Who are the innovators?

Who are the innovators in youth work contexts? Is it the worker, the young person or both? Where does the concept of innovation fit and how is this encouraged/discouraged etc?

Youth workers are often quite autonomous in relation to decisions about how to engage young people although with the push towards targetted work, this might become less easy.

In relation to using digital media, where are the innovators around participation and inclusion. Where are the examples? Who is doing this? It's not just about whether young people can send emails or go on Facebook. It's about critical consumption. Where is the innovation around this?

Reflecting on reflection...

As a youth worker, I consider myself to be a reflective practitioner. Used to reflecting on my practice, whether face-to-face work, training or coaching, mulling over what has happened and what it means is part of the professional culture. Don't think I could do it any other way really.

However, thinking about where it comes from in terms of whether it's from an academic or professional  perspective or perhaps something that's a bit of both. I think that it could be just simply being able to ask the question 'why' or 'how' in relation to things that happen: the ability to be able to investigate further, check out...

The rewrite process that I've just done enabled me to not only to reflect at a distance on  what I'd written, but also to reflect again and further refine my question. Reflecting last night on how I've processed the feedback that I'd received and how I'd processed this, was useful. It's got to be about learning, about being interested in what the feedback means, a curiousity about my own learning in relation to the perspectives of others. Otherwise, you'd go under!

Realisations

So, is this about digital media or is it about the assimilation of any new innovation? How has this happened in the past? Or is it that the landscape of digital media  is something that we've never had to assimilate before in the profession? 

To bring this assignment together, it's about finding a conclusion based on the problem focus, and maybe that's around a number of parts?

Using arguments or research from formal education may not be so helpful because as always in youth work, the element of choice is in operation, Youth workers choose. They decide their programmes and responses with young people and they can also choose NOT to work in a certain way. They can choose not to engage young people in blogging, in campaigning, in collaborating, in researching,  in making relationships with young people from across the world. They can choose to use arguments like young people about young people not wanting them in their world, or young people not needing to be skilled up but aren't they missing the point?

This 'significant and subtle shift' in learning  is the key. My son (11) is now doing his homework in a laptop, being creative when he can't draw, preparing powerpoint presentations to show his peers about our sponsored family in Kenya, editing videos and photos..... This is sophisticated stuff compared to my first year at secondary school!

It goes back to my thoughts about those BA students.....why collages on bits of paper in this day and age??

Howard Rheingold - the way forward?? Let's have a look...