Bridge for Digital Youth (BDY) – Research Component

What is the Bridge for Digital Youth (BDY) project?

Bridge for Digital Youth (BDY) is an evaluative research study designed to identify potential benefits and limitations of mobile-based learning for newcomer youth between 18-30 years old. The research team will evaluate a pilot program geared towards newcomers seeking to advance their digital marketing skills. Through findings from mixed methods research, we will make program recommendations as part of our assessment of mobile-based learning’s role in making employment training more accessible, sustainable and useful for newcomer youth.

The project was developed to bridge a gap between newcomer youth and opportunities for upward socioeconomic mobility in an increasingly digital economy. Newcomer youth may experience barriers to accessing vocational training such as demanding work schedules, family commitments, and high-cost technology requirements. BDY aims to address this by offering training in collaboration with Evans Hunt, a local digital marketing agency, through a mobile-based learning curriculum. We will evaluate the training program and its’ sustainability and feasibility as a mobile-based course.

How will this be accomplished?

The pilot program is offered to newcomer youth in three 12-week cohorts. We will use the following methods to complete our evaluation:

1. Pre-program surveys will be distributed to program registrants to assess their existing Canadian labour market knowledge, access to mobile technologies, and anticipated learning outcomes.

2. Post-program surveys will be distributed to program registrants to assess their overall program experience, including the mobile-based platform used throughout the program.

3. We will conduct a series of post-mortem semi-structured interviews and focus groups with instructors, program coordinators, and students from each cohort to gather in-depth perspectives on their experience in BDY.

4. Following data collection and analysis, we will make recommendations to enhance the program’s accessibility, feasibility and sustainability for future cohorts.