A huge number of young people from all over Europe participate in Erasmus+ projects. Still, only a small part of them decide to create and coordinate their own activities; most of them take a rather passive stance, accepting invitations from organizations they know or declaring their participation in small phases of large international projects. There are also people who do not take part in large-scale projects due to the uncertainty of their own skills, shyness, or fear of taking risks.
Therefore, the aim of our project, carried out by a group of young activists from Germany, Italy and Poland, was to create a tool that would lead everyone interested, in the most accessible way, throughout the journey from the idea to the implementation of an international project.
The major aim of the “The project’s journey” exchange was (and still is) the promotion of the opportunities offered to us by the European Union, not only through promotional materials made available on social media, but also a substantive contribution and an active attitude towards people who can benefit from them. The activities undertaken during the project were aimed at enabling you to enter a new, international level of activity. We believe that many more young people should pursue their own projects – we want to share our knowledge with you and, in a way, facilitate your first steps in this area.
We hope that this portal becomes for you a source of knowledge and inspiration for further work when you use it. By looking through our online guide you will learn, among others, what determines the quality of international youth projects, how one can strive to increase their value, effectiveness and attractiveness, how is leadership understood; are these factors convergent for different European countries, or are they completely different?
Our aim is to exchange knowledge and skills which can be useful while creating and coordinating your own international project.
Design Thinking
How and why did we use design thinking?
To analyze the process of planning and implementing an international project, we found it most effective to break it down into several crucial key stages – we were convinced that it would be easier for participants to work on a more detailed part of the project in less numerous groups. Already at the stage of online preparations for “The project’s journey”, we asked to fill in a preferential questionnaire in which our participants from all national groups indicated which stage of project coordination is the closest and best known to them. As a result, five groups of experts were created for each of the following areas:
SEARCHING FOR PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
CREATING AN IDEA
PREPARATION OF THE PROJECT
INTEGRATION
EVALUATION
The groups above were not only to analyze the course of the stages assigned to them, but also to find the challenges that could constitute the greatest difficulties and obstacles for new organizations, and finally – to suggest their solutions. That is why we decided that the design thinking process will answer all our needs.
At this stage, we wanted the participants to get as much information as possible about the issue developed by their group by talking to other coordinators of Youth Exchanges. They not only relied on their knowledge, but went further, looking for different perspectives and conclusions.
The design thinking method, despite its business roots, also works in other areas. The design thinking process begins with empathy. This stage is focused on trying to understand the target group, and thus – its problems and needs.
During this stage, we used:
- analysis of existing data,
- in-depth interviews.
The participants, working in groups, using methods such as brainstorming and open discussion, created a list of several questions about the areas assigned to them. They were to allow a fairly detailed conversation with the respondents in such a way as to understand their experiences related to working on the project in the selected area, the challenges they encountered and possible ways of solving problematic situations (e.g. How do you plan a successful group integration? What is problematic for you during this job?). Each group conducted about 5 in-depth interviews, and then wrote down and collected all answers on a common Google Drive. This material formed the basis for the next stages of design thinking.
To sum up – the main aim of this stage of activity was to define the target group related to the issue of international projects and to obtain from it comprehensive information on the main problems correlated with the above-mentioned processes.
After collecting the material from the interviews, we looked for a way to help the groups summarize and properly use the information obtained (in a coherent way).
We've created a presentation that you can download here.
To this end, we started the whole workshop with a short task: we prepared and shared with the groups various long, rather complicated stories about heart problems. As can be seen on slide 1, the task of the participants was to read the story and then identify its main problem by themselves. Then we confronted their results – it turned out that even though the stories read by the groups were identical, each of them defined its basic problem in a slightly different way. The whole exercise was to show the participants that we sometimes draw different conclusions from the same information.
Slides 2 and 3 concern the so-called Point Of View. The participants were asked to jointly analyze the material obtained from the interviews in terms of these three aspects: the description of the person they were talking to, the problem they reported, and their specific environment (all relevant, characteristic circumstances). They described the interviews using Attachment 2: figure of the character, tree and cloud (click to download), writing the description of the person in the figure of the character, the problem into the cloud and the circumstances – into the tree. When the respondent reported more than one problem, several individual drawings were filled in. When the groups prepared their summaries, their next task (slide 4) was to combine those that dealt with similar issues. In this way, the participants discussed the main challenges reported by several youth leaders from different countries and compared them to their own experiences.
The next step (slides 5 and 6) for the groups was to create questions "How might we ...?" to each set of drawings created earlier. They were supposed to describe the problem raised in these stories (e.g. How could we make integration comfortable for everyone?). The sentences were constructed in such a way as to direct the participants to an active search for answers.
When the group faced several questions identifying the most common difficulties encountered by international project coordinators in their area, they had to decide which questions they wanted to answer. To make this task easier for the groups, we asked the participants to cast one vote for the “How might we…” they had chosen by answering three questions (slide 7).
The last slide is a request to the participants to write down and share all the materials developed during this workshop on a common Google Drive.
The third stage of work was divided into two parts. The first one consisted in generating by each group as many ideas as possible - specific solutions, which were a possible answer to the defined phrase "How might we ...". In the second stage, during the discussion, each team chose one idea that they wanted to develop further.
We implemented the idea generation in the form of brainstorming, using 5 different methods to stimulate creativity. In the workshop room, we prepared 5 workstations, and the groups worked rotating for 10 minutes at each of them. At each position, groups were encouraged to create ideas differently.
POSITION 1
On the table, we have collected several dozen newspapers selected to be as thematically cross-sectional as possible. Pictures, headlines and newspaper topics accidentally found by the participants formed the basis for the proposed solutions.
POSITION 2
Here the participants worked independently. They were asked to fold the piece of paper into 8 parts, then unfold it and draw one solution proposal on each of the squares. The last 2 minutes were devoted to the mutual presentation of the results.
POSITION 3
It was based on a game of associations. Beginning with the statement of How Might We, participants were successively speaking words that they associated with one of the earlier words that had already been used. In this way, a large mind map was created, inspiring different directions of thinking about possible solutions.
POSITION 4
Participants were given a large sheet of paper with numbers from 1 to 20. The task was to give new ideas as quickly as possible until the list was full. Ideas were presented one by one by all the people in the group, in the form of a "round", so it required creativity and commitment from all participants.
POSITION 5
Here we used inspiring brainstorming cards created by the Board of Innovation. You will find them here.
Additionally, before starting the exercises, the groups were acquainted with the rules of brainstorming proposed by Google, which are:
- We do not judge at this stage
- Quantity is better than quality
- We say "yes and ..." instead of "no, but ..." to build on the ideas of others
- We describe ideas in no more than 6 words
- The drawing is better than the description
- We think big
You can find these rules in this presentation (slides 43 - 48).
THE CHOICE OF AN IDEA
Thanks to the methods described above, each group generated at least several dozen possible solutions within an hour. We then asked the groups to evaluate each idea from two perspectives:
- How wide will the impact of the proposed solution be (how many people will benefit from it)?
- How interesting and inspiring is this idea for themselves as a group?
The idea (sometimes being a synthesis of several developed in the first stage), which the group found to be the most interesting and at the same time the most influential, moved them to the prototyping stage.
In this part of design thinking, the participants' task was to make the imagined solution real: to transform thoughts into a tangible form.
We started this part with the presentation that you can download here. As you can see in slide 3, we started out by defining prototyping in the context of design thinking. We said what this stage is and what it is supposed to do. On the following slides, we have included a few rules that participants should follow during this stage. We discussed each of them and explained why it is important. We then presented some slides with examples of prototypes so that participants could better visualize what their work would be. Right after that, we moved on to the first task that was supposed to stimulate their creativity.
It was a slightly elaborate and modified bridge-building task, which we described in the "teambuilding methods" tab (see: INTEGRATION). It consisted of building a model of an above-ground pedestrian crossing over a road crossing, consisting of five elements (four roads and an overground roundabout). The materials that the participants had at their disposal had to be obtained beforehand as part of a race of rows, in which each person in the group runs to a placed a few meters away "mountain" made of various materials, and takes only one of them. The next person can run only when the previous has returned. Interestingly, the participants didn't know what they were going to build beforehand, so they couldn't predict what parts they needed. In the next steps, the game is analogous to that described in the teambuilding methods.
After completing this task and the coffee break, the participants had unlimited access to materials and the time of two days to prepare prototypes of their solutions.
The last stage of work on solutions assumes testing them, that is collecting feedback from people who could use them in the future. We have planned it in the form of a trade show.
We started the whole event with presentations – each group presented its product to all participants, explaining its purpose, basic application and possibilities offered to coordinators of international projects. The formula of the presentation depended on the presenters, but we limited their time to 5 minutes. The groups also prepared their physical stands around the room, where – after the end of the presentation – they could continuously present their solutions to individual people. At the end, all participants received the same amount of symbolic "money" that they could "invest" in the products of their choice – during this procedure, it was also possible to provide feedback to the groups on their work. This is how we measured how attractive the individual solutions were for their potential users.
The process carried out in this way allowed us to achieve the expected results of the exchange: on a joint Google Drive, the working groups provided us with all the information that they had collected as part of the analysis of the assigned stages of the project, and also described in detail the products – solutions that they managed to create. It is thanks to the effects of this exchange that you are currently on the portal that contains knowledge and good practices in the field of international project organization!
The effects
To analyze the process of planning and implementing an international project, we found it most effective to break it down into several key stages – we were convinced that it would be easier for participants to work on a more detailed part of the project in less numerous groups. At the stage of online preparations for the project, we asked the participants to fill in a preference form, in which they indicated which of the stages of project coordination are the closest and best known to them. As a result, five groups of experts and experts were created for each of the following areas:
Searching for partnership organizations
Participants who were looking for a solution to the problem related to establishing cooperation with an organization or partner organizations in organizing exchanges decided that the most important aspect of their work will be finding a way to facilitate communication of active youth from different countries. So they developed an application concept that would assist in this process. When designing its prototype, they took into account the various international issues that youth organizations deal with on a daily basis. Considering the different origins of the parties and their different needs, the generality and universality of the proposed proposal was essential.
FINAL PRODUCT:
That’s why they’ve created the idea for the “EURO +” application, the main purpose of which is to enable organizations to efficiently communicate, disseminate information, connect with each other and external entities.
As they themselves write: “EURO + is to become a basic tool in the world of modern youth activities, focused on international cooperation. It would be an application that could be used by young people all over the world on a daily basis, so it must be user-friendly, intuitive and aesthetic to achieve its basic aims. It could have different functions: standard and premium accounts, organization verification, peer feedback, databases and tips necessary when applying or organizing a project.”
Creation of ideas
The issue that the group considered the most important was the need to create a space that would increase the creativity and efficiency of creating for participants. Of course, it is not easy, for example due to the fact that each person has different needs and expectations in this regard.
FINAL PRODUCT:
The group created a prototype of Virtual Reality glasses which, based on the provided data, create an ideal space for the user to support creativity. Just enter the data about our subjective feelings related to creativity in a dedicated application, for example:
- what do we need for that (silence, nature, city noise),
- who do we need (friends, colleagues, nobody),
- what feelings do we want to accompany us (calmness, controlled stress, adrenaline).
On this basis, the algorithm creates an ideal environment for a given person – created especially for them and in accordance with their needs. In addition, the solution is completely compact – the glasses can be taken anywhere so the solution developed by the group to support our creativity and productivity could be used at any given time. Thanks to this, an environment favorable to our tastes can be created virtually anywhere – even if it’s in a forest in the middle of Seoul.
The solution developed by the group provides greater, more universal and inclusive access to the innovation-friendly environment. Due to the fact that VR technology is becoming cheaper and cheaper, almost everyone will be able to afford it soon. Thanks to technological advances into an environment conducive to creativity, each of us can afford to work in the conditions we like.
FINAL PRODUCT:
The group created a prototype of Virtual Reality glasses which, based on the provided data, create an ideal space for the user to support creativity. Just enter the data about our subjective feelings related to creativity in a dedicated application, for example:
- what do we need for that (silence, nature, city noise),
- who do we need (friends, colleagues, nobody),
- what feelings do we want to accompany us (calmness, controlled stress, adrenaline).
On this basis, the algorithm creates an ideal environment for a given person – created especially for them and in accordance with their needs. In addition, the solution is completely compact – the glasses can be taken anywhere so the solution developed by the group to support our creativity and productivity could be used at any given time. Thanks to this, an environment favorable to our tastes can be created virtually anywhere – even if it’s in a forest in the middle of Seoul.
The solution developed by the group provides greater, more universal and inclusive access to the innovation-friendly environment. Due to the fact that VR technology is becoming cheaper and cheaper, almost everyone will be able to afford it soon. Thanks to technological advances into an environment conducive to creativity, each of us can afford to work in the conditions we like.
Preparation of the project
The group dealt with issues related to the preparation of projects. This is one of the most important moments, as the success of the activities depends on it. The idea created by the group consists of analog or digital cards that facilitate going through the meanders of the project preparation process.
FINAL PRODUCT:
What the group has created is, on the one hand, a digital product, and on the other, an analogue one – for participants, organizers and speakers of Erasmus + events. The solution was called STAN and its purpose is to turn the project organization process into a fun and integrating board game.
This product consists of three components:
- activity cards containing ideas for energizers, icebreakers and activities for free time, and most importantly, substantive activities.
- a special board,
- an online application that, on the one hand, provides organizers with structured communication between organizers, participants and speakers, and on the other, the opportunity to receive feedback from experts.
User manual:
STAN allows organizers to clash their ideas with participants and thus brainstorm the project schedule in an organized manner.
- Facilitators prepare a board game by entering the number of days the project will have on the board. Then they ask you to read the content on the activity sheets.
- Participants are asked to fill in the board game with the activity card they have just read. They discuss each card and try to agree on one solution with everyone. Each time they can see suggestions based on good practices on the board, which are listed on the board.
- After completing the schedule, participants are asked to scan the entire board using a dedicated application. The board game and each card have their own QR code. As a result, the schedule is scanned, digitized and analyzed instantly.
- After a few minutes, participants and attendees receive detailed feedback based on expert knowledge (professional event creators and moderators). This solution allows digital (or analog, if desired) adjustments to be made.
- The app sends the schedule to attendees and speakers, asking them for feedback in an organized manner. After the feedback phase is completed, the organizers re-adjust the schedule and send the final version to all stakeholders.
Integration
The group that worked out the Integration stage decided that the greatest challenge of the entire process is, from the organizer’s perspective, creating an appropriate atmosphere – at the same time comfortable and engaging for all participants.
The team indicated that getting to know the needs of the integrating group well is the key to success. If these expectations are varied, it is worth planning varied integration activities – involving work in small subgroups, in pairs, but also cooperation of all participants; changing the environment, the dynamics of tasks or the way of communication (exercises based on conversation, self-presentation, but also movement and artistic tasks). In this situation, it is also particularly important to clearly and precisely explain to the participants what the task is for and why it is done in this form. The crowning achievement of the design thinking process is an innovative solution developed by the team, intended to serve all organizers of international exchanges.
FINAL PRODUCT:
It would be the Erasmus+ application, constituting a database of organized events with standardized descriptions of their priorities, topics and basic assumptions.
From the participant’s perspective, thanks to the filters, it would enable a more efficient search for offers to participate in projects that fully correspond to their interests and expectations. The organizers, on the other hand, could be more sure that the persons applying for the exchange chose it from among all other offers, and therefore they identify themselves with its purpose and assumptions with full awareness.
Further Internet communication as part of the exchange, both between the organizer and participants, as well as among participants only, could still take place via the communicator in the application, which would bypass the problems related to the use of different social media platforms in various European countries. Any divisions into groups, teams or even accommodation proposals could be done using AI algorithms, based on the individual needs, preferences and choices of each participant.
Finally, the application should offer the organizers the opportunity to learn about the participant’s expectations as to the organization of the activities being prepared in order to be able to adjust in advance, among other things, the integration activities to the needs of the engaged group.
Evaluation
The group that dealt with the analysis of the evaluation stage during “The project’s journey” exchange highlighted its three main challenges:
- How to ensure an atmosphere conducive to the free exchange of observations on the course of an international project?
- How to communicate your comments in a cultural, useful and motivating way at the same time?
- How to make sure that the information collected during the evaluation process will be taken into account in practice?
The participants clearly stated that the last point deserves the greatest attention, and its solution may lead to the most noticeable increase in the quality of the evaluation process of international projects.
FINAL PRODUCT:
Therefore, the group prepared evaluation canvas: a simple system that can be used each day during evaluation sessions with any group of participants.
The role of the moderator is to listen carefully to the discussion and find the most pressing, recurring problems / spaces requiring an improvement. If it turns out to be, for example, integration and the fact that the level of it has not satisfied the group so far, at the end of the evaluation activity, participants should be asked to submit practical proposals for improving the situation. Participants may, for example, suggest performing one additional integration exercise every day to start substantive workshops and one sports activity during the break after lunch.
Together, let’s choose a few suggestions that the group likes most (e.g. by voting). Then, on large flipcharts, tables will be created, two for each subsequent day of exchange (see the picture above). For the next few days, during the next evaluations, ask the participants to mark with colored dots how they evaluate the implementation of the adopted solution on a given day (was it good, neutral, or bad?). Then we can meet in full group to see how much we have managed to improve the reported problem and possibly change the proposed solution.
Searching for partnership organizations
Participants who were looking for a solution to the problem related to establishing cooperation with an organization or partner organizations in organizing exchanges decided that the most important aspect of their work will be finding a way to facilitate communication of active youth from different countries. So they developed an application concept that would assist in this process. When designing its prototype, they took into account the various international issues that youth organizations deal with on a daily basis. Considering the different origins of the parties and their different needs, the generality and universality of the proposed proposal was essential.
FINAL PRODUCT:
That’s why, they created the idea for the “EURO +” application, the main purpose of which is to enable organizations to efficiently communicate, disseminate information, connect with each other and external entities.
As they themselves write: “EURO + is to become a basic tool in the world of modern youth activities, focused on international cooperation. It would be an application that could be used by young people all over the world on a daily basis, so it must be user-friendly, intuitive and aesthetic to achieve its basic aims. It could have different functions: standard and premium accounts, organization verification, peer feedback, databases and tips necessary when applying or organizing a project.”
Creation of ideas
The issue that the group considered the most important was the need to create a space that would increase the creativity and efficiency of creating for participants. Of course, it is not easy, for example due to the fact that each person has different needs and expectations in this regard.
FINAL PRODUCT:
The group created a prototype of Virtual Reality glasses which, based on the provided data, create an ideal space for the user to support creativity. Just enter the data about our subjective feelings related to creativity in a dedicated application, for example:
- what do we need for that (silence, nature, city noise),
- who do we need (friends, colleagues, nobody),
- what feelings do we want to accompany us (calmness, controlled stress, adrenaline).
On this basis, the algorithm creates an ideal environment for a given person – created especially for them and in accordance with their needs. In addition, the solution is completely compact – the glasses can be taken anywhere so the solution developed by the group to support our creativity and productivity could be used at any given time. Thanks to this, an environment favorable to our tastes can be created virtually anywhere – even if it’s in a forest in the middle of Seoul.
The solution developed by the group provides greater, more universal and inclusive access to the innovation-friendly environment. Due to the fact that VR technology is becoming cheaper and cheaper, almost everyone will be able to afford it soon. Thanks to technological advances into an environment conducive to creativity, each of us can afford to work in the conditions we like.
Preparation of the project
The group dealt with issues related to the preparation of projects. This is one of the most important moments, as the success of the activities depends on it. The idea created by the group consists of analog or digital cards that facilitate going through the meanders of the project preparation process.
FINAL PRODUCT:
What the group has created is, on the one hand, a digital product, and on the other, an analogue one – for participants, organizers and speakers of Erasmus + events. The solution was called STAN and its purpose is to turn the project organization process into a fun and integrating board game.
This product consists of three components:
- activity cards containing ideas for energizers, icebreakers and activities for free time, and most importantly, substantive activities,
- a special board,
- an online application that, on the one hand, provides organizers with structured communication between organizers, participants and speakers, and on the other, the opportunity to receive feedback from experts.
User manual:
STAN allows organizers to clash their ideas with participants and thus brainstorm the project schedule in an organized manner.
- Facilitators prepare a board game by entering the number of days the project will have on the board. Then they ask you to read the content on the activity sheets.
- Participants are asked to fill in the board game with the activity card they have just read. They discuss each card and try to agree on one solution with everyone. Each time they can see suggestions based on good practices on the board, which are listed on the board.
- After completing the schedule, participants are asked to scan the entire board using a dedicated application. The board game and each card have their own QR code. As a result, the schedule is scanned, digitized and analyzed instantly.
- After a few minutes, participants and attendees receive detailed feedback based on expert knowledge (professional event creators and moderators). This solution allows digital (or analog, if desired) adjustments to be made.
- The app sends the schedule to attendees and speakers, asking them for feedback in an organized manner. After the feedback phase is completed, the organizers re-adjust the schedule and send the final version to all stakeholders.
Integration
The group that worked out the Integration stage decided that the greatest challenge of the entire process is, from the organizer’s perspective, creating an appropriate atmosphere – at the same time comfortable and engaging for all participants.
The team indicated that getting to know the needs of the integrating group well is the key to success. If these expectations are varied, it is worth planning varied integration activities – involving work in small subgroups, in pairs, but also cooperation of all participants; changing the environment, the dynamics of tasks or the way of communication (exercises based on conversation, self-presentation, but also movement and artistic tasks).
In this situation, it is also particularly important to clearly and precisely explain to the participants what the task is for and why it is done in this form. The crowning achievement of the design thinking process is an innovative solution developed by the team, intended to serve all organizers of international exchanges.
FINAL PRODUCT:
It would be the Erasmus+ application, constituting a database of organized events with standardized descriptions of their priorities, topics and basic assumptions.
From the participant’s perspective, thanks to the filters, it would enable a more efficient search for offers to participate in projects that fully correspond to their interests and expectations. The organizers, on the other hand, could be more sure that the persons applying for the exchange chose it from among all other offers, and therefore they identify themselves with its purpose and assumptions with full awareness.
Further Internet communication as part of the exchange, both between the organizer and participants, as well as among participants only, could still take place via the communicator in the application, which would bypass the problems related to the use of different social media platforms in various European countries. Any divisions into groups, teams or even accommodation proposals could be done using AI algorithms, based on the individual needs, preferences and choices of each participant.
Finally, the application should offer the organizers the opportunity to learn about the participant’s expectations as to the organization of the activities being prepared in order to be able to adjust in advance, among other things, the integration activities to the needs of the engaged group.
Evaluation
The group that dealt with the analysis of the evaluation stage during “The project’s journey” exchange highlighted its three main challenges:
- How to ensure an atmosphere conducive to the free exchange of observations on the course of an international project?
- How to communicate your comments in a cultural, useful and motivating way at the same time?
- How to make sure that the information collected during the evaluation process will be taken into account in practice?
The participants clearly stated that the last point deserves the greatest attention, and its solution may lead to the most noticeable increase in the quality of the evaluation process of international projects.
FINAL PRODUCT:
Therefore, the group prepared evaluation canvas: a simple system that can be used each day during evaluation sessions with any group of participants.
The role of the moderator is to listen carefully to the discussion and find the most pressing, recurring problems / spaces requiring an improvement. If it turns out to be, for example, integration and the fact that the level of it has not satisfied the group so far, at the end of the evaluation activity, participants should be asked to submit practical proposals for improving the situation. Participants may, for example, suggest performing one additional integration exercise every day to start substantive workshops and one sports activity during the break after lunch.
Together, let’s choose a few suggestions that the group likes most (e.g. by voting). Then, on large flipcharts, tables will be created, two for each subsequent day of exchange (see picture above). For the next few days, during the next evaluations, ask the participants to mark with colored dots how they evaluate the implementation of the adopted solution on a given day (was it good, neutral, or bad?). Then we can meet in full group to see how much we have managed to improve the reported problem and possibly change the proposed solution.