EDC's Education, Employment, and Community Programs
Integrating Technology, Media and Project-Based Learning
The YouthLearn Initiative, created by the Morino Institute in 1998 and now led by EDC's Education, Employment, and Community Programs (EEC), provides a range of resources for youth development professionals and educators on how to use technology and Media to create exciting learning environments—both after school and in school. YouthLearn provides a comprehensive Web site, an online community, an electronic newsletter, and an extensive manual, The YouthLearn Guide: A Creative Approach to Working With Youth and Technology, which includes dozens of project-based learning activities that combine new technologies and proven teaching techniques. The Guide also features sections on planning, managing, staffing, and training issues for program leaders. (See a PDF of a sample activity from The YouthLearn Guide)
YouthLearn is particularly interested in the ways that young people develop media and information literacy and has recently begun work to bring best practices in youth media-making to other educational endeavors. Working with leading youth media arts organizations around the United States, YouthLearn is mapping effective ways to measure the impact and importance of media analysis and production skills, and it is working to create a national peer-to-peer learning network to foster more media-making experiences in youth development, afterschool, and formal learning.
In response to requests from the field, YouthLearn has created a series of professional development offerings designed to help youth development professionals implement the Guide or develop programs of their own. The workshops and consultations cover everything from technology integration to inquiry-based teaching strategies to management and evaluation issues. YouthLearn is also one of five partners in the formation of the Afterschool Academies, a comprehensive professional development training program for afterschool practitioners launched by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.
The YouthLearn Web site features extensive information, resources, and links on learning and technology. The site provides a showcase for innovative programs and model projects produced by young people across the country. A new section on afterschool and technology includes spotlights on model afterschool programs being carried out in museums, Boys and Girls Clubs, community technology centers, and libraries.
YouthLearn also works closely with the America Connects Consortium (ACC), which is also based in EEC and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. ACC provides a range of resources on afterschool programming for community technology centers, including a toolkit titled Selecting Educational Software for Teenagers in After-School Settings; Using Technology to Support Academic Achievement for At-Risk Teen During Out-of-School Time, a literature review prepared by the National Institute on Out-of-School Time for ACC; and a set of tools for program evaluation.
For more information, visit:
For questions or comments, contact mosaic@edc.org.
Copyright 2000-2006 Education Development Center, Inc. All Rights Reserved.