19 IOI-KIDS: An Online Learning Experience on the Sea for Children and Youth Malta IOI Operational Centres Involved: IOI-Malta, located at the University of Malta, Malta (lead partner); IOI-Slovenia, located at the Marine Biology Station, Piran, Slovenia; and IOI-Southern Africa, located at the University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa Project Coordinators: Aldo Drago and Maria Muscat S U M M A R Y IOI-KIDS is a dedicated website about the sea for children, youth, community groups and teachers across the world. It is an innovative outreach interface that uses the Internet as a medium and an avenue for presenting knowledge on the marine environment in an appealing form through interactive games, forums, surveys and informative feature articles. The objective of IOI-KIDS is to share ideas, projects, common issues and experiences among the younger generations so as to enhance knowledge and promote awareness of the marine environment. This initiative has been developed under the IOI Women, Youth and the Sea Programme. It has plans to grow into a system-wide activity of the International Ocean Institute (IOI) involving a wide group of collaborating IOI Operational Centres. 183
184 VOLUME 16: EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCES IN COASTAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT As content builds up, the website is expected to become a marine knowledge resource area and warehouse for young viewers, serving individuals seeking to know more about the sea; teachers sharing information, notes and projects to implement their school curricula; and school pupils needing additional references for their projects. B A C K G R O U N D A N D J U S T I F I C AT I O N Children can easily touch and experience the land environment in their everyday lives. On the other hand, the mysteries and beauty of the sea and the creatures that inhabit it are not easily accessible to the inquisitive eyes and minds of children. School textbooks contain very little information about the sea and the topic is often disregarded or taught as an extra and sideline curriculum activity. The younger generation on the Maltese Islands, for example, lacks adequate knowledge of the marine environment. This is not expected of a country that is surrounded by the sea and that is by tradition considered to be a maritime nation. Such a situation is also common in larger countries, especially in communities living far from the sea. It is not easy to bring to the younger generation the fascinating facts about the oceans and underwater life and to tell the story of its might as well as its vulnerability to human pollution and uncontrolled exploitation. The empowerment of children and youngsters with a solid base of knowledge on the sea is, however, the precursor to their understanding of searelated challenges and can lead to their active participation in tackling issues connected to the sea. Admittedly, more attention has recently been paid to environmental and ocean affairs in school curricula, but this is still not enough. Teachers and students need to go beyond the provisions of current curricula and traditional methods to enrich their knowledge and raise awareness. Thus the primary objective of the IOI-KIDS project is to educate and raise awareness regarding marine and coastal issues and to encourage dialogue, expression and action among primary and secondary school children and educators at the local and international levels. In particular, IOI-KIDS tries to fill the gap in children and youth s understanding of the sea and life in the marine environment through the use of the Internet to animate knowledge about the sea on the computer screens in their homes and touch their minds with colourful games and informative online activities that offer them an interactive learning experience while they play. O B J E C T I V E S The Malta Declaration emanating from the 32 nd Pacem in Maribus conference held in Malta in November 2007 and more specifically the recommendations made at the Youth Ocean Parliament organized within the conference speak of
IOI-KIDS: An Online Learning Experience on the Sea for Children and Youth Malta 185 the need to mobilize the creative energies of youth for the protection of the marine environment and to move beyond the narrow circle of ocean professionals or stakeholders to the broader public, whose knowledge and understanding are the key to a sound ocean policy. In the Pacem in Maribus session on Education, Training and Communications toward the Sustainable Use of the Ocean, the concept of an educational programme that tackles the marine realm holistically was promoted as conducive to responsible citizenship and informed viewpoints on the part of the public. Governments were urged to enhance basic education programmes about the oceans for all children (and citizens in general), covering natural disasters, human impact, ecosystems, oceanography and global warming. Citizens should have opportunities for direct experience with the ocean in combination with education and training on the ocean. The World Wide Web offers the best vehicle for this purpose. The IOI-KIDS website seeks primarily to raise awareness about the sea among the younger generations and to emphasize sea-related topics in school curricula. IOI-KIDS educates the younger generation to adopt an informed and forward-looking approach to the oceans and encourages them to participate in common activities with a focus on the sea. It also aims to provide information resources about the sea specifically for the younger viewers and teaching aids for teachers. The website can also promote communication between schools in coastal regions and those in the inland areas. In this way, children who may never come in contact with the sea can experience it through the eyes of their peers. The use of visual media is a key element in the creation of a form of distance education, awareness-raising and communication of ocean issues especially to children and communities that cannot experience the sea directly. A C H I E V E M E N T S A N D O U T C O M E S In the first phase of the project, the IOI- KIDS website was set up and launched. The Web environment was developed to accommodate the various ideas and to provide a framework to host the key initial online components. Special attention was given to developing a brand design that would attract the attention of youngsters and to initiating the leisure sections in the form of innovative, instructive, colourful and eye-catching online games and quizzes. Each of the games is linked to a marine theme providing instructive material to the viewer while playing. Typical examples are two Matching Pair games based on pictures and short accompanying notes on (a) fish in the Maltese coastal sea, and (b) marine instruments and methods used to make underwater observations. The Eels & Ladders game is adapted from the famous Snakes &
186 VOLUME 16: EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCES IN COASTAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT to the IOI-KIDS website. This attracted a very large number of visitors during the one-month period of online voting. The second phase, started in May 2007, will build on the existing framework to further populate the website. More specifically, IOI-KIDS2 has three principal objectives: Home page of the IOI-KIDS website. Ladders board game. It is played online, linking to interesting snapshot notes on positive and negative fishing practices as a moving piece on the board goes up a ladder or slips down an eel, respectively. Two sections were prepared by the partner centres: IOI-Slovenia and IOI- Southern Africa. They are both selfcontained components, which, however, fit into the overall scope of IOI-KIDS. The one by IOI-Slovenia was written in the language of the country. The most effective boost to the website came in 2006 through the online voting connected with the Artworks Competition that was organized by IOI- Malta. A selection of works of art shortlisted for the final contest was placed online and viewers were invited to vote for those that they preferred while having the opportunity to access and be introduced continue the development of the current sections of the IOI-KIDS website with stronger participation of the present IOI Operational Centres involved and with the inclusion of new partners; further promote the potential of the IOI-KIDS website as a resource for educational and cross-cultural exchanges; and establish activities within IOI- KIDS and through the facilities therein to strengthen the common use of the system across a number of IOI Operational Centres, such as by having common forums, competitions and other interactive activities. During the second phase, outreach activities in schools have been initiated by direct contact and visits to schools, science weeks, youth clubs, summer schools and day-care centres for children. Teachers are being approached to introduce IOI-KIDS to their students and to encourage them to use the website as a resource and to post their contributions. Thematic competitions are being organized to attract children to IOI-KIDS. Other IOI Operational Centres are expected to join in this second phase.
IOI-KIDS: An Online Learning Experience on the Sea for Children and Youth Malta 187 MAIN ELEMENTS OF IOI-KIDS IOI-KIDS is a web-based outreach and educational project that promotes the dissemination of knowledge on the sea among the young, attracting children s attention and inquisitive minds and offering a learning-through-fun experience. It also provides an opportunity for kids to express themselves and to publish their work online. The website offers a warehouse of informative material and thematic lessons and projects for use by teachers to enrich their teaching methods and delivery. It also provides an opportunity for educators and experts on marine issues and subjects to share their knowledge with the young. The IOI-KIDS website is organized to enable easy access to its various components from different entry points. The main elements implemented to date are described below. LEARNING THROUGH FUN EXPERIENCE Presents knowledge on the marine environment through: online lessons, news items, audio and video clips, forums and surveys, interactive games, and informative articles. T H E I O I - K I D S T E A M Provides a facility for the direct involvement of kids from primary and secondary schools to: create web pages to share with others, write articles and news items, inform others of activities and events, participate in online forums and surveys, interact with other kids across the globe, participate in thematic competitions, and team up with their friends to work together on projects. A T E A C H E R S R E S O U R C E Provides teachers with additional material to enrich their lessons in line with national curricula and encourages experts and educators in marine and environmentrelated fields to submit resources for online publication to share with other teachers and students. I O I - K I D S G A M E S A N D Q U I Z Z E S Presents basic knowledge on the marine environment to children through interactive games and quizzes. A number of games and quizzes are already online. Others were being planned and would be launched in 2008. I N F O 4 K I D S An educational web resource about the sea for both kids and educators, offering online lessons, special notes and articles that complement school curricula as well as articles to raise awareness of marinerelated issues. Educators, experts on marine and coastal affairs, writers and representatives of educational, environ-
188 VOLUME 16: EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCES IN COASTAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT mental and other organizations are being encouraged to add contributions to this section. A section on ships and seafarers written in the Maltese language is already online. Other informative contributions in the form of short lectures and notes were in the process of being finalized at the time of writing of this case study and would be launched in the first half of 2008. I O I - K I D S N E W S A dedicated section for the publication of news items about the sea and notifications of events and activities. It contains links to useful advertisements and alerts that kids should be aware of or that they would be interested in learning about in more detail. Children are being urged to join the IOI-KIDS News Team as young journalists on maritime affairs and contribute their own stories to this section. The news items can relate to marine and coastal issues of a local, national, regional or global nature. Some news items, together with related audio and video clips, are already online and more will be added over the coming months. I O I - K I D S I N T E R N AT I O N A L This section links to partner websites. To date, two partner websites (IOI-Slovenia and IOI-Southern Africa) have been launched. Other contributions were expected in 2008. U S E F U L L I N K S Provides links to websites offering further information and resources relating to the marine and coastal environment. A number of links are already online. A B O U T I O I Introduces the IOI mission to all visitors to the website. I O I - K I D S P R O J E C T S A section intended to provide a web space where kids can share their projects or special reports on the sea with others through online publishing. It will host kids projects, including web pages, writeups, drawings and other works of art, posters and messages, stories and poems. This will be an opportunity for children to use their creativity, see their work published online and pass on messages about the sea to other kids. In the summer of 2007, a campaign was launched among children s summer clubs, and a number of contributions in the form of drawings and messages about the sea were received. Further planned outreach among schools and in the local media will help to attract more contributions. T H E I O I - K I D S O P I N I O N A section of the website still under development where kids and educators can voice their thoughts and exchange views about marine affairs and a variety of topics pertaining to the marine and coastal environment as well as to related studies. It is intended to promote intercultural and cross-cultural exchanges and experiences through online forums and surveys. This section would be launched in 2008.
IOI-KIDS: An Online Learning Experience on the Sea for Children and Youth Malta 189 S T R E N G T H S A N D W E A K N E S S E S The weaknesses of the project are linked primarily to the limited financial resources available and the lack of specialized and qualified staff for information technology development, design and animations, and for the generation of new and updated content. There is also a need for a well-planned and targeted promotional strategy exploiting the media. This is also very demanding in terms of human resources. Innovative ideas and inputs offered on a regular basis are necessary in order to attract and sustain the interest of children and others, but this requires efforts especially to sustain the project over the long term. S U S T A I N A B I L I T Y The project is expected to become selfsustaining when all of the components of the IOI-KIDS website have been developed and the target audience has shown enough interest. Once the framework and structure of the website have been set up, the running and most of the maintenance can be done in-house at drastically reduced costs; the more technical aspects and development will continue to require outsourcing. A regular source of funds is therefore necessary. This will be sought through partnerships for joint production and ownership as well as through revenuegenerating activities such as online advertisements, especially targeting youth, or the sponsorship of specific activities or components of the website. Partnering with leading children s web initiatives and international publishing houses is also being considered. Funding may also come from agencies supporting educational and public-awareness initiatives. The level of sustainability will also depend on the extent to which the website succeeds in growing in popularity and on the volume of voluntary contributions that it attracts, especially from teachers and educational experts. Raising the profile of IOI-KIDS and the branding of the website as an online reference book and portal for educational information and activities relating to the sea will be key elements for success. Furthermore, the level of usage by the young viewers will be not only a measuring stick of its usefulness but also an index with which to entice sponsorships. F U T U R E P L A N S As IOI-KIDS continues to evolve, its great potential as a virtual resource and space for information exchange about the sea will further emerge. As its content builds up, it is expected to attract the attention of teachers as a supplement to schoolbooks and as a facility where teachers can add to their notes, post their didactic material and share information with other colleagues across schools and countries. The intention is to promote the posting of content on the website directly by the users themselves.
190 VOLUME 16: EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL EXPERIENCES IN COASTAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IOI-KIDS provides a web framework and prolific medium for kids and educators to exchange opinions; share ideas, projects and experiences; and join in virtual dialogue on topics relating to the marine environment. This function will be enhanced in the future by developing the website in line with state-of-the-art web technology that enables direct inputs of content by the users such as through the forum space or through the conduct of online surveys. This will promote interaction between teachers, between students and between schools. The IOI-KIDS project has plans to grow into an IOI system-wide initiative that embraces many IOI Operational Centres. It will serve to strengthen the IOI network by bringing together focal centres in different regions to work together through complementary contributions and the sharing of ideas and activities. The initiative will bring capacities and contributions from many IOI Operational Centres together within a common framework and shared goals, and it will give great impetus to the potential of the IOI network. Contacts Aldo Drago, Director of IOI-Malta, or Maria Muscat, Project Assistant IOI-Malta Operational Centre 43/1 Valley Road Birkirkara Malta Tel. +356 21 440972 E-mail: ioi-kids@capemalta.net. Website: www.ioikids.net.