CAREER: Virtual communities of learning and care: multi-user virtual environments that promote positive youth development

Tufts University, Medford MA

Investigators

Abstract

This CAREER project aims to develop a research and education program to foster positive and healthy youth development through the use of multi-user, virtual environments called identity construction environments (ICEs), which are hypothesized to foster new kinds of communities of learning and care. One context where such technologies may have the most impact is in situations where youth might otherwise be isolated and in danger of developing mental health-related problems. The PI will work with youth at the Boston Children's Hospital that have suffered severe renal and cardiac failure and who wouldn't otherwise survive without medical interventions such as heart and kidney transplants. An applied developmental model provides a framework to design ICEs. It also provides a model for doing research in complex real world settings. It is hypothesized that ICEs will 1) promote positive youth development (measured as competence, connection, character, confidence, caring and contribution to civil society), 2) complement and augment face-to-face psychosocial interventions, and 3) that the positive effects are due to design features and the nature of online activities that engage youth in cognitive, social and emotional development. Educational activities include research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in an interdisciplinary research group, service learning in healthcare and community-based settings, new courses and curricula for students from a variety of disciplines: education, mental health, engineering and computer science.