Passing on your experiences What now? Photo by johnhain / licensed CC0

Who are these characters? What do they have in common? https://i.ytimg.com/vi/z3xdBKtzduA/maxresdefault.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/66/55 /0c/66550c61e1c27b2c683ffc1784a14364.jpg http://pm1.narvii.com/6137/6fd4af30684398d7ac011d8afb0a1defc9e9d0 2f_hq.jpg http://www.babinjo.de/images/kindergeb urtstag/themen/guide/papa-schlumpf.jpg

In groups of 2-3: What is a “mentor” for you? What role does a “mentor” have? Please note some keywords/ adjectives that describe your understanding of a “mentor” on an A4 sheet of paper.

2. Mentoring Watch this video: Click on the picture to play video. https://media.heanet.ie/page/b55cf608ec87ad18410f431c6357e4f9 Do these descriptions of “mentoring” reflect your own experiences and thoughts? Can you draw first conclusions regarding efficient support of exchange students?

Please read through the descriptions of mentoring programs at different universities. Discuss: What do you like? What do you not like? What did you like or miss when you were abroad? What would you have appreciated when you were abroad? What would you improve?

Make it better! In groups of 3-4: Collect ideas for mentoring activities What would you like to do as a mentor? What mentoring activities are important, nice and useful? Please write each idea on a facilitation card and pin it to the pin board.

I have a dream… Develop a course of action. Which activity would you like to implement as a mentor? How would you do that? Please develop an action plan. Create a flipchart with the results.

Make your dream come true! Develop your action plan for your own university: How could you implement this idea on your campus? What do you need to for that? What material do you need? Who do you have to contact? How do you reach your target group? How do you communicate the activity to a broader audience?

Evaluation 72-hour rule The 72-hour rule says that 99% of all plans and intents that you don’t start realizing within 72 hours will never be put into practice. http://www.hochstadt.com/the-72-hour-rule

Apply for the Connect Mentors’ Training! Contents of the Mentors’ Training Role of Connect Mentors Europe: European identity & Europe’s politics Project management skills (PR workshop, presentation skills, etc.) Peer-to-peer exchange of intercultural experiences Development of project ideas Aim of Mentors Training CONNECT 2.0 is a cross-sectoral project, bringing together practitioners and experts from the university and youth sector, funded by the European Union. It was initiated to create an innovative intercultural learning scenario, consisting of an e-learning platform and curricula for pre-departure and re-entry orientation, to support Erasmus+ participants (students, interns, and volunteers) before, during and after their exchange by integrating methods and concepts from non-formal youth education to formal education. Connect 2.0 aims for a sustainable influence not only for those who active participate, but rather for wide parts of societies. Thus it is crucial to create methods in order to reach more people. One strategy is that former Erasmus+ participants are encouraged to organize different projects and run events under the theme of intercultural involvement. The main aim of the mentors training is to prepare them for this special role within the program. Since it is an Erasmus Program the focus is on Europe and the EU. As a start the seminar gives realm for a discussion and experience exchange about Europe. Continuing with a content based section of the functioning of the European Union. Furthermore the participants are asked to reflect about the relation between European identity and a national one and if a common sense of European identity is necessary so that the political structure of the EU can work. The idea is that participants realize how important intercultural relations are and that through their engagement they can actively contribute. After this more content wise part and the question why the training continues with the question how to be active. Therefor different workshops are implemented in the training concerning more practical competences, which the future mentor might need: First section is a workshop about project management. Participants learn e.g what criteria project objectives have to fulfill in order to be applicable. Regardless of what kind of projects future mentors have in mind, financing will be a question. Therefore one part will be a collective brainstorming how you can financially realize your idea. Since the best projects can only fully reach their potential if people know about it, participants learn about different PR strategies and Advertisement approaches. Also Presenting is a skill mentors probably will need, either if they actually organize presentations, but also more general if they want to mobilize people for their project. Within a workshop we revise how a presenter can captivate and participants are enabled to work on their presenting skills. Finally participants can gather in groups and work on their first ideas. Thus the seminar already is the founding date of future projects and events.

Your feedback to this training day: Evaluation Your feedback to this training day: With your thumb: please show how much you liked the training: What was your highlight of the day? What would you improve? Feedback by Pixaline / licensed CC0 Highlight by OpenClipart-Vectors / licensed CC0 Tool by Clker-Free-Vector-Images / licensed CC0