Lab 8 - Digital education for democracy

Sponsored by the INGO Conference of the Council of Europe

8 November 2016 -10.00/12.00 - palais de l'Europe - Room 7 - Interpretation: FR/EN

The lab will consider how can digital resources and applications be productively used in citizens education, and how can challenges be addressed.

initiative 1

MaYouth Civic Education Initiative, Global Leaders Network, Zimbabwe

The MaYouth Civic Education Initiative is training for young leaders aged 16-35 in civic education through the WhatsApp platform. The platform uses opens source material of documents and videos and other tailored material to train the young people who will also be Trainers of Trainers by starting their own WhatsApp groups. The Goal of the project is to increase youth civic participation through knowledge empowerment leveraging on WhatsApp.

Presenter(s)

Moses MACHIPISA

Executive Director, Global Leaders Network

Zimbabwe

An educator by profession, Moses is a Global Leader who is passionate about Civic Education and Global Citizenship Education. He is the Executive Director (Projects) of the Global Leaders Network. Moses is an alumni of HigherLife Foundation Capernaum Scholar. Moses is also an Alumni of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Fellowship.

initiative 2

Self-Organized Learning Enviroments in humble neighbourhoods, Democracia en Red – DemocracyOS, Argentina

SOLE (Self organized Learning environment) is a new way of approaching education. During a "SOLE" session, the teacher asks a Challenging (big) Question and the students self-organize themselves in groups around one computer. They use the internet to find sources, discuss them and then share their answers with the other students under the teacher´s guidance. Students are encouraged to share knowledge, ideas and hypothesis with other groups. They can change groups as many times as they like. Our goals were: To reach low resources community schools with this new way of thinking education, and to integrate ICT use in a sector of society that usually doesn’t have access to innovations in education, often only available to upper middle class schools.

Presenter(s)

Alejandro Inti BONOMO

Project Manager, DemocracyOS

Argentina

Raised in Argentina, an Environmental Scientist becomes a teacher by moral duty, and evolves in to a political activist by moral obligation. After a few years working with environmental challenges, it was clear to him that the only way to tackle these problems was to go to the very root of them all: Education. “We need to change how we interact between us and how we resolve problems. We need to start developing education systems, that move us from a path that promotes competition, individuality and stigmatization, to a path that encourages collaboration, collective intelligence and creativity.”

initiative 3

Prison Education in Denmark and Greenland and the influence of the Internet

The storm on education created by the internet is changing the foundation of education known for centuries. The time of the chalk and blackboard is over – also for prisoners. The presentation shows results in developing education conditions and tools for prisoners suitable in a restricted environment using science from social media re-created in a compromise with security in two different education setups in Denmark and in Greenland. Changes do not only involve use of technical equipment, but also a change of pedagogy, management and consideration of other school forms with a specific leadership and involvement of staff, as distance education sets different standards than traditional forms of education. A vital and vibrant learning environment is especially important for prison education as issues as radicalisation, inclusion and development of a strong democratic mind-set are important factors to handle for the Prison Services of the world.

Presenter(s)

Per THRANE

Senior Expert in digital education for the Danish Prison and Probation Service

Denmark

Per Thrane is a Danish Government Official and Senior Expert in digital education working for the Danish Prison and Probation Service as Development Consultant. Per is originally a teacher with Diplomas from the Danish Pedagogical University and University Collage Lillebælt and is studying a Master on ICT and Organisation at Aarhus University.

Discussants

Discussants are invited to take part in the Labs in order to share their experience with the presented democratic initiatives and try to bring broader perspectives to the following discussions.

Ben SNOW

Co-founder and CEO of Civocracy

Germany

Ben is the co-founder and CEO of Civocracy. Recently been named a 'Social Entrepreneur to Watch 2016' by Ashoka, he has a Master of Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance and a background in civic tech, democratic innovation, and business model design. Ben likes rock climbing.

moderator

Philippe RICHARD

General Manager of the Burgundy Catholic University Centre (CUCDB) France, and General Secretary of the International Office of Catholic Education (RCAs)

France

Philippe Richard, Doctor of Law, with a specialization in human rights and the right to education is General Ganager of the Burgundy Catholic University Centre (CUCDB) France, and General Secretary of the International Office of Catholic Education (RCAs).