University of Chicago 6to16: College Success for More Urban Students
April 22, 2009
My friend is a Consultant, and is currently working on a project called 6:16 College Success for More Urban Students at the Urban Education Institute at University of Chicago.
Here is a YouTube video of the program:
From everything that my friend described to me, this appears to be one of the most technologically advanced and innovative school programs that I have ever heard. I may not be getting the details of this program correct, but let me recap some of the ideas from our conversation.
Apparently, the goal of this program is to prepare Urban students for college. It is currently being piloted as a school based initiative, but the program is being designed to serve in a variety of situations including during after school programs, through community based organizations, or in the home.
There are many components to the program, including: Virtual Worlds; community mentorship; eLearning; Social Networking; and an advisory-based curriculum.
One activity is that students participate in a Virtual Game in which their objective is to best prepare your character for college. The purpose of the game is to teach students about the importance of college and socialize them to soft skills necessary to “win” in the game of life. Students can see how College acceptance and readiness leads to life and career success.
The premise of this game and the rest of the program is that Urban students have simply not associated the idea that getting into college is the path to success. Therefore, the game allows students to create and reinforce this connection. Once the connection is made, the students are better focused and perform better in their classes.
The results of the student’s game (and other activities) are also posted on a social network where everyone can evaluate each other’s results. In addition, the social network connects students with community mentors who provide real-life examples of people creating successful lives for themselves by getting into college and getting a quality education.
The program sounds fascinating, and I have never heard of something this innovative happening in any schools today.
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