In the period from December 2022 to February 2023, the partners run six pilotings in their communities. Let’s take a look at how they went!
As described in the project proposal, all partners, except for AKNOW, came up with interactive workshops and sessions and have tested the developed modules.
Participants of the Piloting
In terms of participants, partners have managed to gather a group of between 10 and 20 young people. Their backgrounds varied, depending on the target group and community the partners are involved in: some had school pupils, and others went to engage university students. Interesting is the fact that some of the participants were already self-employed and could share their experiences to others.
Educational Program of the Piloting
In half cases, the piloting was conducted face-to-face, which gave youth workers and educators additional advantage in creating connections and encouraging participants. Other partners went to try digital tools and blended learning, which was supported by the developed online courses.
Important for the project results was to test the e-learning space, so one of the tasks in pilotings was to register for modules presented and follow up with self-directed learning afterward. Partners report that they all managed that successfully.
So what kind of activities were offered during the pilot testing phase? As reported, the most common form was a workshop on the topic of the developed module. Additionally, the partners organised study visits to cultural sites/cultural initiatives (in Germany, for example, it was a visit to a weekend Arabic language and arts school for children and a migrant art gallery in Weimar). In terms of digital tools, the platform for creating virtual cultural routes was shown to the participants followed by guidance to develop such: MaPa’s young people have managed to create Piwniczna-Zdrój Route (1. Piwniczna Market Square (the well) 2. The church 3. The viewing point of John Paul II square 4. Railway crossing: Jewish cemetery and old railway station (currently under renovation) 5.Spa Park and concert shell 6. The Baths (now a coffee shop, with concerts and exhibitions) 7. The pump room (called “Basilica”)).
Furthermore, the published handbooks were in use during the pilotings too. The participants saw the developed routes and we collected their feedback:
We used the handbook content in Weimar in order to show the city to the participants and introduce them to the Bauhaus art movement and architecture. The participants found the history of Bauhaus interesting and were curious about the Bauhaus Museum in Weimar, which they were invited to visit.
CGE Erfurt e.V., Germany ??
Very positive feedback! They really like it and enjoy it. The mentioned that we should expand it to more cultural routes.
TE IS, Hungary ??
Validation of the Competences
In addition to the handbooks and the e-learning courses, some of the participants have tested Digital Routes@Culture Open Badges, which are awarded after completing a challenge.
Below is the full ecosystem represented in one picture:
All in all, the conducted pilotings brought up new insights into the developed products and stimulated more updates. They laid a foundation to setting up connected culture centres and one-stop support centres in local communities.
A fantastic example is the experience of Empahsys Centre. Watch their video and read a short summary! ?
We organised several workshops for young entrepreneurs. Firstly, they had an info day to get to know each other, and then organised a group-activity workshop regarding module 3 – Business Competences which focuses on the Business Model Canva (to develop their own business idea for a social enterprise). In the meantime, the guidebook is presented during the workshops and they have the chance to visit the cultural spaces/routes. Emphasys, prepared and printed a Cyprus map where the participants can find the cultural spaces and routes and learn a lot of things related to each cultural space. Additionally, the participants had the chance to visit the platform and the website and go through the teaching material. At the end of the workshops, Emphasys organised a competition in which the participants voted the best social enterprise idea which covers all the necessary aspects, and the team which wins became ‘Cultural Entrepreneurs’!
Emphasys Centre, Cyprus ??
A full review of the pilotings and their impact is available in our Tool Kit “Lighthouse of Cultures”. Translations to Polish, German, Greek, Hungarian and Romanian are available on the Results page.
DigitalRoutes@Culture (2020-1-PL01-KA205-080646) is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.
