Since we opened our eyes and we were able to see, we were experiencing the world through vision, touch and other senses. Let's explore our learning foundations with focus on visual thinking & embodiment together.

What is it and Why:

Visuals and Embodiment is a practical and experience based course designed to introduce you to visual thinking and embodied learning principles and provide you with a solid foundation to build on. Following the recent global pandemic and shift in educational and youth practices that required engaging new levels of creativity, diversity in approaches and understanding how we can engage our learners in a more holistic way, we have designed this training course that offers innovative tools and skills for working with youth (or anyone for that matter).

At the end of this course, you will feel empowered and inspired to consciously use principles of visual thinking and embodied learning in your work, nurturing playfulness and creativity when facilitating learning.

This training course is based on the experiences and best practices of the previous online course ‘Visualise Words, Embody Visuals’, which took place in 2020 over the course of 10 weeks and gathered participants from 11 European countries.

Why Visual Thinking:

In the age of information overload we use infographics and visual support of communication when we want to process most of the information we receive. We do this because we all think visually - some of us more, some less, but visual thinking is definitely part of our everyday life. Once we learn how to use it actively and consciously, it will not only improve our communication skills, but enable our mind to remember the information we really need.

Almost 70% of the human brain is engaged in the process of vision (remembering in pictures).Studies confirmed that colorful visual techniques raise attention level by 80%. People reading an instruction manual with pictures are 323% more successful in assembling a product than those who only read plain text.

Why Embodiment:

Why not?

Whether you are aware or not, we always work with the body - simply because we all have it. From the moment we are born, our body provides an instrument and context through which we feel, see, perceive the world, learn, explore, create meaning, context through which we relate to others and take action.

We all have a body and that body is alive, intelligent and present in everything we do - it is a key part of who we are and how we are. When we intentionally include the body in the learning process, the body becomes a lab of learning and change, actively supporting cognitive processes in the learning. Body is always available, and provides access to a wide range of information that we can use to create a change that will stick and last. There is more and more research emerging speaking about the benefits of ‘being connected to the body’ and we will offer a space in this course to discover some of them.

Course overview:

6x live zoom workshops on Wednesdays 18:00 - 20:00 CET, followed up by home tasks and explorations. This is a foundations course, offering overview and introduction to the topics of visual thinking and embodied learning, introducing you to the basic tools and skills that you can build upon on.

At the end of the course you will:

• Be ready to include principles of visual thinking and embodied learning in your practice.
• Gain practical and ‘ready to use’ tools for self - awareness and self-expression.
• Be able to actively use, adapt and combine these approaches in the context of delivering and facilitating learning activities.
• Gain practical tips for using these principles in residential and virtual learning environments.
• Build a solid foundation for further professional and personal development

For Who:

• Youth workers, Youth Leaders, Volunteers and Mentors working with young people;
• Trainers, Facilitators and other educators who want to improve their competences;
• Non-formal educators interested in innovative facilitation tools and approaches.

Course Facilitators:

Sandra Gojić

Sandra is an embodiment trainer with a background in psychology and youth work. She is passionate about introducing the body in the learning process and understanding how places that we inhabit shape our identities and our perception of the world. Her journey through different countries and movement practices, was one of compassion, kindness and learning to trust herself and others. She uses this experience and knowledge to support others to find their voice, inner power and a unique way of being.

Juraj Víg

Juraj is a visual facilitator, soft skills and communication trainer. His background is in youth work, marketing, graphic design, community organising and facilitation. In addition to the classic facilitation, Juraj specializes in a visual and a systemic facilitation. His passion is to guide people in their learning processes and create visual spaces for learning.

What others say about this course:

‘’Great preview of both topics for beginners and advanced learners, too! I gathered basic tools and exercises to explore more about the topics. I highly recommend it, even when you do not do training or work directly with people. You will definitely get the use of it in your everyday personal life.’’

Ivana Hradecká - Czech Republic