Digital Welcome Programme • ALL DIGITAL

13 Nov Digital Welcome Programme

13 Nov, 2017

Posted at 10:46h in Digital Media Literacy, Past projects, Projects by Andrea Bedorin

Hashtag used to check for project news #digitalwelcome

The initial idea for a Programme for IT courses for migrants and refugees was born within the ALL DIGITAL (then Telecentre-Europe) network during the Telecentre Europe General Assembly in Amsterdam in 2016 and was endorsed by many members. The working title of the programme was “WELCOME”. The need for a programme to support this specific target group was obvious. Since then, and based on this initial idea, we have explored several opportunities.

The aim of the project Digital Welcome Programme was to exchange best practices between organisations specialised in digital inclusion of disadvantaged groups and, based on this exchange, to develop and pilot an innovative methodology for social inclusion of third country nationals in educational and social activities, cultural life, volunteering and digital creation activities.

For this purpose, we have developed a programme of creative IT workshops, including methodology and training materials, based on best practices of the partners and beyond. Then, trainers from partner organisations were trained to use the programme and its materials in pilots.

These trainers ran two rounds of pilots. During piloting, 120 young 3^rd country nationals aged 16 to 30 took part in the programme and improve their IT skills, language and soft skills through creative IT workshops. They were trained as mentors and then worked as volunteers and organized 40 creative IT workshops, reaching 400 people in total in mixed groups of third country nationals and European nationals. The content of these workshops fostered peer learning and exchanges between local communities and third country nationals.

As part of the programme, young participants produced digital stories to reflect on the programme experience. Their use was to:

reach a total of 1,000 of their peers to motivate them to volunteer or participate in educational, social and cultural activities;
reach a total of 500 key stakeholders in education, social and cultural organisations to raise awareness about the need to make activities more inclusive for third country nationals.

PROJECT INTELECTUAL OUTPUTS

DIGITAL WELCOME METHODOLOGY – focuses on digital inclusion and digital empowerment as a strategy to equip young refugees and migrants with the necessary skills to fully participate in the host society, including digital skills, but also pedagogical and soft skills to make connections with local people, volunteer, run workshops, be able to find a job, etc.
DIGITAL WELCOME: STAFF TRAINING CURRICULUM – the overall structure of the 5 days Training the Trainers is provided, along with references for all the relevant material needed. The training modules involved digital methodologies such as coding with scratch, digital journalism and digital storytelling as well as soft skills and employability awareness. Through non-formal education and peer-to peer learning methodology, the consortium established a fun way of learning from each-other throughout the week.
PROGRAMME CONTENTS AND GUIDELINES 1. Coding with Scratch – This module teaches trainers how trainers can use Scratch as an easy way to teach young people about programming. This methodology can be used in education, youth work and adult education.
PROGRAMME CONTENTS AND GUIDELINES 2. Digital Storytelling – This document provides an overview of the Digital Storytelling method. In a digital story, the narrator describes his or her own personal experiences or personal points of view on a particular topic by editing images, sound, music, text and voice.
PROGRAMME CONTENTS AND GUIDELINESS 3. Digital Journalism – This module is dedicated to digital journalism. Through it, participants will acquire mobile digital journalism techniques, with special emphasis on two basic aspects:
• The use of mobile technologies to produce small multimedia elements;
• The use of journalistic techniques that will allow participants to relate to their immediate surroundings;
PROGRAMME CONTENTS AND GUIDELINES 4. Soft Skills and Employability Awareness – Soft skills and employability awareness are the focus of this module. Theoretical background and explanation of the need for such skills is included as well as several non-formal activities for young asylum seekers/refugees.
BEST PRACTICES REPORT – Overview of selected and archived submissions for practices that enhance digital literacy and training skills for young refugees and youngsters with a migration background.