digitalyouthnetwork.orgDigital Youth Network

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View DYN Media DIGITAL LITERACY IS THE NEW LITERACY The (DYN) was founded in 2006 by Dr. Nichole Pinkard at the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute. DYN is a project that supports organizations, educators and researchers in learning best practices to help develop our youths’ technical, creative, and analytical skills. Originating from the keen desire to understand and support urban youth in learning digital media for their educational development, DYN grew as a resource to help youth understand how to use digital media for all aspects of their lives. As technology rapidly evolves, supporting our underprivileged youth in school and out of the classroom has become a critical and timely issue to address. Currently underprivileged students live under the following statistics: 47% of low-income households have broadband access at home. 37% of teachers of low-income students use tablet computers. 35% of teachers of lower-income students say their students use cell phones as a learning device in class. In an effort to resolve these conditions, we have created iRemix social learning network for students in formal and informal settings; Co-founded YOUmedia – along with the Chicago Public Library – to develop innovative spaces for youth; and implemented Chicago City of Learning – with Chicago’s Mayor’s Office – to join together learning opportunities for youth. Most recently we created the blueprint for Cities of Learning modeled by Chicago City of Learning, released DYN’s book in spring 2014 and launched DYN Studio at DePaul University in winter 2014. Our goal is to create an equal platform for ALL to be digitally literate. Team History Publications Funders NEWS Office of Education Technology and CCOL By Tre Everette on February 21, 2016 in Advertising , Connected Learning The Office of Education Technology (OET) recently released its 2016 National Education of Technology plan. First of all, you should get familiar with the Office of EdTech if you aren’t already. Their mission is clear: …Provide leadership for transforming education through the power of technology. OET develops national educational technology policy and establishes the vision for how technology can be used to support learning. Secondly, OET highlighted ’s Chicago City of Learning as an excellent model for connecting schools and community institutions. We’re super excited that progress and impact has been so great that OET wanted to tell everyone. Interested in reading about the learning vision: OET Learning NETP 2016 Interested in reading the entire report [PDF]: 2016 Technology Plan Footnote: Others can and should try to duplicate, replicate, and/or reverse engineer the unprecedented success that DYN has had in Chicago over the last two years. Why? Because youth everywhere benefit from stronger, connected learning and valuable digital badges. 2016 is going to be the best CCOL year ever. Follow along to see just how amazing it gets. Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 Giving youth the tools to be engaged, articulate, critical and collaborative RESEARCH Overview Research Projects Publications DYN Book The is, at its core, a design-based research project. The research team works with DYN mentors, students, families, and other practitioners to better understand the impact of DYN initiatives and learning environments on youth, educators, organizations, and communities, identifying critical practices and informing iterations of the DYN model. Current research questions include: How do we understand and represent learning and participation in informal (including online) environments and over time? What are the generative practices and supports within those environments that cultivate that learning and participation, including youth production, interests, and identity development? How we intentionally design learning tools and environments (face-to-face, online, and blended) to foster interactions that support the kinds of outcomes we care about? The research team brings together individuals with varying interests and areas of expertise, including learning sciences, human-computer interaction, youth mentorship, and professional development. DYN research also frequently collaborates with distributed colleagues who contribute their expertise and focus to this work. Broadening Participation in Computing through a Community Approach to Learning 2014-current Learning occurs in many different spaces, including museums, afterschool programs, churches, and home. The learning ecologies—the set of environments and social supports within those environments—that youth have access to have important implications on the interests, expertise, and ultimately the identities that young people adopt. When it comes to women, people of color, and youth from low-income households, research suggests that barriers—costs, location, program composition, stereotypes, and reduced visibility of learning opportunities—exist that prevent these youth from accessing computational learning opportunities. The Chicago City of Learning (CCOL) initiative is specifically designed to provide all Chicago youth with an opportunity to expand their learning ecologies. Through a partnership between the city of Chicago, the , and over 130 youth-serving organizations, local youth are connected with informal STEAM learning opportunities across the city. These citywide opportunities include online challenges, community showcase opportunities, and youth-focused face-to-face and blended programs. The content available to youth ranges from computer programming and video game design to making and e-textiles. Qualitative work has pointed to social networks as a driving force for accessing and participating in computing communities. To foster these social networks and learning opportunities for underrepresented youth in Chicago, we are working with local organizations to create a computational making pathway in CCOL. This pathway is a cultivated network of mentors, peer groups, face-to-face and blended programs, online challenges, special opportunities, and showcase events that focus on 1) cultivating youth’s interests in computational making and 2) providing avenues for long term engagement and possible career opportunities. The pathway is being designed to be highly visible and desirable to youth . Through a design-based research approach that is informed by learning analytics and GIS mapping of participation, we seek to uncover factors that influence the participation, engagement and learning of youth a...