Global Teenager Project (GTP)

GTP uses ICTs to enable 2-way communication between students around the world - a strategy to shift the focus from teaching to learning with introductory and participatory forms of education. ICTs are used to facilitate communication and learning between students in different countries, thereby intending to stimulate cross-cultural understanding. GTP uses ICTs to build educational impact on the ground through improved learning content, new teaching methods, and local capacity development, networking, and use of ICTs. The focus is on individual teenagers, using ICTs to make their educational experience more stimulating, challenging, and ultimately more relevant in today's information societies.

GTP uses email and the internet to develop discussion among both local and international students. GTP's primary activity along these lines is Learning Circles - web-based, virtual environments for intercultural exchange. Twice a year, clusters of 8-12 classes from different schools link up via email to discuss a theme of their choice for 10 weeks; the outcomes of their discussions are posted real-time on the Virtual Campus website. Project activities also include: capacity building of teachers and students in ICT, participation in international learning circles, participation in web contests, and integration of ICT in everyday classroom teaching. Specifically, GTP aims to help develop a cooperative and collaborative work strategy by: building the capacity of teachers to use ICTs; training teachers in basic ICT skills; conducting a GTP learning circle concept workshop for teachers; training teachers/students in web design skills; conducting web contests; and organising an "open day" to profile deserving heads of school, teachers, and students.

Within individual countries, various projects are formulated as part of the GTP network. In Jamaica, for instance, a project at Jamaica Computer Society Education Foundation (JCSEF) involved diverse schools on the island connecting through national Learning Circles. A 3-step activity programme is running in Bolivia that is designed to introduce ICT in schools. And, in Ghana, students have an opportunity to learn and communicate with their peers in the Netherlands, Jamaica, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Romania, Latvia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, the United States (US), Macedonia, Jordan Egypt, Suriname, Mali, and Burkina Faso - through email and the internet.

GTP also organises collaborative projects, joint workshops, conferences, and chat sessions. In 1999, IICD and MediaPlaza set up a fellowship - The Johan Kooij Fellowship (JKF) - which provides the Country Coordinators with an annual network event somewhere in the world. There are currently 20 IICD-appointed Country Coordinators working to provide support and guidance to all the GTP schools, teachers, and students in their respective countries.

Partnership is a central GTP strategy. For example, a joint educational project with the Anne Frank Foundation called 'Respecting Differences' aims to promote tolerance and instil a sense of awareness of human rights and responsibilities among young people. GTP and SchoolNet Africa plan to combine their efforts to expand the number of countries in the GTP, combine forces in a pan-African workshop on ICTs in schools, and share knowledge in research projects. Schoolsonline and GTP hope to integrate hardware, software, training, and educational content in the activities of secondary schools in Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon.

Youth, Technology, Cross-Cultural Understanding.