Edit South Lanarkshire teens get their own Avatar
Inside the virtual health centre
While cinema goers this New Year enjoy the new cinematic blockbuster Avatar, young people throughout South Lanarkshire will soon be able to explore their own 3D world thanks to an innovative project called Core Connex.
Funded by more than £270,000 from the European Social Fund, a pilot project which allows young people to create their own online world and personal Avatars to access local services in the authority area is about to be rolled out to all youth centres in South Lanarkshire.Core Connex is one of 220 projects in the Lowlands and Uplands of Scotland benefiting from European Structural Funds, which encompass the European Social Fund and the European Regional Development Fund, to support the economic development and regeneration of communities by providing the opportunity to learn new skills and improve employability.As part of South Lanarkshire Council’s Youth Learning Service, Core Connex uses digital media to engage with young people. It has adapted the internet’s largest user-created virtual community, Teen Second Life, to experiment with providing core services, like health advice in conjunction with NHS Lanarkshire.Core Connex Team Worker at South Lanarkshire Council, Chris Walsh said: “Young people are using the online environment more and more to access key information. We were finding that the teenagers who were coming in to our youth centres were logging on but we were then losing them to Bebo and Facebook. We have created an environment which meets all their interests in one place which we have littered with information.”During the pilot project, young people visiting the Universal Connections youth centres in Hamilton were able to create their own virtual island called Dharma with infrastructure, a government and even a health centre offering real advice. The young people also created their own Avatars to socialise with other users.This month ( January 2010) the project will be rolled out to the eight other youth centres in the area in East Kilbride, Cambuslang, Carluke, Douglas, Lanark, Larkhall, Rutherglen and Whitehill in Hamilton.Unlike the main virtual world of the Second Life programme, which is available to over 18s, the Teen version used by Core Connex operates as a private intranet space. Young people can register for access via the Core Connex team and any adults provided with access to the island are subject to enhanced Disclosure checks.
It teaches the youngsters web skills, behavioural skills and general confidence in dealing with the wider community.
17 year old Hamilton schoolgirl Linzi Paterson has been involved from the start and is now a part-time youth worker with the project.
Linzi said: “The idea of using an online world is really cool. In our world you can do anything you want – you can use your imagination, you can even fly! It’s taught me new computer and mathematical skills and made me much more confident. I’m thinking about going to university now which I never would have done before.”Linzi will be involved in helping to engage other young people in the project as it is taken to the other Universal Connections youth centres in the area.Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, Mike Russell, said:“This Government recognises the pressures on individuals and businesses during the economic downturn. That’s why we are determined to do whatever we can to ensure people are given the help they need to develop their existing skills, or learn new ones, so they can get into work, stay in work and contribute to Scotland’s future economic recovery.“It is absolutely vital that we equip people and businesses with the right skills to enable them to reach their full potential and we know that this project is doing just that.“People across Scotland are already feeling the benefit of these ESF supported projects - securing full time employment or accessing further education. That’s great news for them, their families and communities and great news for our local and national economies.” For more information on Core Connex please visit www.lanlinks.org or email core connex@yls.org.uk
Virtual Universal Connections youth centre
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