The Program
How does it work?
9 real-life challenges
Challenges are the back-bone of our program, all the other parts of it are meant to help achieve them.
The challenges are: 1) giving a public speech; 2) creating a new habit; 3) organizing an event; 4) compete at debating; 5) mapping your strengths; 6) meet someone unfamiliar; 7) advise an organisation; 8) create a model of society; 9) map out a plan for your future.
Online learning with 4 courses
We have scoured the world for the best materials, filtered them and put together an e-learning process to support you with the challenges and interactive live sessions during the weekends.
The four courses consist of several modules, that have digital chapters on our platform and are combined with the live sessions.
12 weekends of interactive sessions
The program runs from October to May, every other weekend. Each weekend consists of several different interactive sessions of all four courses with discussion and exercises.
These sessions are the place where you form lasting friendships and most of the learning and reflecting happens.
The schedule
Our program begins in October and lasts until May. All live trainings happen at our 12 weekend sessions:
1
14.-16.10
2
29.-30.10
3
12.-13.11
4
26.-27.11
5
10.-11.12
6
18.-19.02
7
4.-5.03
8
18.-19.03
9
1.-2.04
10
15.-16.04
11
29.-30.04
12
13.-14.05
1
Developing yourself
It is a cliché, but it doesn’t mean it’s wrong – all change begins within. By becoming more than you were yesterday, you are able to achieve things you couldn’t have before.
Our program starts with helping you set your goals, find your tools of self-development and create learning habits that last.
Self management
In the Self Management module we’ll discuss how to direct our willpower and energy just where we want it, so that the habits we create will stick.
Strengths
All of us are also good at some things. That’s what we'll focus on – discovering what they are and ways of developing ourselves accordingly.
Mental wellbeing
Life in the modern age is hard and lonely, a changemakers life even more so. That's why we learn to help ourselves better.
2
UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD
Changing the world begins with understanding it –Â why it is the way it is, how it became to be like that, how it functions today and what could possibly (but also realistically) change the way any part of it is.
We learn systems thinking, modelling, argumentation and ways of seeing other people’s point of views.
Mental Models
We get to know and learn how to use different thinking techniques and discover how to avoid the biggest thinking mistakes.
Debating
We use the debating method to learn how to make good arguments and getter better at noticing different aspects of complicated social problems.
Different Perspectives
We discuss the necessity of difficult conversations, get acquainted with new techniques and try them out in real life situations.
3
CHANGING THE WORLD
Our largest course is meant to give our participants the practical skills that are needed in any project, team or organisation, in order to successfully achieve anything worthwhile.
This course focuses mostly on leadership and communication skills, because we believe these will help our alumni to have the biggest impact in the areas they work in.
Design Thinking
Our teams work with different organizations throughout the year and study and solve the problems they are facing.
Leadership
We learn the basics of team leadership and practice leading throughout the year.
Communication Skills
We practice different parts of public speaking and common social situations.
4
DEVELOPING DEMOCRACY
The main purpose of DD Academy is to train young people who would be able to understand the problems of a democratic society and find good solutions to solving them.
In order to achieve that we believe a general understanding of political philosophy, social theory and other topics is necessary.
Our Society
In order to prepare the developers of democracy, it is necessary to understand where our societal concepts come from and what they mean.
Let's get started
In case of any questions about the program, be sure to check the FAQ section and if no answer is found, contact us directly.