Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

In January, Global Kids had the opportunity to give three presentations at the Jewish Day School Conference in Teaneck, New Jersey. We had a great time talking about our work with digital media, games and social networks. And apparently our participants got a lot out of it as well.

We just received the results of the post-conference evaluation, and got some nice feedback on our two sessions on "Games Based Learning 101" and "Social Media Production & Constructionist Learning." All of the participants said that they "learned something new" and all but one found our sessions to be "inspiring." Both presentations received a rating of 4.5 out of of a scale of 5!

Among the written comments about us:

• "Loved it! great new ideas even for a participant who is already very knowledgeable about social media."
  
• "Nice conversation around table shared good ideas."

Posted by Rik at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week, Barry, Amira and Rik were thrilled to present with a wide array of partners and colleagues across four different panels at the MacArthur Foundation's first Digital Media and Learning Conference - themed "Diversifying Participation" - held February 18-20 in San Diego, California. Below are videos, Prezi's and youth media referenced within the presentations. [note: This is a work is progress and material will be added as they get uploaded]

The four panels were:
-- Barry and Amira co-presented with Cathy Arreguin, Beth Wellman, and Kelly Czarnecki on "Breaking Boundaries with Virtual Worlds in a Science Classroom and a Teen Jail: Two Case Studies."
-- Barry spoke on the panel "Data Visualization for K-12 Learning."
-- Rik Panganiban co-presented with Common Sense Media and Harvard's Good Play Project "Meeting of Minds: Cross-Generational Dialogue on the Ethics of Digital Life."
-- Barry co-presented with Project New Media Literacy "Mad Skills: Making New Media Literacy practices accessible to educators and students alike."

Continue reading "GK at DML 2010" »

Posted by Barry at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a reminder that Barry, Amira and Rik of Global Kids will be presenting on four different panels at the amazing "Diversifying Participation" conference from February 18-20 in San Diego, California.  We are honored to be on the same program as some of the top thinkers and practitioners in the field, from Henry Jenkins to Sonia Livingston, danah boyd, James Paul Gee and many, many more. 

For those that will be there, you can find us nearly the entire day on Friday February 19 at these times and places:

• 8:00am: Barry Joseph and Amira Fouad will be speaking on "Breaking Boundaries with Virtual Worlds in a Science Classroom and a Teen Jail: Two Case Studies" in the Theater.
• 11:30am: Barry Joseph will be speaking about "Data Visualization for K-12 Learning" in the Theater.
• 2:00pm: Rik Panganiban will be speaking about "Meeting of Minds: Cross-Generational Dialogue on the Ethics of Digital Life" in Room 5004.
• 3:45pm: Barry Joseph will be speaking on "Mad Skills: Making New Media Literacy practices accessible to educators and students alike" in room 6004.

There are many other amazing panels and presentations planned over the three days, making it hard to plan your day! Check out the full program here.  Here's the sad news: registration is closed to new registrations because of it's amazing popularity.

Check out the full descriptions of each of these panels after the jump....

Continue reading "Update on Global Kids at DML Conference February 18-20 in San Diego" »

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

Last week I was out of the office for four full days, all consulting in one capacity or another for Global Kids. It has been an amazing journey over these past ten years working to support NYC youth while developing a broad range of expertise in the process that a wide variety of organizations now know they can call upon.

Continue reading "Three All-day Gatherings in Four Days" »

Posted by Barry at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are excited to announce that Barry, Amira and Rik of Global Kids will be attending the "Diversifying Participation" conference from February 18-20 in sunny San Diego, California.  This digital media and learning event will draw some of the top thinkers and practitioners in the field, from Henry Jenkins to Sonia Livingston, danah boyd, James Paul Gee and many, many more. 

Continue reading ""Diversifying Participation" Conference on Digital Learning February 18-20 in San Diego" »

Posted by Rik at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This past Monday, January 18, Barry Joseph and I got the opportunity to conduct three intensive trainings for Jewish educators in Teaneck, New Jersey. The occasion was the "Jewish Day School Leadership Conference" which brought together some 500 jewish educators from 300 different institutions to the Marriot in Teaneck. It was a really interesting experience and exposure to the unique educational setting of Jewish day schools.

Continue reading "[conf] Three Social Media Trainings for Jewish Educators" »

Posted by Rik at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This Friday, January 22, in Brooklyn is the Haiti Solidarity Benefit, a really cool youth-organized fundraiser for Haiti. Global Kids is one of the organizers of this event, through our partnership with the High School for Global Citizenship. Performers will include :

• Andre Rousseau and Alove Saint Surin
• Haitian Musician Tiga Jean Baptiste and Tchaka
• Ase Dance Theater Collective
• Haitian Musician Oneza Lafontant and Kongo
• Zing Experience
• and Chris Rob

Doors open at 5pm with an art show and food available. Then the show runs from 6-8pm. Just $10 suggested donation.

The benefit will be held at the Prospect Heights Campus at 883 Classon Avenue, between Union and President Ave, just across the street from the Brooklyn Museum (Google maps.)

For more information, contact haiti@hs-gc.org. 

Please spread the word!

Posted by Rik at 5:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On Saturday, December 5, I had the pleasure of joining about 30-40 other participants at the "Conscience Unconference" in Washington DC, sponsored by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Center for History and New Media.  Having experienced a few unconferences before, I knew coming in that the quality of the experience would lie largely in the expertise, effort and engagement of the participants who showed up, as well as the skill of the facilitators in creating a collaborative environment. 

Luckily, both those conditions were more than fulfilled at the Conscience Unconference.

There were a host of very interesting proposed sessions that I wanted to participate in.  In the end, I went to the sessions on digital games / virtual worlds, youth-produced video, a discussion on participation, a "nuts-and-bolts" roundtable, and the challenges of teaching using social media.  More importantly, I made several personal connections with individuals from a number of important institutions that are interested in using social media to reach new audiences, spur civic action, and connect people across distance.

Continue reading "[conf] Conscience Unconference Session on Games and Human Rights Education" »

Posted by Rik at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

• KC Swopes and John Englander of Facing History and Ourselves
• Theresa Dawson of Jacob Burns Film Center
• Mark Belinsky of Digital Democracy
• Emma Lloyd of Eyebeam Art and Technology Center
• Bruni Burres of International Center for Transitional Justice

Each of these organizations had just completed the Global Kids' Virtual World Capacity Building Program, a four-week intensive exposure to virtual worlds for public good institutions. The following are my rough notes from the presentations.

Thanks to the 50 participants who came to the roundtable, to the MacArthur Foundation for supporting this project, and our awesome presenters Mark, Bruni, Theresa, Emma, John and KC!

Continue reading "[conf] Report on Fall 09 Roundtable on Virtual Worlds and Nonprofits" »

Posted by Rik at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those that were not able to attend the simulcast or real life event, it has now been uploaded to Youtube by the MacArthur Foundation.

It was a neat event to be involved with, bringing together some of the leading figures in the digital media and learning field from the National Writing Project, the Digital Youth Network, Media Education Lab, and the MacArthur Foundation, together with a couple of hundred real world participants, and another 150 or so participating via Second Life and the web.  It's great seeing the kind of innovative work being done with youth across a range of social media, around the United States, in a variety of formal and informal settings.

Due to the time, I was only able to transmit a couple of the questions submitted from the virtual audience, which you can see here.  More pics from the virtual event are here.

Thanks, everyone, who came and participated! And thanks to the National Writing Project, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation for involving Global Kids in this great event.

Posted by Rik at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)