Eduk8

What is Eduk8?

Eduk8 is ESN’s international training project, which aims to empower ESN members to allow them to perform better in their ESN daily tasks. Also Eduk8 aims to create a pool of trainers empowered with the tools and knowledge needed to educate and develop fellow members in the network. Every day ESN’ers all over Europe, work hard to support and develop our colourful network and while doing so they gain new skills and competences. These skills and competences can be hard to identify and put words to and that is where Eduk8 can make a difference.
EduK8 facilitates activities where underlying soft-skills can be identified and where participants can share know-how and learn from one-another in a structured, conscious and fun way!

Who will Eduk8?

The Eduk8 project includes the establishment of a Pool of Trainers consisting of ESN’ers who have completed special training courses. Through theoretical and practical education these trainers posses the knowledge and tools needed to carry out trainings within the network. The aim is to provide quality trainings for international students and ESN’ers at all levels of the network in oder to improve the network and its human resources and to provided ESN'ers with self development opportunities.

Eduk8 training events

The next Eduk8 training event will take place in Valencia organised by ESN UV from February 1st to February 4th 2013. This training will be open to every ESN'er. The inscriptions will open soon though events.esn.org

Tracks

In the next training event there will be 3 tracks for the participants to choose from.

Intercultural learning  

Culture is a notion of extreme importance in our lives. It´s all around us and yet, in many occasions, we all find it intangible and hard to grasp. This is especially true in a multicultural setting as ESN, where you are confronted with diverging cultural perceptions and viewpoints on a regular basis.

In the intercultural learning and communication track the aim is to get hands-on knowledge about culture and how this knowledge can be used to better the work in ESN.

The participants will firstly dive into the notion of culture and discuss different theoretical approximations to ICL. From this platform we will reflect on how you communicate in an intercultural setting and which communication style is appropriate in differing contexts. To illustrate and underline these points we will try out some of the interesting and fun methods that are used in the world of ICL (i.e. simulations). Finally, we will distill the essence of intercultural learning and communication into tangible elements that are useful in the daily work of ESN.

So if you are the least bit interested in learning more about

• how culture affects the human species,   
• how it affects  our interaction with one another,
• and aren’t afraid to get out of your comfort zone once in a while, 

you should definitely consider joining this track!

Section Empowerment

This section will be most complex of all, tackling various topics that can help sections to fulfill their potential.
Do YOU see ESN as  something more than it is?  
Do you think it could be so much more? 
Do you want to be the change?

By choosing this track, you will first learn to lead yourself by learning methods that will help you become more intentional. Before we empower sections, we must empower its members and leaders with qualities that will allow ESN to fulfill its potential!

We will then look at and compare different sections and their structures and will collect common problems and issues which ESN sections all around Europe have to face and try to come up with best practices and ideal solutions. Are we democratic organisations? Do we have proper knowledge transfer? Do we now have enough volunteers? Are we concentrating on the right issues? And a lot more questions to be arised.

We will then go deeper into the psychology of motivation. We will discover the ESN identity and the ESN volunteer life cycle. These tools will allow us to better understand what motivation methods are required for different types of volunteers. We will learn different techniques and methodologies, as well as collect some best practices used all around the network.

Miscommunication is the most common cause of demotivation, problems, misunderstandings or even worse, conflicts, therefore learning to communicate effectively is the best tool in order to prevent an organisation from many issues. We will explore common causes of conflicts, conflict resolution and mediation techniques.

Last but not least we will try to explore the ESN potential. Many organisations don't understand their potential, therefore they cannot fulfill it. Dream big, learn what you could do with your organisations power and fulfill its potential. Empowering your volunteers to become active citizens will allow the organisation to grow. But how to build active citizens and achieve growth?
Join us, and learn!

Management

Time is your most valuable asset. You will learn how to set your personal and professional goals, how to stop procrastinating & handle Facebook, delegate, limit interruptions, eliminate those piles of clutter on your desktop, and get more work accomplished each day.You're not alone in your quest to get organized.

It may seem that there’s nothing you can do about stress, but you have more control than you might think. Managing stress is all about taking charge: of your thoughts, emotions, schedule, and the way you deal with problems. If your methods of coping with stress aren’t contributing to your greater emotional and physical health, it’s time to find healthier ones.

As you move ahead in your career (in ESN or some years later professionally), you are likely to face more complex and difficult challenges. Some of these will involve the coordination of many different people, the completion of many tasks in a precise sequence, and the expenditure of a great deal of time and money. Whether you succeed or fail with these projects depends on how good you are at project management. So let’s explore the key areas of this area, learn how to schedule projects, and find out how to manage change so that your projects are accepted and embraced by the people they affect.