Urban Sandbox Is A Student-Centered Platform Meant To Bring A Positive Learning Experience

Introduction to Urban Sandbox

Urban Sandbox is a global and interactive platform that brings students and teachers together. This app or educational platform allows fo students to ask questions, comment on pre-recorded learning materals from any time zone. The founder of the platform is Danna Okuyama and the following interview features a Q & A about the initiative.

I don’t know if there was an introduction you wanted to do to explain what Urban Sandbox is or if I should I start with my first question.

Founder of Urban Sandbox Danna Okuyama:

Sure. So Urban sandbox is my platform. It is a comprehensive and interactive platform that we created to for our students only to connect together based on their shared interests and passions.

So our platform kids can socialize with each other, they can make new friends, they can publish their own creations like create a poem or a book while learning from available educational content provided by teachers on the platform.

When you say students is this platform from elementary to high school or how are the age brackets broken down for this platform? I was curious about that.

Founder of Urban Sandbox Danna Okuyama:

It is from K to 12, but we do have each group separated just to make sure that each age group will only see the content appropriate to that age group. So it’s basically separate from K-6. That’s one age group and 6-12, then 12 to 16, and 16–18.

How will Urban Sandbox affect children? I guess in in their usage compared to more open commercialized platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Company.

Founder of Urban Sandbox Danna Okuyama:

It’s actually very different. So first of all, our platform is dedicated for students only. So safety is our priority and all the content on my platform is regulated. And I do believe that with regulated content all the students can benefit from it.

They will gain confidence by showing their creations and also enhance a healthy and positive competition from each other. I can give you an example, my son. He uses the app and he’s not the best drawer. But after knowing that he can actually showcase his work to all his friends and for them to see on the platform he makes an effort to draw every single picture.

Speaking of that (Urban Sandbox), I read somewhere, but I’m curious as to why the name Urban sandbox was chosen. I read somewhere that they had had some connections with your son, so I wanted you to expand on that.

Founder of Urban Sandbox Danna Okuyama:

The concept behind Urban Sandbox definitely has something to do with my son, and I mean, he was my inspiration. In terms of the name I was inspired by the show Modern Family because this show. I mean it might may sound silly to someone, but to me I think the show really depicted how our society is is supposed to be because everybody in the show is very different from another.

And what I really learned from that show is we can look and behave very differently from each other. All we need to do is to learn how to respect each other. And you know like Modern Family everyone lives harmoniously together.

Perfect. And how easily does it integrate into existing K-12? Like? Is that still being rolled out or is it already starting to gain tractions in school districts that you collaborate with specifically at the moment like, public schools, private, etc.

Founder of Urban Sandbox Danna Okuyama:

Right. It’s definitely still rolling out. I’m in touch with charter schools as well as private schools. I’m trying to leverage my personal connection to see if I can speak to public schools because public schools work a little bit differently. It’s definitely one of my strategies currently to collaborate to see if there is any opportunity to collaborate with schools so we can further ensure safety of everyone on my platform.

And as far as the access, this one was of interest to me as a an educator and freelance writer. I’ve seen the, I guess you know the the harm that social media in general causes and how to monitor it. So how are you giving the ease of use for parents to monitor usage? How does that work in that respect? Like, what do the parents have access to? Do they need to learn a lot or is it pretty intuitive based on the technology of Urban Sandbox?

Well, to be quite honest, I personally don’t think social media is a bad thing. I think the contents on social media are are unhealthy for a lot of students out there with current social media platforms. I think you know social media as a technology is wonderful. And that’s why Urban Sandbox, my platform can really truly utilize this technology and bring all the students together.

As far as the security, it’s it’s made it very easy for all the parents to supervise. Parents will have their own portals to log in to the app where they will be receiving notifications of their kids activities.

Let’s say a lot of parents these days they work really hard and they’re at the office but they still want to monitor their their kids on the platform they can. Because everything that their kids do on Urban Sandbox will be notified, and will be sent to the parents’ portal.

What are the next steps for Urban Sandbox? Like what’s the big take away that you’re passionate about it?

Goal for Urban Sandbox is is to really create a safe community for students to come together without any stereotypes or judgments. So that’s my ultimate goal and then for the next five years I’m Hoping that I can continue to fine-tune the features on Urban Sandbox to ensure further safety for all the students. In other words, to provide more useful and informative content for other students.

So I’m hoping other students can really benefit from from my platform. For example, I currently do chat with a lot of professionals that interview a lot of professionals on my platform. For instance, I do feel a lot of students in the future they say they want to be lawyers, doctors, or architects. However, they don’t really know how to. So I invite all the professionals to actually chat about their own career paths hoping that this will give some students a guidance out there about what they may want to do or pursue.

So especially in some pop populations or schools that don’t have that good resources and that you’re giving them a resource that is valuable that they might not have access normally.

Exactly because I do believe that all the resources should be provided to students equally, and that’s what I’m trying to do. I do have a lot of programs that I’m still planning, so hopefully I can get those features and programs out soon this year. I really hope that all the students can benefit from Urban Sandbox.

As far as where are you targeting Urban Sandbox, I did read somewhere, but I am not sure if that is up to date. Do you have a presence in New York City or multiple states?

It’s actually globally, so it’s not only in the United States (U.S.). I reached out to organizations in South America, Africa actually because I’m really hoping that students will learn from other students globally. To truly you know give a safe space for all the students to connect with each other.