Teenovate: Using Intergenerational Participatory Design to Teach Students about Adolescent Online Safety

Abstract

One of the best ways to teach child-computer interaction (CCI) is by doing. We present a new program that we are developing called “Teenovate,” which will be an intergenerational participatory design group comprised of college students (undergraduate and graduate) and adolescents (ages 13-17). Teenovate members will act as both co-designers and co-researchers to generate innovative design-based solutions to salient adolescent online safety challenges and evaluate the effectiveness of these approaches. Teenovate is meant to be a sustainable educational program for Computer Science students taking the college-level introductory course on participatory design methods, as well as the teens enrolled in the program. Thus, it would be an invaluable opportunityfor us to attend an IDC workshop focused on curriculum development for teaching CCI to students.

Keywords: Human-Computer Interaction, Child-Computer Interaction, Participatory Design, Teaching