GENERATION YES

Special to NECC, Philadelphia, PA - June 27, 2005 - Generation YES® today announces a major upgrade and name change to its flagship Gen Y program. Now known as GenYES, this name change comes as the model approaches 10 years of effective use by over 1,000 schools across the country. In addition to the name change, the resources have again been expanded and refined to better support schools implementing the model.

"We realized that the name "Gen Y" was becoming a common-place term for a small segment of the population that is rapidly growing older", says Dr. Dennis Harper, CEO of Generation YES - Youth and Educators Succeeding. "We wanted to make sure that as new students enter school, our program was relevant to them. The name change ensures that this model will remain focused on the needs of K-12 students, now and in the future."

GenYES is a program where students learn technology skills with an emphasis on applying these skills to a real-world problem: helping teachers use technology to deliver more effective lessons. Students collaborate with teachers in every subject area to use tools such as email, presentations, the Internet, and video production to enhance lesson plans and curriculum units. GenYES students support school-wide teacher professional development initiatives and new hardware.

New Tools and Resources

Starting with the Fall 2005 school year, GenYES schools will have a rich new set of tools, resources and materials that are more powerful and customized than ever before.

• New program and curriculum guide
• Online tool enhancements
• Separate elementary and secondary versions
• New Collaboration Guide

These new features are in response to the needs of GenYES schools, the experience of GenYES schools, and the advance of online collaboration tools found on the Internet.

New Program and Curriculum Guide
The new GenYES Program and Curriculum Guide replaces the current guide that was written over 5 years ago. "This guide book the lessons we've learned over the past 5 years and the collected wisdom of many GenYES teachers," says Dr. Dennis Harper, Founder and CEO of Generation YES. "We've added units and lessons on new technology that reflect the changes in classrooms over the past 5 years." The technology units teach students the most commonly used technology used in classrooms: video and moviemaking, web research skills, multi-media, presentation skills, and more. In addition, there are 3 units that teach students how to help teachers. This is the key to the GenYES model - teaching students how to be effective support for teachers integrating technology. These units cover project planning, collaboration, and people skills.

New additions include:
• mini-units for schools using specific technology - handhelds, laptops, active whiteboards and more
• quick project guides to help GenYES students and their partner-teachers to more effectively use common software applications used in schools such as PowerPoint®, Inspiration®, ImageBlender®, and more.
• Resources and handouts for parents, teachers, administrators and students
• Case studies from successful GenYES schools

New Collaboration Guide
Starting Fall 2005, GenYES students will each receive a new Collaboration Guide to guide the collaboration with their partner-teacher. This guide will lead the GenYES student and partner-teacher through the GenYES process of creating a technology-infused project for that teachers' curriculum. Schools will have a choice between two versions of the Collaboration Guide, elementary or secondary.

This full-color, 20 page guide gives students and partner-teachers an easy way to learn about the GenYES program and follow the steps to create a technology integrated project for that teacher's classroom. By working together with the Collaboration Guide and the archive of exemplary GenYES project samples, partner-teachers see that the GenYES student is prepared to provide high-quality support for their technology needs.

"We are very excited about the new Collaboration Guides," says Andrea Pokrzywinski, Director Of Educational Technology at the Cooperative Educational Service Agency 12 in northern Wisconsin. "We are strong believers in the power of the GenYES model because we?ve seen the results for the past 5 years. We were pleased that our teachers and students were asked for their input in the process of creating these new resources to help teachers integrate technology. These guides are going to make a good thing even better."

21st Century Tools for 21st Century Students
The GenYES online tool set has been updated to include the most advanced community and communication tools found on the Internet. These tools help create a dynamic, collaborative environment that not only allows the student to work on GenYES projects, but also allows the teacher to manage students whether in a class or after-school environment.

"Last year we introduced a blog tool into our online toolset," says Dr. Harper, "we were astounded at the increase in student writing and how much more reflective the student writing became. The students knew that a blog is for reflective writing, they see this because they are on the web reading and writing blogs. The students are clearly telling us that by giving them tools that match their experiences in the real world, they will use these tools effectively in academic pursuits."

The tools on the GenYES members-only website give students and teachers the capabilities needed for a dynamic 21st century classroom. The GenYES teacher is able to completely control which tools appear for student use. This allows teachers to start younger students with a simple interface, and then bring new tools on as needed. This also allows teachers to use or not use the tools that they feel are best for their students.

Student Home Page
• Message Center - Consolidates blog postings from teacher to whole class
• Project overview

Teacher Home Page
• Teacher Management - Summarizes student project work and consultant feedback
• Classroom Blogroll - conveniently allows teachers to read student blog entries
• Classroom management settings
• Message Center - Can send messages to the whole class
• Instant survey analysis

Project Organizing and Reporting Tool (PORT)
• GenYES student and partner-teacher work online to build integrated technology units for the partner-teachers classroom
• Online feedback from subject and grade level experts
• Connects to state content standards and ISTE NETs standards
• Organizes work for team or individual student projects
• Allows student and partner-teacher access to customized resources

Available Immediately
The new GenYES Program and Curriculum guide, online tools and Collaboration Guide are available to schools immediately. Most schools will start using the new tools as they begin the Fall 2005 school year.

Generation YES Corp.
Generation YES works with schools all around the world to plan, implement and enhance student technology programs through consulting, innovative curriculum and research-based support services. (https://www.genyes.com)

Generation YES, Gen Y, GenYES and Generation TECH are trademarks or registered trademarks of Generation YES Corp. All rights reserved. All other marks are property of their respective owners.

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For more information:
Sylvia Martinez, Generation YES
(888) 941-4369 x107
[email protected]
NECC Booth: 1948/1950

Press Release site: https://genyes.com/news/pressreleases/07205
Generation YES site: https://www.genyes.com
GenYES program information site: https://www.genyes.com/programs/geny