TRACES- Supporting youth to manage their digital & social media presence Erasmus Project

Project Title

TRACES- Supporting youth to manage their digital & social media presence

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for youth

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

CONTEXT
 
The digital revolution is transforming the way young people play, access information, communicate and learn. Youth today have unprecedented learning opportunities. Digital and social media literacy training is now necessary to ensure that young Europeans can harness the potential of online opportunities to build skills, careers and relationships effectively but also safely.
 
OBJECTIVES
 
(1) to support the continuous professional development of youth professionals;
(2) to develop key digital and social media literacy training material for youth with fewer opportunities;
(3) to create a policy paper to advocate for the promotion of responsible digital citizenship of youth with fewer opportunities. 
 
PARTICIPANTS
 
12 youth professionals will complete the first iteration of the in-service training programme at the transnational training event. A further 40 youth workers will complete the in-service training, 10 in each partner country. 80 young people with fewer opportunities will attend the digital and social media literacy workshops – 20 in each partner country. 5 youth workers in each country will comprise the advisory committees of the partners (20 in total). 50 youth workers, youth trainers/ facilitators, managers of youth organisations and policy-makers will attend the Final Conference in Cyprus. 200 young people with fewer opportunities will be actively engaged in building digital and social media literacy competences. 100 youth organisations will receive information about the project and the resources developed.
 
 
ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY
 
The partners will develop and pilot resources for youth workers working with young people with fewer opportunities. The overarching methodology will be Open Education. Innovative methods will be used such as, in-service training, blended learning. Non formal and experiential learning underline the in-service training and the related Handbook.
During the short-term joint staff training event “TRACES in-service training for Youth Workers” and the training for young people, the methodology will be a blend of: (1) self-driven online learning (2) non-formal education participatory methods (3) face-to-face instruction on the use of specific online tools.

The partners will meet with their advisory committees of youth workers to validate the outputs and to conduct semi-structured focus groups for the creation of the Policy Paper on the Digital Citizenship of Young People with fewer Opportunities.

A Collaborative online Learning Database will be created and maintained using the latest methodologies to feature all the outputs and facilitate internal and external cooperation.

A combination of dissemination methods will support the visibility of the project, the partners, and Erasmus+. The methods include classic and social media, digital promotion and face-to-face activities such as the multiplier events, and the final conference.

The Stakeholder Dialogue Model will facilitate the communication and engagement of people interested in the welfare of the youth and the endorsement of the Policy Paper by policy-makers and managers in the youth field.

Management wise, the project will follow a collaborative, results oriented approach with ongoing monitoring and risk-assesment with the traffic lights tool. The partners will communicate face-to-face during the project meetings but they will harness online media for communication and cooperation.

 
 RESULTS & IMPACT

The partners will develop and pilot innovative tools and five main intellectual outputs:

1. Digital and Social Media Literacy Curriculum Resources;
2. In-service Training Programme Handbook;
3. Collaborative online Learning Database;
4. Policy Paper “Policy recommendations on the promotion of digital citizenship for all young people through digital youth work in Cyprus, Finland, Ireland and Romania”;
5. Guidelines for Youth Workers working with Digital Media.

TRACES will equip the youth professionals with practical tools to use in their work. The youth workers will support the young people with fewer opportunities to make the most out of digital and social media for their competence development and to protect themselves from digital threads.

LONGER TERM IMPACT

Most importantly, young people, whatever their status, who complete the curriculum resources developed as part of the project will bring a considerable skill-set with them wherever they go in their life in the connected world. With the use of a Policy Paper, the partners will start a dialogue on the digital citizenship of young people with fewer opportunities. The dialogue will continue long after the project end. Samewise, the open access to the intellectual outputs in combination with carefull dissemination and exploitation activities, will prolong their use by the partners and other organisations in Europe.

The project will reinforce the international dimension of youth work and the capacities and international scope of the pa

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 103099 Eur

Project Coordinator

CYPRUS ORGANIZATION FOR SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION AND ACTIVE LEARNING (S.E.A.L CYPRUS) & Country: CY

Project Partners

• INNOVENTUM OY
• FUNDATIA JUDETEANA PENTRU TINERET TIMIS
• The Rural Hub CLG