One Million Children Could Be Safer Thanks To New Education Program

More than one million school children in California and across the U.S. will learn how to use cell phones and the Internet responsibly thanks to a new online education game. The game, titled "It's Your Call," launched recently in the Los Angeles Unified School District at Sepulveda Middle School in North Hills, Calif. Web Wise Kids, WILL Interactive, Verizon and the ESA Foundation collaborated to develop the cutting-edge curriculum.

"It's Your Call" is an interactive game that allows users to play out difficult situations in the safety of cyberspace before they live them out in real life. The game offers teens guidance about responsible cell phone behaviors and how to use the devices to enhance their personal safety. Players become a live action character in an interactive movie and are presented with a series of difficult decisions in a slice-of-life context. The teens must make tough decisions and view the consequences of their actions in the video. Regardless of the outcome in the game, users learn important lessons about cell phone safety.

Katie Canton, lured at age 15 by a 22-year-old man in 2002, is the type of person who will be helped with this new program. Now a Web Wise Kids youth ambassador, Canton told her story about being contacted online by a stranger and later becoming convinced that they were in love. The situation also involved cell phone contacts. After playing a Web Wise Kids game, Canton realized that she was being taken in by an online predator and participated in the individual's apprehension.

"It's Your Call" will be available through the Web Wise Kids and WILL Interactive web sites. It also will be incorporated into Web Wide Kids training programs offered through local schools, law enforcement agencies and community organizations.

"As we all increasingly rely on mobile technology in our lives, it is critical that young people understand how to use cell phones responsibly with their peers and with adults," said Los Angeles Unified School Board President Mónica García. "I applaud Web Wise Kids, WILL Interactive, Verizon and the ESA Foundation for taking this step to educate young people on how to be safe and enjoy the many benefits of mobile communications."

"By partnering with Verizon, the ESA Foundation and WILL Interactive, we are equipping today's youth with the knowledge to make wise choices with their cell phones," said Judi Westberg Warren, president of Web Wise Kids. "Our goal is to help create a safe, friendly cell phone and online experience for millions of young people. The result of this partnership will be to provide important answers to the questions that young people have about the new frontiers in modern communications."

Web Wise Kids, a national non-profit organization, is the leading provider of computer-based, interactive simulation games based on real-life situations for educating young people and their parents on safe Internet practices. "It's Your Call" was produced by WILL Interactive using its patented Virtual Experience Immersive learning Simulation (VEILS) technology. Development of the mobile phone safety game was funded by grants from Verizon and the ESA Foundation in addition to a financial contribution from WILL Interactive. The grants also will help fund distribution of the game to Web Wise Kids partners around the country.

For more information, visit www.webwisekids.org.

For more information, visit www.hightech pr.com/press/WWK_Cell_Phone_Game.pdf

SOURCE: Los Angeles Unified School District