Opportunities

Virtual Communities of learning and care

Several opportunities for independent study or directed research projects exist within these projects.

**Internship/Research opportunity while studying abroad**

Zora project @ Computer Clubhouses: The Computer Clubhouse network provides a creative after-school learning environment where young people from under-served communities work with mentors to explore their own ideas, develop skills, and build confidence in themselves through the use of technology. It was established in 1993 by The Computer Museum (now part of the Museum of Science in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab, and now it has over 108 Computer Clubhouses around the world. The DevTech research group lead by Prof Marina Bers, in the Dept. of Child Development, is initiating an NSF funded project to use a virtual environment, called Zora, to connect children from the computer clubhouses around the world, to learn about each other's cultures and promote cultural awareness and diversity.

The current opportunity is for Tufts students abroad to become Zora ambassadors and lead a Zora project in a clubhouse in the city where they are studying. The requirement is a commitment of two afternoons a week (schedule to be decided in accordance with the local clubhouse) during the Fall semester abroad (with the option of extending into the Spring) and participation in an orientation meeting at Tufts. This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about the country where you are studying and practice the language by interacting with youth and mentors. At the same time, it provides a service learning opportunity for international youth in need.It also might provide an opportunity to initiate a senior honor's thesis or capstone project. No computer background is needed. If interested, please contact Prof. Marina Bers
(Marina.bers@tufts.edu).

For international locations of Computer Clubhouses:
http://www.computerclubhouse.org

For information on the Zora project @ the Computer Clubhouse:
http://ase.tufts.edu/devtech/vclc/clubzora

Other opportunities working with Zora virtual community program

Opportunities for junior or senior students interested in teaching a course for freshman students during Fall 2005 using Zora; opportunities for students interested in technical aspects of graphical virtual communities (students with a computer science or engineering background are encouraged to apply); opportunities to develop curriculum using Zora to teach about life on campus and civic engagement; opportunities to work on literature review and development of initial research questions and research designs (students looking for a thesis or research paper topic are encouraged to apply). For more info about the program please check the projects page.

Early childhood technology: Project Inter-Actions

We are looking at the role of computational technologies that are developmentally appropriate for young children and that help them learn about new things in new ways. We are re-examining the notion of what is "developmentally-appropriate" in the light of the opportunities for inquiry and active construction of knowledge offered by new technologies. In the project Inter-Actions we are also exploring how new technologies can facilitate parents and children learning together and exploring their own family and cultural values.

Opportunities for independent study or directed research projects doing statistical and/or ethnographic data analyses are available; opportunities to further develop Project Inter-actions curriculum (early childhood and elementary school pre-service teacher are encouraged to apply), opportunities for taking this research project to its next level of development (scaling up and sustaining the work through contacts with community-based organizations and schools); and opportunities to make a short educational video-tape of Project Inter-Actions by editing already existing video.