Learning Outcomes:
Participants will gain knowledge about the concept of digital participation.
Participants will reflect on the positive and negative aspect of using digital instruments to engage in participatory activities.
Duration:
45 minutes
Materials needed:
- Paper
- pens
- sticky notes
- laptop
- projector
Preparation
The trainer(s) should be prepared to discuss about digital participation. They should also prepare the Mentimeter pages (or similar tool) to share with participants.
Description
This session will focus on exploring the digital dimension of youth participation, the ways in which it takes place and the methods to encourage it.
The trainer(s) will give a short face-to-face presentation on digital participation, discussing with participants about the benefits and possible disadvantages of digital participation. Participants should be actively involved in the presentation, for example by giving brainstorming together a definition of digital participation. When is digital participation? Why does it matter?
They will then form buzz groups and ask each group to discuss the topic among themselves, trying to find at least one positive and one negative aspect of digital participation. The trainer should let them discuss for no more than 10 minutes, walking among groups to provide inputs that could stimulate the discussion.
The small groups answers on the pros and cons of digital participation will be collected through Mentimeter and two different word clouds will be created, that will then serve as basis for a group discussion during which participants will discuss the issue by sharing their experiences on participation and digital participation.
Debriefing
Debriefing starts directly from the discussion in step 3, and it should focus on exploring participants’ perceptions of digital participation. Questions that could be used are:
- Has your way of participating changed compared to the time before COVID-19?
- Do you think you participate more via online or offline actions? And why so?
- Does digital participation mean that more or less people can participate and why? What about young people?
This last question could help discuss inclusion and diversity sub-topics within the main theme of youth participation, making participants reflect on participation and digital participation for minority and/or discriminated groups.
Tips
In this session, the debriefing is integrated with the activity itself. The activity should, in fact, have more the form of an open discussion in which all participants actively participate. The trainer(s) should make sure of this by encouraging everyone to participate with questions such as “what do you think?” or “how is your opinion different from what this participant said?” and by all means trying to avoid “yes/no” questions.
When/if the conversation moves to discussing inclusion sub-topics, the trainer(s) should be aware of the diversity within the group and ensure that all participants feel comfortable to share their point of view without hurting/offending others.
Handouts and resources
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