From The YouthLearn Guide

Introduction

The YouthLearn Guide will help you to:

• Plan a technology-based learning center or program
  
• Operate and manage the center or program
  
• Adopt a dynamic, inquiry-based approach to teaching
  
• Develop project-based learning activities
  
• Integrate technology into active learning opportunities
  
• Find additional teaching and learning resources.
  

Overview
This guide is a resource for planning and implementing creative, active learning centers and programs for children and youth using technology and the Internet. The guide offers practical advice to get your center or program up and running—everything from step-by-step lessons in establishing your vision for your program to tips on sustaining the quality of your program over the long term. The manual also provides teaching and learning materials, including practical, age-appropriate projects and classroom ideas.

The guide grew out of the Morino Institute's experience with community organizations in creating technology-based after-school programs and was designed to provide helpful information regardless of the level of your technical know-how. Whether you are already technologically turbocharged or are just now tiptoeing into the Internet age, the focus of this guide is to help you craft a potent, exciting learning environment for children and youth using technology as a tool toward that goal. The emphasis here is on learning and youth development; the technology is merely a means (albeit a powerful one) to that end.

How to Use This Guide
The guide is not a strict prescription for designing and operating a technology learning program; there is no one right way to do this. Instead, the guide relies on the hard-won experiences of established technology learning centers and presents approaches and techniques that address a wide range of issues common to many technology-based efforts. The strategies have been field-tested and are offered as tips and ideas from which you can choose, depending on your organization's
particular needs and interests.

In developing the guide, we at the Morino Institute were aware that no two organizations and no two youth development programs are exactly alike. Similarly, organizations will likely be at different stages in developing their technology initiatives. Therefore, you and your organization may already have tackled the issues presented in some sections of the manual. You are welcome to use those parts of the guide as a refresher or checkpoint. Or, of course, you can skip those sections entirely.

Furthermore, this guide is not a fundraising or technical manual; it won't tell you how to hardwire your computer lab, nor will it help you purchase computers or software (although it does include a brief primer on working with technology and a section on program finances and sustainability). The focus of the guide is to help you use your existing resources, both human and technological, to develop exciting learning opportunities for the young people you serve.

The guide was created for adult practitioners who are working with children and youth in settings that provide learning programs supported by technology tools and the Internet. This group includes leaders of community organizations, program directors, principals, and other educators seeking assistance in creating or managing technology learning programs, as well as teachers, youth development instructors, and classroom aides looking for creative ways to integrate technology into learning activities.

Some information may be more useful for program administrators; other sections may be most helpful for classroom staff. Program directors with responsibilities for both administering technology learning programs and developing instructional content are likely to find relevant material in all sections of the guide. Readers are encouraged to scan the entire guide and focus on areas that are most relevant to their own work. The first page of each chapter of the guide has an "audience box" indicating who might find that particular topic of most value.

The guide was intended to be a hands-on, flexible tool for all users. As a result, each section has a combination of worksheets, checklists, figures, "reality checks," tips, and additional resources for you to apply as you see fit. You are welcome to photocopy, adapt, or share the materials in ways that best suit your program or organization, as long as it is strictly for noncommercial, educational purposes.