Last week I had the pleasure of spending time exploring different methodologies and practices around critical thinking and the construction and de-construction of narratives, with partners and practitioners from different European countries. This is part of an exciting European project that PVM are collaborating on, called Concrit. 

Concrits aim is to create new educational tools to train, teach and empower communities. Specifically, concentrating on critical thinking and the construction and de-construction of narratives through digital storytelling. The aim being to strengthen the self-confidence of the learners, empowering them to grow in self-confidence, find their own collective voice and to strengthen a sense for local action.

Last week’s Peer Review training was meant to take part in Berlin but for obvious reasons it was online instead. And of course, online training and co-production can’t ever take the place of being together in person, but it has to be said it was still a fruitful experience.

We used the online platform Jitsi and the virtual whiteboard application Miro Board. Jitsi was quite unpredictable, getting frozen and kicked out if the internet wavered, however, I found that once again the Miroboard was an excellent tool to collaborate on and to share information and ideas.

And share ideas, we did. We tried out a variety of practices and then applied them to real life settings and then reflected on their effectiveness. The next step is to develop them further, re-designing and adapting them to suit different settings and groups. The most effective will be chosen to add to the learning paths that we are developing.

I’m looking forward to seeing the partner again in the new year for more sharing and creating together.

Kath Peters