digiUP Pilot Course

Pilot course has been realized  in each country : Germany, Bulgary, Sewden and Spain.

This pilot course consisted in session about digital competences throught Interactive Groups. 

The targets groups were : adults + 55 and 18-34 years old without basic educational degree, focusing on Roma and migrants.

 

SOME DATA ABOUT THE COURSES

Pilot Course in Germany

Times: 10 weeks (+1 introductory session)

Trainer: 1

Volunteers: 7

Participants: Altogether 31 participants from 10 countries (48% Syria)

Gender Participants: 45% women, 55% men

Age: 48% (18-34); 45% (35-54) 7%  (+55)

This project had a very interesting approach based on the idea that people help each other among themselves. It means that they discovered and learnt about computers by themselves, I was really only there to provide support and give them the initial input. It worked surprisingly well, I have to say.” Trainer of course

Some benefits: 

They enjoyed working in groups and it meant a lot not having to be scared to ask questions or to contribute. It became natural to everybody to take part and to be active. They found it a very good way of learning and of involving everybody in the process. Solidarity and a helpful attitude were very much part of the course atmosphere and never a problem. The presence of the volunteers was very much appreciated.

 

Pilot Course in Spain

Times: From February 6th to April 26th, 2017, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, classes of 2 hours (50 hours in total)

Trainers: 2

Volunteers: 4

Participants: 7 participants (22 at the beginning of the course, some didn’t take the whole 50 hours),

Some experiences:

"Before coming here, I imagined it like this, there, one person-computer-person… I
had no idea, logically. Since the beginning, when they said no, two in one computer
or three in each PC… and if today we are three here, tomorrow I would go in front
with [someone else]… so, changing for staying all together, I like it, truly, very
good”. Participant of the digiUP Pilot Course

But the courage, I think that we give it to the others too, don’t we? The dialogue, I
would provide more dialogue between all of us. In each class, when it finishes, my
opinion is that there could be a little bit of dialogue, [to discuss] how everyone felt”. Participant of the digiUP Pilot Course

Do you remember that when you started you didn’t understand a lot of
information, and one day you were asked and all of you said: Could it go a little bit
slowly? And from the moment you had the opportunity to say: “We want to go more
slowly”, you started to understand it better and you also started to work better. Ithink that it would be good to include these spaces… two or three days of class, stop
for a moment and: “What do you think about it?” “How are we going?” “No, we are
going too fast or we are going too slowly”. Then, the class runs at an adequate
rhythm”. Volunteer of the digiUP Pilot Course

Pilot Course in Bulgary

-Making posters 

The group was asked to separate in small groups of 2 or 3 participants.

Each group had participantsofdifferent age (a young one/s and elder one/s). 

The trainer gave materials to the groups paper,scissors, glue, colour 

+paper, ribbons, coloured pencils, etc. Eac group should make a postefor advertising the IT course. The groups had 30 minutes to do the exercise. The aim of the exercise was  to show the heterogeneous approach and to make participants in the group have trust in their  partners. The posters were hanged to the walls of the computer room to give participants additional  motivation and to raise their self-esteem.

-Exercises in the computer course  . Combination of practicing Word, online search – Creating a Roma fairytale 

The participants work in pairs or in groups of 3. Their task is to prepare a Roma fairytale – to type the  text of the fairytale ( even they can search for a Roma fairytale in the web- google for example), to  format the text( change the font, colour and style, etc), add some pictures or animations. When the  fairytale is ready the participants should save it as a file.  When all the groups are ready, all of the files  are presented and participants starts a discussion to share how did they feel during the exercise and  what kind of obstacles did they meet.  

Pilot Course in Sweden
Some exercises
 aimed at explainig  the  essence of Interactive Groups 
 
Exercise 1: - Human Knot 
Everyone stands in a circle and puts their right hand into the middle. They clasp hands with someone 
across the circle. Then, everyone puts their left hand into the middle of the circle and clasps the hand 
of a different person. The group is now in a “knot”. The object is for the group to untangle itself 
without releasing anyone’s hand. This exercise shows how a team needs to work together in order to 
achieve a common goal. The trainer must make sure that the team communicates effectively so that 
the group “unties themselves”. This involves every  member of the team communicating clearly and 
simply in order to let the other members of the group know what it is necessary for them to do in 
order for the group to ‘untie’ itself. The trainer must make sure that the group members do not talk 
over one another.  
Exercise 2: - Making posters 
The group was asked to separate in small groups of 2 or 3 participants. Each group had participants of 
different age (a young one/s and elder one/s). The trainer gave materials to the groups  paper, 
scissors, glue, colour paper, ribbons, coloured pencils, etc. Each group should make a poster for 
advertising the IT course. The groups had 30 minutes to do the exercise. The aim of the exercise was 
to show the heterogeneous approach and to make participants in the group have trust in their 
partners. The posters were hanged to the walls of the computer room to give participants additional 
motivation and to raise their self-esteem. 
 
B.Exercises in the computer course  
Example 1. Combination of practicing Word, online search  Creating a Roma fairytale 
The participants work in pairs or in groups of 3. Their task is to prepare a Roma fairytale  to type the 
text of the fairytale ( even they can search for a Roma fairytale in the web- google for example), to 
format the text( change the font, colour and style, etc), add some pictures or animations. When the 
fairytale is ready the participants should save it as a file.  When all the groups are ready, all of the files 
are presented and participants starts a discussion to share how did they feel during the exercise and 
what kind of obstacles did they meet.  
 
Example 2. Writing an e-mail to a relative abroad 
The participants are divided into pairs. Their task is to create an e-mail address and to write an e-mail 
to their relative, who is working and living abroad. The trainees used the platform of www.abv.bg, 
where they created profiles, set their nicknames and passwords. After that they log in their accounts 
and composed their e-mails. After that they attached photos of themselves, downloaded previously 
from their accounts in facebook. The exercise was followed by a discussion. 

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