"Know thyself" is an Ancient Greek aphorism. Do you cherish self-knowledge?
Do you feel it is useful for you and for your trainings and activities with young learners?
If the answer is yes or maybe, the I.YOU app is a great starting point. It is a learning tool created to foster self-awareness and emotional intelligence development through 3 categories:
Open Mind – me and my thoughts
Open Heart – me and my emotions
Open World – me and my community and environment
By working on development of self-awareness in these aspects of the self-knowledge you and your learners will be able understand own’s unique value and contribution to society in the context of their professional choices and personal development.
The app was developed as part of an international project (ref No 2022-1-BE04-KA220-YOU-000085875), supported by Erasmus+ Programme in Belgium - https://i-you.eu. The partnership combines the efforts of 4 partners:
*New Mindset Coaching & Training, Belgium, web: https://nmct.eu - working actively in the field of coaching, leadership, burnout prevention and wellbeing in Belgium.
*National Management School, Bulgaria, http://nbschool.eu/ - supporting young persons with soft skills and entrepreneurial trainings in Bulgaria.
*North Consulting Iceland, web: https://northconsulting.is - leading training provider for youth training in Iceland.
*Van Dale Europe, Bulgaria, web: https://www.learn-to-inspire.com - leading coaching tools developer and technical partner in the project in Bulgaria.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE APP?
The APP offers 45 insights and practical activities for self-development work in 3 categories:
• Open Mind: me and my thoughts. This category reflects the way one thinks. The prompt development considered the following concepts: growth/fixed mindset, resilience, optimism/pessimism, potential, capability, imposter syndrome, confidence, openness to new ideas, self-worth, trustworthiness, curiosity, and emotional agility, defined as approaching one’s inner experiences mindfully and productively.
• Open Heart: me and my emotions. This category reflects the aspects of emotional intelligence concerning awareness, control, self-expression, and the handling of interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. Specifically, it was used to develop prompts to support users in identifying, understanding, and regulating emotions, affect labelling, emotional analysis, understanding how emotions impact/affect us and how to manage emotions.
• Open World: me and my community and environment. This category reflects the engagement, interaction and interpersonal connections and communication between the user and his/her community/society and others. These prompts help users better understand and practice communication, internal judgements/beliefs/bias about others, trust and comparison and their effect on external stimuli.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To design an app for self-awareness and personal development is a learning journey per se. There are numerous persons to thank for making this open learning tool a reality, starting from the partners in the project and reaching our technical production partners.
Huge thanks to the experts who supported us with feedback during the development of this app: Borislava, Rosa, Joanna, Chrysanthi, Tijana, NC focus group.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.