Social Digital Innovators

This activity was organized in an online setting using the tool “Google Classroom.” The course started on November 21st and ended on January 19th. There were 10 topics covered, and the 25 participants could communicate with the facilitators as well as with the rest of the participants. The main target group is young people active in the field of cultural and creative industries, young artists aged 18-30 years. The course took place in English. The topics covered by this training activity were:

1. Welcome & Warm-up: getting to know each other and becoming acquainted with the tool.
2. Digital Competence Framework: presentation and self-assessment.
3. Digital Readiness in creative and cultural industries.
4. Learning from the Best! Inspiring role model stories that overcame Covid-19 challenges.
5. Data Analysis & Google Ads.
6. USP, IKIGAI & Pitch Training.
7. Europeana Dataspace.
8. Online marketing tools and Personal branding.
9. My own digital project: using the learned tools, the participants developed their own ideas.
10. Pitching ideas and presentations: the participants could pitch their project ideas online and receive feedback from the facilitators.

The materials created and used in the training activity will be shared on the online platform as additional material. The online setting made it possible for participants to learn at their own pace. We gave them enough time to go through all 9 lectures and finally ended with a pitching day in January. We engaged the participants to share their own learning and exchange information with the other participants during online learning.

We aimed to empower the target group:

• To plan for and implement digital devices and resources in their professional CCI interventions to enhance the effectiveness of their activities.
• To equip the participants with the necessary skills to organize and implement online cultural events independently.
• To experiment with and develop new formats and CCI.
• To enable the participants to bridge from “theory to practice” when it comes to delivering cultural/artistic activities online.

Lastly, we organized one final pitching day to showcase the results of their own digital projects prepared by the participants and evaluate the progress in learning and skills upgrade achieved.

Results of the participants:

Task/responsibility: Each participant contributed by posting their own assignments and views, respecting the time frame and group dynamics through a self-paced learning journey.

Communication in foreign languages: The participants had the chance to improve their English skills through writing and commenting on different tasks in the common working language.

Learning to learn: The participants explored the digital learning environment and success factors for acquiring new knowledge in an online setting.

Social and civic competences: Through group activities and collaborative tasks, the participants learned to cooperate, understand each other, and achieve goals together. They had to adapt to different customs and traditions of people from other countries.

Sense of initiative: The participants created their own projects and pitched the ideas in the last module. They had to take the lead sometimes, organize, make decisions on their own, always considering other people’s opinions and receiving their feedback.

Cultural awareness and expression: The participants learned more about other cultures by sharing their artistic background and cultural diversity in the “digital international evening,” where traditional symbols and songs of each country or region were presented.

Digital competence: The participants learned the basics of EUROPEANA dataspace, online marketing, and how to use programs to generate digital artistic outputs.

Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology: The training course was implemented digitally, using new applications and programs to explore both creative and scientific content. This served to improve logical processing and enhance the technology-based versatility and expression of the participants.