 Youth, heritage, and digital learning ecologies Creating engaging spaces for young people Ashley Shaw Don Krug Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia

 Context Goal: To engage fifteen to twenty-five year olds in dialogue and creative engagement with concepts of identity, culture, heritage, and genealogy

Research Objectives 1.Identify characteristics of year old Canadians. 2.Identify patterns of online behaviour and participation of this demographic. 3.Identify effective modes of online learning for this demographic, particularly in reference to culture, identity, heritage, and genealogy. 4.Identify characteristics of existing online museum spaces and other communities of interest. 5.Identify characteristics of effective and popular online resources.

Characteristics  Variety of life choices Variety of life choices  Ethnically and racially diverse  Expressive  Educated  Value meaningful work  Optimistic and goal oriented  Traditional  Culturally and civically engaged  Connected

Online behaviours  95% have internet access  74% have mobile access  8 hours/day engaged with media, but consume 11 hours of content  83% on social networking sites Keep in touch Find information Technologically confident Consumers more than creators High expectations of information

Online Learning Informal Learning  Knowledge is socially constructed: participatory cultures  Knowledge is ever changing: perpetual beta Potentially useful concepts:  Digital learning ecologies  Game and play based learning

Social Media and Networking  Social, participatory, collaborative: networked learning  Relationships, communication, interaction: relational agency Potentially useful concepts:  Engagement  Funds of living knowledge

Identity Exploration  Internet as a space for identity exploration: writing one’s self into being  Dialogic engagement with audience(s): performance of self Potentially useful concepts:  Acculturation  Hybrid performativity

Currently… Virtual Exhibitions currently found in Canadian Museums: Designed as entry point Targeted ‘For Families’ or ‘Teacher Zone’ Static content: searchable collections, links, podcasts, games Unclear navigation

Effective online museum spaces  Destination/experience  Creating community online through social media  Website as a platform (for curators/artists/scientists/commuity/bloggers)  Website as aggregator/curator  Website as portal: virtual exhibitions

Characteristics of effective on-line spaces Organic Co-developed Customisable Evolving Participatory Interactive Collaborative Self-directed Inquiry based Hybrid spaces Evaluative Useable Attractive and engaging Clear guidance and navigation

Conclusions/Recommendations  Participatory, social, collaborative.  Information on a wide variety of cultures, ethnicities, identities.  Open and engaging content.  Organic, evolving, customisable.