After the good start of the MIT trainings in December 2020, the dates for the training after the Christmas break had to be cancelled initially due to the pandemic situation. Since, despite an increasing number of vaccinated persons, the infection situation in the Stuttgart region has not improved to such an extent that the training can be offered in full attendance, all dates need to be held online. Preference of most participants, however, were appointments in presence. The joint learning, the direct contact with tutors, speakers and exercises in small groups met exactly the wishes and needs of the participants. Linguistic hurdles could also be solved quickly during face-to-face meetings. If a word or term was not understood or if one was not sure whether one had understood it correctly, one could simply ask and sometimes also briefly explain the term individually with the help of translators. All this is more difficult in online meetings. Despite all the hurdles and challenges, most participants are still very interested in getting involved in politics and associations at the local level after the training sessions. Individual participants also have ideas about founding their own associations. Preparing the training dates in the online format was not easy. The face-to-face appointments could not be easily converted into online appointments. One group of participants was hesitant about online offerings due to a lack of experience with online learning. Others asked to be able to be more flexible in terms of time online than in face-to-face appointments. In the end, five groups could be formed:
- Group 1 attends training every Wednesday evening.
- Group 2 does the training on Saturdays in the morning.
- Group 3 does training on Saturdays in the afternoon.
- Group 4 is the Sunday group.
- Group 5 participates in all-day training on Saturdays, resulting in faster completion.
After completion, all participants receive a certificate confirming participation and successful completion.