One year with digital projects (Part 1)

Common Digital Social Room

Learning Goal: Have an online platform for the group of volunteers, where they can communicate, exchange information, introduce themselves and can be updated with the latest  news about the ongoing camp.

Name of the method: Common Digital Social Room

Aim of the method: To create a safe digital and friendly space where all can freely share and exchange the information and news about themselves, the project itself and other inspirational activities.

Procedure of the method

Preparation: Among all experienced online platforms that can be used, let’s name Trello the best to be used. First you register on the site of Trello (I would advise you to watch youtube tutorials on how to use Trello) and create a board with the name Social Room (you can also add here the name of the project because some participants can have access to different Trello boards, so it won’t be confused in future). On this board you can have as many columns as you need, but my suggestion will be to  have the following columns:

Team members introduction - where each teamer introduces themselves with the help of a photo and short text.

Volunteers introduction - the same like previous column but here participants put their info so that everyone can learn a bit about everyone before online meeting.

News of the day - here you put everything important that happened, is happening or is going to happen so the participants can follow and be updated. This column is also useful for those who couldn’t be present in one session. Schedule of the camp can also be included into this column.

Camp responsibilities - here you place all the cards with the names with all responsibilities and participants post the work they did in a creative way. 

Open Space - this is a column for volunteers to suggest their topics to discuss or to ask questions or share some information through a small workshop.

Favourite piece of music - here participants share their favourite piece of music so that it can be played during short breaks or at the beginning of the online session.

You suggest - it can be anything -  any suggestion from volunteers, as many as they can write, these suggestions can be used also at the beginning of the online session and before the break (e.g. bring something purple to the online session and wear it on your head, prepare your favourite fruit and show it to the camera and explain why you like it, create your own background and use it during the next session, etc.) 

Methods - here you put all the methods that have been used so that participants can reflect on them (e.g. Hopes and fears card, reflection methods).

Party/additional session ideas - here is the platform for volunteers to collect their ideas to organise themselves during extra time.

Implementation: This board should be introduced before the beginning of the first online session. You can ask kindly the participants to fill in the column about self introduction and read about the teamers and the participants to get acquainted. After the start of the online session - you introduce and instruct the participants with the other columns, so they can work with them independently later.

Reflection on the method: At the end of the online camp “day” a section “Reflection of the day” is introduced, during which you can clarify if all the columns are clear and participants can easily use them. Also some participants can suggest some additional columns which can be useful for the whole group.  

Optional: Possible also to use closed group in FaceBook, site Padlet, Asana etc.

Material needed and duration: 

Materials: laptop with stable internet connection, digital platforms like Trello and account of ZoomPro, site Canva to design nice posters for the columns.

Duration: one week before the camp starts and whole camp period.

 Requirements for people and place: whole group of camp volunteers, teamers, platform ZoomPro for the meeting and discussion and site Trello.

Explanation: the usage of the common online platform is very helpful to stay updated with camptasks, to keep the team spirit, to know the latest news and to stay in touch with others.

Reflection questions: (if needed)

What do you like in particular io Trello board? 

What new input will you keep from it? 

How can we improve this board?

Camp Responsibilities

Learning Goal: Self-organisation in online project

Name of the method: Camp Responsibilities 

Aim of the method on the meta-level: To integrate self-organisation and personal responsibility, which are initiated and supported by a camp coordinator, in the everyday life of the project.

Procedure of the method

Preparation: 

On the online platform that is used by the participants as a platform to communicate and socialise (like Trello), the camp coordinator prepares the post “Camp Responsibilities” with appropriate picture (can be found and downloaded from unsplash.com).

Timetable with responsibilities and names of participants (can be created in Jamboard).

(Optional) Also, CC can prepare the suggested camp responsibilities (Social Media Officer, Good Memories Collector, Reporter, Photo Wizard, Feedback Collector, Timekeeper, Good Mood Officer) with relevant pictures and descriptions.

Implementation: During the first day of the digital camp CC introduces the post “Camp Responsibilities” and explains the aim of it. Participants can suggest their variants of responsibilities and try to designate its function. In case of loss of ideas, CC suggests already ready responsibilities and explains them. After that each participant assigns to the responsibility they would like  to fulfil every day. Preferably the responsibilities should be different every day for each participant. The responsibilities are being carried out throughout all duration of the online camp. Each camp responsibility should have a column or section where the responsible person posts the information of the done work in a creative way (picture, text, screenshot etc., canva.com can be used for creativity)

Reflection on the method: At the end of the online camp “day” a section “Reflection of the day” is introduced, during which the fulfilment of camp responsibilities can be reflected on. 

Material needed and duration:

Material: laptop with stable internet connection, digital platforms like Trello, Canva and account of ZoomPro

Duration: depends on the participant’s task and what time they want to spend on it. 

Requirements for people and place: whole group of camp volunteers, platform ZoomPro for the meeting and discussion.

Explanation: This method helps to start building mutual cooperation, feeling the group work flow, being responsible, having the opportunity to implement ideas which are useful for the whole team.

Social Media Officer - (writes a short post from a day spent in a WC + photo for SM accounts; marks their post as for Insta or FB) helps to disseminate the outcomes of the everyday life in the online WC.

Good memories collector - collects the feedback from participants (preferably in written form) for future dissemination.

Reporter - briefly describes what happened during the session and gives the information in a creative way to the participants after a session by posting it on trello board.

Photo Wizard - is responsible for making photos\screenshots during different activities and creating funny comments.

Feedback Collector - in private chat (for example), asks individually participants the following questions: what do you like in particular in this session? what new input will you keep for the future? how can we improve this session? Forward the collected feedback to Trello.

Timekeeper - makes sure that the time is respected - that means they check if all participants are ready for the session or other activities. They should check before Zoom meetings who is not present and announce it before the beginning of the session.

Good Mood Officer - starts the day with a positive picture, quotation, music etc., during the day makes sure all participants are in a good mood, if somebody is upset - makes them happy (have an energizer etc.)

Reflection questions: (if needed)

What do you like in particular in your responsibility? 

What new input will you keep from it? 

How can we improve this responsibility?

Possible variations

Participants suggest themselves the roles.