Use of digital elements The section on formats (p. 7) describes how digital ele- ments can be used as a tool, activity or content. In the context of International Youth Work, that can mean the following: » Tool: a youth exchange takes place on a specific vid- eoconferencing platform so as to be able to include those who are unable to travel.
Online tools A wide range of tools is available for use in digital youth projects. The most frequently used ones include video- conferencing tools, digital pinboards and collaborative writing tools. An overview of the digital tools that are available for International Youth Work is provided in IJAB’s brochure MEET – JOIN – CONNECT! Digital tools for in- ternational youth work practitioners. 5 The online platform DINA.international (https://dina.international/) com- bines various tools under one roof and enables not only preparations for an exchange and follow-up work but also entire exchange projects to be conducted online. Educational purpose trumps tool: When selecting and using a tool attention should be paid to ensuring that the tool serves goal achievement. The educational pur- pose and the chosen method determine which tools are to be used. Less is often more. Also, remember that the participating countries may have privacy rules that apply to the tools being used, and the tools used should match participants’ lifeworlds as closely as possible. National and international preparatory meetings should be used to brainstorm and discuss the wishes and preferences as regards digital tools of the young people taking part. Composition of educational teams What skills are needed in teams that run digital projects in International Youth Work? As a general rule, the same as those that are important in offline International Youth Work projects. Additional skills are needed, though, when conducting digital projects, that is technical skills, specific moderation skills and digital methodology/peda- gogy skills. In principle, team members need to be open to engaging with digital technologies in connection with those pedagogical issues that arise (see “agile mindset” in European Commission 2018). Having a positive atti- tude is the foundation on which the skills needed to use digital tools in educational work can be built and rein- forced by means of specific training courses.
» Activity: media such as films or podcasts are pro- duced in the course of a project.
» Content: young people collaborate on issues such as data protection or other media-related issues.
Devices The devices young people use to take part in a project’s online phases can also vary from project to project. Many projects apply the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) approach where participants use or bring along their own devices. 4 There are several advantages to this. First, it saves on the costs, time and effort involved in organis- ing a project. Second, participants do not need an intro- duction to using specific devices because they work with the ones they are already familiar with. This also makes sense from the point of view of sustainability because it means no new devices have to be bought unless abso- lutely necessary. At the same time, though, there are disadvantages to using one’s own device. For example, there is a high risk that participants will be distracted because they may be tempted to use the apps and programs (mes- sengers, games, etc.) they use privately or to start doing something else during an online session. The BYOD ap- proach can also disadvantage those young people who do not have the necessary equipment to take part in a project. Different operating systems and software ver- sions on privately used devices can pose a challenge for team leaders. Certain programs used in a project may not work properly on certain devices. In these cases it can be helpful to check with participants before the pro- ject starts what hardware and software they use (devic- es, operating system and software versions). Doing this makes it possible to tailor the digital methods applied to the equipment available to participants, although it should be borne in mind that this can be a time-consum- ing and laborious process.
4 Other definitions and concepts around the BYOD approach can be found, for instance, in BYOD – Start in die nächste Gener- ation (in German), the final report produced by a research team following a pilot project in which online tools were used in a school context (Kammerl et al. 2016). 5 IJAB – International Youth Service of the Federal Republic of Germany (2020): https://ijab.de/en/publications/meet-join-con- nect-1.
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