The Impact Of What Kidlink Does

The Impact Of What Kidlink Does

Does it really make a difference to give children access to Kidlink? Does it make a demonstrable difference for kids' lives sufficient to warrants public concern and action?

Tryggvi says yes! In early 1993, the 15 year old boy from Iceland joined Kidlink. Read what he said five years later. In 1998, he joined Kidlink's Board of Directors. His contributions are numerous.

Teacher statements

	Rubem Paulo at the Patronato Santo Antonio school (Mato Grosso, Brazil): "We do not have the usual curriculum for the 8th grade... Instead of the common sequence of topics that we have in our school books, they have Who-Am-I? as a reference... and it will mean that they evaluated the first version of the program as something that really succeeded..."

	Cecilia Montes A., Lima, Perú: I always say that Kidlink* is like a big family, which fills me with great satisfaction. It motivates me to work and to transfer this enthusiasm to my students.* I am convinced that today's education must break down the traditional templates and create rooms where our students can experiment and learn from their own errors. This is what Kidlink is helping me achieve. Also, it helps me realize one of my objectives which is to let all my students communicate and exchange experiences with others of their same age.

Impact studies

	Marisa Lucena, Brazil, 1997. Doctoral Thesis on Kidlink: "A Model of an Open School in the Internet: The Kidlink Project in Brazil." Degree in Education and Informatics (COPPE/Sistemas) at Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil Degree in Computer Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada.
	Nini Ebeltoft, Norway, 1997. Thesis in educational science at the Institute of Educational Research, Faculty of Educational Science, University of Oslo. Dissertation: "~ EVERYWHERE AND NOWHERE ~ - Social Interaction on a Global Computer Network for Young People."

More research

Empirical evidence

One measurement speaks loud: 500 volunteers in over 50 countries, most of them teachers, makes Kidlink's wheels go around. Besides introducing Kidlink in their own classroom, they use of their free time to help other teachers guide their students through our educational programs.

Kidlink's awards speak loud, starting with the 1st prize in the "Educational projects for users up to 18 years old" category received from the prestigious Global Junior Challenge (2000), and supplemented by an "Award of Special Mention" in 2002. In 1999, the King of Sweden handed Kidlink the 1st prize within "IT in all kinds of education" on behalf of the international Global Bangemann Challenge. The US Dept of Education lists us in their "Teacher's Guide to International Collaboration on the Internet."

Daily, thousands of people visit our web site. Add those visiting our KidSpace server, mirror sites, and those using our mailing list's web interface.

Kidlink is a 100% virtual organization. It started to use the Internet as a tool already in 1990! When there was no "real Internet" yet. There were no web pages around at the time. Our first page came in 1995. - We're even in a museum.

Click to read what the US States Department of Commerce thinks about "How Access Benefits Children." Then, consider giving us a hand. :-)

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Contact: Odd de Presno