Inspiring Creativity and Collaboration: COOL’s Trainers’ Training Session – Second Newsletter

We are thrilled to share the latest update from the COOL project, an initiative funded by the European Union. Our mission is to create open learning spaces for disadvantaged learners, offering them access to lifelong and civic learning opportunities. In this newsletter, we highlight a recent trainers’ training session hosted by our French partner, INSUP Formation.

Unleashing Creativity with Design-Based Collaborative Learning

From 17th to 20th October 2022, INSUP FORMATION gathered 18 trainers from six partner countries for an enriching training session on “Design-Based Collaborative Learning” (DBCL). The DBCL approach is designed to support the education and training of disadvantaged groups, empowering them as social innovators to tackle the challenges of contemporary society.

Collaboration and Digital Empowerment

At the heart of DBCL lies a strong emphasis on collaboration and the use of digital creation and communication tools. By fostering teamwork and leveraging digital technologies, we aim to enhance the learning experience and empower individuals to bring their creative ideas to life.

The 5 Phases of DBCL

During the training session, the course facilitator, Professor Tim Scholze, introduced the participants to the five phases of the DBCL design process:

1. Empathy: Understanding and identifying the needs of the target group, building a deep connection with learners’ experiences, and recognizing their unique challenges.
2. Identification of Challenges: Identifying the key challenges or problems that the learners need to address to achieve their goals.
3. Ideation: Collaboratively designing ideas, communication methods, training plans, or tools that can help learners overcome the identified challenges.
4. Prototype Creation: Developing prototypes or shared tools that embody the ideas generated during the ideation phase.
5. Testing: Implementing and testing the prototypes to assess their effectiveness and gather feedback for further improvement.

Inspired Innovations and Exhibitions

Divided into three teams, the trainers put the DBCL approach into practice by working on three exciting projects. They designed innovative prototypes and tools that will be showcased in an upcoming exhibition, bringing together real and virtual elements to present their ideas to a wider audience.

Promoting Inclusive Learning Together

The COOL project is built on a strong partnership between organizations from various European countries. BUPNET (Germany), INSUP (France), EINC (Lithuania), FOLKUNIVERSITETET (Sweden), CESIE (Italy), and CAMINOS (Spain) collaborate seamlessly to promote inclusive and accessible learning for all.

Learn More About COOL

To discover more about the COOL project, including the inspiring initiatives and the upcoming exhibition, please visit our website: https://cool.bupnet.eu. Together, let’s celebrate creativity, collaboration, and the power of open learning to empower disadvantaged learners.