Youth work embraces digitalisation − VR headsets and AI offer new ways of carrying out youth work and interacting with young people

The staff of Hyvärilä Youth Centre, which is located in the town of Nurmes in Finland, already had some experience in the successful utilisation of digitalisation. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced youth centres to close in spring 2020, in Nurmes the local youth work unit of Hyvärilä, Nuorten Kulma, was able to immediately open a digital youth centre and commence online youth work. 

“We cannot stop at what has already been accomplished, however. Since there is so much more potential in digitalisation, we want to actively develop digital youth work,” says International Coordinator Ekaterina Sysoeva from Hyvärilä Youth Centre. 

The “AI and VR in youth work – training for youth workers and decision makers” project carried out by Hyvärilä implemented a training course for youth workers and decision-makers that covered the basics of AI and virtual reality. The fact is that the youth sector is often among the last when it comes to society adopting new information or new technologies. As a result, youth workers are prone to being left behind when it comes to phenomena like digitalisation, even though their target group, i.e. young people, are already online. The need for digital competence is therefore urgent in youth work as well.  

The initial levels of digital competence of the youth workers who participated in the training course varied. Many of them also harboured some fears regarding the use of digital tools and questioned whether they possessed the skills necessary to participate if they had not used such tools in their work in the past. Because of this, the course started with the basics.

“The training started with the absolute basics, such as what is AI, what is virtual reality and how to use them in a data secure manner. We then proceeded to use and test AI in normal youth work tasks and in reflection, and also to come up with new ideas. For example, we asked AI what it could be used for in youth work and discussed how the office tasks related to youth work could be streamlined with the help of AI.” 

Decision-makers were included in the training so that they could be shown all the useful things that VR headsets can be used for in youth work, for example. If decision-makers lack digital competence, they may think that virtual reality is just something that you use for fun and prohibit youth workers from utilising it during their work hours. 

“These kinds of attitudes may also be fuelled by an underlying notion that we youth workers do not need digital devices because we are not experts on digitalisation. That is why we wanted to showcase things that everyone can utilise in youth work, even if they are not digital professionals.”

The training ended up inspiring even those who had previously been hesitant about using technology in youth work or unaware of what it could be used for. 

“There are many ways to leverage the internet in youth work. Youth workers can utilise online technology to reach young people who are suffering from anxiety or living in remote areas, for example.” 

One potential obstacle to the use of digital tools is the notion that youth workers should always arrange something face-to-face. With young people already spending too much time staring at screens, it is easy to think that nothing good will come out of moving youth work to the online space. 

“You hear these kinds of opinions often, but are they the whole truth?” Sysoeva asks. “Virtual reality can also help young people to participate face-to-face. It can be an effective first step in getting young people involved in on-site activities as well.”  

For example, in Nurmes there has been discussion about whether virtual reality could be utilised in the form of a virtual youth centre. A funding application for a project aiming to establish one has already been submitted. 

“The virtual youth centre is still just an idea, but it is fueled by the thought that virtual reality makes so many things possible. It enables things like job interview simulations and other life situation simulations and facilitates work with young people suffering from anxiety and young people who are unable to visit a real-life youth centre for one reason or another.” 

Young people can also come up with ideas for and build the virtual youth centre themselves. This way, it can promote their participation and inclusion from the get-go. The experience gained from all of this also benefits young people: they can learn to utilise technology for themselves, thus improving their future career prospects, for example. 

“We want to prove that technology belongs to everyone, including youth work. There is no such thing as being too old or too much of a nature person, for example; everyone can benefit from technology. We also want to provide added value to youth work so that youth workers can keep up with technological development and youth work remains topical. We cannot just keep using old, familiar methods. Instead, we need to keep up with the times and move forward – how else can we get young people involved? Youth work cannot work at a different time or level than the rest of society; we cannot lag behind the rest of society.”  

Text: Aino Kivelä