Urban Tech’s YLA Interface and How It Works

An experienced finance professional working in sales and equity research, Janina Casey earned her finance bachelor’s degree from St. Johns University, which recommended her for a Citibank summer management training program. Janina Casey is a supporter of Urban Tech, a nonprofit organization where she has recently been named a board member.

Also known as the National Urban Technology Center, Urban Tech is committed to change education and create solutions for students through critical thinking, digital storytelling, and social-emotional learning. Urban Tech engages students by utilizing popular music, relatable language, gamification, and animation, and this is achieved through applications such as the Youth Leadership Academy (YLA).

YLA is a software that provides teachers with an online multimedia program that develops essential life and social skills with the help of twelve online courses. The software interface counts with activities such as On The Reel, a set of animated short stories with thought-provoking questions related to issues that adolescents face on a day-to-day basis.

The Write To The Point activity allows participants to express their perspective in an e-journal, which strengthens their reasoning and language skills while promoting critical thinking. For assessing and evaluating the students learning, the software uses a TV-style quiz game called Final Answer - it measures retention but is not a traditional test.