Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

I was recently forwarded an article by Marc Prensky, a writer in the EdTech field famous (or to some, infamous) for coining the term "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants". Regardless of the helpfulness of this dichotomy, Prensky has views that often challenge educators to question their assumptions and was writing about things like games-based learning back in 2001, when there were far fewer voices on a subject that has now caught on.

In the article, titled "Young Minds, Fast Times", Prensky talks about the importance of bringing youth into the room when discussions about educational reform are happening. He makes very good points about both youth empowerment and how to create relevant educational design, but at the same time, I think his piece misses a lot about how youth voice really works when it comes to education.

When I first came to GK, I remember being handed a paper on youth-based program evaluation, and going to meetings at foundations where youth were not only invited, but actually involved in the process of discussing how projects they engaged with were designed. And throughout my time here, I've become familiar with what it means to run an organization based on the principle that youth need to have a place at the table during important discussions. I ran a digital media youth advisory for 3 years, an entity in place to advise MacArthur Digital Media and Learning grantees on a variety of issues from questions of ethics to consulting on curriculum development. GK has multiple youth on its board of directors, and I've worked with dozens of youth on projects where they engage their peers in educational activities.

One of the things that I've learned over the course of doing this work is that genuinely incorporating youth voice is not as simple as Prensky's readers might make it out to be, nor will it be a panacea for the problems that plague the world of education if it's not viewed in the appropriate context or conducted in the right way. For example, educators often invite young people to conferences they're holding based on a desire to have youth voices present, but then fail to incorporate age appropriate structures in which they can express those voices. Teens sit in lectures, as bored as they are in school, and are not really listened to.

Others assume too much of the capacities and context that youth come to the table with. Eszter Hargittai writes a lot about some of the conceptions people have about "digital youth", countering the idea that somehow by virtue of their age they're endowed with complete knowledge of the the digital world. More importantly, from an educational perspective, they often lack an awareness of what kinds of skills are important to have in the world, or even a sense of when they're learning or gaining skills. This is not to say that they can't have these perspectives, just that we shouldn't assume that they do.

And all of this isn't to say that Prensky is wrong to encourage people to bring youth into the conversation. He isn't. Youth voices are critical, do often bring an enormous amount to the table, and their presence can change the problematic power dynamic that's often in play in the educational world. However, involving youth can't be just be something that's tacked onto a larger process and done in an unconsidered way. Doing it right requires time and foresight, as well as training for youth involved so that they understand themselves and the educational process better. If that's done, then the overall conversation can actually benefit from their presence. If not, it's at best a well intentioned waste of energy and at worst an exploitative act done in an effort to seem inclusive.

Posted by Rafi Santo at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

RezEd Podcast, Episode 25- Brett Pierce, Executive Director of Panwapa, on Global Citizenship and Community Activisim in Young Children

Brett Pierce is the Executive Director of Panwapa, a program which aims to "foster the foundation for global citizenship and community activism in young children, ages 4 to 7."

Show Notes:

0.00—0.24 intro
0.25—4.20 RezEd news with Rik and Amira at Global Kids (any news or events can be submitted to rezedinfo@globalkids.org)
4.21—4.42 intros
4.43—5.56 background of Panwapa
5.57—7.39 what does it look like?
7.40—11.35 unique elements of this virtual world
11.36—14.00 why choose the virtual world medium
14.01—16.30 tools for informal education
16.31—19.59 future of the platform and virtual worlds and education
20.00—20.11 thanks
20.50—22.29 Rik and Amira detailing the upcoming events for the RezEd community (any news or events can be submitted to rezedinfo@globalkids.org)
22.30—22.38 outro

Download the episode here.

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Posted by joyce at 1:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I got an opportunity to speak about Global Kids's approach to youth development and the kinds of services we offer other institutions at "Nonprofit Week" on Orange Island in Second Life today.  It was neat being among the 150 or so avatars who rezzed in for the talks today by my friends Coughran Mayo and In Kenzo, and myself.  Thanks to Jade Lily and Orange Island for the chance to address my colleagues and others interest in the active and growing public good sector in Second Life.

As a recap for those that weren't able to be there, Global Kids has learned a lot in the past three years about how to best leverage virtual worlds for our particular brand of constructivist youth development.  We have found Second Life to be fertile ground for getting young people to engage with each other, create a variety of media, and present that work to a wider audience.  That said, we have some concerns that as Linden Lab considers created a "mixed ages" grid, we worry that some of the unique affordances of Teen Second Life might be lost. 

Beyond our own work, we have a strong interest in facilitating other nonprofits and public institutions to be using virtual worlds to further their own missions.  In particular, we offer a variety of services at various levels, including:

• Event Simulcasting:  We have organized virtual simulcasts of scores of real world events, from conferences to workshops to awards ceremonies.  We can bring a live event to a variety of virtual worlds, such as this speech by Kofi Annan that was simulcast to the web and four virtual worlds.
• Curriculum Development: We have a set of free curricula that can help any institution teach their students how to use Second Life.  Or we can work directly with your institution to develop a curriculum that is unique to your site and population.
• Staff Training: Confused about how to integrate virtual worlds into your strategic plan? We can help you and your staff think strategically and holistically about how these tools can advance your mission.
  
• Summer Camps: We have run summer camps in Teen Second Life for a number of institutions, including UNICEF and the Field Museum of Chicago.  We are able to tailor our programs to fit your schedule and students needs and interests.

If you are interested in talking about any of these services for your own organization, contact me at rik@ globalkids.org.

Posted by Rik at 6:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We mentioned in a recent post the launch of the toolkit from Games For Change (G4C) entitled "Let the Games Begin, A Toolkit 4 Making Social Issues Games." We wanted to write a longer review of it, because there is just so much to say about it.

The toolkit itself is laid out in a neat, interactive flash interface that highlights some of the best moments from the past Game for Change conference along with other resources written and compiled for the toolkit. The entire toolkit is also available to download and view offline.

Among the collection of resources, three of the included documents have never before been made available - they are the design documents made by Gamelab in the course of creating our Playing for Keeps (P4K) game Ayiti. There is also an excellent case study document which was created from Barry Joseph's talk at G4C.

The toolkit has accompanying videos including a talk presented by Barry Joseph and footage of Global Kids own Executive Director Carole Artigiani as well, who speaks on the role of supporting P4K as a non-profit ED. Another video features Shelley Pasnik, of CCT, discussing the evaluation of Ayiti: The Cost of Life. The second half of the video that accompanies the "Urge" section also includes a brilliant talk by Karen Siderman, who created this toolkit, doing a case study of ... you guessed it ... Ayiti!

So, in all, the Toolkit contains four talks on Ayiti and five support documents, one completely new. We couldn't be more proud of how our work with Global Kids youth leaders and Gamelab's production has become the gold standard for the community of the type of Games For Change we all wish to see.

The entire toolkit is an invaluable resource and you can view or download the toolkit here.

Posted by joyce at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There has been a wave of recent posts reflecting and commenting on Ayiti: The Cost of Life.

Trevor Owens in his blog post New Genre: Non-Fiction Video Games, uses Global Kids' Game Ayiti: The Cost of Life to make the argument that it is time to start distinguishing between fiction and non-fiction games.

Try managing the health, education and finances of a family in Haiti. Don’t let the cartoon-y look of this one fool you, its pretty grim. There are a ton of other examples of these sort of political games, and some lively discussion of these sorts of games as journalism or as games for change.

To abstract a little bit from these specific examples, the game play in each of these games hinges on real world experience; scientific data, historical documents, economic information, and develops a playable space from those experiences. History, science and politics were the first three sub-genera that came to me. What other sub-categories of non-fiction games should we be thinking about? Or am I just completely wrong headed about this?

Read his full post here.

In this post, the blogger uses Ayiti to "let Barack Obama and his family know about the exceptional power of video games to make the world a better place."

Read the full post here.

Posted by joyce at 3:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hot off of Business Wire, AMD just sent out a release about the launch of their new educational toolkit entitled "Let the Games Begin" which is focused on helping organizations create games on topics of social issues. This is all part of their latest support of games based learning and projects like our Playing 4 Keeps game Tempest in Crescent City which was sponsored by their Changing the Game initiative.

Let the Games Begin Toolkit Captures Content from 2008 Games for Change Festival 101 Workshop

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced the availability of Let the Games Begin: A Toolkit 4 Making Social Issue Games, which helps nonprofit organizations to create social issue games on such topics as the environment, energy consumption, poverty and health. Produced by Games for Change with support from the AMD Foundation’s AMD Changing the Game initiative, the toolkit includes examples of successful games with social content as well as in-depth presentations by key game-design experts.

Much of the content focuses on materials that went into the development of Global Kids' renowned Ayiti: The Cost of Life. You can download the free toolkit online at www.gamesforchange.org/toolkit.

Posted by joyce at 9:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For three years Global Kids has worked in the youth-only section of Second Life; it has been some of the most exciting work I have ever gotten to do in my life. Last week it was announced that eventually it will be closed. I wrote this in response and welcome comments. Thanks are due to my great staff who helped me shape my ideas and language.

If Linden Lab turns Second Life into a mixed-age grid we should not presume that, as night must follow day, that the need has passed for their youth-only grid, Teen Second Life (TSL). I would argue, in fact, that just the opposite is true, that the promise offered by TSL has yet to be realized and that replacing it with a mixed-age grid will only exacerbate existing problems that prevent youth from taking full advantage of this remarkable space.

The future of TSL has been in question for nearly as long as its been around. But last week, three years after it first left beta, Philip Rosedale addressed this issue at Metanomics. He said the following in response to a question from an audience member, Daniel Voyager, a recent graduate from TSL:

I think that the future of Second Life needs to be one where people of all ages can use Second Life together, and that's the direction that we're taking in our planning and our work… If you look at the problems with having a teenaged area, which is itself so isolated from the rest of the World, they’re substantial… We need to stop creating isolated areas that are age specific and, instead, look at how we can make the overall experience appropriately safe and controlled for everybody. So that’s the general direction that we’re taking there.

In the days that followed, the blogsophere has erupted with titles like “Bad news of the day: They’re thinking of merging the Teen Grid into the main one” and “Teen Second Life Grid Merge is Near.”

If done properly, the opportunities for K-12 educators and parents are enormous. But the discussion often focuses on whether or not teens can be safe in a mixed-age space and fails to address the values inherent in what Philip called “a teenaged area.”

Managed by thoughtful Lindens with the same laissez-faire policies that rode the adult grid to such fame, Teen Second Life has often felt under-resourced. Sure, it did what it was designed to do: meet liability requirements by creating a space free from adult content and sexual predators. But while the adult grid expanded to millions of users, TSL could barely reach a hundred thousand. Meanwhile, older worlds like Whyville grew from one to three million users while new ones, like Barbie Girls, attracted millions of users just weeks after launch. If the adult grid can be made safe for youth, what purpose can TSL still serve? Best to tweak the adult grid, invite teens to join, then close TSL down. Or so the thinking goes.

This train of thought, however, fails to recognize that regardless of why it was created, TSL soon exceeded its code. That is, it did not simply become a PG version of Second Life, as had been intended. It turns out that using the same viewer and grid codes does not mean that teens and adults experience the same Second Life. Rather, TSL offers youth the opportunity, individually and collectively, to own land, create and sell products, offer services, and become civic leaders. Some might say the same is true for adults in Second Life. And they would be right. But the difference here is that adults can do the same thing offline. Youth can not. Their abilities to move and think as they choose are dramatically curtailed. In fact, where most youth spend their days, they are not permitted go to the bathroom without permission from an adult. In TSL, however, they are in charge of their own destiny.

Why is it important for youth to have their own community? How is this different from a focus on keeping youth safe? The difference is that keeping youth safe, while a desired goal, sells everyone short. Youth deserve more. They deserve support to access their inherent abilities to fully participate in society.

Let's take the example of a playground. What makes a playground safe? Recreational equipment that are not broken, for example. Barriers to keep out drug dealers or predatory adults. Authority figures to police the space. How would this playground change if it were redesigned to not just keep youth safe but also support their development? The recreational equipment would be selected with an eye towards their developmental impact, such as supporting collaboration or creative play. The site design might offer scaffolded learning, offering different levels of challenge for different ages and abilities. The authority figure would do more than just watch and observe but get actively involved, building supporting relationships with the youth, and offer activities designed to engage and develop their abilities.

Global Kids, where I direct the Online Leadership program, practices what is known as a strengths-based, youth development pedagogy. We work in contrast to a deficiency model, such as an after school basketball program designed to “get kids off the street," to prevent bad things from happening. Rather, we build on the strengths youth bring into the program then give them opportunities to apply and develop them for a social good, such as organizing a voter-registration drive. Youth deserve to have a virtual world designed from a strengths-based model, not simply to protect them from the world’s evils.

So why focus on Teen Second Life, as there are many excellent virtual worlds in the metaverse? TSL is distinct from other virtual worlds due to the constructivist possibilities inherent in its core mechanic. The core mechanic of a game is essentially the thing you do. In Pac-Man you eat dots and avoid monsters. In Space Invaders you shoot ships. Those who use games for education know that the educational power of games lies in its mechanic, rather than, say, its narrative context. It matters less why you are eating dots, or shooting ships; the important thing is just that you do it.

In Second Life, the core mechanic (to the extent it is like a game) is building yourself and the world around; meanwhile, the narrative is a blank slate, created by those who came before you. This is currently unique in the ecology of virtual worlds. TSL is by its very nature a youth development program, albeit informal, empowering youth to use the strengths they already have to apply them in a social way. This does not mean adults are absent. Far from it. But adults are not there for their own interests but, rather, to explicitly support youth and their use of the space.

More importantly, these mechanics happen to line up with educational theory regarding 21st Century Learning Skills and youth leadership, the very things schools so often fail to teach yet are essential to success in school, workplace and the public sphere. As such, the potential for TSL to be a tool for both formal and informal learning is tremendous, but is far from being met. There are a variety of key elements missing from TSL to support its potential to become such a revolutionary experience, such as a youth-friendly browser and ways to scaffold the learning experience from one stage to another. But even with these limitations, it is a possibility space for developing 21st Century Learning Skills like no other.

So, when Linden Lab arrives at the direction Philip recently laid out, I will join with my fellow K-12 educators to give three cheers for a mixed-age grid. But in all the excitement let us not forget to integrate and replicate as best we can the remarkable aspects of Teen Second Life in this mixed age space. And let us continue holding out the expectations for developers of other virtual worlds to create youth driven constructivist spaces that can support the emergence of the next generation of 21st Century leaders and innovators.

Posted by Barry at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Global Kids is all over the Second Life grid this coming week, with appearances at three high-profile events.  Come by if you want to find out what we've been up to, our views on Teen / Main Grid integration, and how you can support youth development using virtual worlds.  Here's the breakdown:

Metanomics Talk Show
Monday January 26, 12PM PST
Barry Joseph, the director of the Online Leadership Program at Global Kids, will be a featured guest on the Metanomics Talk Show hosted by Beyers Sellers.  See the Metanomics site for more information on how to attend virtually or on the web.

Second Life Education Faire
Monday January 26, 1PM PST
Amira Fouad and Rik Panganiban of Global Kids will be talking about our educational services as part of the first Education Support Faire organized by Linden Lab. We'll give an overview of the various services we provide for other educators including: the RezEd social network, our free curricula, professional development, and event simulcasting.  Catch us at Supporte sim (click here to teleport.)  If you miss us, you can also visit our booth at Olde (teleport link.)

Nonprofit Week at Orange Island
Tuesday January 27, 1pm PST
Rik Panganiban will be speaking about Global Kids as part of a series of great talks by some of the most successful nonprofits working in Second Life.  See the Orange Island website for more info or teleport directly there at this link.

Whew, that's a lot of virtual speaking engagements in two days!

Posted by Rik at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Thursday, January 22, the VVP teens presented their first 30 seconds machinima. Everyone's movie was SO good! The machinimas were really funny and was really good because we never made a machinima before. I hope to do more in the future about different topics.
Oh, we also got our our stipends so that was cool.

Posted by VVP Kimberly at 5:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finally, I did my first machinima. It was about my being able to drive recklessly and still survive in Second Life. I know that we had to put our voices in it, but I'm not confident with my voice, so I used subtitles instead. Filming in SecondLife is difficult because the computer get lag, and I mean LAG. Still, after continuous filming and erasing and filming and erasing, my first machinima is done!!! It could have been better, but for somebody who is still trying to figure out Mac and Second Life, I think I did a pretty good job ;)

Posted by VVP Christine at 9:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

YES!!! I'm finally done with this movie!! I like watching everyone else's production. It's very entertaining and humorous! Gosh, I wish I was as creative as them all. For a 30 seconds film, it actually takes more than a few hours of hard work. I'm kinda happy the way my video turned out. I had nice feedback. It really pays off for all those hours for a 30 seconds laughter from the audience.

The next project is making a movie with everyone!! How exciting, I hope it turns out better than the one the students made last year.

Posted by VVP Helen at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have completed my individual movie project for the program, so now I have more time to help those who are not done yet.

Posted by VVP Christopher at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Tuesday I started editing my movie. The VVP teens picked something they can't do in real life but can in Second Life, like constantly running, flying, driving before you are legal, etc. So I picked teleporting because it's fun going to other places in less than a second.
I already put all my scenes together and matched my audio to the scenes. I just need to edit unwanted stuff. My movie is less than 30 seconds so I may add a title and credits at the end but I don't really need it. I hope my movie comes out great. Presentations are on Thursday!

Posted by VVP Kimberly at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The billboard I made represented a picture from a news article about two young boys who got stuck in an elevator in their apartment complex. The boys were brothers and they were trying to find a way out, unfortunately the younger brother jumped and fell to his death. Now a year later ( around this time ) the case is being addressed and the NYC housing authority is spending over a million dollars to fix elevators in New York buildings. I hope the family of the two brothers are okay and rest in peace to the young boy.

Posted by VVP Denise at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Such a cool little video dramatizing how quickly our world is changing.  My takeaway from this video is that educating youth to be effective citizens in the 21st century is less about cramming knowledge in their brains as much as preparing them with the right disposition to absorb new information, learn new skills, and effectively navigate in a fast-paced environment.  The "drill-and-kill" and "chalk-and-talk" approach is probably the worst way prepare young people for this reality.

Which is why the Global Kids's youth development approach is so innovative. 

The Global Kids's programs are always:

1. Youth Driven: Our programs respect where the young people are coming from, assume they have important perspectives and ideas to share, and give them ownership of the process.
2. Participatory: Our programs always involve our kids contributing, creating, collaborating, and critiquing.
3. Action-Oriented: Our programs often result in the young people taking some external action, based on the knowledge and conclusions that they have come to, whether it be a fundraiser for a particular cause, a video that they produce, or an issue that they advocate for in their community.

I'm realizing how important this approach is for our youth.  While we cannot foresee what kinds of technologies, societal ills, and career choices they might face, we can anticipate what kind of orientation and life skills will help them act in an informed and effective manner.

In talking externally about the work of the Online Leadership Program at Global Kids, I often use the shorthand of "Online Programs at Global Kids."  It just trips off the tongue more easily for me, and I imagine is more immediately comprehensible by outsiders.

But I'm slowly realizing that the "Leadership" part of the Online Leadership Program is really the heart of our work.  "Online" is simply the tools and environment where the youth leadership is developed.  But it's having our youth learn to see themselves as leaders -- with agency to influence their world and those around them -- that is the heart of the Global Kids mission.

Posted by Rik at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The work is easier than you think, really. When you have a plot and a storyline that is. This Tuesday, I finished making my audio and the movie. It's about a girl who enters Second Life for the first time (even though she have white hair and headphones around her neck). She sees a car and drives in it without a driver's license or car keys. She crashes into a tree and doesn't get hurt. The point in this film is that everything that can be illegal in real life, does not apply the same way with playing in Second Life. You could do almost anything there!

Posted by VVP Helen at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On January 14 I came in to complete filming my videos. The next step for me is now to edit my movie.

Posted by VVP Christopher at 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are a regular reader to the blog, you might have followed along with our Science through Second Life project that we ran during the past school year. Well we are excited to announce the release of an independent evaluation that was conducted during this project. The project, funded by the Motorola Foundation, integrated Second Life and a wide range of web tools into a standards based high school science class in New York City.

Key findings included:

• Students’ attitudes towards science-related careers changed positively with the StSL curriculum.
• Students’ self-efficacy and self-confidence in their abilities to do science-related work increased.
• Compared to the traditional science curriculum, the number of students reporting being overwhelmed by science class fell by 50%.
• 40 minutes of class time was not enough for the range of activities on many occasions.
• Students’ low literacy skills played a major role in shaping the curriculum activities.
• Low achieving students’ grades improved significantly compared to the previous semester.
• Students’ collective intelligence skills improved throughout the semester. More students reported that they felt more comfortable working with others to get something done using digital media in the post survey.
• Students’ confidence in the effectiveness of blogging, doing Comic Life projects, and using SL for science learning increased throughout the semester.

Download a PDF of the full evaluation findings here.

Posted by joyce at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh my goodness, last week at the program there was so much lag that no one could get any work done. I was really about to go crazy. Hopefully this week things will run more smoother and I can get my work done.

HOPE YOU FEEL BETTER TABITHA!

so you can come back to work!

Posted by VVP Tawana at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The most recent broadcasts of Radio Rookies aired in December 2008 during Morning Edition on WNYC and was held in partnership with Global Kids' High School for Global Citizenship (HSGC) in Crown Heights. These HSGC youth written and produced stories explore why parents work so much, child abuse, literacy, not reaching one's potential, and being different.

Listen to the broadcasts below.

GK's WNYC Radio Rookies: Keith Harris

Story Description: "Read a Book"

Keith Harris had a secret when he started school in the U.S. for the first time: he didn't know how to read and write. After falling through the cracks of the educational system in Guyana, he decided to confide in his 9th grade English teacher at his Brooklyn high school. Now a successful and literate high school senior, Keith's story takes us into his journey to literacy.

Download the file here.

GK's WNYC Radio Rookies: Josetta Adams

Story Description: "I'm Not Emo"

Like most of the kids in her school and on her block, 16 year old Josetta Adams used to listen to hip-hop music. But, when Josetta slipped into a depression, she started to listen to rock music that matched her mood. She also began painting her nails black and wearing t-shirts adorned with skulls. Her way of expressing her feelings went against the norms of her family and her community, quickly labeling her as different and even as far as calling her a "sell-out". Depression is an uncomfortable topic for anyone, but amongst an African-American family it can be taboo. Josetta is no longer depressed but she wants to figure out why her family, friends, and community have a difficult time understanding her way of expressing herself and why it's hard to talk about these feelings of sadness in her family and community.

Download the file here.

GK's WNYC Radio Rookies: Krystle Murray

Story Description: "Home Alone"

Krystle Murray spent much of her childhood at school or in the care of babysitters, who watched her at home in the morning and at night, while her single mom worked fulltime at a law firm and went to college at NYU. Now that Krystle is a teenager she doesn't have babysitters anymore and sometimes she feels lonely waiting for her mom to come home, which can be as late as 2 or 3 in the morning. Krystle loves her mom very much and she feels guilty about how hard her mom has worked to provide a good life for them, but Krystle sometimes wonders if all the work hours are worth it.

Download the file here.

GK's WNYC Radio Rookies: Jacuyra

Story Description: "My Mother vs. The Streets"

If her strict, Panamanian mother would allow it, Jacuyra would hang out all the time on Franklin Avenue in her Brooklyn neighborhood--because that's where all the boys are. In the past, hanging out with boys has gotten Jacuyra into trouble. But as a 16-year-old who doesn't often think about the consequences of her actions, Jacuyra would love nothing more than to head back out to "The Ave", if only her mother would let her.

Download the file here.

GK's WNYC Radio Rookies: Kaddeem Wright

Story Description: "Stuck"

Kaddeem Wright enjoys reading philosophy and arguing with his friends about history and politics. With his smarts and innate curiosity about the world, Kaddeem seems like a kid who should thrive in school, but he's not. Instead he feels unmotivated and rarely does his homework. He scrapes by with a C average, something that frustrates him and his mom. Like a lot of kids, especially young black males in New York City, Kaddeem is not reaching his potential. He wants to know to why he and so many of his friends are barely getting by, uninspired by school or thoughts of the future.

Download the file here.

GK's WNYC Radio Rookies: Raymond Henderson

Story Description: "Someone to Tuck Me In"

Last year at a routine check-up, 15-year-old Raymond Henderson decided to tell the truth. When his doctor noticed bruises on his neck, Raymond admitted that his stepfather was abusing him. The Administration for Children's Services took Raymond and his sister Monica from their step-dad who’d raised them since their mother's death 13 years ago. Now they’re living with Ophelia, the home health attendant who cared for their mother as she was dying. Ophelia wants to give Raymond and Monica a permanent home. But faced with a decision that could shape his entire future, Raymond isn't sure. He worries that letting Ophelia adopt him would mean cutting ties with his old life and family.

Download the file here.

Posted by joyce at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RezEd Podcast, Episode 24- Nic Mitham, CEO and Founder of Kzero, on Trends, Metrics and Opportunities for Educators

(WORLD) The twenty fourth RezEd podcast, produced by MediaSnackers with Global Kids. Nic Mitham is the CEO and Founder of Kzero, a virtual world consultancy based in the UK talking here about trends, metrics and opportunities for educators.

Show Notes:

0.00—0.24 intro
0.25—3.09 RezEd news with Rik and Amira at Global Kids (any news or events can be submitted to rezedinfo@globalkids.org)
3.10—3.19 intros
3.20—4.35 background of Kzero
4.36—5.42 a few examples
5.43—6.53 changes within the virtual world sector
6.54—8.26 Kzero research (Universe graph)
8.27—9.42 educational uses of virtual worlds
9.43—10.27 what educationalists can learn from the commercial sector
10.28—12.46 predictions and trends
12.53—13.25 real vs virtual (opportunities)
13.26—14.42 advice
14.43—14.49 thanks
14.50—17.55 Rik and Amira detailing the upcoming events for the RezEd community (any news or events can be submitted to rezedinfo@globalkids.org)
17.54—18.04 outro

Download the episode here.

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Posted by joyce at 1:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi everyone
I recently did something very interesting in my afterschool program called Media Masters. We worked on a skill called Collective Intelligence and Networking. In our Collective Intelligence part of the assignment part we all joined together as story writers and we each wrote a line to a story the catch is that we could not have seen how the story began ,we could only see what the person before each other wrote and that made it a lot more interesting and creative. Of course our stories came out kinda mixed up but it was a lot of fun to find out what can happen when we put all our thoughts together.

The other part of our activity is Networking in this challenge we were given about six or seven school and several questions to answer but the catch was that we did not know any information about the schools also we were given a twenty minute dead line to find the information on Wikipedia which you know most of the time gives a lot of information .

The two activities was a lot of fun and got us thinking and a chance to act together as a team which each other .

Posted by Shonell - Media Masters at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Connie Yowell, MacArthur’s Education Director, recently introduced a new series of posts highlighting the work of youth in digital media production, including two teens in Global Kids' Online Leadership Programs, Mariel Garcia and Nafiza Akter.

We wanted to take some time over this holiday season to spotlight voices of those rarely heard from on this blog - but who also inspire and challenge us to think in new directions. Over the next several weeks we'll hear directly from youth who are engaged in their own creative media production - they are remixing, building, designing, and creating their own original videos, podcasts, machinima, games, and networking sites. Their work challenges us to use media in new and creative ways and provides models of innovation and vision for the future. These youth come to us through two incredible programs - The Digital Youth Network in Chicago and Global Kids' Online Leadership Program in New York City - both of which foster media literacy and civic participation through creative production.

Mariel García: My Digital Life

It is hard for me to sit down and realize that I have actually created media in the strict sense of the word. Although I got a computer at home at a young age, I grew up looking up at people who created content that reached many corners of the world. Now that I see comments or the statistics in the cyberspace I have occupied that say people maybe not from all countries, but certainly from all regions of the world have looked at content I have made, I can’t help but go, ‘Oh, wow. Yay Internet’.

Nafiza Akter: Virtual Video Projects

The last couple of years with Global Kids are hard to describe in a few words, especially the work I’ve done around digital media. November 2006, the first Virtual Video Project program began. The mission of the program was to produce a short machinima, which is a term used to describe a film produced in a virtual platform, about a global issue. Most of us, if not all, went into the program without any prior knowledge of Second Life, which was the Virtual World we filmed on.

Posted by joyce at 2:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were supposed to blog about appropriation for our Christmas projects. More importantly I chose to blog about the type of licenses I would use should I need to protect my self from plagiarism. We discussed later last year appropriation and how people reuse peoples' works whether or not it is 'legal'.

I would prefer myself to have a license that revolves around:

Attribution
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request.

Share Alike
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

Noncommercial
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only.

AND

No Derivative Works
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

Posted by Shonell - Media Masters at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well hi again this is the second blog i am going to do for holiday projects in Media Masters. We are supposed to blog about appropriation and whether or not I want my work licensed against plagiarism.

I would want the:

- Attribution No Derivatives License

This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as the credits goes to the owner of the product.

- Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives

This license is the most restrictive of the six, allowing for reuse as long as they mention me and link back to me, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

Its based off of four propects.

Attribution
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your copyrighted work — and derivative works based upon it — but only if they give credit the way you request

Share Alike
You allow others to distribute derivative works only under a license identical to the license that governs your work.

Noncommercial
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform your work — and derivative works based upon it — but for noncommercial purposes only.

AND

No Derivative Works
You let others copy, distribute, display, and perform only verbatim copies of your work, not derivative works based upon it.

Posted by Shonette - GKm2 at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello, how is everyone? I'm just writing to keep our readers informed on what VVP is currently doing. Right now we are in the middle of working on our very first machinima. It will be 30 seconds long and our topic will be on our personal reflection on our experience in second life, and what the possibilities could be. I did not think that it would take much time to complete this task, but that is because I was not aware of all the small details needed to finish a clip.
First we have to create our storyboards. After that we transfer them into writing and drawing to make it more visual and understandable. We also have make sure that we know where the shots will be taken for each scene, then gather the props we will need, find our supporting actors if any are needed in the skits, arrange the type of shot we would like to take and much more.
So far we have been working rather well and should be done soon. I'm excited to see the results and what we were able to individually put together.

Posted by VVP Edelyn at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In my media master club, we received a holiday project where by we had to make a movie cover for a movie. We created our own movie cover about something that we are interested in. The name of my movie is the "Biography of Bill Clinton", and it shows a man and a strive to succeed. It explains how he made it to be the 42nd president of the United States Of America, his tale of being the 15th democratic president elected. It tells the tale of the struggle between the press and his family, the constant struggle to keep them out of his personal life between him and his family.

My movie also tells the tale of him Clinton creating the William J. Clinton Foundation to promote and address international causes such as treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and global warming. It is a heart felt story that will touch the lives of many people and it will make his memories will forever for what he has done will forever be remembered.

Posted by Shonell - Media Masters at 3:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello everybody.

The holiday break has been the perfect time to work on this amazing project: Making a Movie Poster. As you know there are so many political figures in history, international and local figures. They have left a foot step in the society. Some examples of local political figures are, George W. Bush, Nixon, and Abraham Lincoln. In the other hand we had international political figures, such as: Mahatma Gandhi, and Che Guevara. For my project I chose Malcolm X, he was one of the most important political figures in the United States between 1950 and 1965 who fought for African American Rights. He was a great leader and public speaker. I have been reading his biography for a short time, and I think his life was great. I think it is important for everybody to know who he really was, his ideals and goals for the community.

My movie would be about “The Life of Malcolm X”, it will be focused in his past and most importantly his actions for the community. It will be great if there is already a movie about this important person.

Check it out!

Posted by Sebastian - GKm2 at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello Again
Today I'm blogging to tell you about my movie, hence the title "My Movie."
The actual title of my movie is "The 1763" Rebellion based of the actual tale of a former slave leading a rebellion in Guyana.

Cuffy, or Kofi (died in 1763), was an Akan person who was captured in his native West Africa and sold into slavery to work in the plantations of the Dutch colony of Berbice in present-day Guyana. He became famous because in 1763 he led a revolt of more than 2,500 slaves against the colony regime. When he lost Cuffy killed himself.

The anniversary of the Cuffy slave rebellion, February 23, has been Republic Day in Guyana since 1970. Cuffy is commemorated in the 1763 Monument in the Square of the Revolution in the capital Georgetown.

The monument, coincidentally, is the picture I used a my movie background.

Posted by Shonette - GKm2 at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On 09.06.08 I introduced a term I have coined, "the ludic life," and discussed its implications for Second Life and learning. In short, Eric Zimmerman, the game designer, had been making the argument that we have entered "a ludic century." We once moved from an industrial age to an information age. However, we are now interacting with that information in a way Zimmerman finds best described as ludic, which is not to say everything is becoming a game but rather game/play dynamics, aesthetics and sensibilities will increasingly define our social interactions.

While Zimmerman uses Wikipedia as his example, I am looking to articulate that Second Life is a better example and, more importantly, the way in which SL allows users to combine their real life identities and practices within a ludic context not only makes it a powerful space for teaching people how to live a ludic life, but it also becomes the key defining characteristic of the Second Life experience.

Much more at: http://www.rezed.org/group/ludiclife

You can also view the video at: http://blip.tv/file/1642807/

Posted by Barry at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stay tuned to the Media Masters section on the blog these coming weeks to see some small projects that the students have been working on. As part of our series of lessons on appropriation, the teens in the program have been asked to select a political figure, past or present, to base a concept for a movie on. Once they figure out their figure and concept, each of them creates a movie poster for the movie using the BigHugeLabs poster creator, and posts the poster and movie description here on the blog. Looking forward to sharing some of their work with you!

Posted by Rafi Santo at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My work flow looks very different in January 2009 than it did 2008. And I couldn’t be happier.

I am referring to more than just my staff and our programs, but specifically HOW I approach my work. Last year I decided I want to be more efficient while working less. Working with a pro bono life coach from Leadership That Works, my supervisors and my staff, I came up with the following:

Email reading blocks: The first 1.5 hours of each day and the last half hour of each day are reserved for reading and responding to emails. This buffer at the start and end of each day means that I don’t have to rush to get into the office for a meeting and I more often than not can leave work on time. I feel less pressure to “catch up” on email before I go to sleep, as I know I’ll have time in the a.m., and if work backs-up in the afternoon I can tackle it before end of day and have a better shot of not taking it home.

No outside meeting day: Mondays is no outside meeting day. I only schedule meetings with my staff. That allows me to focus on them for the day. It also means, if I have less time to meet with people outside the organization, I have to prioritize which are most important and pass on the rest.

No scheduled meeting day: Tuesday is also no outside meeting day but ALSO no scheduled meeting day. I still meet with my staff, and will drop what I am doing (or so I promise them) any time they want to talk, but I try to make no appointments. As a result I end up with big blocks of unscheduled time at the beginning of the week, which allows me to tackle those big ignored projects that need intense periods of concentration - better to do at work than save for late nights at home.

Reading hour: I never seem to find the time to read all the books and reports I want for work. Now, on Tuesdays, I schedule an hour to read. When I can.

Check-ins/Special Time: Every quarter I meet with each person I supervise to review their work, discuss concerns, and set goals. We do this formally each summer for the whole year, but doing it less formally every three months ensures that problems can be addressed early and I can better delegate responsibilities. We also have quarterly Special Times, to support them to learn how to better use me, their supervisor, as a resource. For a half hour they can do whatever they want with me to take on something new or challenge themselves as long as it doesn’t break at of GK’s rules or laws, cost more than $25 or take more than a week to fix. What they do is kept confidential.

Time Outs: I discovered a great program for my Mac called Time Out. I set the frequency (twice an hour) and duration (15 seconds) and then, like clock-work, my computer gives me a time out: with a gentle bing the screen fades and I can no longer see my desktop and then, with a second bing, it returns. I take the time to breathe, stretch, take a walk from my desk, or look at photos of Akiva, before bringing my attention back to my work.

I still have goals in 2009 for being even MORE efficient while working even LESS, especially with my second child coming in February, but so far I find I have more time at night for my family, more time in the days for lunching with my staff, and overall been able to approach work in a more relaxed fashion without being less productive.

Posted by Barry at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Before 2009 begins, it’s time for one last round of staff reflections from the lovely OLP group. As usual, there are some good reflections in the bunch – some of the staff had such a great month, they wrote more than one reflection!

A quick overview of what OLP thought about for this month: Meghan shares an uplifting story amidst the holiday craze, Amira thanks her colleagues for the work they have all done, Rafi discusses his part in shaping his online footprint, Rik looks into fair use copyrighted material’s impact on GK’s work, the possibility of using virtual worlds as a recruitment tool for organizations and discusses his ups and downs during his first year at GK, Krista looks at different perceptions on digital learning and Barry discusses how he has changed his working style to accomplish more.

Read the reflections below for a more in-depth description:

• In “Thanks DIDI”, Meghan reflects on the impact one teen had on her Christmas Eve.
• Amira takes a moment to thank her colleagues at Global Kids in “A New Year's Thank You” for the meaningful work we've been a part of in 2008.
• Rafi explores the idea of having an intentional public persona on the internet, and shares his own experience in shaping his own online presence, in “My own little slice of the internet”.
• Rik describes what Fair Use of Copyrighted Material means and how it applies to GK's work in “Fair Use of Copyrighted Materials and Global Kids”.
• In his second reflection, “US Military recruits in metaverse: send in the Peace Corps!”, Rik muses on the possibilities for using virtual worlds as a recruitment tool for volunteer organizations like the Peace Corps.
• “Rik's Year One at Global Kids Wrap-up” reflects on his progress – as well as where he could improve – during his first twelve months at Global Kids.
• Krista mulls over perceptions on the importance of digital learning, in “Traveling Distances”.
• Barry details the steps he has taken in the past year to become more effective through working less in his "Working with intention".

As always thanks for reading and from all of OLP have a great 2009!

Posted by Krista at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the article Virtual Environments and the K-12 Education, Kelly Czarnecki offers up a look at projects using virtual worlds in K-12 schools and what is being learned from them. Within that framework she brings up Teen Second Life and spotlights Suffern Middle School and our Science in Second Life program as a good example of enabling educators to utilize virtual worlds to engage students, specifically in Science, technology and programming.

Download the article as a PDF.

Posted by joyce at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The site Planet 2025 Voices, which focuses on topics relating to creating a sustainable future, posted recently an interesting post reflecting on the power of using games to create real life change. They cited our own Ayiti: the Cost of Life game as a good example:

"...our ability to build a sustainable future is only limited by the boundaries of our imagination. The technologies exist to make this work, two years ago Life in Ayiti - the cost of life won a number of awards. Meanwhile, a fast growing number games for the planet engage contemporary social issues in meaningful ways to foster a more just, equitable and/or tolerant society."

Read the full post here.

Posted by joyce at 5:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you haven't already checked out the review that was written by the Conscious Gamer blog site about Hurricane Katrina: Tempest in Crescent City, it is definitely worth the read and offers up a good game play summary.

According to Tempest's website, the three main goals for the game were 1) Teach players about how everyday residents of New Orleans acted heroically to help each other. 2) Emphasize what are perhaps the two most important priorities in any disaster: communication and use of local resources, needs, and knowledge. 3) Draw attention to the continuing struggle in New Orleans as residents fight for housing in 2008.

Tempest did a good job at 1) and 2), highlighting how many residents helped each other during the rescue efforts by sharing food, shelter, medicine, tools and hope. I appreciate the game's positive portrayal of the survival efforts during the disaster because at the time it seemed like all the mainstream press wanted to focus on stories of "looting", "pillaging", "general chaos" perputrated by people of color. Although Tempest was created in 2007 after the Katrina converage had ended, I believe the positive portrayal of all Louisiana citizens both white and people of color sends a subtle, yet very powerful message to players that everyone can be a hero.

Unfortunately in terms of 3), the focus on the continuing struggle for housing, I didn't get the sense that the game raised that issue other than the fact that Vivica is not living back home in Louisiana even one year after being evacuated. A whole new game to focus on the contining struggle for housing and infrastructure could be useful because it's a multifaceted issue facing many communities both in the US and internationally.

Read the full review here.

Posted by joyce at 5:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is interesting to speak with people about the importance of digital learning, especially within schools. While I was not a huge promoter of this topic in the past, I have seen the importance of digital literacy grow over time. Working at Global Kids has really brought this topic to the forefront and placed it at a higher level in my conversational sphere.

Here at Global Kids, and especially within OLP, having digital literacy within the classroom is a no-brainer. This sentiment is found within many younger generations as well, especially those groups that grew up with all types of new digital technology being at their fingertips. I have met many people who are not super fond of digital media that are within this group, but they seem to definitely be the minority. Many older generation groups see digital technology as a tool for kids to have fun or mess around and do not understand the need for it within classrooms. I met a guy several nights ago who brought up digital literacy being taught in the classrooms [he is a public schools high school teacher in NYC]. He is a little older than I am, in his early thirties, and gave the impression he did not feel comfortable with digital technology. While he says he understands the importance of digital literacy and in fact encouraged his students to use the various types of digital technology available today within the USA, he felt it has found its' place within schools and therefore there should not be an emphasis placed on making it more prominent within a school system's curriculum.

But has it found "its' place"? While I think that digital technology has definitely been implemented in some schools, there are many, which do not have either access or do not want new technology within the classroom walls. There has been a call to form a new group, in which teachers would go into low-income schools and teach students how to effectively implement digital literacy in such a way that it would help teach meaningful and educational skills, which could prove to be a promising first step.

As with anything else, people promote digital learning if they are comfortable with it, while those who are not comfortable are against its' being worked into the curriculum or do not understand why it is necessary to move forward.
Why must the unknown appear so daunting?

Posted by Krista at 4:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)