Mobile Learning Communities

Background Youth work is presented with major challenges in a world where face to face meetings can no longer be taken for granted. Young people need to continue to learn skills such as digital competencies, employability, how to engage in public life, and to become well rounded participants in society. The Mobile Learning Communities project ais to empower young people to create and share dynamic content tailored to their local context and at the same time allow them to access exciting learning opportunities whilst out and about in their communities. Our young people have been severely disadvantaged by the pandemic. Whilst they may not have been hit badly by the health implications, the other consequences are wide reaching. the impact on education, civic engagement and access to work experience will continue to have an effect for years to come. The European Youth Blueprint to recovery recommends moving to a holistic approach to social inclusion whilst increasing support to quality citizenship education. MLC offers an alternative to young people being stuck at home behind a screen by taking learning outside, linking learning opportunities to physical places. Objectives The objectives were 1) to train young people in dynamic digital content creation through blended learning techniques. 2) to empower young people to use that content for social good. 3) to train youth workers in embedding the Mobile Learning Communities system in their local context 4) to provide themed place-based learning opportunities for young people and 5) to provide a suite of learning analytics to the youth workers based on the young people's activities within the community. These objectives were met through a training programme and an innovative system of quick response (QR) codes which when scanned can return different results filtered by subject type, topic, language or activity. Implementation We worked closely with the youth partners and held workshops for youth workers, workshops for young people, ideas generating sessions for challenges, and piloting workshops and events for each of the outputs. We also held online events via social media, ran social media campaigns, presented the project at conferences and youth forums and strategic meetings. Achievements The results are detailed in full in the Intellectual Outputs. They include an innovative system whereby challenges can be created by young people and youth workers, filtered and accessed through QR codes placed around the local area. A dedicated app enabling the challenges to be tailored, filtered and gamified. An 'off the peg' starter kit for youth organisations. A curriculum and linked training course for youth in digital content creation for social good enabling them to create and share their own content via the QR code platform. A training guide and multimedia resources for youth workers. A suite of learning analytics for youth workers. However, in addition to these tangible products, and based on the pilots the project resulted in: greater engagement of young people in informal learning, young people acquiring core digital skills and local knowledge increased involvement of the community in youth work, upskilling of youth, youth workers, individuals and community groups through identifying learning opportunities and creating learning content a richer environment for residents and visitors of all ages through augmenting the physical environment with a virtual one a transferable model for community learning through technology