NYC as Mobile Learning Gameboard-Join the Swarm

We’re really excited to be collaborating on the LearNYC Swarm project with 2Revolutions, a NYC-based education design lab that specializes in designing and launching Future of Learning models and catalyzing the conditions within which those models can thrive. Together we will be investigating building learning scenarios that further remix the work we do within Hive Learning Networks and what goes on in schools.

LearNYC Swarm is an experiment to establish a seamless 24/7 learning experience for youth that incorporates what they’re learning in school, the interests and passions they pursue on their own time, and family involvement, in a context that leverages the city as a “learning gameboard.” We plan to design and launch new models that enable students to ride on a mobile learning platform as they move freely between and among formal and informal learning experiences—both in and out of school and in ways that accelerate their learning and their educational progress.

This animated video from 2Revolutions describes why the current model of “school” is broken, and portrays the learning ecosystem that they hope to build up in its place.

We’re still in the nascent stages, but have invited Hive NYC to help us sharpen our thinking and brainstorm experiments and implementations we can begin testing this Fall. 2Revolutions is hosting a design charrette/session this Thursday, June 21st from 9am-noon. We want to leave with BIG ideas and answers to some of these questions:

  • What might be possible if we take the best of the informal learning experiences that our members provide young people and mash it up with the best of what schools have to offer – in one seamless context NOT bound by the four walls of a school?
  • How might we connect our work more directly to schools?
  • What barriers will we need to overcome to enable these ideas?
  • How will we collaborate within Hive to develop something amazing for youth?
  • What do we think learning could be – and ought to be – for more young people across NYC?

We hope to have a diverse range of organizations participate as we continue to iterate on this plan. Please RSVP via minigroup or post comments here with any questions.

June Hive Community Call Recap

Highlights from our last community call!  These are held on the first Tuesday of every month  from 2-3pm. Leave a comment if you’re interested in joining and we’ll share the details.
  • Girls Write Now posted their final remix projects and they rule! They selected a handful of mentor-mentee writing pairs that participated in DorkShops (led by Parsons graduates) to learn how to remix their own writing works, as well as some from Figment.com, into video poems, audio diaries and short films.
  • Check out the final mix of the WorldUP/DreamYard collaboration from DY’s Dream Studio program
  • Get a glimpse into digital badge development from the Global Kids Badges Fast Action Team
  • Barry Joseph shared a recap of the exciting HungerCraft Jam, a collaboration between Hive NYC, Brooklyn Public Library, Global Kids and Minecraft EDU: Minecraft and The Hunger Games 
  • Other great updates from Global Kids: NYC Haunts at Curtis! Geo-caching with Wingate High School. They’re also working on a civic geo-caching summer camp with New York Public Library–at parks around the city they’ll create digital scavenger hunts with election-themed content. More to come!
  • Hsing Wei gave us a brief intro to the DTC Lab (housed at Eyebeam). They held a recent demo showcase and invited Hive members to continue to help them build and prototype interactive learning experiences, such as the Reading Robot iPad app.
  • Some quick highlights from Iridescent’s Technovation Challenge. They’re currently developing the program for 2012-2013 and will be sharing more details soon. Here are highlights from a recent “Pitch Night” where students presented their science education apps. 
We had two guest attendees, including Laura Fleming from Inanimate Alice and Todd Kern from 2Revolutions.
We’ve been in discussions with Inanimate Alice and have been exploring ways we can work with them to encourage digital literacy utilizing their transmedia novel approach and Mozilla’s new webmaking tools. In the meantime, she shared more details about the project–how it came about as well as future plans–and announced that they’ve recently been recognized by the American Library Association as a top site for teaching and learning. Inanimate Alice is available in 5 languages in 100 countries, is aligned with Common Core Standards, and they’re looking to align with more schools, libraries and other youth-serving organizations to introduce more youth to Alice!
Todd Kern from 2Revolutions provided an intro to LearNYC Swarm, a collaboration with Hive NYC HQ and DreamYard to design experience across the community that frame the city as a learning game board. The charge is to meld the best of what school has to offer with the rich experiences to be had out of school, and to identify ways to bridge that gap. We’ll be posting more details on this blog shortly, in advance of our design charrette next Thursday, June 21st. For now, watch this video that explains 2Revolutions’ Future of Learning concept.