A Webkinz studio… $1000 Kinzcash
Two animated actors… $150
One virtual playground set… $100
Grade 1&2’s working online and in class with Grade 4 & 5 Buddies…priceless

Grade 1/2 students and their grade 4/5  “big buddies” have just finished up a social responsibility project. The topic: solving problems in peaceful ways. The medium to display their learning: a computer animation application in Webkinz World called Webkinz Studio. Together the buddies drafted a script based on a common playground problem and possible solution, chose their actors, designed a set, inputted lines and then chose a musical score. The result, a powerful short animated presentation on the big screen.

Do you ever feel like the kids are racing ahead in the digital world? They are so comfortable interacting, connecting and generally enhancing their physical lives with technology. Such was the case when just six months ago my daughter, Kendal six at the time, begged and pleaded for me to purchase one of these web-based pets called Webkinz. After searching high and low for these much sought after creatures, we found a one at a local toy store and hurried home to plug in it’s special code on the Webkinz website. After a few registration questions we had adopted our new virtual pet, a Chihuahua named Ashley.

Being an involved father and taking some interest in my daughter’s new obsession, I began to realize the complexity of this pet and the world it lived in. One not only needed to care for, feed, dress, play with, and build a home for this pet, but one could also apply for and get a job to make money to pay for it all!
 
As an adult, however, we are all a little cautious about the pitfalls of our students “existing” in a digital world. I often wonder who will guide and model for them the values and skills needed to be responsible in this new frontier.  For my daughter, the real learning for me came when she revealed that she had used her friend’s user name and password to go online and visit her friend’s pet. She was unable to sleep that night because she had used some of her friend’s money to buy the pet a treat and her friend had found out. My fears were confirmed!

Fortunately, I realized this was the opportunity to “parent” my daughter in a real “virtual” situation. After a brief conversation around respect and privacy, I left her feeling relieved that I was having this conversation around spending pretend cash on a virtual pet when she was seven now rather than when she was thirteen after she had cyber bullied some friend who had wronged her.

A few days later Kendal looked over at me from the computer where she had just played an online game of checkers with a fellow Webkinz owner and said, “Dad, they said that they want to be my friend, what should I do?” Parenting opportunity #2! This was of particular interest to me as an educator and presenter on Internet Safety with my philosophy based around “connecting” with your children through technology. What should she do? I immediately seized the opportunity to ask her some questions. Do you know this person? What do they know about you? Why do they want you to be their friend? In the end, she decided she didn’t know enough about this person and decided to say no.

After some thought, I wondered if Webkinz could be a way to connect with this young generation and help them learn and understand the nuances of the Internet? I recognized that by having my grade 4/5 students, for whom I taught personal planning, buddy up with some younger students and adopt their own Webkinz pet, they could explore this world and learn at the same time. To this end the learning journey began. Over the past three months I have had the two classes get together at least once a week to engage with each other and interact with their pets. In the early stages I worked with the older students and we brainstormed learning topics that we could base our visits around. Topics ranged from online safety and numeracy to literacy-based activities and social responsibility.

As we moved deeper and deeper into the Webkinz World we started to realize the incredible potential. Students were going online outside the world to get recipes to create meals and beverages for their pets for which they were rewarded with Kinzcash. Students also quickly realized that getting a job and completing it everyday would earn them more money than playing games. Students used this money to buy furniture, create theme based rooms and yards to entertain their pets. It was amazing to note the ease at which students navigated their pet’s movement through houses that had up to nine different areas. Students interacted with each other sharing tips and tricks and engaged in online discussion using the Kinzchat area where students select pre-constructed messages from chat menus and later used the KinzChat PLUS Area where messages are limited to words from a restricted dictionary.

As an educator, technology and children’s interaction within it was finally making sense to me. Learning was not bound by the walls of the classroom, children were thinking critically and making independent decisions, a whole new virtual world had opened up for them where they were in charge. Many stretched the boundaries of learning by pursuing their sense of wonder and creativity outside the classroom. Our grade 4/5 buddies were entrusted in a mentoring role with these young learners, which provided them with their own powerful learning experiences around social interaction and responsibility. Many parents were exposed to the incredible learning technology has to offer. I myself realized the potential of empowering young students to take ownership over their learning using the tools that are comfortable and meaningful to them. Who would have thought that an online version of a stuffed animal could provide such engagement and learning? – My daughter, and the students in my classes that’s who!