Designing for equity. Changing what's possible. Together.

We design learning systems aiming to ensure that all youth, especially the underserved, cultivate the critical skills, literacies and agency necessary to have the opportunity to create lives that are engaged, empowered and successful.

Designing for equity. Changing what's possible. Together.

We design learning systems aiming to ensure that all youth, especially the underserved, cultivate the critical skills, literacies and agency necessary to have the opportunity to create lives that are engaged, empowered and successful.

Designing for equity. Changing what's possible. Together.

We design learning systems aiming to ensure that all youth, especially the underserved, cultivate the critical skills, literacies and agency necessary to have the opportunity to create lives that are engaged, empowered and successful.

MAPSCorps Joins Digital Youth Network

Northwestern University’s School of Education and Social Policy is launching a new iteration of MAPSCorps, a national model for training and employing high school and college students to work in STEM as community data scientists.

MAPSCorps will be a part of Dr. Nichole Pinkard's Digital Youth Network at Northwestern.

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Projects

Cities Learn

Cities Learn is a platform that helps cities develop equitable out-of-school time ecosystems in order to ensure all youth have access to quality after-school and summer
programs.

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Digital Youth Divas

Digital Youth Divas is an out-of-school program that engages middle school girls, especially those from non-dominant communities, in design-based engineering and computer science activities driven by a narrative story.

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STEAMbassadors

STEAMbassadors are specially-trained mentors from partnering two-and four-year institutions who facilitate STEAM camps, programs, and activities with elementary and middle-school aged Chicago or Evanston youth.

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MAPSCorps

MAPSCorps trains youth to produce high quality data about community assets that everyone can use to improve the human condition.

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Team

Dr. Nichole Pinkard
Pinkard received a 2010 Common Sense Media Award for Outstanding Commitment to Creativity and Youth, the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies, an NSF Early CAREER Fellowship. She earned her bachelor’s in computer science from Stanford University, a master’s in computer science from Northwestern, and her doctorate in learning sciences from Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy.

In 2005, Dr. Pinkard created the Digital Youth Network with co-founder Akili Lee.
More On Dr. Pinkard

MEET OUR TEAM

Dr. Nichole Pinkard

Founder

Akili Lee

Co-Founder

Dr. Yolanda Majors

Research Lab Director

Arikpo Dada

Program Coordinator

Mark Ellul

Lead Software Engineer

Deanna Howlett

Data Analyst

Mighel Jackson

Technical Operations Manager

Viviana Lanuza

Fellow

Sydney Simmons

Fellow

History

Afterschool Programs

DYN began to design its model for engaging youth in developing digital literacies in a school on Chicago's South Side. It went expanded its impact going on to serve thousands of young people in spaces across the city.

2005
2007

Social Learning Network

DYN created one of the first social learning networks focused on the out-of-school time space. iRemix was a SaaS platform licensed to youth serving organizations across the country.

Reimagine Libraries

Partnering with Chicago Public Libraries, DYN created YOUmedia. YOUmedia was a new model for libraries and museums to authentically engage young people. The model has since been replicated in dozens of sites nationwide.

2009
2013

Healthy Ecosystems

Working with local and national parters, DYN began to XXXXXXXXXXX out-of-school time ecosystems. It began with the launch of Chicago City of Learning with the Mayor's Office, building a more connected ecosystem with dozens of local youth serving organizations.

Shared Infrastructure

Recognizing that local ecosystems require shared infrastructure, DYN created the Cities Learn platform. This suite of products allows cities to engage all stakeholders in an OST ecosystem. It has been adopted in multiple cities to document OST activities for over 1,000,000 young people.

2014
2021

Community Mentorship

DYN's STEAMbassadors initiative addresses the need for XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.