Council of Europe published the Internet literacy handbook (2017) which provides links  to  more  in-depth  information  and  resources  for  those  who  wish  to  delve  further  into  the  topics related to working with children and young people online.

 

Verke, the national Centre of Expertise for Digital Youth Work in Finland offers a wide range of publications and materials to develop and implement digital youth work. Some of the publications can be ordered in hard copy with free shipping in European Union countries. Worth starting with:

• Digitalisation and youth work (2019)
• Digital youth work - Finnish Perspective (2017)

 

The Digital Youth Work Project (2017-2019) aimed to build capacity to deliver digital youth work at local, national, regional and European levels. They have:

• collected good practices of digital youth work
• training material to build capacity of the youth work sector to deliver high-quality youth work in a digital age
• designed the European Guidelines for Digital Youth Work to clearly define Digital Youth Work, its impact and the value of youth work as an important educational practice

 

YouthLink Scotland, the national agency for youth work, offers resources for safe, secure and empowered youth work online and resources to develop digital youth work.

 

SkillIT digital pathways (2018-2019) for youth work aims to increase the quality and relevance of youth work through digitalisation. They developed and offer:

• the Competence Framework for Digital Youth Work Practice
• Digital Learning Planning Toolkit
• Training Toolkit for Youth Workers & Educators to Deliver Digital Skills to Young People.

 

Future Labs project offers the eHandbook (2019) which is focused on innovation in youth work. It is intended for practitioners who are looking for innovative tools to use in their activities with young people, including digital youth work.

 

Youth Access created a beginner’s guide to adding online support to your young people’s mental health and wellbeing service (2017). This guide has arisen out of the DigiTalk project, a one year Health Education England funded programme, which aimed to increase the capacity of 15 local Youth Information, Advice and Counselling Services (YIACS) to provide an online counselling service.

 

ICT4YOUTHWORK (2017-2018) collected good practice case studies of online youth work practices.

 

Aye Mind project (2015-2016) created a digital Toolkit for staff or anyone on a mission to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young people – by making better use of the internet, social media and mobile technologies.

 

Leading groups online (2020) is a down-and-dirty guide to leading online courses, meetings, training, and events published by Daniel Hunter and Jeanne Rewa.

 

Videos, webinars and podcasts on smart and digital youth work:

• Smart Youth Work video by Estonian Youth Work Centre
• Series of webinars for the Symposium of the EU-CoE youth partnership focused on exploring the intersection between social inclusion of young people and digitalisation: Young people and digitalisation, Advantages and risks of digitalisation, Social inclusion and digitalisation, Smart Youth Work 
• Talking Youth Work is a series of podcast interviews to Youth Work experts and practitioners that have a say when it comes to Innovation in Youth Work.
• Series of webinars by the SALTO Participation & Information Resource Centre: Reaching young people online, Cyberbullying a Soft Word for a Serious Crime
• Webinar on modes and tools of online youth work by Dan Moxon

 Verke compiled a list of some of the tools that can be a good starting point for online youth work.

 

A long-term training course ‘Effective Digital Habits for Youth Work’ (2019) collected tools, activities and content to develop digital youth work. Download a list of tools from the seminar and training course for youth leaders and youth workers.

 

Keep it going! Online tools review for Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps National Agencies can be useful for organisations and partnerships locally and internationally.

 

Michele Di Paola created a series of blog posts to share online youth work tools and tips. Start from part 1 and continue reading on his blog.

 

Dan Moxon, People Dialogue and Change and PEYR, Marinela Szymańska SEEYN, and Adina Marina Şerban, CSCD & PEYR curate the Padlet board with tools, tips and practices for online youth work and participation.

 

The ICT4YOUTHWORK developed guidelines on the web-based tools and practice examples of their use in the daily life of an organization and in digital youth work.

 

Digi youth portal by SEEYN offers a fine selection of different digital tools and inspiring practices to be used in youth work, online learning and non-formal education.

 

A number of organisations contributed to experimenting and adopting digital Open Badges to support learning and recognition in youth work and non-formal education. Find some examples of how badges can be used: Trusted Badge Systems, European Badge Alliance, Unique Learning Badges. Currently the Open Badges technology is scaling up to Cities of Learning. Any organisation or informal group can offer their activities on Cities of Learning platform and issue badges.

The following references provide links to online learning and training opportunities for youth leaders, youth workers and youth work organisations to stay up to date on developments in digital youth work. 

 

The main stakeholders at European level are constantly updating their web sites to take account of the increased need for digital youth work. You may want to check the European Youth Portal by the European Union, the Youth Department of the Council of Europe, the EU-CoE youth partnership, European Youth Forum.

 

Digital Youth Work project created useful tools for digital youth work developments:

• Digital youth work self-assessment tool to help you reflect your views and attitudes towards digital youth work
• Digital youth work resource evaluation tool is meant to be a tool to quickly get a handle on how you can implement new topics in your particular youth work reality
• Digital youth work practice reflection tool is meant to be a tool to reflect on new practices, approaches or latest information on digital youth work topics

 

Online courses offer opportunities to learn and develop competences necessary for youth work in the age of the internet.

 

The HOP platform fosters online learning and offers a growing number of online courses and podcasts targeting different aspects of European youth work.

 

Some of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) available in the youth field:

• #MOOCyouth: Erasmus+ Funding Opportunities for Youth covers a general overview about Erasmus+ Youth, specific information about Youth Exchanges, Mobility of Youth Workers, Strategic Partnerships and Structured Dialogue.
• #MOOCsolidarity: Ready, Set, Make the change! European Solidarity Corps Online Course covers the general overview of the European Solidarity Corps funding opportunities, specific information about Volunteering, Traineeships and Jobs and Solidarity Projects, support measures for young people, how to obtain the Quality Label, and how to apply for funding.
• YOCOMO – an ETS online course on competence-based development for youth workers! covers a competence-based approach in international youth work, the ETS Competence Model for Youth Workers to Work Internationally, tools for competence self-assessment, how to use the competence model for professional development

 

The Partnership between the Council of Europe and the European Commission in the field of youth is also working on MOOCs and has offered several editions of online course on Youth Essentials of Youth Policy and is in the process of developing online courses on youth work.

 

The Star of Europe: digital resources for Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges is a very innovative platform with digital resources to involve young people throughout all the stages of a youth exchange project.

 

Cities of Learning platform has an increasing number of local and online learning activities for young people and lifelong learners. Learning organisations can publish single activities or a learning pathway and issue digital badges to recognise skills and achievements. Municipality youth departments can run the platform to transform a city into an ecosystem of learning and recognition.

 

Appraiser platform for trainers’ professional development offers free solutions for professional development, which includes self-assessment, feedback from participants, colleagues, and a competence development plan.

 

The Network of Professional Open Youth Work in Europe (POYWE) published the 5th issue of their online magazine “Logbook” focused on the theme of Digital Youth Work ; and the 6th on Exploring Digital Competences

 

Join Facebook groups like Digital Youth Work, NFL goes online and Online Tools for Learning to follow and exchange news and good practices for digital youth work.

 

Several European partnerships developed guidelines on how youth work and training organisations can create and deliver online learning and training activities:

• Online Training of Youth Workers (2018) is a practical manual with tools to design and facilitate online training of youth workers including real life experiences and examples.
• DOYIT eLearning Guide offers step-by-step guidance towards delivering a quality eCourse to youth information workers.
• Digi youth portal offers practical tutorials and theory behind online learning in youth work.

 

Both, the Council of Europe and the European Commission offer funding for international projects aiming to develop digital youth work.

 

The European Youth Foundation supports projects including digital and smart youth work objectives and activities.

 

The Erasmus+ in the youth field funded a number of projects that led to important outputs contributing to the development of digital youth work in Europe. Some of the examples of such projects: Digital Youth Work Project, Skill IT for Youth, ICT4YOUTHWORK and more… Each National Agency and Resource Centres offer an increasing range of support for developing digital youth work.

 

National governments and local municipalities begin prioritising digital youth work as an important development. Check funding opportunities available at national, regional or local level in your country.

SkillIT policy brief Enhancing Youth Services’ Digital Youth Work Practice (2019) summarise the key findings of the SkillIT for Youth Project and to put forward proposals for improvement in this area at European level. The project developed the Competence Framework for Digital Youth Work Practice (2019).

The expert group on 'Risks, opportunities and implications of digitalisation for youth, youth work and youth policy' set up under the European Union Work Plan for Youth 2016-2018 released the publication “Developing digital youth work – An agile mindset is crucial” with policy recommendations, training needs and good practice examples 

 

Council of the European Union published Council conclusions on smart youth work (2017) that defines ‘smart youth work’ as the innovative development of youth work encompassing digital youth work practice, and including a research, quality and policy component.

 

The report European framework for the digital competence of educators (2017) looks at a common European Framework for the Digital Competence of Educators (DigCompEdu). DigCompEdu is a scientifically sound background framework which helps to guide policy and can be directly adapted to implementing regional and national tools and training programmes. In addition, it provides a common language and approach that will help the dialogue and exchange of best practices across borders.

During Estonia's presidency of the Council of the European Union, Estonian Ministry of Education and Research developed the Concept of smart youth work (2017).

The Estonian youth field continues working hard on smart and digital youth work concepts and practice, see for instance Anne Kivimäe and Maria Žuravljova’s Discussing the Digital Age and Youth Work (2019)

 

Council of the European Union: Council conclusions on smart youth work

There is a growing body of researchers and studies focused on young people, digitalisation and digital youth work.

 

Social Inclusion, Digitalisation and Young People is a follow up work of the Symposium, in 2018, by the EU-Council of Europe youth partnership to explore this theme, with the support of the Expert Group, reflecting on how we can make use of inclusion opportunities arising from the new digital reality and draw conclusions for youth policy, practice and research.

 

The Study on the impact of the internet and social media on youth participation and youth work examines the impact of the internet, social media and new technology on youth participation and looks at the role of youth work in supporting young people to develop digital skills and new media literacy.

 

SillIT report of comparative study on digital skills and youth work provides comparative data-driven knowledge on digital youth work, youth workers, youth organizations and young people’s needs regarding ICT, and the labour market’s needs and expectations with regards to young people’s digital skills.

 

The report Young people in digital era and youth work explores the impact of current trends concerning usage of digital technologies by young people on youth work practice. This report starts by discussing data on young people’s patterns of internet usage. The lack of any reflection of these changes in youth work manuals is discussed before going on to analyse group dynamics theories and research on the possible impact on participation of young people in youth groups.

 

The Screenagers International Research Project published the Report on using ICT, digital and social media in youth work (2016)

 

Perspectives on youth - Vol. 4 - Young people in a digitalised world is a publication with the aim to bring new perspectives and varied visions to the key questions of understanding how young people interact with all the opportunities the digital space has to offer, and how they can use this space for causes relevant not only for themselves, but also for the democratisation of the societies in which they live.

 

The State of the World’s Children 2017 (Children in a Digital World) is focused on how digital technology affects almost every aspect of life for millions of young people around the world. This is an interesting but essentially academic debate. Because for better and for worse, digital technology is a fact of our lives. Irreversibly.

Exploring the Role of ICT-enabled Social Innovation for the Active Inclusion of Young People reviews the state of the art in the domain of active inclusion services for young people, with a specific focus on how ICTs can support active inclusion of disadvantaged youth to strengthen their skills and capacities and support them to participate fully in employment and social life.

There is an increasing number of youth-lead and youth work organisations that integrate digital youth work in their activities and services. The following list includes organisations showcased in this Coyote article. Countries and organisations are listed in alphabetical order.

 

Albania:

• Beyond Barriers Association

 

Austria:

• Austrian Youth Information Centres
• cooperativa braccianti
• wienXtra MedienZentrum

 

Bosnia and Herzegovina:

• Youth Resource Centre Tuzla

 

Bulgaria:

• Active Bulgarian Society
• Ideas Factory Association

 

Croatia:

• Association of Croatian Youth Information Centres
• Croatian Youth Network
• Local Democracy Agency Sisak

 

Czech Republic:

• ANEV

 

Denmark:

• Centre for Digital Youth Care 

 

Estonia:

• Estonian Youth Work Centre

 

Finland:

• Hyvarila Youth and Holiday Centre
• Humak University of Applied Science
• Juvenia – Youth Research and Development Centre
• Verke – The National Digital Youth Work Centre
• Otavia

 

Germany:

• Bildungsnetzwerk Magdeburg gGmbH
• Culture Goes Europe
• JFF – Institut für Medienpädagogik
• GOEUROPE! Europäisches Jugend Kompetenz Zentrum
• Starkmacher association

 

Greece:

• Association of Active Youths of Florina
• Government To You

 

Ireland:

• Camara Education Limited
• Youth Work Ireland
• Youth Work Ireland Midlands
• National Youth Council of Ireland

 

Italy:

• Agrado
• Associazione Interculturale NUR
• Associazione Media Educazione Comuntà
• Madiba Società Cooperativa Sociale (Facebook page)

 

Lithuania:

• Badgecraft
• Creativitas
• Lithuanian Association of Non-formal Education
• Nectarus

 

Montenegro:

• Association for Democratic Prosperity - Zid 

 

Netherlands:

• BV Jong
• Breakthrough Foundation (Facebook page)

 

North Macedonia:

• Youth Cultural Center - Bitola 

 

Norway:

• Norsensus Mediaforum

 

Poland:

• Fundacja Samodzielni Robinsonowie 
• Jagiellonian University

 

Portugal:

• Ha Moment
• Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth
• Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação - Consultadoria Empresarial e Fomento da Inovação, S.A.
• Team Mais (Facebook page)

 

Romania:

• Asociația Centrul pentru Dezvoltare Comunitară Durabilă
• Asociatia ZURY
• Fundația  Danis
• Asociatia Youthopolis (Facebook page)

 

Serbia:

• Educational center - Krusevac
• NAPOR
• Vojvodina Environmental Movement

 

Slovakia:

• YouthWatch

 

Slovenia:

• Youth center BIT, social enterprise
• Pina
• Socialna Akademija
• Tipovej!

 

Spain:

• Association Cazalla Intercultural
• Catalan Youth Agency

 

Sweden:

• Stockholm University (SU) - eGovlab  of Department of Computer and Systems Sciences

 

Turkey:

• Sakarya University Life-Long Learning Center

 

United Kingdom:

• NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde
• People Dialogue and Change
• The Youth Council for Northern Ireland
• Think Forward C.I.C
• Youth Access
• YouthLink Scotland

 

European organisations and networks:

• European Youth Information and Counselling Agency
• International Youth Work Trainers Guild
• Pool of European Youth Researchers
• POYWE
• South East European Youth Network