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Mention the words "chat" or "social networking" to a group of educators, and you'll likely send most of them running in the opposite direction. "It's not safe." "Our filters block that sort of thing." "What does that have to do with education." "They're just time wasters." Web 2.0 technologies present a challenge for schools. Do we "beat 'em," or do we "join 'em"? Do we protect students or do we accept that social networking will persist and take on the challenge of teaching students to become responsible netizens? As a growing number of teachers and librarians are finding out, those two options need not be mutually exclusive.
In November of 2006, School Library Journal hosted its second annual SLJ Leadership Summit with the theme "Learning in the 21st Century: The Role of the Library Media Program." Participants heard the important message that to remain relevant, librarians (and classroom teachers!) must meet learners in their electronic environments. They need to model the use of emerging technologies and break down barriers to using those technologies in schools. Whyville, a virtual world created by Numedeon, Inc., can help us do that. Sixteen universities, including Arizona State's College of Education and Harvard's Graduate School of Education, are already using Whyville as part of their teacher education programs. With more than two million registered users and web traffic that would make Google envious, Whyville is a community to be reckoned with.
Whyville.net, created for children ages 8-15, with the goal of making learning fun, is founded on constructivist, inquiry-based pedagogy that "equates learning with engagement."("Educational Outreach, Whyville") Numedeon states that "everyone, especially children, learn[s] best by doing..."("Whyville's Educational Games") To that end, the designers created a real-world simulation complete with government, commerce, recreation opportunities, and a newspaper. Users are referred to as citizens and are expected to practice good citizenship. They can watch live debates, vote in elections, build houses, solve environmental problems, earn a salary ("clams" in Whyspeak), and create a business. Two of the ways citizens are expected to keep their community safe and healthy are by monitoring each other in chat situations and by helping to solve community health problems such as an outbreak of virtual WhyPox. In these ways, citizens help set community standards.
| At the same time, individuality is encouraged. All citizens start with a generic "newbie face." Once a citizen starts playing some games and participating in activities to earn clams, they can "buy" unique face parts for their avatar or even design their own. Alternately, they can go to "Grandma's" to see what freebies are available. |
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Whyville is also open to teachers who are given special privileges to manage their students online. After creating an account, teachers are given a link that their students must use to register in order to be part of the teacher's roster. Students registered in this way will have whatever privileges the teacher allows, including chat if the teacher sends Numedeon signed parental permission slips. In order to prevent someone from falsely registering as a teacher, registrants must provide their school name, principal's name and phone number and the college from which the teacher received or is working on a degree. Whyville actually checks these references by contacting the school or college before giving someone teacher privileges. Once their information is verified, teachers will receive an e-mail notice and a blank class roster is placed in their Whyville backpack.
What makes Whyville an attractive classroom tool is its educational value and its emphasis on safety. Whyville is a tool for teaching 21st century skills, such as those advocated by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an education reform advocacy group of which the American Association of School Librarians is a member. Though Whyville's creators are not connected to the Partnership, Whyville does provide an avenue to bridge the gap between what is taught in the classroom and what is necessary to be successful in real-world environments. The community's setup and the games address all of the key areas identified by this group as critical to strengthening American education: core subjects, 21st century content, learning and thinking skills, information and communications technology literacy, life skills and 21st century assessments. (Framework for 21st).
| Whyville is differentiated from other virtual worlds for young students such as Webkinz and Club Penguin because, on nearly every activity or game, citizens must use critical thinking and problem-solving skills to be successful. In each situation, citizens synthesize, interpret, predict and apply new knowledge. |
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They are encouraged to collaborate with other citizens, use their creativity, and practice social responsibility. While not initially organized into working groups, citizens with a social cause or community can ask others for help or support via chat, articles in The Whyville Times or a comment posted to one of the community bulletin boards. Additionally, some of the games have been designed to be extremely difficult to win unless one Whyvillian helps another. In other words, it's not all about the "clams" but rather about cooperation and collaboration.
Though Whyville is technically advertising free, most games and activities are sponsored by organizations such as Toyota, NASA, the Centers for Disease Control, and the School Nutrition Association. Sponsorship is usually reflected in the name of a game or destination, but sponsors may also have billboards. Sponsoring organizations, with the possible exception of Toyota, are not in Whyville to sell products, but rather to lend their names to educational activities relevant to the sponsor's mission. Curricular areas such as math, science, civics, health, languages, art, social studies and economics are explored through activities like Kinematic Attic (Sisters in Science), Geodig Safari (NeoSci), Getty Gallery (J. Paul Getty Trust), and Scion Solutions (Toyota Financial).
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Whyville encourages not only learning but also civic engagement. Citizens can contribute to The Whyville Times, a weekly newspaper with articles written about Whyville and real world issues. At Whyville Beach, citizens can take a sample of the water then visit the Phytoplankton Lab (sponsored by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) to learn to identify which phytoplankton is in the water they collected. They then learn the causes of phytoplankton blooms and what preventive measures are available. Next they can hop in a boat with a special sensor and track the blooms at Whyville's beaches. Once they've analyzed enough data to find the source of the pollution that causes phytoplankton blooms, Whyvillians can choose to plant marsh grass seedlings to help control future blooms. Citizens who join WhyEat (sponsored by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio) can learn about nutrition, plan daily meals by selecting from among hundreds of food and drink choices, and earn clams for making healthy choices each day. Conversely, if they haven't been eating well, their avatar begins to look sickly or appears with a bandage on its head, and they are referred to the Whyville nutritionist. |
Safety is an integral part of the Whyville community. Before new citizens may chat, they must visit Whyville on three different days to read the rules, observe and explore. New citizens are not guided through this process, but they can go to the newbie lounge to ask questions of the volunteer on duty. If they are under age 13, then a parent permission slip must be signed and snail mailed to Whyville's managers, aka "city workers." Youngsters must provide a parent e-mail so that the city workers in Whyville can verify the registration. Everyone must also pass a chat license exam which, incidentally, wasn't so easy for this experienced librarian!
| Whyville city workers record all chats and review them every day. Citizens who abuse chat may have virtual duct tape stuck across their avatar's mouth for a period of time, have some of their clams deducted as a fine, or be banished from the community altogether. Obscene, bigoted, threatening or harassing language, personal attacks, revelation of personal contact information and posting of advertisements or solicitations by citizens are violations of Whyville's chat policies. Citizens also have the ability to "silence" or "vaporize" someone who is annoying them in chat, or, if they observe a chat that violates Whyville's community rules, they may make a Whyville "911 report." If an individual citizen doesn't want to "hear" certain words or phrases, a personal chat filter is also available. When posting comments on a discussion board, users are somewhat limited in their word choice and a citizen may be asked to rephrase a posting which, at least to this librarian, seemed to be an innocent combination of words. |
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As in the real world, there are instances in Whyville when there is a difference between the "haves" and the "have nots." Whyville has become so popular that it is sometimes hard to log into the community during peak evening and weekend times. For a fee, citizens can purchase a WhyPass paid for by parents with real money that gives them priority access. Citizens who recruit new members of the community earn virtual Street Team tags that give them access to certain parts of Whyville such as Whyville Cove. Additionally, the more WhyPasses those new recruits purchase, the more free WhyPasses the recruiter earns. Active community members who earn lots of clams can purchase membership in ClubWhy, which allows them to try beta versions of new games and go to a Club Why members-only chat room where they can have exclusive chats with Whyville city workers.
If you have never participated in this type of online activity, you have to be willing to devote the time necessary to figure out how to play the games and navigate the community. The Newbie Center does have helpful information to get new citizens started, but there are no FAQ's for some of the more technical questions newbies might have. Whyville's creators are working to flatten the learning curve by providing more online tutorials both for users unfamiliar with Web 2.0 technology and for those who need additional instructions during discovery learning. Designated experienced community members, called Y-mail Helpers, volunteer to answer questions via the town's y-mail system but they are not always available to answer their mail. It is gratifying to see that, during a chat, one Whyvillian will spontaneously answer questions for others -- a good example of practical citizenship. For the newbie, patience, persistence and trial-and-error can get you on your way. And Whyville can become addictive!
What does School Library 2.0 mean in the Web 2.0 world? It includes librarians who embrace the use of emerging technologies, empower inquiry-based learning, collaborate with students to learn from them - playfully and creatively - and expand library services beyond the physical space. Joining the Whyville community with a group of students to explore its value in learning is one way in which librarians can continue to model the best of what 21st century learning is all about.
Works Cited
Club Penguin. New Horizon Interactive. (2007). Available at < http://www.clubpenguin.com >. Accessed 3 September 2007.
Ganz (2005-2007). Webkinz. Available at < http://www.webkinz.com >. Accessed 3 September 2007.
Numedeon, Inc. (2006). "Educational Outreach, Whyville Style." Whyville. Available at < http://b.whyville.net/top/pdf/whyville_educational_games.pdf > Accessed 3 September 2007.
Numedeon, Inc. (2007). "Whyville's Educational Games." Whyville. Available at <http://b.whyville.net/top/pdf/whyville_educational_games.pdf >. AccessedSeptember 2007.
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2004) "Framework for 21st Century Learning." Available at <http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=254&Itemid=120 >. Accessed 3 September 2007.
Whyville Sponsors Mentioned
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), <http://www.cdc.gov>
J. Paul Getty Trust, <http://www.getty.edu>
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), < http://www.nasa.gov>
Neo/Sci, < http://www.schoolnutrition.org >
Sisters in ScienceTM, LLC, <http://www.sistersinscience.org >
Toyota Financial Services, <http://www.toyotafinancial.com>
Toyota Motor Corporation, <http://www.toyota.com>
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, <http://www.uthscsa.edu>
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, <http://www.whoi.edu>
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