Youth VR: The Cali Chronicles

We have no idea what the job market will look like in a couple of decades. It is generally agreed that digital technologies will change almost every line of work. All new jobs created in this era will probably demand high levels of expertise, and will therefore pose a challenge for unskilled laborers. To survive and thrive in society, youth will require a broad range of 21st century skills necessary to confront new challenges by the ever-evolving world of the 4th Industrial Revolution. These skills, which are uniquely human, include: creativity, empathy, communication, teamwork, critical thinking, among others. YOUTH VR Chronicles uses the immersive technology of VR to deploy new learning models that broaden pathways for employment for youth while giving them an opportunity to create digital stories that represent their realities and the issues that matter to them.

Making room for digital storytelling in schools is essential to both developing 21st century skills and for engaging students. However, research from more than 15,000 classrooms in Latin America shows that 25% of the students (approx. 90.000) are not visibly engaged in classroom learning. This is likely due to pedagogical practices that are unengaging; for example, about 30% of teaching activities are centered at the blackboard, not in student participation or hands on activities. These findings are confirmed by studies from UNICEF showing a dominance of rote learning to meet outdated assessment systems. As a consequence, labor markets demanding 21st century skills do not find them easily in their teams or recruits. 

Skills like storytelling, creativity and teamwork are necessary for youth to face the demands of a rapidly changing workplace. However, engaging young people to embrace the unknown and develop these skills is far more difficult than teaching them math or a new language. Especially, since teachers themselves face significant challenges to develop these capabilities. These lack of educational opportunities increases the probability of not finding work in the labor market and that is why it is urgent and important to develop the right skills in youth.

We intend to work with 20 schools in Cali (22% of the city's schools) aiming to reach more than 400 adolescents living in vulnerable and stigmatized communities such as the District of Aguablanca, Siloé and others. The experience of these young people with the educational system reflects a critical paradox: on the one hand, they have high expectations about the promise of education to impact their lives and on the other hand, they face notorious weaknesses on curricular contents and pedagogical processes. Their involvement in projects such as the Youth VR Chronicles is essential to promote their agency at the sociocultural level while developing a set of skills necessary to face the challenges of the 21st century.

Youth perspectives will be sought and included in this project by increasing the capacity of voiceless groups to convey their own realities and ideas through the use of VR as an interactive process of digital storytelling. Giving attention to and documenting the mundane realities of young people demonstrating resourcefulness despite the constraining and dangerous environments they are confronted with, will be the main focus of the project.

Our solution involves the use of VR as a powerful way to deploy new learning models that develop key digital and soft skills for employment. The Chronicles will be composed of digital stories created by 400 adolescents in the City of Cali. These stories will be made up of 360 degree photographs, interviews, images, audio recordings and video of the students and other people that they considered to be an active part of their story. 

Through several sessions (virtual and face to face) with students, we will recognize and build upon the creativity and resourcefulness they demonstrate on a daily basis and through their school-projects. We will use a stereoscopic 360-degree camera to capture a moment that is representative of the students’ projects. Then, we will support students in the creation of interactive 360-degree experiences in VR using an immersive overlay platform (IOP). IOPs facilitate the customization of a navigable interactive multimedia environment, allowing, for example, important moments to be highlighted to draw participants’ attention. Using the IOP, students can add information to the 360-degree photographs or videos themselves. This includes analytical commentaries from students, questions at different points of the image, and provides interactive activities that trigger participants' empathy towards the reality of the students. These 360-degree experiences will be integrated into a virtual learning environment; other students and decision-makers from their community will be able to watch these on desktop computers at home, but more effectively through VR headsets at school hubs, which will enable them to view the media in a more immersive form.

So, imagine for a moment that the head teacher of a school or the Secretary of Education in Cali is wearing a VR headset feeling like they are part of a project that students previously designed. What if these decision makers feel like they are affecting or directing the action playing out in front of them? This experience can be an extremely powerful tool for learning and engagement, by allowing participants to fully immerse themselves and combine a physical presence in the environment with reflections and emotions. This 360 VR observation is an eye-opening, almost out-of-body experience. Participants can see what students are doing to tackle different issues around their communities and reflect on what they can do to support their efforts. Parallely, students become cultural narrators, as they give voice to hidden stories and develop complex, creative, real-world digital media production skills. 

Coschool is an innovative organization because we take a pedagogical standard of design seriously on every project or product we launch. Whilst commercially produced digital tools may use state-of-the-art imagery, they are mostly based on outmoded behaviourist and/or transmission theories of learning, indicating a need for far more, theoretically grounded projects. The presentation of content is indicative of rote learning, which does not require active engagement and manipulation on the part of the student. Coschool will make sure that we use VR tools that develop active, engaged learning, connect to the students previous learning and promote social interaction.

The Youth VR chronicles will also be innovative because the project will be tied to curriculum for optimal results. In order to contribute to socioemotional learning, we need to implement initiatives that contextualize their intervention and include a specific syllabus that is created collaboratively with teachers, integrating it with the pre-existing curriculum. Without this engagement teachers are less likely to feel comfortable using digital technologies. Neglecting alignment with the curriculum can also increase pressure for teachers because they must work extra to incorporate such an intervention into the learning of the students, and thus, frame a negative perspective towards the benefits of technology. At Coschool, we are aware that teachers are the keystone for education and therefore, we will contextualize the project with them. 

An approach centered on digital storytelling helps students push the limits of their comfort zone and connect with meaningful and innovative ways to tell the issues that matter to them. Through this process we teach skills like self-knowledge and appreciation, emotion recognition and regulation, self-control, empathy, conflict resolution, communication, and decision making. The social-emotional skills (SES) framework we use in Coschool has been found to have many positive impacts on employability. Not coincidentally, these are the same skills that the labor market is already demanding and not finding in abundance in their teams or recruits. 

It is clear that a project like The Youth VR Chronicles focused on digital storytelling and strengthening SES in the school environment attends to several youth needs. In short, improved self confidence and self-regulation are related to reducing risk factors faced by youth in vulnerable conditions while also allowing them fulfill their potential in the labor market. Additionally, since 2015, Coschool has worked with 1.500 students in Cali designing and running interventions that focus on youth empowerment and the co-creation of social entrepreneurship projects that see young people take the lead in tackling a wide-range of school and community issues. We have noted through surveys with IPSOS a positive change in how youth perceive themselves as agents of change.

At the moment we are serving 400 youth located in 20 public schools in Cali. We are planning to reach 700 in one year and 5.000 in five years.

Objective 1

Development of socio-emotional skills such as interpersonal communication, critical thinking, empathy, collaboration and leadership

Y1 Goals 320 youth strengthen their socio-emotional skills

Y5 Goals 4.000 youth strengthen their socio-emotional skills

Objective 2

Implement a multimedia documentation strategy that provides innovative ways for youth to connect with their school projects, their communities, and their interests, and improve their digital literacy skills

Y1 Goals:

Multimedia documentation of 20 social innovation projects led by youth on a virtual learning system

320 youth perceive themselves as autonomous, self-effective and have a high engagement with the program

Y5 Goals:

Multimedia documentation of 250 social innovation projects led by youth on a virtual learning system

4.000 youth perceive themselves as autonomous, self-effective and have a high engagement with the program

Distracting environments:

The mere access of VR tools in schools does not imply learning outcomes on its own. Research shows that there might be a right amount of technology and a right way to use it to develop socioemotional skills. This is important for Coschool, especially in settings where young people encounter a number of distractions on a daily basis, which can impede cognitive function. This is key for the context of public schools in Cali, due to the high prevalence of risk factors regarding drug consumption and violence in different forms.

Engagement barriers:

Motivation may wane over time using VR tools. Some studies have found that students who are accustomed to using technology may be less motivated than those who are unfamiliar. 

Value judgments:

Value judgments around technology are a significant barrier for teachers and schools to adopt it. They play a more important role in changing how much teachers integrate technology in the classroom than barriers, such as teacher training or time. 

Infrastructure:

infrastructure is a major barrier to the successful utilization of EdTech. A common theme across the literature was the barrier of existing infrastructure in preventing the successful integration of EdTech. Infrastructure will differ based on the region or school engaged.

Distracting environments:

We need to make sure that technologies are not distracting youth from their education but they are actually encouraging learning and leading to academic and well-being outcomes. Therefore, we need to determine the right amount and right way to use of VR so schools are optimizing the learning opportunities of youth.

Engagement barriers:

We must continuously analyze what it is about VR that has the potential to motivate students rather than acting on the assumption that technology motivates learners in and of itself. It is important that any motivation that comes with VR tools is maintained through engaging with students and promoting learning in a sustainable fashion.

Value judgments:

We need to consider the opinions of teachers seriously. This will be key when assessing the context of each school we intend to work with. Furthermore, if Coschool wants to involve teachers in the future they will need time to adjust, and this period of adjustment can then affect learning outcomes of their students. 

Infrastructure:

There is a need to look beyond the claimed infrastructure, and policy framework of specific cities, and analyse for what the actual and current infrastructure is best suited for. We cannot change the learning environment just to utilise a tool.

We are a team with deep local understanding but are also internationally informed and connected. Our CEO Henry May is the founder of two innovative startups in the field of education. He is a Teach First Ambassador and Wise Speaker. Our Education Director Nicole Bruskewitz (12 years of experience in education projects and training teachers in Colombia) will lead on the Curriculum design, training of the in-situ team, assuring the best research based practices. Felipe Moreno (7 years working on social innovation and EdTech) will lead on the technology component and operations front. 

Coschool is a certified B Corporation, constituted in 2014. Being a B Corp, we are committed to social impact in our work. Over the last 5 years, we have established ourselves as a leading organization in the Colombian education sector, working across the country in multiple peacebuilding and digital learning projects. We have built strong partnerships across the private and public sectors and we are now well known for our methodologies, expertise, and the capabilities of our team. To date, Coschool has worked in over 150 schools with 16,000 students and 3,000 teachers.

We are a team with deep local understanding but are also internationally informed and connected. Our CEO Henry May is the founder of two innovative startups in the field of education. He is a Teach First Ambassador and Wise Speaker. Our Education Director Nicole Bruskewitz (12 years of experience in education projects and training teachers in Colombia) will lead on the Curriculum design, training of the in-situ team, assuring the best research based practices. Felipe Moreno (7 years working on social innovation and EdTech) will lead on the technology component and operations front. 

Coschool is a certified B Corporation, constituted in 2014. Being a B Corp, we are committed to social impact in our work. Over the last 5 years, we have established ourselves as a leading organization in the Colombian education sector, working across the country in multiple peacebuilding and digital learning projects. We have built strong partnerships across the private and public sectors and we are now well known for our methodologies, expertise, and the capabilities of our team. To date, Coschool has worked in over 150 schools with 16,000 students and 3,000 teachers.

We are currently partnering with local partners, particularly with the Secretary of Education from Cali, with whom we are currently working with because of COMVOS, a programme that builds upon the city-wide initiative “My Community is my School”.  

The Youth VR Chronicles is a programme that will help youth to face the demands of a rapidly changing workplace, achieve better academic outcomes and contribute to society through the development of a wide-ranging set of socioemotional skills. In order to make this a reality, Coschool will work with stakeholders whose shared interest is to succeed in these outcomes.  We intend to partner with organizations that administer schools or have their own (eg. Cajas de Compensación) to offer a solution that engages youth in their education while building capacity through their teachers. The reality is that most schools don’t have in place strategic plans that prioritize the development of these skills and as experts in the matter can offer a cost-effective solution. It is cost effective because according to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) for every dollar invested in programmes focused in socioemotional learning there is an $11 return.

Coschools expects to finance this project through partnerships with cajas de compensación (family allowance funds), non-profit organizations created to provide basic social benefits to their affiliates (Ej. Compensar, Comfandi, Comfenalco, Comfama). They have their own schools or administrate others and therefore are interested to integrate innovative models that improve both academic outcomes as well as well-being indicators. After we test these solutions with youth, we will create a proposal to train hundreds of teachers through e-learning courses or in situ training.  In addition, we can opt for grants that can help us scale this idea with public sector schools or partner directly with universities through which we could sell professional development courses for teachers.

TPrize can support the Youth VR Chronicles Project in four ways:

1.By helping Coschool strengthen the methodology with other inspiring initiatives from the TPrize network. You can help us connect to current and past winners of the challenge who have worked on similar youth-development initiatives

2. Support Coschool by designing and implementing innovative tactics to measure the impact of the project. For example, Tec de Monterrey and Universidad de los Andes can support us with experts and other partners with the capacity to analyze the data coming up from this pilot . 

3. Provide useful information and connections of people and organizations that have had success in the past with emerging technologies. 

4. Provide a valuable peer network for the project leaders to provide friendship, support, and critical feedback. It will help our team members to develop as leaders, and that will strengthen their approach to the project.

We will plan to work with Cambridge University through the support and advice of Paul Driver, a Senior Learning Technologist and an award-winning digital innovator. He is an expert in interactive virtual reality scenario development and is highly experienced in instructional design and digital materials creation. He is also a professional graphic designer, and illustrator, and co-author of the award-winning Language Learning with Digital Video, for the Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers series. 

Finally, we hope to partner with Tec de Monterrey and Universidad de los Andes to improve the theory of change of our project, strengthen its theoretical underpinnings and evaluate the outcomes through grounded research approaches.