Afterschool Computer Labs Project

About the Program

The After School Computer Labs Project is an afterschool program that Missouri 4-H Youth Development offers in more than 100 public schools, Boys & Girls Clubs, public housing units, youth-based organizations, and community centers. The University of Missouri Extension 's 4-H Youth Development Program provides these participating sites with training, related software, and curriculum materials. The participants, who are of elementary and early middle school ages, collaboratively play computer games to learn about linguistic, artistic, architectural, and technological factors embedded in the games. The participants learn basic computer operating skills; they also work on problem-solving, social skills, and relationship-building. Educators discuss with the participants how what they are learning from the games enhances their understanding of school subjects.

The Goals of This Program:

• To help youth build skills for today and succeed academically through recreational/educational computing models
• To make technology easy for youth to adopt and create
• To create a collaborative learning environment that works to bridge the digital divide and to support youth as they learn

Program Activities:

The participants of the program are allowed a lot of recreational time to play a variety of computer games in order for them to take the lead on their program activities. The educators rely on youth playing the computer games as the first level of learning. As the participants enjoy playing the games and become acquainted with skills required to succeed at the games, they begin to work collaboratively with educators and peers, choosing themes such as history, math, science, social studies, and reading. Their learning is further enhanced by contests or field trips related to the themes of the computer games.

Funding Sources:

• The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)
• 21st Century Community Learning Centers
• Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)
• University of Missouri Extension/4-H Youth Development Programs

Challenges & Strategies

Challenges:

• Managing and updating hardware and software
• Sustaining volunteer-driven programs
  "Recruiting, orienting, and retaining educators, parents, and high-school and college students who serve as volunteers is challenging. Volunteers have to manage their valuable time well in order to maintain the computer labs."
• Finding funding opportunities



• Evaluating and selecting quality computer games of high educational value
  "Some educators allow youth to freely play any kind of game in the labs. For example, a game in which the player is the first-person-shooter tends to have a negative influence on youth development."
• Cultivating a consistent program structure
  "Some educators employ too much structure for a recreational program because they discount the value of having a less structured recreational program, which is the foundation for our higher level of program. Others sometimes implement insufficient structure in the program and do not challenge the participants to think about academic learning. To balance the degree of program structure, training is necessary."
• Persuading adults who do not regard computer games as a valid way of learning content

Strategies:

• Start afterschool computer recreation programs in a setting where computers are already in place. more
• Select appropriate computer games that are not violent, but embrace high play, high educational value, and human interactivity. more
• Observe learning elements built into game structures and incorporate questions and related extra activities that support academic understanding. more
• Utilize VISTA members as a full-time resource to increase supervision of the computer lab, and to work with educators to integrate technology and hands-on experiences into conceptual knowledge. more
• Foster the concept of "Community of Learners" by letting youth guide the program and play the teaching role with their educators. Involve older youth as lab volunteers and mentors of younger participants. more
• Evaluate youth outcomes with emphasis on increased interest and positive attitude towards school and homework. more

Strategies in detail:

• Start afterschool computer recreation programs in a setting where computers are already in place.

  "Don't worry about securing a certain number of participants to open your program. When we started the After School Computer Lab Projects, we found a place where interested youth were already situated and computers were already arranged. Schools generally tend to be the easiest venue for starting afterschool computer labs. They have access to youth, computers, computer support, interested educators, and frequently incentives for educators and older youth to participate. We started from scratch, but, after having the supports, were able to easily start our programs with the belief that the recreational models for educational computing would be a positive influence on our young participants, promoting enjoyable academic learning experiences. This effort made our programs easy for our partners to adopt and adapt to their settings and needs."

• Select appropriate computer games that are not violent, but embrace high play, high educational value, and human interactivity.

  "Based on our expertise, we select 25 computer game titles for our participants that include different kinds of game software such as arcade games, and covering a wide range of academic areas such as history, math, science, and reading. The following are the criteria that we suggest in choosing quality computer games:

  1) Definitely avoid violent and gender-specific games.
  While many people are accustomed to the stereotypes of gamers as violent, male dominant, and addicted, a thoughtful selection of games that encourages positive interaction between the participants in conjunction with related off-computer activities built on the educational content of the games can create positive learning experiences for youth.

  2) Search for games that contain both high play and high educational values.
  Many times, software that has a good play value lacks sufficient educational values. Conversely, other computer games that contain positive educational values often lack high play values. If the software that you select does not include both values, the participants will either lose interest and enjoyment in your program or miss out on gaining valuable academic knowledge and skills.

  3) Select a computer game that includes a wide range of mastery levels, which encourages young people to teach their peers as well as themselves.
  It is appropriate to choose software that is easy to begin but difficult to master, so that the participants can work their way up through it, and further be challenged by their desire to move on to the next levels. That makes the participants excited and encourages them to work with their peers and educators to solve problems and share their own strategies."

Back to Strategies

• Observe learning elements built into game structures and incorporate questions and related extra activities that support academic understanding.

  "Observe what a young person plays, no matter how familiar you are with the content of the game. Be patient in observing youth playing the games and finding out what they themselves want to learn. Let the participants guide their program. It is O.K. for educators to sit back and watch what the participants are doing for a while. Once educators supervise the lab and help the young people, the content of the games becomes very natural as teaching material. With a game such as the Oregon Trail or SimCity, if you can talk to youth about what kind of things they learn about the history of the Oregon Trail or city-planning, they begin recognizing all that is being learned. Education is not merely dumping information onto youth. Assimilate what they have learned, bind it off in different contexts, and help them develop meta-cognition skills so they can move up to the next level of learning.

  ***Here are two examples of how young participants can discover diverse learning elements and educators can integrate them in academically relevant discussions:

  Example 1) The Railroad Tycoon game allows the participants to start operating their own business. They learn to make business and marketing decisions, and learn the nature of industry via the concepts of basic economics, for instance, supply and demand. In addition, in order to read manuals and instructions frequently popping up on the screen, the participants' reading skills improve as well.

  Example 2) The Roller Coaster Tycoon game involves the players of the game in opening and running their own theme parks. In the beginning, the participants acquire comprehension of math and geometry by plotting out the physical space or the parameters of their theme parks. Moreover, they learn decision-making skills because the game requires them to think about the kinds of rides that are needed and the placement of attractions, as well as the addition of virtual restaurants, snack bars, drinking fountains or other elements that would be appealing to their customers. They also have to maintain their rides and monitor weather reports."

  These games simulate the skills needed in the real world environment. Everything that the participants do with these games generates learning activities on how the market price is determined, how customers react to the prices and layout, and how to manage and improve business in the competitive market.

Back to Strategies
• Utilize VISTA members as a full-time resource to increase supervision of the computer lab, and to work with educators to integrate technology and hands-on experiences into conceptual knowledge.

  "Utilize VISTA members as a full-time resource for local communities and for expanding technology-enriched afterschool programs. VISTA members are often times front persons who lead the Computer Lab Projects. The VISTAs in our program initially supervise and expand the computer labs based on 4 levels of value-added levels:
  1) VISTAs supervise the lab and help young participants and educators enroll in the program and become familiar with the play-based recreation model of the After School Computer Lab Projects.
  2) VISTAs begin to gradually decrease their supervision of the labs. They recruit and develop community volunteers, and then gradually encourage the volunteers to play more roles in the labs.
  3) VISTAs work with educators and lab volunteers to ascertain the interests of kids and find quality games based on them. For example, if our participants express interest in flying, educators can introduce the Flight Simulator game and hold a 'Flight Simulation Week or Month' contest for the lab where the youth demonstrate their proficiency on the game in good honest competition.
  4) VISTAs work with educators and volunteers to arrange field trips for youth. In the case of the flight simulation example, VISTAs and educators can help the participants become proficient in the Flight Simulator for a week or two, and take the participants on a field trip to the Boeing Corporation. The field trip offers youth participants a chance to meet and talk with the engineers and representatives of the company. While listening to stories about the basics of flight and the employees' experiences, the participants can become excited about having role models as they dream of their future."

Back to Strategies
• Foster the concept of "Community of Learners" by letting youth guide the program and play the teaching role with their educators. Involve older youth as lab volunteers and mentors of younger participants.

  "Boost youth-youth and youth-adult partnership so that all of the participants become a community of learners. Sometimes educators need to step out of their educator role and play the role of a learning facilitator, or a learner along with the young participants. Youth need to play an equal role in afterschool settings along with adults in order to direct their learning. This is a youth empowerment strategy. Simply model how you have learned a game and your academic usage of the game even if you are not an excellent gamer. Also, make a community of learners by having older youth in the 16-18 year old age range teach the younger participants computer skills. If staff members are having problems with computers, the older participants are eager to assist them in that area. Not only do younger participants enjoy learning with them, but also the older youth themselves acquire trouble-shooting skills. This collaborative learning community will ultimately improve education and create equal opportunities that bridge digital divides."

• Evaluate youth outcomes with emphasis on increased interest and positive attitude towards school and homework.

  1) Collect anecdotal data from youth.
  "We ask participants to describe our afterschool program with three words. The most common three words that have come out from our participants are 'Fun,' 'Learn,' and 'Friends.' They testify that their learning was fun, their activity was about learning, and their friends were with them as a community. When they play games for the first time, they do not recognize that they are learning. Through sincere conversations and interesting discussions with them, you can collect the participants' learning stories and assist them in seeing their activities as learning experiences. This anecdotal assessment really allows youth to develop their confidence and to share knowledge with other youth and adults."

  2) Evaluate your program on "rescue" stories.
  "Some of our participants have multiple 'rescue' stories about a young person who was at risk of being held back in school. Our afterschool educators affirm that these participants became very interested in attending their school, started improving their test scores and homework completion, and found friendship in school. Our program has rescued those youth through the friendly learning environment where adults ask them to do their homework and care about their interests."

  3) Observe how your young participants have improved their leadership skills as community learners.
  "Our educators and the VISTAs have reported that our program has helped youth take on leadership roles and technical support in the computer labs. Our previous research conducted through the University of Missouri indicates that the participants of this program have improved on basic computer operating skills and computer-based assignments. While building confidence on these computer skills, they show interest in teaching and learning with educators and positive attitudes toward learning in school."

More about the Program