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Vol.30 No.3, July 1998
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I looked at the calendar the other day and realized that it's been over a year since I started this column. In that time, I've had the good fortune to hear from a number of you. I've learned a great deal thanks to your questions, comments, and concerns about this growing field of kids and technology. One person recently emailed me with this to say:
I would like to move my focus of work toward educational software for children. I would want to be in a position where I have direct contact with kids from the start of the development process-not just doing straight design based on someone else's list of requirements. I have defined this as a goal and now I have many questions on how to get started.
- Is there any literature on technology in education that you would recommend?
- In terms of type of companies, where should I look and what should I look for?
- What type of training (grad school in multimedia or education) might be useful for me?
(Personal Correspondence, email, February, 1998)
This email is typical of the numerous questions people have shared with me. In the past year, I've come to realize that there are many people who want to change their existing jobs and move into this field. There are also numerous people completing undergraduate or graduate degrees, who are wondering what they might do next in this growing area of interest. In addition, there are also many people who would like more education in this area, but are wondering what that means.
Since I stumbled my way into this field a while ago, I realized that I might not be the best person to answer these numerous questions. Therefore, I decided to ask my own questions to the CHI-Kids@acm.org listserv. In the past year, this listserv has grown to include over 200 participants from all over the world who are interested in technology and kids. In January, I asked this group the following 4 questions:
Only 5% of the listserv participants responded to my questions, but I found them 100% helpful! So what follows is a quick summary of those responses.
To begin with, people described their initial exposure to working with kids came from either a job experience, time in a university, having a kids of their own, or a volunteer experience. For example, one respondent explained, "When my first daughter was born I suddenly became interested in kids and computers. I wrote some HyperCard `games' for her; pictures of the family, pets, etc. that talked, meowed, etc. when the mouse rolled over them" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998).
Another respondent described, "Going back 5 years, working in a graduate program in Educational Technology, I had the opportunity to first get involved in projects to develop new kinds of software aimed at helping kids consider problems more critically and learn more effectively. That was the catapult that eventually brought me into my current position, where designing software systems for kids and young adults is my daily bread" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998).
The next question, "What helped you the most in getting into this field?" is probably the most frequently asked question I receive from readers of this column. Therefore, I was very interested to hear that our respondents answered in a variety of ways. They explained what helped them included, supportive friends with job leads; one job leading to another job; going back to graduate school for more education in this area; reading the literature of the field (e.g., Seymour Papert's books, Piaget's work, Marsha Kinder's work and Neil Postman's books). In addition, most of the respondents discussed being inspired by leaders in this field (e.g., Alan Kay, Donald Norman, Seymour Papert and John Seely Brown). All of the respondents discussed at least two or more ways of getting into the field. This leads me to believe that there's no one way to have it happen, but a combination of approaches is useful.
In regards to the education of the survey respondents, there was a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences, from a BA in linguistics from Stanford University, to a "Ph.D. in-process" from University of Missouri-Columbia, to a MA in visual anthropology at Temple University, to a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon University. The group was evenly split between people with backgrounds in visual art, education, sociology/psychology, and computer science. What was most interesting was the interdisciplinary nature of many people's education. For example one respondent shared, "I have a BA in Communication from UC San Diego, and MA in Visual Anthropology from Temple University, and am completing my Ph.D. in Film at University of Southern California" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998). Another respondent said that they had, "BAs from Brown in computer science and studio art. MS from Rochester Institute of Technology in computer science" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998). These survey results led me to believe that people are coming to this field from numerous educational paths with a wide variety of experiences. Is this because the field is new? Or is this because the work in this field is inherently interdisciplinary? It is hard to say. What does seem to be a safe bet, is that many paths can lead to involvement in this growing field of kids and technology.
Finally, to the last and probably most important question: "If someone told you that they want to do what you do, what suggestions could you give them in getting started?" Again, our respondents shared a variety of thoughts. The most common of these suggestions was to "Network like crazy". As one person pointed out, "I wrote and called everyone I could find names for, and completed informational interviews at over 20 software companies" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998). Another explained, "Be willing to take on work that might not be exactly what you want at first, and make contacts that will help you get the work you do want. Then pursue those contacts! (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998).
Respondents also had many other suggestions. They advised that it is important to volunteer anywhere you can to acquire the experience you need. Others suggested "learning the right things" and these "right" things included Human-Computer Interaction, child development, visual design, and curriculum development. It is interesting to note that none of the survey respondents suggested that learning to program better would help in this field. Many did suggest that spending time with "real live kids" is a must (that's my personal favorite-but we'll leave that for another column). One respondent summarized it well in this way, "The bottom line is that writing software for kids demands an understanding of their development, in many cases an understanding of human learning (and how it changes over the life-span), and an appreciation for good user-interface design. These issues are all linked to the software development process, so understanding that, too, is not a bad idea. But I'd spend about 80% of my time learning about learning, about HCI, and about a kid's mental world" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998).
In addition to these suggestions, many respondents strongly advised reading anything and everything there is to read in this area. They pointed out such magazines as ACM's interactions and listservs such as CHI-Kids@acm.org were invaluable. Respondents also suggested immersing yourself in what products are out in the commercial world. A number of people suggested spending time in computer stores. As one person explained her experience, "(I) Hung out at (a) computer store and made friends with the owner--whole staff helped me win the Apple grant (thanked them in Fortune magazine when I `made it' at the Learning Company). Computer store staff said I was lucky Fortune didn't ask them what I was doing with my kid in their store" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998).
Finally, our respondents explained that if you want to be successful in this emerging area of kids and technology, you need to follow your passion and know your dream. As one person most eloquently explained, "To follow one's passions is the best advice I can give for any endeavor. I think one will do best at something they love. So one must love children, find them interesting people and respect their culture in order to have a sensitive eye and ear to their activities and opinions" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998).
Another equally eloquent response was offered by another person: "First, get completely clear about what your dream is. What touching events have moved you that you are really interested in doing something for other people? When you know, tell everyone you meet until you are really good at the story--my daughter can't believe I do this at Safeway with the checker. Everyone hears my pitch. If you know me, you have heard my pitch, which starts, `I'm so excited. I know this is going to work. You want to be part of this?'" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998).
I think above all, my favorite thought came from a respondent who said, "Find something you want to do that nothing on earth can stop you" (Personal Correspondence, email, January, 1998). Obviously, that may be sound advice that can apply to many different areas of interest, but it's still very important for this growing new domain. Thanks to the interdisciplinary nature of the field, the variety of opportunities that can be found are exciting. Yet, the lack of one clear-cut path to get to those opportunities may be daunting. So to all of you that are following your passion on uncharted roads, all I can say is don't give up. There's nothing like bringing kids together with great technology that can support exciting learning opportunities for the future.
This column could not have been written without the response of listserv volunteers from CHI-Kids@acm.org. In addition, this column would not have been conceived without the invaluable feedback from readers of this column. To all of you, I say thanks!
If you would like to subscribe to the CHI-Kids@acm.org discussion list, send e-mail to listserv@acm.org and type in the message area:
subscribe chi-kids Yourfirstname Yourlastname.
Read more about the CHI-Kids on this site: http://www.acm.org/sigchi/kids/
Allison Druin
CHI-Bulletin-Kids@acm.org
http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~allisond/
Allison Druin is a University of Maryland faculty member in the College of Education and the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL). Currently she is editing a new book entitled, The Design of Children's Technology: How We Design, What We Design and Why, to be published by Morgan Kaufmann.
University of Maryland College Park
Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory and College of Education
allisond@umiacs.umd.edu
www.umiacs.umd.edu/~allisond
Phone: +1-301-405-7406
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