MyXperience is the title of a training course on experiential education which took place in EVC Švýcarna in South Moravia region of Czech Republic. It was organised by Hnutí Brontosaurus through Youth in Action programme of EU. From 13th to 21st October 2012 28 participants together with 9 leaders and 3 experts from 8 countries, such as Armenia, Belarus, Czech republic, France, Georgia, Estonia, Slovakia and Ukrajine started a mosaic of learning new metods of experiential eduction.

They played and reflected games, tried adrenalin activities like climbing and caving, enjoyed creative workshops, listened to the lectures of experts or practised the theory by leading their own experiential activities.
It was not only the training course...Thanks to all there was also the free atmosphere for reflecting the feelings, sharing the ideas, developing the personalities, discovering the hidden skills, accepting the challenges.

Adrenalin activities with no panic

The diversity of cultures brightened the programme by the international evenings when everybody could experience the beauty and taste of each country.
What did MyXperience mean to some of participants?

Dramatic workshop in the "circus school"

„I guess that the course somehow started the new era in my life."
„During this course I had such feelings and emotions that I had never had before. I learnt to speak in front of many people before I was too shy to do this, I think I have become a bit self-confident due to you."
„I myself did enjoy it and learn from it the way to self-improve on experiential education, to overcome the challenges, to communicate with friends coming from different countries and cultures."

During the training course, the participants prepared proposals for their own projects using methods of experiential education they would like to organize in the future. Some of them have been already implemented.

The cooperation is very important

"Trash art" or Give the second life to old things was the project of the Estonian group which was running during two days at the beginning of January. After creating new things using the old ones there was an exhibition and visitors could buy something. All gained money are planned to be given to the local shelter for homeless pets in Tallinn.

„Live my disabilities or Learn and sympathize with disable people" was a one day project made by participants from France. It was aimed to meet and interact with young people about disability problems in society. Through the experiential activities, meeting with disabled people and specialist from related centres, young people will acknowledge and understand how to deal with this social concern, how are the attitudes to help disable people, and to appreciate life.

In the near future the other national groups are going to try to implement knowledge and learned skills in their own projects. The Ukranian project is Art Therapy Day Camp for Special Needs Children named "Experience Yourself through Art". The day camp will engage children with special needs (those who attend the daily day care at Crocus) in art-therapy activities. The art therapy will include music, painting, dancing and the children will have the opportunity to explore their personality through this experiential activities.

Signing in the cave

„Fight Pollution" – for one day a group of Armenian girls from 13-15 years will learn more about their nature and how to protect it. The purpose of the project is to show to the target group how pollution affects nature, concentrating on the water people drink and the air they breathe. Moreover, showing the teenagers how they can stop pollution through very simple methods and everything by doing and methods of experiential learning!

Mosaic of the feelings

There is also one project from Czech republic, „Designing our future". It is 2-days workshop using the methodology of developing an idea of a group, which connects some specific need of the group and transforming it to a viable project, service, event or some other „tangible" format. Participants will come up with a project idea they'd like to develop, based on their common actual interest or needs and work on bringing it in „real world" after the workshop. The experiential dimension of this event is in the methods of the workshops – the participants will go through several stages, in each stage they will learn in groups under the support of some specialist.

Workshop on playing the djembe

The motto of the training course was Let´s feel that experience on your own. It started as a training course with foreigners and a personal experience – MyXperience. Then it transformed to cooperation and bringing up the ideas for the others. In this time it was born Our Xperience – the experience that each of us is part of mozaic, as important as the others.

Kristina Studená
Hnutí Brontosaurus