There are many reasons that stand out on how different and unique the Green Button Journey project is. Unlike a course or an educational resource, as the majority of OE4BW developing projects, this is a mobile app designed, created and supported by teenagers that commit themselves to learn about green ways to help our planet. It’s an ongoing project for 3 years now, it’s been and will be a long journey. Underneath its interface, there is complex (re)use of Large Language Models (Llama 2), at the frontier of open source Artificial Intelligence development. Social media is used to spread the word and coordinate collaboration and pull others to join the journey. And so much more:
Why and how does the Youth Hub emerge in the framework of OE4BW hubs?
Because OE4BW offers mentors, professionals, who can help you with the project, which creates opportunities for young minds with ideas.
But the way young people perceive education sometimes differs from the traditional ways the adult world offers. The Youth Hub offers young people a chance to communicate among ourselves and through mutual understanding discover alternative ways educational content can be presented.
It also gives us a chance to discover the cultural differences between the youth, a chance to talk about topics our educational system doesn’t offer or are considered a taboo, and a chance to share our cultural heritage.
What challenges are embedded in young student-led projects and how does mentoring differ to adults?
It’s a challenge to start with so little business knowledge. You learn to manage time and lead such a project through the process, learn how to use some new tools which you didn’t know before. Presenting the project and other ways of communication can also be challenging when you start.
Mentoring is different to adults because it doesn’t only include advice which the developers would use to advance with the project, but it also leads the whole process of discovering how project development even works.
Young mentors are an excellent addition to the program, as they understand the generation more – they understand the fears and concerns when starting this new journey at a young age, they use the same way of communication, they understand time management might be hard during exam season, and are able to offer comfort to the new young developers.
Green Button Journey has been a three year on-going project, what challenges and opportunities/risks have been the process to develop with a larger time frame?
It’s not always easy to show the full idea-to-product cycle in just one year, that is why we think it is important developers are encouraged to continue developing the project even after the first Eduscope presentation.
Sometimes it is hard to motivation in times when the development slows down, when you are not certain what purpose the project will serve in the future. This is why support (financial, emotional, and networking opportunities) are constantly needed from the program leaders.
At first there was a lot of uncertainty about how will we even create an app. But later other challenges followed. Slow development, lack of funds, sometimes it was hard to keep motivation. And as students we also had other obligations as school or school ending exams. With time we learned to work on different aspects of the project, first with creating a clear idea, then development and now marketing. We learned how to effectively manage time, share specific tasks, and communicate in a healthy way.
What are the future perspectives for the project?
Imagine a world where global warming and climate change would not be problems anymore. Where all of us would do simple tasks to reduce our bad impact on the environment. As we aim to reach this goal, we plan on sharing the app with the largest possible number of youngsters. One small step multiplied by millions can change the world.
The main goal remains attracting and retaining active users, and growing our community, which demand support (financial, IT, networking). An additional goal is deciding how the project should be wrapped up with a long-lasting effect on the community we have built.
What are the future perspectives for the young developers?
The programme brought us lots of experience which helps us every day during lessons, and at work. Creating such a project and showing this to your future employer in a CV is another great way of showing what all you are capable of.
