CTCNet conference in Cleveland
Whew!
I just came back from that CTCNet conference in Cleveland this past weekend, and wow was it something else! There were so many people there, working on so many things. There was so much cool stuff!
CTC Vista Project
I got to meet all the people in the Vista program I will be a leader in next year- including all three people who will also be leaders next year! This was especially cool because one of them (Saul) is a leader this year, so he really know his stuff and he's awesome, and one of them (Mike) was in NCCC with me in Sacramento! I really didn't know him well but he currently lives with my old teammate JJ in San Diego, so that was really weird seeing him there.
I also got to sit in on a Vista supervisor information session, where the Vistas talked about the good, the bad and the ugly (there wasn't much ugly) of their supervisors. They had a lot of the same issues that we CTEP members see:
-they felt appreciated and more comfortable when theor supervisors took care of the little things, such as desks, office space, keys, and phones
-they enjoyed when their supervisors kept in good contact with them, let them know what was going on and checked-in often, making sure that members are getting what they need
-they enjoyed when their supervisors provided helpful resources for them, making it easier (or at least not a struggle) to do their job or know who the right person to go to would be
-they enjoyed when they were treated as a professional employee
-they enjoyed when their supervisors introduced them to the staff or regular volunteers
Friday's Opening Plenary: Connections for Youth
There was a huge focus on media and technology for young people at this conference, which is perfect since that is my focus next year! There were many projects that were done by young people presented, sometimes by the young people themselves. It was neat to see what teens and kids around the country are doing for their community- there was a big emphasis on media literacy and young people becoming producers as well as consumers in our media.
P.S. I hate the word "youth". First and foremost, they are people. They happen to be young. I prefer to call them "young people". Because that's what they are.
Afterschool and Technology: Strategies to Advance Content-rich Learning
This workshop talked about online communities of young people doing technologically-based activities- such as creating games, mixing music, computer games and other skill building activites. http://www.youthspace.net
Some of the challenges mentioned for after-school programs were:
- adults and young people have different ideas of what is to be done after school. The adults want education, the young people want fun.
-time constraints
-language barriers
-educational softare is boring, or not interactive enough
-not enough staff to serve the young people- the program comes off as "school-like"
-if the program is too rule-based, it created a barrier to learning
-messy, hands-on, real-world and project based learning is what works with technology
-young people can lead and tell their community stories if you guide them
Girls Creating Games
A specific group of girls did a program where they created online chose your own adventure-style games online using Macromedia Flash. The presenter, also the program designer/facilitator, talked about what worked well: the "hook" of the program was that girls get to use animation and music, and they get to look at games and videos in Flash; the key to retention was good contact with the parents and an attendance policy.
http://webtecc.etr.org/gcgweb/protected/login/splash.cfm
Quote of the session: "You will not engage youth with technology. You will engage youth with relationships." -Bob Cabeza, Long Beach YMCA (CA)
Media Literacy for Heealthy and Just Communities
This was by far my favorite workshop! The first thing we did when the presenter, Andrea from the New Mexico Media Literacy Project, came in was we watched a commercial, for a Skippy Snack Bar. Afterwards, we had a discussion about the cartoon style, the reggae/hip-hop music, the lyrics to the jingle, the beach party setting, and talked about who the product was marketed to. This led into a discussion about the difference between reality and fantasy, and individuals and communities making informed decisions.
We watched several commercials, and her insight into them was just amazing to me- I generally try to tune commercials out unless they are really funny. We talked a lot about the "bigger picture", and watched truth campaign ads- agains the cigarette companies. http://www.protectthetruth.org
We talked about adbusters and brand loyalty, Andrea then shared some of the activities that she had done with young people- they made their own ads by cutting out ads from magazines and newspapers telling the other side of the story about the product. She also suggested that media literacy is a great way to frame any issue that you want to teach or guide a discussion about.
Quote of the session: "The Coca-Cola baby polar bear speaks wookie" -Andrea Quijada
Favorite word of the session: McDonified
Learning to Learn: Urban Youth, Technology Literacy and Youth Development
This program had a bunch of young people presenting what their program was all about. Basically, it is a technology work-skills job program. The young people develop skills, further their education opportunities and learn to act professional. And they get paid, for creating websites for businesses, developing GPS maps for the city and other organizations, and other technology-based projects.
Some notes:
-they teach why they do what they do, so that the young people understand. This often involves monetary rewards and consequences.
-working with peers builds leadership. There is a basic presentation of work that needs to be done, people work together to get it done.
-when asked what would get them to be in the program if they weren't paid, the young people said: knowing they can get into college, working with their community, the people that work there, and making it fun.
Technology Programs that Sing (and Make Movies and Web Sites Too)
This was also a pretty cool workshop- it all came from a grant that the Microsoft Corporation gave to Boys and Girls Club of America to develop educational resources.
Basically, they have created online-based tutorial style lessons for young people (or any people!)to learn how to use MS Office applications and beyond- such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Paint, Digital Image Pro, Publisher, FrontPage, MovieMaker XP, and Acid Pro Music Studio.
They also have a fairly elaborate Internet safety website, where young people can learn about what is and isn't safe on the Internet.
This stuff all opens up to the public in August, so I'll have to keep my eyes open!
The stuff that you can already use is the Internet Safety stuff http://www.netsmartz.org/, and www.coke.com has free music mixing software.
So, that's about it as far as the conference goes! Plus I got to chat with tons of people working in community technolgy all over, and it was rad.
Until next time...
I just came back from that CTCNet conference in Cleveland this past weekend, and wow was it something else! There were so many people there, working on so many things. There was so much cool stuff!
CTC Vista Project
I got to meet all the people in the Vista program I will be a leader in next year- including all three people who will also be leaders next year! This was especially cool because one of them (Saul) is a leader this year, so he really know his stuff and he's awesome, and one of them (Mike) was in NCCC with me in Sacramento! I really didn't know him well but he currently lives with my old teammate JJ in San Diego, so that was really weird seeing him there.
I also got to sit in on a Vista supervisor information session, where the Vistas talked about the good, the bad and the ugly (there wasn't much ugly) of their supervisors. They had a lot of the same issues that we CTEP members see:
-they felt appreciated and more comfortable when theor supervisors took care of the little things, such as desks, office space, keys, and phones
-they enjoyed when their supervisors kept in good contact with them, let them know what was going on and checked-in often, making sure that members are getting what they need
-they enjoyed when their supervisors provided helpful resources for them, making it easier (or at least not a struggle) to do their job or know who the right person to go to would be
-they enjoyed when they were treated as a professional employee
-they enjoyed when their supervisors introduced them to the staff or regular volunteers
Friday's Opening Plenary: Connections for Youth
There was a huge focus on media and technology for young people at this conference, which is perfect since that is my focus next year! There were many projects that were done by young people presented, sometimes by the young people themselves. It was neat to see what teens and kids around the country are doing for their community- there was a big emphasis on media literacy and young people becoming producers as well as consumers in our media.
P.S. I hate the word "youth". First and foremost, they are people. They happen to be young. I prefer to call them "young people". Because that's what they are.
Afterschool and Technology: Strategies to Advance Content-rich Learning
This workshop talked about online communities of young people doing technologically-based activities- such as creating games, mixing music, computer games and other skill building activites. http://www.youthspace.net
Some of the challenges mentioned for after-school programs were:
- adults and young people have different ideas of what is to be done after school. The adults want education, the young people want fun.
-time constraints
-language barriers
-educational softare is boring, or not interactive enough
-not enough staff to serve the young people- the program comes off as "school-like"
-if the program is too rule-based, it created a barrier to learning
-messy, hands-on, real-world and project based learning is what works with technology
-young people can lead and tell their community stories if you guide them
Girls Creating Games
A specific group of girls did a program where they created online chose your own adventure-style games online using Macromedia Flash. The presenter, also the program designer/facilitator, talked about what worked well: the "hook" of the program was that girls get to use animation and music, and they get to look at games and videos in Flash; the key to retention was good contact with the parents and an attendance policy.
http://webtecc.etr.org/gcgweb/protected/login/splash.cfm
Quote of the session: "You will not engage youth with technology. You will engage youth with relationships." -Bob Cabeza, Long Beach YMCA (CA)
Media Literacy for Heealthy and Just Communities
This was by far my favorite workshop! The first thing we did when the presenter, Andrea from the New Mexico Media Literacy Project, came in was we watched a commercial, for a Skippy Snack Bar. Afterwards, we had a discussion about the cartoon style, the reggae/hip-hop music, the lyrics to the jingle, the beach party setting, and talked about who the product was marketed to. This led into a discussion about the difference between reality and fantasy, and individuals and communities making informed decisions.
We watched several commercials, and her insight into them was just amazing to me- I generally try to tune commercials out unless they are really funny. We talked a lot about the "bigger picture", and watched truth campaign ads- agains the cigarette companies. http://www.protectthetruth.org
We talked about adbusters and brand loyalty, Andrea then shared some of the activities that she had done with young people- they made their own ads by cutting out ads from magazines and newspapers telling the other side of the story about the product. She also suggested that media literacy is a great way to frame any issue that you want to teach or guide a discussion about.
Quote of the session: "The Coca-Cola baby polar bear speaks wookie" -Andrea Quijada
Favorite word of the session: McDonified
Learning to Learn: Urban Youth, Technology Literacy and Youth Development
This program had a bunch of young people presenting what their program was all about. Basically, it is a technology work-skills job program. The young people develop skills, further their education opportunities and learn to act professional. And they get paid, for creating websites for businesses, developing GPS maps for the city and other organizations, and other technology-based projects.
Some notes:
-they teach why they do what they do, so that the young people understand. This often involves monetary rewards and consequences.
-working with peers builds leadership. There is a basic presentation of work that needs to be done, people work together to get it done.
-when asked what would get them to be in the program if they weren't paid, the young people said: knowing they can get into college, working with their community, the people that work there, and making it fun.
Technology Programs that Sing (and Make Movies and Web Sites Too)
This was also a pretty cool workshop- it all came from a grant that the Microsoft Corporation gave to Boys and Girls Club of America to develop educational resources.
Basically, they have created online-based tutorial style lessons for young people (or any people!)to learn how to use MS Office applications and beyond- such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, Paint, Digital Image Pro, Publisher, FrontPage, MovieMaker XP, and Acid Pro Music Studio.
They also have a fairly elaborate Internet safety website, where young people can learn about what is and isn't safe on the Internet.
This stuff all opens up to the public in August, so I'll have to keep my eyes open!
The stuff that you can already use is the Internet Safety stuff http://www.netsmartz.org/, and www.coke.com has free music mixing software.
So, that's about it as far as the conference goes! Plus I got to chat with tons of people working in community technolgy all over, and it was rad.
Until next time...
posted by rox @ 4:51 p.m.
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