Quarantine Digital Literacy!
Spooked by the COVID pandemic, Jay ventures online to get informed and get empowered. With newfound knowledge and confidence, she then looks for ways to help!
Hey You! Episode 1 speaks to the most relevant experience in a kid's life in Spring 2020: quarantine. Never has there been a more critical moment to empower kids in their quest for information online. Jay's vlog is for every kid out there that wants an online learning buddy.
Research and Need
Kids under the age of 7 have very few outlets for digital and media literacy learning and nearly none of it is informal. [1]
Mobile media use by kids ages 0 to 8 increased more than tenfold on average in the US. [2]
YouTube is the most preferred, most watched, and least regulated video platform for kids. [3]
Kids are much more likely to learn soft skills through videos if they feel a personal connection to a character. [4] [5] [6]
Design Mentality
1) Encourage social intimacy and empathy between the viewer and a kind, clever, strong kid character
2) Focus on preparing kids for learning the hard skills of digital and media literacy
[1] Livingstone, S., Stoilova, M. and Nandagiri, R. (2018) Children’s data and privacy online: reviewing the existing evidence. London: London School of Economics and Political Science.
[2] Rideout, V. (2017). The Common Sense census: Media use by kids age zero to eight. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media.
[4] Alexis R. Lauricella, Alice Ann Howard Gola & Sandra L. Calvert (2011) Toddlers' Learning From Socially Meaningful Video Characters, Media
Psychology, 14:2, 216-232, DOI: 10.1080/15213269.2011.573465
Psychology, 14:2, 216-232, DOI: 10.1080/15213269.2011.573465
[5] Alice Ann Howard Gola, Melissa N. Richards, Alexis R. Lauricella & Sandra L.
Calvert (2013) Building Meaningful Parasocial Relationships Between Toddlers and Media Characters to Teach Early Mathematical Skills, Media
Psychology, 16:4, 390-411, DOI: 10.1080/15213269.2013.783774
Calvert (2013) Building Meaningful Parasocial Relationships Between Toddlers and Media Characters to Teach Early Mathematical Skills, Media
Psychology, 16:4, 390-411, DOI: 10.1080/15213269.2013.783774
[6] Troseth, G.L., Saylor, M.M. and Archer, A.H. (2006), Young Children's Use of Video as a Source of Socially Relevant Information. Child Development, 77: 786-799. doi:10.1111/j. 1467-8624.2006.00903.x