body
Includes the How to, Examples, etc.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
pollly is your perfect partner to gather ideas and opinions in real time, no registering required, free and absolutely fool-proofed.

# data[].attributes.headline
KNOWLEDGE: Trauma informed approaches to supporting young people through Covid-19.

# data[].attributes.subject
KNOWLEDGE: Trauma informed approaches to supporting young people through Covid-19.

# data[].attributes.body
Published: March 2019.

# data[].attributes.body
A useful document to share with people who need simple accessible instructions on how to join a zoom meeting

# data[].attributes.headline
TOOLS: 12 digital tools (list from the youth at work partnership)

# data[].attributes.subject
TOOLS: 12 digital tools (list from the youth at work partnership)

# data[].attributes.body
Great list and guide to various digital  tools from the youth at work partnership here.
This article was inspired by the latest meeting of the Youth@Work Pool of Trainers which took place in Nicosia Cyprus, from 9 until 13 March 2020. The meeting focused on the digital upskilling of the members of the pool.

# data[].attributes.headline
KNOWLEDGE: Digital Competence framework for youth work

# data[].attributes.subject
KNOWLEDGE: Digital Competence framework for youth work

# data[].attributes.body
The Competence Framework includes knowledge areas related to ICT, digital and social media, and identifies the competences needed by youth workers to be effective in these areas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What and who is it for?

We believe that Digital Skills-based Youth Work can bring added value to the interactions youth workers have with young people; it can help them develop new activities in their daily work to include technology, making the interactions more dynamic and a better fit for the new generation; it can bring digital content into the work (non-formal educational games, more interaction using social media channels, etc.); finally, it can help in developing online services for those young people, that cannot be reached otherwise.

This Framework is innovative in developing relevant youth work standards; as such it contributes to the standardisation and international recognition of Digital Youth Work. It can also impact youth organisations beyond the individual youth worker, by supporting HR policies, training and investment planning.

These resources are available in English at present, however if you are interested in contributing to this project by translating them, we will assist you with this - please get in touch!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Competence Framework for Digital Youth Work Practice - Skill IT

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We believe that Digital Skills-based Youth Work can bring added value to the interactions youth workers have with young people; it can help them develop new activities in their daily work to include technology, making the interactions more dynamic and a better fit for the new generation; it can bring digital content into the work (non-formal educational games, more interaction using social media channels, etc.); finally, it can help in developing online services for those young people, that cannot be reached otherwise.

# data[].attributes.headline
GUIDE: Online meeting effective – 11 tactics for gamifying your next Zoom meeting

# data[].attributes.subject
GUIDE: Online meeting effective – 11 tactics for gamifying your next Zoom meeting

# data[].attributes.body
Updates: April 2020.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Tactic 1: Check-In & Check-Out

A short ritual at the beginning of a session helps everyone to focus on the common process. It can be very simple, for example: a round in which everyone says their name and how they feel at the moment in one word. It should be short and involve everyone.

Closing the cycle: a conclusion as a group at the end of the meeting is just as important to end the meeting positively and exit the no longer necessary working mood. For example, you could say in a round again in one word how everyone feels after the meeting.

Remember to thank everyone for attending before saying goodbye!

Tactic 2: Align expectations

It is the first win-state in the meeting when everyone knows they are in the right place at the right time. Make this clear by asking participants to state their expectations for the meeting in one word. There are some nice digital tools you can use to collect the answers and display them in a word cloud. Some of our favourite tools for this are Mentimeter, Slido and Wooclap. Use these tools to make your events more interactive and engaging!

Tactic 3: Make your goals and intentions clear

This is obviously important for any meeting, but even more crucial when Facebook or Twitter are just a click away. For virtual meetings we recommend having only one overall goal and regularly reaffirm it during the meeting. Ideally, this should happen immediately after the expectations round to reassure the participants they are in the right place.

Why? We often tend to jump straight to work and forget why we do it in the first place. It's important to remember what drives us to be where we are.

Maximise motivation: make sure the goal contributes to a bigger picture. What is the overarching purpose behind this meeting? Does it contribute to a social or environmental purpose? Perhaps it helps fulfil the broader vision of your company (if this is a company meeting). A reminder of how this meeting and your attendees' efforts fit into this bigger picture will help motivate them and reassure them that their time is well spent. The connection to the greater benefit is also an appreciation of your own time.

Tactic 4: The way to the goal - break it down

Break down the overall goal into small action steps to follow so that it feels feasible. What practical steps are required for your group to achieve the desired goal? The progress of the meeting should follow these steps.

Be sensible with your agenda points: steps lacking relevance can derail the focus of your meeting, while too many steps can affect its effectiveness.

A visual reminder of each completed step can keep the group focused, motivated and engaged! Keep reading for more suggestions on using visual aids!

Tactic 5: Digital warm-ups - 3 ideas for more energy

As important as it is in real meetings to break the ice and build rapport, it is even more so in online meetings. It appears to be a little more difficult without the benefits of physical space and less body language. Here are a few ideas for digitally breaking the ice:

1. Share a spontaneous photo! Everyone will most likely be home anyway. Ask them to share a photo of an object on their desk they feel connected to (a book they are reading, a cup of their favourite coffee, something related to their hobbies, etc.) and say a few words about it. Keep it short and informal - the goal is just to break the ice.

2. Share something personal! For meetings aiming at team-building and sharing: Ask meaningful open-ended questions, eg about their personal relationship to the meeting goal, followed by a round of quick answers. This helps to achieve the goal while creating a safe space for opening up. Examples of suitable questions would be "What did you do last week that you are proud of?", "What are you grateful for today?" or "What daily routines do you follow to keep your motivation up?". This may not be relevant for a technically oriented work meeting.

3. Be creative: If you'll be using a whiteboard or similar app for brainstorming or ideation, have a playful on-boarding activity on the same tool before jumping into working with it! For example, ask participants to draw a unicorn together if you'll be working on a whiteboard, or write down their favourite foods and group them in different cuisines if working with sticky notes. Digital tools for this purpose are the embedded whiteboard of Zoom, Google Jamboard, Whiteboardfox, Groupboard, Conceptboard, Twiddla, Miro, Ziteboard or a shared document on Google Drive or Microsoft 365.

Bonus inspiration: A good friend and fellow facilitator asked his participants during a session on Emotional Intelligence to depict their current emotions with Emoji Maker and then used those depictions as the topic of the relevant follow-up discussion into breakout groups (more on those below). Brilliant!
Tactic 6: Keep everyone involved

You have put together a group for a specific goal. Use all resources to achieve it, especially the skills of your participants, and ensure they're involved. Appreciate the competence of your participants: give them an active role during the meeting!

If you have used any of the digital tools previously mentioned, now is the time to put them to practice for each of the steps you've defined. How exactly you will do this depends heavily on your goal and content, but keep in mind the following:

If your goal has to do with discussing a topic, the discussion is more likely to be efficient and inclusive in smaller groups;

If you aim for your attendees to learn something, they're more likely to learn it by applying it in practice, especially when it comes to skills development;

If it's a working meeting, motivation and productivity significantly increase in small group work sprints. It's easier to pay attention and be inspired by others in a small group, as well as to feel comfortable sharing any concerns or asking for help;

The active participation of your audience is fundamental to their sense of achievement;

But also for your own comfort as a facilitator: an overworked moderator is a bad moderator - so let your participants develop the content!

The digital era provides a wide array of tools to use for collaborative work on the web, from those already linked above, to collaboratively developing documents using Google Drive, Zoho's office suite, or an Etherpad.

Even if your goal doesn't require collaborative document development or brainstorming, it's always beneficial to come up with activities to keep your attendees involved in the process.
Example from online classes on physics: the students were supposed to find out about voltage on household appliances, during the introduction to electricity. Since they already looked tired, Karl turned it into a competition: who can find the most information on household appliances in 10 minutes? They were very motivated, and the winner found 24 entries!
Tactic 7: Maximise engagement with small groups

Small groups can increase participation, feeling comfortable to speak up and share your thoughts, while maintaining effectiveness and productivity. Think from the perspective of an attendee while designing the meeting you intend to facilitate.

How can you divide a large group into smaller teams using digital tools? Use the embedded breakout rooms from Zoom, the open source Unhangout from MIT or Qiqochat (combination of Zoom, breakout rooms and collaborative document creation).

Tactic 8: The rule of small numbers

A key rule for digital communication is: less is more. Based on our experience, we can recommend the following to increase the engagement of your participants:

1. Keep the overall group small: Up to 12 people if active participation is required.

2. Use smaller groups of 3-5 people for the more intensive work phases.

3. Take a short break once an hour (human needs remain present in digital meetings) and change the working mode every 15 to 20 minutes (introduce group discussions, exercises, work sprints, etc.).

4. Keep your sessions short: up to 45 minutes for a discussion or presentation, and up to 90 minutes for work, exercises, or skills development. If you have to go longer, use more breaks.

5. One goal per session: Use different sessions for different goals.

Tactic 9: The power of stories

Nothing beats the power of a good story! Personal stories, educational stories, funny stories ... Our tips:

Use short videos to highlight learning points and simplify complex concepts with a cinematic narrative or simply as an entertaining break. A good internet connection and understanding how screen sharing works is necessary.

Tell a short story or invite your participants to share one.

Share a story in advance, in the form of a video or text document.

Bonus suggestion (for advanced facilitators): what if your entire meeting structure follows a storyline? A concept that can help with that is the "Hero's Journey". Can you draw any parallels between the action steps on your agenda and Campbell's stages of the monomyth? See if you can build a narrative around the structure of your meeting. Hint: Check-in and Check-out can easily signify the departure and return to the "ordinary world".

Tactic 10: Use visual aids

Since we mentioned videos, it's worth mentioning that enhancing your meeting with visual aids can have a positive impact on the motivation of your attendees. The more senses are addressed, the more active and motivated the brain becomes. How can you do that?

When you share a presentation, make sure it's well designed, with minimal text and appealing graphics. Use templates on PowerPoint or Google slides, or use Canva as an alternative way to design them.

A picture is worth a thousand words: add graphics, infographics, mind maps and other visual elements to your presentation. This allows to convey your message in an efficient, convenient and aesthetically pleasing way, which will help maintain your attendees' motivation and attention.

Particularly valuable: visualise the progress of your meeting! Hopefully you have already broken down your goal into achievable action steps. After completing each step, present clear visual cues for the proximity to the goal. The sense of accomplishment created will increase the motivation of your participants and ensure a smooth transition to the next step.

Tactic 11: Reward at the end

Continuing the use of visual aids, you can of course use a nice thank-you illustration, but more importantly, you can give your participants something that will feel more rewarding and is relevant to their needs. We have two suggestions for that:

1. Use digital open badges to recognise the participants' achievements during the meeting. This is particularly relevant if the purpose of the meeting is related to learning and/or developing skills (badgecraft is our favourite tool for this purpose). It may be less relevant for a simple discussion, but everyone is happy to have their efforts recognised.

2. Reward the participants with something of practical value, e.g. a discount on a future course, a voucher for an event or a donation to a charity of their choice. This can link the intrinsic value of their efforts during the meeting to an external purpose that matters to them and/or is linked to the vision of your company (remember that bigger picture from tactic 3?).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Online meeting effective - 11 tactics for gamifying your next zoom meeting - MYTRAINER

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A short ritual at the beginning of a session helps everyone to focus on the common process. It can be very simple, for example: a round in which everyone says their name and how they feel at the moment in one word. It should be short and involve everyone.

# data[].attributes.headline
TOOLS: Tools for collaborating on virtual whiteboards - from the DYPALL network

# data[].attributes.subject
TOOLS: Tools for collaborating on virtual whiteboards - from the DYPALL network

# data[].attributes.body
the folks over at DYPALL are great -they really know their stuff.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If we could identify with one, single object NGOs, CSOs, and more in general youth work around Europe, it would be without any doubt represented by a white board.

White boards are great to brainstorm, develop a project, or even describe graphically an idea or a process.

The following free tools bring collaborative white boards online, so you can collaborate with your colleagues at any time, and picture your future projects together.. without the need for markers.
Miro
Besides the regular online whiteboard features of uploading images, creating notes and drawing in different colors and sizes in freehand mode, Miro offers a great template library to conveniently find the right structure you need for your whiteboard. The free version offers up to 3 boards for your team.
Mural
Mural is a versatile online whiteboard tool for remote team meetings. It is particularly strong as a team tool, allowing you to create different rooms for your board with differentiated access rights. Besides, it offers a wide range of workshop and meeting templates, including planning, design, issue analysis and idea generation board templates. Unfortunately, Mural does not have a free version, but it extended its free trial period up to 90 days during the COVID outbreak period.
Stormboard
Stormboard focuses on idea generation, organization and prioritization: you can add different type of notes, combine them together, comment in threads and vote on ideas using colored dots. It has a strong reporting functionality that allows to instantly turn your online sticky notes into structured meeting reports. With its MS Office integration, the reports can be collaboratively edited and then shared immediately with meeting participants or key stakeholders. The free version offers 5 boards with maximum 5 collaborators for each.

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Tools for collaborating on virtual whiteboards

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If we could identify with one, single object NGOs, CSOs, and more in general youth work around Europe, it would be without any doubt represented by a white board. White boards are great to brainstorm, develop a project, or even describe graphically an idea or a process.

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KNOWLEDGE: Some great podcasts about online safety.

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KNOWLEDGE: Some great podcasts about online safety.

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Updates: April 2020.

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The SafeToNet Foundation’s Safeguarding podcasts

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The SafeToNet Foundation’s Safeguarding Podcasts, one of the UK’s Top 10 Human Rights podcasts, explore the Law, Culture and Technology of online child safety. Topics include cyber-abuse, cyberbullying, sexting, sextortion, grooming, privacy, and digital wellbeing. Our guest list is peerless, featu…

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A pretty comprehensive guidebook to leading groups online

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The coronavirus pandemic has created new challenges for facilitators and educators. Across the globe, people are being asked to lead groups online: teachers, trainers, professors, event managers, organizers, activists.

Jeanne Rewa and Daniel Hunter swiftly wrote this booklet for this moment.

Using their combined two decades of online facilitation, Jeanne and Daniel walk you through the basics of how to lead sessions online. They give you their top 10 principles for leading online groups, introduce you to interactive tools you can lead online, and answer commonly asked questions.

With this guide, you will be ready to successfully transition your face-to-face events for warmer online spaces.

The journey to leading groups online can be a challenge - but it is made much easier with these tips.

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Leading Groups Online: a down-and-dirty guide to leading online courses, meetings, trainings, and events during the coronavirus pandemic

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Using their combined two decades of online facilitation, Jeanne and Daniel walk you through the basics of how to lead sessions online. They give you their top 10 principles for leading online groups, introduce you to interactive tools you can lead online, and answer commonly asked questions.

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TOOLS: Open source tools for digital youth work and participation

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TOOLS: Open source tools for digital youth work and participation

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courtesy of the German youth sector. You can use these tools and make your own implementations of them on your own server. (Open source ftw)

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Diese Website dokumentiert die Entwicklung von digitalen Beteiligungswerkzeugen, die durch den DBJR aktiv begleitet werden. Die Site wurde 2012 zur Dokumentation des ePartools gestartet. Seit 2016 konnten weitere Tools hinzugefügt werden: Die Weiterentwicklung findet nun im Rahmen von jugend.beteiligen.jetzt - für die Praxis digitaler Partizipation statt.

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KNOWLEDGE: Facilitating online youth work

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KNOWLEDGE: Facilitating online youth work

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An excellent blog on Facilitating online youth work - the author Michele has multiple posts on the topic

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More episodes after this one! Click here for n. 2, n.3 and n.4.
If you want to be sure not to miss a post ever in future, you may want to subscribe to this blog and get automatic updates.
Online youth work has been an obscure topic for years, with a bunch of weirdos (yes, proud of being one of them 😉 ) trying to figure out how to do it the best way, and almost everybody else criticizing the very concept. Well, then Covid19 arrived, and now here we are everybody, with a whole heap of experts popping up everywhere and telling that they have been dealing with this for years. I never realized we were so many, but anyway, here are some advices, ideas and hints I collected and I would like to share too. This series of posts should have been an article for an e-zine but... you know me, when I start writing i tend to never stop, so the result was something like 4 times more than the space I should use. Nevermind, here it is for you, my dearest 25 readers (*). I decided to divide it in two (or even more) episodes to help you digest it more easily. Enjoy!
I do not know if this happened to you too, but in my social media bubble I have seen a flood of posts advising lists, collections of resources, webinars, guides, instant books etc. lately, about this same topic of doing online youth work activities, so I will start saying that it would be simply impossible to give you a complete overview of what you can do and use.

By the way, I briefly recreated part of the team behind #ExploringDigital, hosting with Juha Kiviniemi at the end of March one of the first online Q&As exactly on... online youth work, that you can still find online here. More activities like this are being planned while I write, and meanwhile I have also been supporting my fellow Italian youth workers in their online youth work meetings during the last month.

It's not only about the platforms

In a complex situation like the one we are living it is quite common, but not less pointless, to ask for a readymade solution that would solve every problem: so I see tons of questions and comments about which would be "the platform" to use for online youth work, as I used to get tons of questions about which apps we could recommend to do digital youth work, when we started our training course Dig-it Up! in 2015. Moreover: lists and collections of platforms and apps tend not to age very well and to become irrelevant quite soon.

Let's be clear about it, then: it is not only a matter of platforms.

First of all, platforms come and go: new, independent ones grow popular and widespread, then they may get acquired by big brands (often only to be shut up, to stop taking away users from the big ones) and newer ones pop up and become the next-big-thing, probably to end up in the same way after a while...

For this reason we will not start yet another platform war discussing whether we should embrace Zoom or Jitsi or Discord or whatever else. Before discussing platforms and tools, let's spend some time discussing the purpose for which you are considering to use these tools.

You want to create non formal learning activities online. The first tip would be starting from how would you design your normal activities.

I would say, let's start from the general approach.

Online youth work: approach and structure

Sitting in front of a screen is mainly a visual experience: so we should go for something in which activities, tools and instruments with a visual approach are preferred. Some of them have been part of our non formal toolbox for years indeed, and could just be transferred online with some creativity.

For instance, live graphic recording could be done during an online session and shared from time to time - maybe not continuously, because distant participants also enjoy feeling together when seeing each other. Participants could also be asked to draw something on a shared board online, or, since drawing with the computer mouse or trackpad is quite difficult, to draw something on actual paper and then simply show it at the camera.

Italian youth workers drawing with actual pens & paper and then sharing their masterpieces online. Guess whose birthday has just been celebrated online?

Other visual activities that we normally have in our toolbox for standard sessions are for instance creating and filling maps to record where participants are: this can be easily done with online tools too ( My Maps function of Google Maps does the trick), and it is interesting when hosting online activities, to make all the different positions visible.

In the same way, every kind of axes and grids can be shown and shared on some interactive board (ie Miro or Google Jamboard, just to say a couple names), asking participants to draw a sign / write their name / stick a virtual post-it, place an emoji in some position where they feel they belong, according to the questions which would come with the grid itself.

brainstorming with Miro

Many online conferencing tools include (or can be integrated with) some kind of online whiteboard where drawing or scribbling is normally allowed to every participant, so figuring out how to use this in your program could surely help to keep the activity more on the visual plan.

Other interesting and simple requests to participants that could improve the visual experience could be encouraging them to play with background images, if the platform you are using allows them, or with their avatars and/or their looks. You could also set up a dress-code for the meeting, and spend some time in commenting the results!

Me and my lockup beard using Minecraft Dungeons background, during an activity for 12yrs kids about social media behaviors

Talking about setting and spending time in activities, we should consider that timing in online activities should be handled quite differently. For many people, interacting with others online is still a completely new territory and the amount of energy and focus being put in an online session is generally more than the one you would spend in a face to face situation. For this reason, consider making short sessions, and not being afraid to be too short. One hour online with a group could already be a lot of time for someone, and two hours are generally too much for everyone. To give insight about how much time is passing, you can consider sharing your screen from time to time, while having a big timer / stopwatch on - for instance, using this online service.

It is better to plan more connections in different moments, even in the same day if necessary, than to keep people online for long times all together. A possible way to handle this is the one being used in many (innovative?) online formal-education approaches, as in flipped classroom, where students / participants receive a task before the session, or at the end of one session, and then meet later to present the results of their individual or group work, share and discuss them with the class/plenary. Quite a standard procedure in many non formal education activities, so why not to embrace it online too?

Online youth work - but real coffee breaks please 🙂

Talking about time, what happened to breaks? We all know the importance of stopping from time to time during the activities, to re-energize, grab some drink or food, have a little walk... so why so few online activities plan breaks for their participants? As we wrote, timing should work differently when online, so breaks and time off-screen are even more needed, making them really important to include in your plan. To keep the online "room" open and give a feeling of being anyway connected, you can stream some music while everybody is taking their time off, or prepare some funny slide-show to cover the break time, or whatever else could help to keep people anyway in touch even while having a coffee or a cigarette by the window.

Another quite standard procedure to be encouraged when hosting online activities is allow check in and check out time for participants. It could be a few minutes of informal chatting and meeting while you wait that everybody is connected, or even better some structured activity to help everybody say something about how they are joining / leaving the activity, but since people are physically far away, and online meetings do not allow bodies to meet each other, to shake hands, to see all facial expressions and fully get people's emotions, energy levels, nonverbal language etc, this can be really helpful to set the mood for what follows.
Next episode(s):
2: Interaction - 3: more interaction: games and videogames - 4: Inclusion - Hosting - Conclusions.
If you want to be sure not to miss a post ever in future, you may want to subscribe to this blog and get automatic updates.
(*) obscure reference to an overrated Italian writer from XIX Century.

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More episodes after this one! Click here for n. 2, n.3 and n.4.If you want to be sure not to miss a post ever in future, you may want to subscribe to this blog and get automatic updates.

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GUIDE: Tools for digital security in youth work

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GUIDE: Tools for digital security in youth work

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A guide for thinking through issues like privacy, GDPR, data security and even when using digital tools

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Digital Security in Youth Work - Guideline

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Digital youth work means effective and proactive using or addressing digital media and technology in youth work. It has the same goals as youth work in general, and can be included in any youth work setting (open youth work, youth information and counselling, youth clubs, inclusive youth work, etc.).

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TOOLS: Groop  - community management platform

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TOOLS: Groop  - community management platform

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a statement purpose built for the youth sector that included online tools to manage youth clubs (or any sort of club) along with video chat.

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Our team of experts across the Public, Charitable, Voluntary and Technology sectors have created Groop to solve the issues encountered everyday.

We understand administration pain, problems with paper forms, the need for communication and real time planning and most importantly the safety and management of data.

Every one of our team is on the front line, experiencing and learning from the people around us.

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The easy to use Groop management software built for the Public and Third Sectors The Groop platform combines powerful management features, adaptable for your services with CRM functionality. Safe Secure Compliant Safe Secure Compliant Our Clients and Partners shaping their communities - now and into the future...

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KNOWLEDGE: UNICEF's Article: How teenagers can protect their mental health during coronavirus (COVID-19)6 strategies for teens facing a new (temporary) normal.

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KNOWLEDGE: UNICEF's Article: How teenagers can protect their mental health during coronavirus (COVID-19)6 strategies for teens facing a new (temporary) normal.

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Published: April 2020.

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How teenagers can protect their mental health during COVID-19

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6 strategies for teens facing a new (temporary) normal

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GUIDE: How to use tik tok as part of your youth work 

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GUIDE: How to use tik tok as part of your youth work 

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How to make TikTok a part of your youth work offer

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Voter Experience

Voter Email Notifications.

Voters recieve a customisable email at the start of your election, informing them what the election is about, and a simple one click login to vote.

Election Auditing

Real Time Analytics.

Watch voter engagement in real-time with our helpful graphs and totaliser information.

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Features | Choice Voting Online STV Voting

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Voter Email Notifications. Voters recieve a customisable email at the start of your election, informing them what the election is about, and a simple one click login to vote. Watch voter engagement in real-time with our helpful graphs and totaliser information.

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KNOWLEDGE: Study on Social Inclusion, Digitalisation and Youth. 

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KNOWLEDGE: Study on Social Inclusion, Digitalisation and Youth. 

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The study presents a collection of European and national policies, existing digital platforms, online tools and educational and training opportunities available to young people and youth workers or teachers, and a selection of risks and opportunities associated with social inclusion of young people within the digital realm.

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GUIDE: Online youth work tools and tips blog

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GUIDE: Online youth work tools and tips blog

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This blog contains very concrete advices and tips backed up with many useful tools for different aspects of youth work.

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More episodes after this one! Click here for n. 2, n.3 and n.4.
If you want to be sure not to miss a post ever in future, you may want to subscribe to this blog and get automatic updates.
Online youth work has been an obscure topic for years, with a bunch of weirdos (yes, proud of being one of them 😉 ) trying to figure out how to do it the best way, and almost everybody else criticizing the very concept. Well, then Covid19 arrived, and now here we are everybody, with a whole heap of experts popping up everywhere and telling that they have been dealing with this for years. I never realized we were so many, but anyway, here are some advices, ideas and hints I collected and I would like to share too. This series of posts should have been an article for an e-zine but... you know me, when I start writing i tend to never stop, so the result was something like 4 times more than the space I should use. Nevermind, here it is for you, my dearest 25 readers (*). I decided to divide it in two (or even more) episodes to help you digest it more easily. Enjoy!
I do not know if this happened to you too, but in my social media bubble I have seen a flood of posts advising lists, collections of resources, webinars, guides, instant books etc. lately, about this same topic of doing online youth work activities, so I will start saying that it would be simply impossible to give you a complete overview of what you can do and use.

By the way, I briefly recreated part of the team behind #ExploringDigital, hosting with Juha Kiviniemi at the end of March one of the first online Q&As exactly on... online youth work, that you can still find online here. More activities like this are being planned while I write, and meanwhile I have also been supporting my fellow Italian youth workers in their online youth work meetings during the last month.

It's not only about the platforms

In a complex situation like the one we are living it is quite common, but not less pointless, to ask for a readymade solution that would solve every problem: so I see tons of questions and comments about which would be "the platform" to use for online youth work, as I used to get tons of questions about which apps we could recommend to do digital youth work, when we started our training course Dig-it Up! in 2015. Moreover: lists and collections of platforms and apps tend not to age very well and to become irrelevant quite soon.

Let's be clear about it, then: it is not only a matter of platforms.

First of all, platforms come and go: new, independent ones grow popular and widespread, then they may get acquired by big brands (often only to be shut up, to stop taking away users from the big ones) and newer ones pop up and become the next-big-thing, probably to end up in the same way after a while...

For this reason we will not start yet another platform war discussing whether we should embrace Zoom or Jitsi or Discord or whatever else. Before discussing platforms and tools, let's spend some time discussing the purpose for which you are considering to use these tools.

You want to create non formal learning activities online. The first tip would be starting from how would you design your normal activities.

I would say, let's start from the general approach.

Online youth work: approach and structure

Sitting in front of a screen is mainly a visual experience: so we should go for something in which activities, tools and instruments with a visual approach are preferred. Some of them have been part of our non formal toolbox for years indeed, and could just be transferred online with some creativity.

For instance, live graphic recording could be done during an online session and shared from time to time - maybe not continuously, because distant participants also enjoy feeling together when seeing each other. Participants could also be asked to draw something on a shared board online, or, since drawing with the computer mouse or trackpad is quite difficult, to draw something on actual paper and then simply show it at the camera.

Italian youth workers drawing with actual pens & paper and then sharing their masterpieces online. Guess whose birthday has just been celebrated online?

Other visual activities that we normally have in our toolbox for standard sessions are for instance creating and filling maps to record where participants are: this can be easily done with online tools too ( My Maps function of Google Maps does the trick), and it is interesting when hosting online activities, to make all the different positions visible.

In the same way, every kind of axes and grids can be shown and shared on some interactive board (ie Miro or Google Jamboard, just to say a couple names), asking participants to draw a sign / write their name / stick a virtual post-it, place an emoji in some position where they feel they belong, according to the questions which would come with the grid itself.

brainstorming with Miro

Many online conferencing tools include (or can be integrated with) some kind of online whiteboard where drawing or scribbling is normally allowed to every participant, so figuring out how to use this in your program could surely help to keep the activity more on the visual plan.

Other interesting and simple requests to participants that could improve the visual experience could be encouraging them to play with background images, if the platform you are using allows them, or with their avatars and/or their looks. You could also set up a dress-code for the meeting, and spend some time in commenting the results!

Me and my lockup beard using Minecraft Dungeons background, during an activity for 12yrs kids about social media behaviors

Talking about setting and spending time in activities, we should consider that timing in online activities should be handled quite differently. For many people, interacting with others online is still a completely new territory and the amount of energy and focus being put in an online session is generally more than the one you would spend in a face to face situation. For this reason, consider making short sessions, and not being afraid to be too short. One hour online with a group could already be a lot of time for someone, and two hours are generally too much for everyone. To give insight about how much time is passing, you can consider sharing your screen from time to time, while having a big timer / stopwatch on - for instance, using this online service.

It is better to plan more connections in different moments, even in the same day if necessary, than to keep people online for long times all together. A possible way to handle this is the one being used in many (innovative?) online formal-education approaches, as in flipped classroom, where students / participants receive a task before the session, or at the end of one session, and then meet later to present the results of their individual or group work, share and discuss them with the class/plenary. Quite a standard procedure in many non formal education activities, so why not to embrace it online too?

Online youth work - but real coffee breaks please 🙂

Talking about time, what happened to breaks? We all know the importance of stopping from time to time during the activities, to re-energize, grab some drink or food, have a little walk... so why so few online activities plan breaks for their participants? As we wrote, timing should work differently when online, so breaks and time off-screen are even more needed, making them really important to include in your plan. To keep the online "room" open and give a feeling of being anyway connected, you can stream some music while everybody is taking their time off, or prepare some funny slide-show to cover the break time, or whatever else could help to keep people anyway in touch even while having a coffee or a cigarette by the window.

Another quite standard procedure to be encouraged when hosting online activities is allow check in and check out time for participants. It could be a few minutes of informal chatting and meeting while you wait that everybody is connected, or even better some structured activity to help everybody say something about how they are joining / leaving the activity, but since people are physically far away, and online meetings do not allow bodies to meet each other, to shake hands, to see all facial expressions and fully get people's emotions, energy levels, nonverbal language etc, this can be really helpful to set the mood for what follows.
Next episode(s):
2: Interaction - 3: more interaction: games and videogames - 4: Inclusion - Hosting - Conclusions.
If you want to be sure not to miss a post ever in future, you may want to subscribe to this blog and get automatic updates.
(*) obscure reference to an overrated Italian writer from XIX Century.

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More episodes after this one! Click here for n. 2, n.3 and n.4.If you want to be sure not to miss a post ever in future, you may want to subscribe to this blog and get automatic updates.

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TOOLS: Homeschooling tools in Austria free till July

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TOOLS: Homeschooling tools in Austria free till July

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www.klassenpinwand.at, www.schoolfox.com

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https://www.fastforward.org.uk/general-youth-work-resources/

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6 Digital Youth Work Activities by LANDED LANarkshire Drug EDucation

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6 Digital Youth Work Activities by LANDED LANarkshire Drug EDucation

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https://www.landed.info/post/6-digital-youth-work-activities

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https://www.youthworkandyou.org/sources-and-resources/

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Digigen research on patterns of digital deprivation amongst children and young people across Europe

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Digigen research on patterns of digital deprivation amongst children and young people across Europe

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University of Colima was the host of the University of Colima (UCOL) hosted the inaugurating event of SE-HUB that gathered over 20 youth workers, educators and activists from Bulgaria, Greece, Namibia, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil.

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Empowering Changemakers for social entrepreneurship - SE-HUB Project

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University of Colima was the host of the University of Colima (UCOL) hosted the inaugurating event of SE-HUB that gathered over 20 youth workers, educators and activists from Bulgaria, Greece, Namibia, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil.

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TACSO Manual on Digital and ICT tools useful in CSO Work

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TACSO Manual on Digital and ICT tools useful in CSO Work

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https://tacso.eu/publication-list/manuals-on-digital-and-ict-tools-useful-in-csos-work-available-now/