Generation YES Blog

An announcement from HASTAC.org:

DIGITAL MEDIA AND LEARNING COMPETITION 2008

The second HASTAC/MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition is now open! The focus is participatory learning. Participatory Learning includes the many ways that learners (of any age) use new technologies to participate in virtual communities where they share ideas, comment upon one another’s projects, and plan, design, advance, implement, or simply discuss their goals and ideas together. Full information at: www.dmlcompetition.net

Awards will be made in two categories:

• Innovation in Participatory Learning Awards will support projects that demonstrate new modes of participatory learning, in which people take part in virtual communities, share ideas, comment on one another’s projects, and advance goals together. Successful projects will promote participatory learning in a variety of environments: through the creation of new digital tools, modification of existing ones, or use of digital media in some other novel way. Submissions will be accepted from applicants in Canada, People’s Republic of China, India, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States, countries in which HASTAC or MacArthur have significant experience. Winners will receive between $30,000 and $250,000.
• Young Innovator Awards are designed to encourage young people aged 18-25 to think boldly about “what comes next” in participatory learning and to contribute to making it happen. Winners will receive funding to do an internship with a sponsor organization to help bring their most visionary ideas from the “garage” stage to implementation. For this competition cycle, submissions will only be accepted from applicants in the United States. Winners will receive between $5,000 and $30,000.

Application Deadline: October 15, 2008

Wow, it’s been a busy summer!

Two weeks ago, Dennis Harper and Emily McCartan participated in two, week-long summer camps for middle school students in New York. The students learned about technology, but more than that, they learned how to be leaders and mentors. Starting this fall, they will become the first group of New York State Student Technology Leaders (NYSSTL) in their schools in 25 districts in New York.

HFM BOCES News: Leadership and Achievement through Technology Initiative - Camp prepares students to become technology mentors

NYSSTL students will mentor other students in technology literacy using the TechYES project-based approach, and will use the GenYES 2.0 tools to assist teachers to support technology integration in every classroom.

From the HFM BOCES article:

“The one-week camp was part of HFM BOCES’ Enhancing Education through Technology program, designed to create technology mentors among teachers and students in participating schools. These digitally-savvy students hope to tutor fellow students in technology-related projects, while assisting their teachers in learning and using new technology as a teaching tool. The program helps meet the federal goal that all students will demonstrate technology literacy by the end of eighth grade.”

The HFM and WSWHE BOCES already have a strong support system for technology integration, and we know that these NYSSTL students will be a welcome addition to the team of technology advocates and mentors at each school site!

Videos coming soon!

Sylvia

Well, in what may be the understatement of the year, this has been a busy couple of months! The intrepid Generation YES staff has been working on two major projects with a deadline to have both of them done for NECC this month in San Antonio. NECC is a great place to show off new stuff, and we have a lot to show this year!

I blogged about TechYES Science (Announcing TechYES Science) last week, our latest addition to the TechYES - Student Technology Literacy Certification family.

But now the REALLY big news. The exemplary GenYES model is undergoing a major update to make it easier to use and even more aligned with the needs of 21st century learning communities. If you haven’t heard of GenYES (!) — GenYES students learn technology skills and apply those skills to real life issues — teaching teachers technology, building classroom resources, and doing tech support.

GenYES 2.0 is a proven way to help K-12 schools leverage students’ tech-savvy passion to integrate technology in every classroom. Empowered GenYES students inspire teachers to use technology and provide help when and where they need it.

• All resources online for ease of use
• New student-powered online help desk for the whole school
• New student project tools and teacher class management tools
• New blog and wiki tools
• Activity guides, project starters, and 20+ units of curriculum teach technology skills, multimedia, media literacy, audio, video, Web 2.0 tools, level 1 tech support, and more. Advanced units cover student leadership, community service, careers and more advanced tech support.
• Student certificates
• GenYES students learn collaboration skills, project planning, teaching, mentoring and troubleshooting skills.
• Club or class; upper elementary, middle and high school.

Read more about GenYES 2.0 online or in this downloadable flyer (PDF).

Note: There is a really big change to the way GenYES 2.0 is priced. For the first time, there are NO RENEWAL FEES - GenYES 2.0 is a one-time only site license. This is a pretty big change for us, and I plan to blog about why we’ve made this decision.

Another note: GenYES 2.0 includes all the resources from our Generation TECH student tech support program, which is being retired and integrated into GenYES 2.0. We kept hearing from customers that they wanted students to learn to collaborate with teachers on technology integration projects AND do tech support. So we finally figured out how to incorporate all of these in one easy to use tool.

OK, one more note: For GenYES 2.0, we’ve invented a Web 2.0 application we call the GenYES Technology Assistance Project (TAP) Manager. The TAP manager acts a bit like a help desk combined with a student-friendly project management tool. Any teacher in a GenYES school can request help or tech support by clicking a link. The GenYES teacher acts as a traffic manager, assigning TAPs to GenYES students. And like Facebook and other Web 2.0 tools, the web application gives GenYES students and their teacher a running report of what’s going on in their learning community as they work on their projects.

If you are coming to NECC, come by our booth (7148) and we’d be happy to give you a demo. Soon after NECC, we’ll have an online demo available.

Sylvia

In 1995, Dr. Dennis Harper was the technology director of the Olympia School District in Washington State. This video was shot then and shows some pretty forward thinking, collaborative learning going on with technology. In Olympia, students were in charge of teaching everyone, teachers, staff and students how to use computers and the Internet. Students built and ran the school website, did tech support, installation and training for peers and staff. You’ll see students from 3rd grade to high school showing how they use technology to improve learning throughout the whole school.

This was the beginning of the GenYES model, just before Dennis proposed the idea to the USDOE, who funded it as a Technology Innovation Challenge Grant. The technology being used may appear outdated, but the idea is timeless — to see youth as agents of change rather than objects to be changed.

For you DH fans out there, Dr. Harper appears about 6 minutes in. (If you can’t see the embedded video, use this link.)

Unfortunately, in many schools today, computers and technology are unused and under-utilized. Ignoring the passion and talent of this digital generation, who make up 92% of the population at any school, is overlooking a solution that works and has worked in many schools across the country.

This video was cut down from the original by Andy Baio of Waxy.org, who collects video and other artifacts about early Internet days. He says, “…it’s clear this public school district was way ahead of their time.” You can read his take on it here.

We put this link in our email newsletter and heard from several of these students (now twenty-somethings) who loved remembering their experiences, but hated seeing their teenage selves. Guess that never changes either!

Sylvia

A few weeks ago I posted a story about Jon, an 11 year old who has taken on the job of network administrator at his school.

This is what I love about blogging. A few days ago, Jon’s mom added a comment to that post!

She says:
Thank you, GenYes! Finally someone gets the point of this whole story. There is so much talent in the next generation, and if we give them chances to use it in ways that make the world better, they will. If we do not, they will find ways to use it that are destructive. The hi-tech frontier may be relatively new, but raising children has always been like that, right?

So often we hear about parents who are fearful of the digital world and who focus completely on the negative affect they think it will have on their children. So it’s nice to hear from a parent who sees her son’s talents as a normal expression of childhood, not some newly invented form of abnormal behavior.

Childhood has always been a time to reach for the stars with guidance from adults who can point the way without being in the way.

Thanks, Jon’s mom - you are an inspiration!

Sylvia

An op-ed article in today’s Christian Science Monitor by John Bridgeland contains some powerful evidence that service-learning could be a key factor in lowering dropout rates, increasing engagement, and motivating students.

Service learning tackles high dropout rates and civic disengagement

Service learning programs like our own GenYES create win-win situations where students are empowered and engaged to solve real problems in their schools and communities. In GenYES, students learn how to work with teachers and staff in their own school to solve technology problems and help teachers use more technology in the clasroom.

Service learning is an educational technique that combines classroom learning with community service. What’s critical is that it is not only key to getting more students engaged in their communities, but, according to a report released last week by Civic Enterprises, it is also a powerful tool to keep students on track to graduate from high school.

This report, called Engaged for Success, is well worth downloading - it contains research, case studies, and much more. And it’s not just drop-out prevention. This research would be useful to support adding service learning to improve student motivation, increase engagement, and encourage student voice.

A nationally representative survey of high school students, including at-risk students, paints a hopeful picture. Eighty-two percent of all service-learning students said their view of school improved because of their service-learning classes, and 77 percent said that service learning had a big effect on motivating them to work hard. Furthermore, 64 percent of service-learning students claimed that service learning would have a fairly or very big effect on keeping them from dropping out of school.

Although we hear a lot about “research-based” programs. But many times schools only look for research to justify what they are already doing. Research should be informing the search for innovative solutions, not done as an after-thought.

And it’s something students want. They are looking for opportunities to make a difference, to be somebody, to count and to be counted on.

Although high-quality service-learning programs are cropping up across the nation, such programs are still unjustifiably rare. Eighty-three percent of students said that if their school offered it, they would enroll in a service-learning program. Yet only 16 percent of all students, and only 8 percent of students at low-performing schools, reported that their school offered service learning. All too often students do not have access to, or do not even know about, such programs offered by their schools.

You don’t need to look outside the school walls to find authentic problems that students can solve. Technology integration is just such a tough problem for many schools. The research is clear here too - technology integration improves student achievement. And yet, it remains at the bottom of the to-do list in far too many schools.

This makes GenYES a double-impact research-based innovation. By helping teachers use technology in all classrooms, GenYES students provide a much needed service in their own school and gain much in return. GenYES students learn more than just technology skills or how to help teachers. They learn that they can make a difference, that their talents are useful and needed, and that they can have a say in improving education for all.

Research proves it.

Sylvia

From NetworkWorld.com via an email from Steve Hargadon:

When Victory Baptist School, a small private school in Millbrook, Ala., was struggling to keep its computer network together last year, an 11-year-old student named Jon Penn stepped in as network manager.

Eleven? Yes, eleven.

Jon not only runs the network, he fixed the virus and filtering problems, upgraded the computers to run faster and better, and helped write the school’s web policy.

The lesson here is not that Jon is a one-of-a-kind special kid. Of course he is. But he’s not THAT uncommon. The uncommon thing is that someone let him have this opportunity. Many, many schools have students with this potential. Given the opportunity, students can provide reliable, thoughtful help with school technology.

Suffering with a school network that lacks resources? The answer may literally be right under your nose.

Sylvia

Stop the presses - having just one teacher who cares about them can stop a high school student from dropping out.

Obvious? Sure. But how many obvious things aren’t we doing in schools?

Among the conclusions:

• Students generally like school and want to graduate.
• Some feel financial pressure to drop out and get a job.
• Some are driven out of school by a fear of violence.
• Students believe that some of the challenges they face are caused by a lack of resources in their school.
• Students who believe a teacher or coach cares about them are more inclined to stay in school.

Here’s the full report from the California Dropout Research Project. You can download the entire report or a condensed version here, and see a series of video clips of student interviews here.Sylvia

Ryan Bretag:

The last two weeks, I had the opportunity to begin involving students in these discussions: How do they feel about the infusion of technology into the classroom? What do they know about all of these “emerging technologies”? What should the learning environment look like in the future? Why do they feel, if at all, technology is of value to their own learning? What is the connection between their current use of technology and the technology educational technologist long to see used in the classroom?

Their thoughts, ideas, and insights offer much to the discussions occurring about educational technology. Will we listen? Will we begin having these discussions in our own school? Are we willing to challenge our own beliefs about technology based upon their beliefs?

Find out what these students said at Ryan’s blog, The Four-Eyed Technologist…

Congratulations to Ryan for walking the talk about student voice!

Sylvia

Teens in Boston have the opportunity to join Learn 2 Teach, Teach 2 Learn.

This program teaches teens (14-19) how to teach others in their community about technology. Run out of the South End Technology Center @ Tent City and started by Mel King, the program has a mission to enable people to become producers of knowledge and sharers of ideas and information. They provide free or low-cost access and training in most aspects of computer-related technology.

Teens can learn how to work with others, learn to teach, and improve their community. More details and the application are on the website.

Sylvia