Greetings and welcome once again to the UC Links newsletter. We are bringing out this issue in time for the International Conference on the Fifth Dimension and University-Community Links, to be held on January 30-31 in San Diego. There, UC Links and 5th D colleagues will convene from as far away as Sweden and Spain, as well as from the University of Delaware, Appalachian State University, and from UC campuses, and other colleges and universities working with schools and community organizations across California.
The conference will allow us to share ideas and information, learn more about each other’s work, and visit local UC Links after-school programs. I expect that this meeting will lead to new and deeper collaboration in the programmatic and research arenas. We will post conference highlights on our website (www.uclinks.org) after the event.
This issue of the newsletter demonstrates our already strong connections, locally, nationally, and internationally. Several articles focus on international partnerships, such as the collaborative poster session at the International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory (ISCRAT) meeting last summer, visits to Joven Clubs in Cuba, and the MexLinks project, where people from Mexico and California explored new technology capabilities for distance learning and collaboration. Other articles focus on university-community partnerships, such as UC Davis’s work with the Dixon Migrant Center in rural California, and on the key role played by university and K-12 students. We are especially pleased to present two articles and a story by UC Links kids themselves. You will find they have much to say about the value of our programs.
While these are difficult times, I hope this newsletter and the UC Links Conference will refresh our understanding of the import and impact of our work, and of the fundamental conviction that has driven our work from the beginning—that educational equity is not simply a goal for the future. It is an intricate sociocultural process of ongoing collaborative activity, reaching across the borders that separate us.
—Charles Underwood
Executive Director, UC Links
WELCOME
Internet2 Videoconferences Connect Partners from Mexico and California
Having a Blast at the Washington Intensive Learning Center
Evaluating Children’s Writing Development at Club Proteo
Picturing the University: A Study of Children’s Drawings
Links for Kids
UC Links and the Fifth Dimension: A Global Network Convenes in Amsterdam