In today’s society, both media and technology greatly influence young people’s sense of culture and identity. And while the education sector has tremendous potential to engage young people in connected learning experiences and to inspire them to be active, global citizens, it has not kept pace with technology.
EDC’s YouthLearn project provides educators with resources that help children and youth build the critical-thinking and communications skills they need to make sense of real-world issues. YouthLearn empowers youth and moves them to social action through technology-enhanced activities and creative media projects, such as digital storytelling and youth media making.
The YouthLearn team tailors content and instructional design to the needs of individual programs, crafting programming strategies that promote creative learning experiences. The project’s activities include:
- Designing curriculum and programs that enable young people to connect with real-world issues and construct their own knowledge and ideas
- Developing innovative professional development training models for informal and formal education that incorporates media and technology
- Promoting digital literacy as a critical skill for all ages through training and instructional supports
- Advancing STEM learning in out-of-school time programs and broaden the participation of underrepresented groups
- Partnered with more than 20 public and private funders to design creative, impactful programs for educators and youth
- Created free curriculum, toolkits, and resources to support educators
