#citieslearn

The first Los Angeles Summer of Learning (LASOL) is being hailed as a success by officials involved with the program, which engaged around 50,000 students this summer, as well as 52 community organizations that offered 130+ digital badges for learning and skills.

Though smaller than last year's pilot program in Chicago, LASOL was in many ways "more sophisticated and coherent," according to Charles Kerchener, a research professor in the School Educational Studies at Claremont Graduate University. "Los Angeles' program was much more integrated with the school system than was its counterpart in Chicago," Kerchener wrote for a piece on edweek.org. "LAUSD was the primary organizer of the project. In Chicago, the city and the non-profits drove the program."

Organizers from the Los Angeles Unified School District's Beyond the Bell program also took on the difficult task of connecting students' summer learning achievements with their school records. Their staff and administrators worked with badge-issuing community organizations to ensure the criteria and evidence for the badge activities were good measures of the skills and knowledge acquired. The staff also offered badging training to these organizations, teaching them how to design and create robust badges, as well as how to assess student output and navigate the LASOL web site.

Badges: New Currency for Professional Credentials

Session 11: Cities of Learning

Session Recording: http://bit.ly/OBmoocCOL

The Cities of Learning (CoL) is a nationwide movement to leverage community and government resources, turning a whole city into a campus for year-round learning, offering free or low-cost opportunities for youth to learn online or participate in programming at parks, libraries, museums and other institutions. Whether through robotics, fashion design, coding competitions or workplace internships, Cities of Learning provide an array of engaging opportunities for young people to explore new interests, develop their talents, and create unique pathways toward college or a career.

Megan Cole, Director of Marketing + Operations at the Badge Alliance, has been coordinating efforts across the six 2014 Cities of Learning, and brought representatives from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas to this week’s MOOC session to share their thoughts. Carla Casilli, Director of Design + Practice, led Monday’s session of the #openbadgesMOOC, New Currency for Professional Credentials.

A nationwide movement for connected learning

Chicago launched the Cities of Learning movement in 2013 with the successful summer pilot program, Chicago Summer of Learning. Over 100 organizations offered activities to Chicago's youth on and offline, issuing over 100,000 badges through the course of the summer. This year, Chicago has expanded its summer learning into a year-round initiative, the chicago City of Learning (CCOL), and five other cities will be implementing citywide badged learning programs - Columbus, Dallas, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. Still more are making plans to join in 2015 (read more).

The Cities of Learning are designed around the principles of Connected Learning, an approach that builds on the basics, leveraging technology to make learning relevant to the demands and opportunities of the digital age. Connected Learning increases engagement by linking in-school academics to a learner’s out-of-school interests, by fostering supportive networks of peers and mentors, and by creating opportunities for youth to make and produce things in the real world.

Local funding and logistical support for each City of Learning are provided by broad and often unprecedented coalitions, bringing together cross-sector partners such as the mayor’s office, the school district, nonprofits, institutional funders and out-of-school educational providers. The national efforts are supported by the MacArthur Foundation, Badge Alliance, and DePaul University.

Learn more: citiesoflearning.org

Chicago

Nichole Pinkard and Sybil Madison-Boyd of the Digital Youth Network (DYN) shared some of the lessons learned in Chicago from last year's pilot.

The Chicago Mayor's office first started exploring a summer learning initiative to avoid the learning loss described as 'brain drain' or 'summer slump' that many schools see in September after students have spent the summer months out of school. In Chicago, the Mayor's office drove the program, bringing together over 100 community organizations and institutions to engage youth in fun activities that kept them actively involved in learning environments that exist outside their classrooms.

Chicago is now on its second year of citywide learning and its reach has expanded to 200,000+ youth. More than 1,000 youth programs in the STEAM fields (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math) are being offered by the 120+ organizations participating in CCOL, including on-the-job learning opportunities.

Digital badges earned by youth in Chicago become "tools for connected learning," according to Sybil. The badges allow youth and their mentors / teachers to track progress and illustrate a learning pathway, as well as play a role in identity-building and skills-sharing, empowering youth to pursue further education and career opportunities within their city - and beyond.

Learn more: explorechi.org

Dallas

Erin Offord, Director of Community Relations at Big Thought, joined us to talk about the work coming out of the Dallas City of Learning.

The Dallas offerings, which aim to reach 10,000 youth this year, include a number of online and in-person activities in earth science, design, sport, coding, and more from over 50 partner organizations.

The team behind the Dallas initiative is focusing their programming on equal access, ensuring their big city can act as a navigable campus for youth to engage in learning activities wherever they are.

They've been receiving positive feedback for the digital learning components of the program, and offered training for their partner organizations to introduce them to digital badges and make sure they were ready to develop and issue badges for the activities they're offering. The conversations that began in those training sessions have shaped some of the national conversation as well, pushing for a youth-centric approach that is innovative and engaging for the kids participating in these programs.

Erin sees great potential for expansion in the Dallas partner organizations when it comes to the digital elements - even those unfamiliar with badges left the training ready to badge the city's activities.

Learn more: dallascityoflearning.org

Los Angeles

Luis Mora, an administrator at Beyond the Bell, joined us to share some of the work going into the LA Summer of Learning.

The LA programming aims to offer 50,000 youth opportunities and access to activities in robotics, fashion, astronomy, and more.

Like the other Cities of Learning, Luis and the folks at Beyond the Bell are looking at Los Angeles as a campus for learning - but unlike other cities, LA is placing special emphasis on workforce readiness. Mayor Eric Garcetti and LAUSD Superintendent Dr. John Deasy are challenging youth between the ages of 16 and 24 the opportunity to become workforce ready this summer, and the LA Summer of Learning is helping youth access opportunities that develop workforce skills and prepare them for life beyond graduation.

By earning five workforce readiness badges - in Basic Job Skills, Résumé Building, Financial Literacy, Interview Skills, and Job Application - youth can unlock the Workforce Ready Challenge Badge, as well as entry to the LA Chamber of Commerce’s "Work Ready Certification Badge" and the opportunity to unlock jobs.

Learn more: summeroflearning.la

Today is is a national advocacy day for raising awareness about the importance of summer learning for youth.

"Summer Learning Day is supported by elected officials and policymakers, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, schools, universities, museums, libraries, and summer camps across the country. Whether you’re a community, summer program, school, or parent, there are many ways to celebrate Summer Learning Day!"

Check out to the Summer Learning Day Map to find an event near you!

The Cities of Learning 2014 are doing their part to keep youth engaged and excited about learning, making and doing not just through the summer, but all year long!

Chicago City of Learning (CCOL) grew out of the City’s 2013 Chicago Summer of Learning in which more than 100 youth-serving organizations joined together to make their programs visible. Youth participants earned digital badges that provide permanent recognition of the achievements made by youth through their activities. http://chicagocityoflearning.org/

Dallas is becoming a citywide learning laboratory this year, opening pathways to the future for young people of all ages. Dallas City of Learning allows youth to explore earth and science, design, sports, performance, coding, and many more programs and events. http://dallascityoflearning.org/

Los Angeles Summer of Learning (LASOL) is opening doors across the city and online so all youth have access to the rich learning opportunities they need to thrive with fun badged programs from across the city. Through badges, young people can link one learning opportunity to the next – a class at a museum, for example, followed by a challenge online. They create their own learning pathways, and open up new opportunities for themselves. http://summeroflearning.la/

Pittsburgh is turning the city into a living learning campus to enable young people to explore their interests, develop new skills and connect their learning to real-world opportunities. More than 30 programs - including summer camps, workshops, community events and drop-in activities - will offer badges focused on digital learning, maker learning, STEAM learning and youth media making. http://remakelearning.org/blog/2014/06/20/why-were-making-our-city-a-summer-camp/

Columbus, OH and Washington, D.C. will be launching their citywide badged learning programs in the fall, making sure the momentum and excitement from the summer keeps going all year long!