Event Ideas
Need some ideas for your Adult Learners' Festival event? Want to try growing a learning tree or get on your bike!? Have a look at our A - Z of Event Ideas or download a themed Activity Sheet. You can use this information or come up with something that suits your own organisation. Whatever you do to let us know what you are doing by registering your event here.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Ask about Learning
Advertise your local learning opportunities or provide drop in guidance sessions for members of the public. Why not promote the AONTAS Information Referral Booklet. Simply, text INFO and your contact details to 53377 or download a copy from www.aontas.com
B
Bike to Work at www.biketowork.ie
Bike to Work use their industry experience and trade contacts to get you riding to work on a bike of your choice from your local preferred participating bicycle shop. Employees can choose from over 100 different brands of bikes.
Benefits to the Employee
- Huge savings on bikes and accessories
- Huge selection of brands
- Get fit
- Expert staff - here to help
- Delivery to your door
Benefits to the Employer
- Improve Your Company's Environmental Image
- Improving Staff Health, fitness and morale
- Reducing Parking and Congestion Problems
- Savings to be made for everyone!
- Scheme Set-Up and Promotion
Blow the Dust off Your Trumpet - courtesy of The National Concert Hall
Rediscover the joy of making music! Why not invite people who had once played instruments, but then had to put them aside as life made other demands on their time, to take up those instruments again. From castanets to clarinets, guitars to glockenspiels, encourage players of all levels to come together during the Festival. Hold the event in a local library or school hall and blow the dust off your trumpet!
The initiative began in May 2009 as The National Concert Hall's contribution to the Bealtaine Festival celebrating creativity in older age. The National Concert Hall wanted to empower older people to rise to the artistic and physical challenges of playing their instruments, and to give them an opportunity to enjoy the social and creative buzz of playing in an ensemble. www.nch.ie
Brain Recall Tests
Study this table for up to three minutes. Then turn away from the screen and write down as many of the philosophers as you can on a piece of paper in a blank grid. One point per name and one bonus point for getting the name in the right position. Or use other words relevant to your work
| Descartes | Rousseau | Foucault | Derrida | Sartre |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plato | Aristotle | Socrates | Demosthenes | Epicurus |
| Russell | Hobbes | Locke | Hume | Spinoza |
| Leibniz | Heidegger | Stuart-Mill | Bentham | Lewis |
| Wittgenstein | Voltaire | Aquinas | Nietzsche | Kierkegaard |
Bring Your Own Utensil Dinner:
That's what you advertise it as . . . "Bring Your Own Utensil," and you don't tell them anything else. When you're pumping the event, give suggestions of utensils they can bring: wooden spoons, spatulas, serving forks, egg beaters . . . whatever you want.
Serve a spaghetti dinner for the event. The catch is... no silverware. Everyone has to use the utensil they brought with them. Take pictures with a digital camera (if you have the capability, show a slide presentation at the end of the night). Give prizes afterward for the following:
- Most Creative Utensil
- Most Functional Utensil
- Sloppiest Eater
- Neatest Eater
- Largest Portion Consumed
- Smallest Portion Consumed
This event works great for building up the fellowship of your group. Don't forget to capitalize on this event.
C
Celebrate Achievements
Exhibit artwork, stage a drama, screen a DVD or hold a presentation ceremony! Celebrate the achievements of your learners and invite potential learners' along to discover how adult learning can change lives for the better! Why not host the event in collaboration with other organisations in your area such as the local library or arts centre?
Change.ie on www.askaboutireland.ie
Change.ie provides information on how small changes by each individual can have significant positive impacts on climate change. Change.ie encourages people to learn about how to calculate their carbon footprint, how to reduce their carbon emissions and make savings in energy-bills.
Charter a Local Learning Bus
Why not partner with a local bus company to collect potential learners and bring them to your
centre? You can provide the AONTAS Information Booklet on the Learning Bus and information about classes in your centre.
D
Desk Workout courtesy of The Irish Heart Foundation
Desk Work-Out is a FREE web based physical activity programme with a series of aerobic, stretching and strengthening activities to encourage movement and activity at the desk. As part of Learn at Work Day why not set aside 30 minutes for all staff to do a desk workout? For more information, please click here or visit www.irishheart.ie
Digital Books on askaboutireland.ie
The Digital Books section on Ask about Ireland encourages people to enter a virtual reading room by providing access to hundreds of digital books. Books can be searched by county or by subject.
E
Energy Saver Quiz
How much do you know about saving energy? Test your knowledge by developing a short quiz about environmental issues and energy saving. There are two short sample questions below or visit www.askaboutireland.ie for environmental facts and figures:
1. What percentage of the heating in a house can be lost through...
- The windows? Is it 20% or 30%
- The walls? Is it 25% or 45%
- The roof? Is it 15% or 33%
2. Turning the heating down by 1 degree cuts heating bills by:
5% or 10%
ENFO on www.askabourireland.ie
A key portal for environmental information in Ireland, ENFO offers:
- Clear, authoritative, user-friendly content on the most important environmental issues
- Environmental news from Ireland and worldwide updated daily
- Environmental public consultations and event listings
- Practical suggestions on how individuals, businesses and schools can become more environmentally friendly
- A search facility across environmental online resources available from the State and other environmental bodies both nationally and internationally
- Interactive learning resources on popular environmental topics for students and teachers
- Downloadable environmental posters, brochures, colouring sheets, educational supports etc
- Electronic environmental exhibitions for download
- Content from libraries on local heritage and local environmental topics for each county in Ireland
- Access to sample environmental impact statements
- Contact details and website links for key environmental organisations in Ireland
- Environmental workshops and exhibitions in libraries throughout the country
- Free access to environmental reference databases within public libraries
- Access to environmental journals, books and DVDs countrywide through www.borrowbooks.ie
- Query-answering service for general environmental information and assistance
F
Footprint Calculator
Footprint calculators help us think about the ways our lifestyle affects the environment and help to find ways to reduce our impact. Why not encourage learners in your centre to find out their carbon footprint? A sample calculator is available at www.change.ie. You can combine it with an IT sample class or follow it with a workshop on reducing your carbon footprint.
Funky Fitness
Regular exercise can help burn fat, lower blood pressure, boost the immune systems and make you feel happier. It has also been shown to lower the risk of serious illnesses such as heart disease. Ideally, you should aim to be active for at least 30 minutes 3 times a week. To mark the Adult Learners' Festival, why not hold a taster fitness class in anything from bowls to belly dancing! You can even bring keeping fit into the 21st century with a Wii demonstration!
G
Get Gardening
Gardening is a way to relax, get exercise and grow your own food! To mark Green Learning Day you can hold a gardening demonstration, launch a community garden or start at the basics and plant a herb garden! Why not inspire participants by holding a cooking demonstration using fresh produce from the garden!
Get to Know Your Local Politicians!
Can you name all your local politicians? Would you recognise them? Why not, put up photos of your local politicians up in the centre along with their party and contact details and encourage staff and learners to view the board. You can combine this with a lobbying skills workshop!
Griffith's Valuation on www.askaboutireland.ie
Ask About Ireland also includes free digital access to Griffith's Valuation - the first full scale valuation of property in Ireland, published between 1847 and 1864. More than 1.5 million valuation records were assembled and accompanied by six-inch scale maps for the entire country. Griffith's Valuation is one of the most important surviving genealogical sources.
Grow It Yourself at www.giyireland.com
Taking the 'self' out of 'self-sufficiency'! GIY Ireland is a not-for-profit organisation which promotes and facilitates back-garden food growing. It also acts as a national umbrella organisation to keep local GIY groups connected. The organisation was launched on the 12th of September 2009 in Waterford and is supported by Social Entrepreneurs Ireland. As part of the Green Learning Day you can encourage your staff and learners to join GIY Ireland or go to a meeting being held locally for more information.
Grow a Learning Tree
This initiative allows learners to reflect on what they have achieved through learning as well as providing inspiration for prospective learners.
- You can use a poster or a real tree to represent your learning tree
- Encourage learners to write or draw the impact adult learning has made on their lives and hang it on the learning tree.
- Collate all the contributions into a booklet or display the learning tree in your premises
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How to Remember Whatshername!?
In our increasingly knowledge-based world, there is pressure on us all to retain more information, and be better organised in the way we use it. Names can be particularly difficult to remember! On Learn at Work Day, why not hold an activity to enhance organisations and memory skills!
1) Rhyme - Sophia in her biker's gear
2) Association famous name - Sophia Loren
3) Facial / body feature - Sophia has 'S' and 'a' in her curly hair
4) Book or film title - Sophia's Choice - creativity needed as well as imagination!
5) Association with an item - Sophia on a sofa
6) Smell, taste, food, drink - Soapy Sophia
7) Nature - Sophia the Squirrel
8) Alliteration - Sophisticated Sophia
9) Music - How do you solve a problem like Sophia? - creativity again!
Healthy Recipes courtesy of The Irish Heart Foundation
Good food need not be boring. The Irish Heart Foundation has put together a range of menu choices where the fat content is low but the flavours are high. As part of the Adult Learners' Festival why not give an information session on healthy eating or a healthy cooking demonstration. You could even circulate these healthy cooking tips to staff or learners:
- Use more fruit and vegetables every day. Vegetables taste delicious on their own, so try not to add butter or spread.
- Use herbs and spices rather than salt to flavour food. Many people watch their salt intake because of raised blood pressure.
- Use little or no oil when making a healthy low fat dish. All oils are 100% fat, even olive oil, so use a maximum of 2 tablespoons of pure vegetable oil for 4 portions.
- Serve dressings and sauces on the side. Use low fat cooking methods - steam, grill, poach, microwave, oven-bake, stir-fry or roast without fat or oil.
Click here for more information. www.irishheart.ie
I
I'm a Politician, Get Me Outta Here!
A key aim of the Adult Learners' Festival 2010 is to keep adult learning on the political agenda. Why not, invite local politicians to take part in a panel discussion, question and answer session or to meet learners face to face to listen to their concerns.
I Can Do courtesy of Digital Media Forum and www.i-cando.ie
Do you struggle using a digital camera? Do you fancy using Facebook? Want to know what Twitter is? Or how to book and pay for a cinema ticket online? Well, all you need is the I-CANDO Digital Skills Programme....
This online course consists of seven modules: computer (x2), music, photo, video, social surf and webshare. The entire suite offers 60 hours of online, interactive guided learning that will help you learn all the basics you need to enjoy living in a digital world.
ICANDO are offering event organisers assess to the entire online programme during the Adult Learners' Festival. To make use of this great resource during the festival, please contact Irene from I-CANDO. Call 1850 885858 or 01 4893604 or irene@i-cando.ie
As part of the special promotion for the Adult Learners Festival, Digital Media Forum and I-CANDO are offering you the online course at a 50% discount. Just send the Coupon with a cheque for the discounted amount to I-CANDO Learning and GET ONLINE!
You can find out more about the I-CANDO Digital Skills Programme at www.i-cando.ie
J
Job Swap
The purpose of job swapping or shadowing activities is to learn actively from a colleague, business partner or customer about their job. This will raise awareness of exactly what colleagues do each day, and encourage better communications between departments. It will not be practical for a complete job swap to take place at all times so it is likely that the day would be a combination of job swapping and job shadowing. Don't forget to think about practicalities in advance (for example, warning colleagues that the job shadow is taking place and getting approval if the activity being observed is confidential or commercially sensitive). Identify areas of your business which will benefit most from job swapping, those areas which will benefit most from allowing job shadows to take place and those areas for which neither would be practical. A mutual debrief at the end of the day is very valuable. This could focus on what has been experienced and what lessons learned.
It may be helpful to review the experience in the light of three pieces of information:
- the best bit
- the worst bit
- what will change as a result of the experience
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L
Learning Chain
This activity is inexpensive, it can be organised using few resources and can also easily fit in around the working day using paper or electronically. Each employee answers the question "Did you know that..." in relation to a particular theme or subject. Employees can then come together at the end of the day to swap the fact! You can encourage participants to post the questions on a notice board and discuss what they have learned.
Here are some ideas on the themes you could use for your 'Learning Chain':
- Learning how to learn / tips on how to learn best. This could include drinking lots of water to hydrate the brain, listening to baroque music, learning in bitesize chunks, eating lots of protein, etc.
- Facts that you never knew about your workplace. These could be researched on the company website or by asking current employees and former employees.
- The history of the town where your workplace is located.
- Tips on using Outlook, Word, Powerpoint, etc.
Learning in the Library
Libraries are a resource at the heart of every community. As part of the Adult Learners' Festival why not encourage those who don't usually visit the library to pop in! As a library you can hold an IT session, a guided tour of the library along with a recruitment drive or hold a book club. Book clubs and reading groups are growing in popularity across Ireland. They are a great way to get together as a group and talk about your shared passion for books and reading.
Learning Zone on www.askaboutireland.ie
The Learning Zone on Ask about Ireland provides students and teachers with the perfect resource for learning about Irish culture, heritage and curriculum-based subjects. Students can explore and enjoy new information, authentic materials and interactive activities across a wide range of popular topics. The Learning Zone also offers a wide variety of content to support the Primary and Post-Primary Curriculum and provides students with authentic materials to support an inquiry- and researched-based learning approach. Photographs, maps, drawings, pictures, audios, videos and digital books can be located from among thousands of items. Popular features include comparisons between Ireland as it was during the last century and Ireland as it is now, historical information on each county in Ireland, online scientific experiments, historical documents, transport through the ages, and much more.
LexisNexis on www.askaboutireland.ie
LexisNexis is described as the "world's largest collection of public records, unpublished opinions, forms, legal, news, and business information". This resource on Ask about Ireland provides customers with access to five billion searchable documents from more than 40,000 legal, news and business sources. Your local library can provide access to this database of information.
Lifesteps www.lifesteps.ie
Lifesteps consists of a series of interesting guides available in public libraries. Whether you are interested in learning the basics about the internet, about how the internet can help you to find a job, take care of your health or start up your own business, there is a Lifesteps guide for you!
Lunch & Learn
Over lunch you can run a training and information sessions for staff members. Provide information and advice about training courses available or have an actual training session. Sessions can be facilitated by an external trainer or a staff member and can cover such areas as
- Health & Safety
- Financial Awareness
- Personal Development
- Staff Welfare
- Personal Health
Why not encourage staff to facilitate a workshop on a skill or talent they would like to share? Examples include:
- Drawing
- Literature
- Power Point
- Art
Learning Needs Notice Board
This initiative allows those members of staff with specific areas of expertise to help others with day to day tasks.
- Put up a notice board and call it the 'Learning Needs Notice Board'. Provide a supply of cards and pens nearby
- Add a brief list of instructions including what the board is for and how to use it:
Instructions
- Staff should write on a card what problem they are having. This could be related to work such as 'how to create a formula in Excel' or it could be for personal knowledge such as 'how to make a white sauce for a dinner party'. They should date the card and also include a realistic date as to when they need help by. They should also include their full name and an extension number or e-mail address.
- Encourage staff to visit the board at least during the week
- Staff who are able to help should remove the card and contact the member of staff before the deadline.
M
Make a Learning Plan
Encourage employees to make an individual learning plan on Learn at Work Day. The plan is a way for employees to set personal targets and record achievements. To get started with your plan, think about some of the things that you have already learned and enjoyed. Write those experiences down and remind yourself why it was important to you and how has it helped you.
Making your plan
1. Your learning account
Take stock of how much you have already done and achieved in your life, include all areas
such as home, work, with friends or family. Jot experiences down, this will give you a
record of all the important learning you have in your account.
2. Your wish list
Look forward in your life and identify your goals. You will compare all you have learned and
achieved already with what you hope for in the future.
3. Your hit list
Set yourself some targets which will show you that you are on your way to getting what you want or where you want to be. This will provide the skeleton of you learning plan.
4. Your help account
Review what or who has particularly helped, or hindered your learning. What support and guidance might you need?
5. Make a plan of action
Make yourself a table, and set out what you intend to learn; how you propose to learn it; when you plan to complete each part of it and how you know you have done it.
6. Keeping going
Keep your plan updated, read through your steps again and see if you can add anything. Do reviews of your plan regularly, think again about your wish list, do you still have the same goals? Revise your Hit list of learning targets as well.
Making Your Garden Environmentally Friendly
Take an hour's walk in a green space and use it to consider practical ideas for making even the
smallest garden environmentally‐friendly choosing suitable plants, composting, insect and hedgehog 'hotels', water features, organic alternatives and more! Ask a local garden designer or a local college if they have any garden tutors that would be happy to guide the walk. There may even be a green expert in your own organisation. You could also contact www.giyireland.com for information and meetings on growing it yourself.
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Notes from Learners
Invite learners in your organisation to write a note to their local politician regarding their vision for adult and community education. This could be incorporated into a computer class - it's learning and lobbying all in one!
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Oireachtas Games courtesy of www.oireachtas.ie
Learn about the Oireachtas and the world of parliamentary politics in a fun way with the three online games.
- Beat the Bell
Answer each question before your time runs out - if you hear the Ceann Comhairle's bell you've been too slow. Play the Game
- Parliament Pairs
Find pairs of images of famous politicians before the time runs out. If you are quick enough you may get on the leader board. Play the Game
- Word Scramble
Unscramble as many words as you can, and try to get on the high score table. Play the Game
On Your Bike!
Cycling is also the least polluting way of travelling after walking. Ten bikes can be parked in the space of one car and 2kg of carbon are saved for every short journey that is made using a bike instead of a car. As part of Green Learning Day, why not encourage cycling by offering a range of hands-on activities e.g. puncture repair, fitting a bell, fitting lights, putting chain back on. Encourage staff to take up the bike to work initiative www.biketowork.ie
Online Lobbying
Hold a 'Learn to E-mail' session. Participants can set up an e-mail address and learn how to use
e-mail. On Lobby for Learning Day why not encourage participants to e-mail local politicians with their concerns about the adult and community education sector?
Original Facebook
This activity can be used as an afternoon event, a game, or even a lesson of sorts, if you choose. Regardless, at the end of the project, you will have a really wonderful memento of your group. Here's what you do.
Tell the participant in your group that they are going to do an "old school" project today. Explain that before MySpace and Facebook hit the web, people shared their pictures and personal info in scrapbooks, journals, and/or photo albums. Over the course of the next half hour, participants get a chance to make an old school Facebook...on real paper...in a real book.
What You'll Need
Make a two-page information sheet for each learner to fill out. Include their basic contact information (e-mail, mobile number, local area), childrens names, and work and education info. Also include a just-for-fun section that includes favorite pizza toppings, books, movies, music, book, color, TV show, etc. (Make sure you give a blank set of sheets to every new learner who shows up, and make sure they fill it out completely before they leave.)
Have each learner bring a school picture or snapshot of themselves that they like. Paste it onto an area of the front page reserved for a picture, with rubber cement or glue. Then print out silly pictures from your group as you take them, and include them in the book in whatever fashion you desire. Don't forget to let some of the more artistically talented participants decorate the random pages of the book with their personal artwork. Also, toss in some group photos to round out the book.
Assemble all of the finished pages in plastic page protectors and put them in a decorated 3-ring binder. Make sure to date the info for later use.
This will not only come in handy for you when you need to call somebody, but it will also help everybody to get to know each other better as they flip through it.
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Petition - Lobby for Learning
Have there been severe cut backs in your organisation? Are you trying to do more with fewer resources? Let politicians and decision makers know! Decide on three key changes that need to be made to ensure that the adult and community sector in your area continues to grow and develop. Ask learners and members of the public to sign your petition. Why not hold an event and present the petition to your local politicians.
Q
Quick Fixes
- Hold a workshop on job seeking skills in partnership with local organisations
- 'Meet the Tutors' Set up an information stand in your local shopping centre or canteen to attract potential adult learners
- Include a crossword, sudoku or information on learning opportunities with staff pay slips
- Organise a taster class or demonstration for potential learners
- Behind the scenes....at the museum / at the university / at the library / at the art gallery
- Launch adult learning research or statistics
- E-mail your local and national politicians about your concerns for the adult learning sector
R
Ready, Steady, Cook!
We need to eat a range of different foods to keep our brains and bodies in tip top condition. A fun way of making sure we get the good bits we need in our diet is to be creative. Why not hold a creative cooking demonstration followed by a cooking class. Perhaps you could provide information about learning opportunities in your area while participants are tucking into their culinary delights!
Reading Room on www.askaboutireland.ie
The Reading Room includes extensive materials on historical, geographical, scientific and environmental topics of particular relevance to Ireland. Articles from public library authorities throughout the country are provided on a wide range of Irish cultural topics for each county in Ireland. A new feature for the site in 2010 will involve an interactive element so that public users can also submit photos and information about their locality to the website.
S
Silver Surfers / Click Start!
Why not open your doors to learners with little or no IT experience. The focus of this activity is to create small groups in communities within which learners can become engaged with technology.
- Run a free session on e-mail. Learners can use their own e-mail to contact politicians about learning issues!
- Buying a computer - the jargon explained.
- Open your library doors to research your family tree on the internet?
- Open your bank's door with free sessions on on-line banking?
Swap a Book in Business
Whether your business is office-based, manual or service-providing, it provides enormous potential for promoting reading and book-swapping. Use it as a way to get people talking, build relationships, gain a higher profile for your business or as an integral part of your staff development agenda. You can either create an activity that compliments your aims as an organisation or use swapping as a relaxing and refreshing activity to increase creativity and productivity.
Starting points
- Place a book swap box in reception or in the canteen
- Run a 'book dating scheme' to match up staff with others who have similar reading tastes
- Dedicate part of your notice board as a space where people can pin up the funniest stories from that week's magazines and papers
- Hold a book drive for a local charity or set up a volunteer 'reading buddies' scheme
- Use the company intranet to recommend or review books
- Run a 'desert island books' feature in your company newsletter
- Set up a workplace library which people can borrow from over the holidays, the weekend or just over lunchtime
- Use book-swapping to raise the profile of your work library or learning facilities
T
The Big Draw
Everybody is an artist and there are lots of ways to encourage learners to get involved in art! You can hold a sample art or drawing class, an exhibition of learners' work or a guided tour of an art gallery. Why not encourage learners' to draw their experience of adult learning and display them in the organisations premises?
The Irish Times Digital Archive on www.askaboutireland.com
The Irish Times Digital Archive contains exact reproductions of all articles published by the Irish Times from 1859 onwards. The archive can be accessed at your local library.
U
Under the Tree of Learning
Invite learners in your organisation to share their stories and document on leaves. Hang the stories on the tree of learning and ask to display in a local centre, supermarket or library. People passing are invited to come under the tree to discover the learning journeys of others.
V
Voice!
Contact your local community radio station and ask them to interview a member of your organisation, tutor and a learner, so others can learn from your experiences.
W
Who Am I?
Be a Diva for a day....or a famous actor....or a legendary sportsperson. Pre-make tags with each tag having one famous person on it, mainly divas that everyone would know. These tags will be placed on the back of each guest as they arrive. This is done without them knowing who they are. They can then go about their days work but always asking questions as to who they might be. Questions like "am I a singer?" They can only ask one question and make only one guess as to Who they are with each person that they talk to, then they have to ask another person. You could also award a small prize for the person who guessed their "identity" the quickest. This is fun and does not have to intrude on the work or the day
Window Box
On Green learning day, why not plant lettuce seeds and have fresh crispy lettuce all summer long. Contact www.giyireland.com for information about the meetings in your area
Working Out Your Pay Slip
This activity shows employees how to work out the different aspects of their pay slip and how to work out their net pay (after tax). Although it's quite obviously mathematical, it's something that is interesting and relevant to most employees. This activity can be completed by the employee without a leader although it is important that someone is on hand to offer support if required. Why not invite your finance team to get involved? The activity will hopefully cut down on the amount of queries they get from staff about their pay slips.
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Activity sheets
