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International Conference on the Fifth Dimension and University-Community Links
On January 30th and 31st, 2003, UC Links hosted an International Conference on the Fifth Dimension and University-Community Links in San Diego. The conference brought together faculty, students, and program coordinators from around the world to discuss the theory and practice of informal learning in after-school programs. Representatives from Sweden, Denmark, Spain, North Carolina, and Delaware joined their California colleagues from eight UC campuses, three CSU campuses, one private college, and numerous K-12 schools and community organizations.
"At the conference it was clear that we've reached a new stage in the UC Links program," said Executive Director Charles Underwood. "People are now more ready and eager to collaborate, not only locally, which they've always done, but across sites and internationally."
UC Links faculty and staff presently operate 32 after-school program sites, serving more than 4000 K-12 and undergraduate students throughout the state. Their counterparts are engaged in similar programs run collaboratively by universities and communities, primarily in Europe and Latin America. Many of the sites are local adaptations of the Fifth Dimension, a model for after-school learning based on Vygotskian principles, originally developed by Professors Michael Cole and Olga Vásquez and their colleagues at UC San Diego.
At the San Diego conference, participants shared information about after-school activities, research interests, and strategies for sustaining programs. Delegates from Sweden, Denmark, and Spain reported on their international collaboration, funded in part by the European Union, to coordinate learning activities for children in several European program sites, to create hands-on and computer-based tools for school teachers, and to conduct research on the implications of their work for both in-class and out-of-school learning and teaching. Berthel Sutter, of the Blekinge Institute of Technology in Ronneby, Sweden, showed a short video that describes 5th Dimension site activities and research in Europe.
UC Links and Fifth Dimension faculty and staff also reported on the development of new kinds of literacy building activities, including multimedia storytelling. UC Berkeley Education Professor Glynda Hull discussed collaborative efforts at the DUSTY (Digital Underground Storytelling for Youth) after-school program, where she and her colleagues train West Oakland youth and adults to create digital stories about themselves, their families, and their community. Hull also discussed her joint work with educators in India, where she worked with youth at a rural school to create a digital story about their village. Professor Hull brought the story back to Oakland and shared it with a group of middle school students, who then composed a story about their own neighborhood. The resulting communication between youth in Oakland and village India is fostering both international understanding and an enthusiasm for reading and writing.
Since the UC Links and Fifth Dimension networks are distributed throughout the world, members are accustomed to sharing ideas and experiences via e-mail and the Internet. The conference in San Diego provided a welcome forum for people interested in university-community collaboration and the Fifth Dimension model to meet face-to-face. The UC Links Statewide Office plans to convene similar international conferences on a regular basis.