Tech in the Field – An Update!
Written with support from Sara Sherman, PCV Ukraine Group 51
LEVERAGING THE COMMUNITY
Last summer, the Alliance for Ukraine embarked on a pilot education project to support currently-serving Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in the field and to provide additional educational opportunities for Ukrainian youth. Made possible by generous donations from the community, the Alliance pursued a partnership with Kinful, an education program which leverages virtual reality (VR) technology and a social-emotional learning (SEL) curriculum to develop students’ competencies in responsible decision-making, self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills within a variety of lessons, from social responsibility to multiculturalism.
IMPLEMENTATION IN THE FIELD
With significant support, coordination, and planning from the Alliance’s In-Country Committee (ICC), consisting of current PCVs representing different groups and volunteer sectors, the Alliance was able to successfully ship the VR equipment, curriculum, and educational supplies to Ukraine and pilot the program into three summer camps — CASTLE Camp, Camp LEAD, and the 2nd Annual Shatsk Culture Camp, each camp of which had approximately 40, 110, and 90 students in total respectively. A subset of students at these camps worked with a Peace Corps Volunteer, using the VR headsets, communicative activities, and SEL lesson plans to explore social-emotional learning themes in the broader context of their respective camps, which included lessons on multiculturalism and leadership.
RESULTS
As a pilot program, the Alliance was interested in evaluating and learning how best to support volunteers in the field, improve student educational opportunities, and improve implementation procedures. Based on survey feedback, one respondent from one of the camps had indicated that the VR equipment has potential in enhancing students’ understanding of other cultures, in their estimation, and that they would be interested in using the Kinful VR equipment and SEL lesson plans in the future. Also, from this pilot, the Alliance and ICC have learned valuable implementation lessons and best practices for integrating VR technology and SEL curriculum within camp structures.
NEXT STEPS ON THE HORIZON
To follow up on the previously launched pilot, the Alliance and the In-Country Committee plan on supporting additional camps in Summer 2019 with the VR equipment and the SEL curriculum and educational materials. The ICC will soon begin fielding applications from interested PCV camps and will implement in a variety of camps throughout the summer. Based on this iterative learning and collaboration with PCVs and Ukrainian counterparts, the Alliance and the ICC are hopeful to begin implementing over the course of the fall academic semester in schools.