Entrant details
Entrant name
Peter Mousaferiadis
Entry details
Yes, the project or initiative has been established for more than 2 years.
Organisation
Cultural Infusion
Team - who worked on the project/initaitve
Peter Mousaferiadis, CEO
Rezza Moieni, project director
Robert Barry, game designer
Rocsanne Putri, Illustrator
Daniel Waterston, programmer/coder
Iman Golkar, programmer/coder
Shohre Esmaili, programmer/coder
Natalie Denmeade, learning content and development
Cristina Valder, Music Composer
Nominator name
Jasmine Ji
Nominator role
Marketing Assistant
Nominee name
Peter Mousaferiads
Nominee role
Founder & CEO
Overview - Provide a summary to introduce the project or initiative
Joko’s World comprises of five interactive learning apps that blend global music, geography and culture in an innovative and educational way to improve chidlren's intercultural awareness and understanding. Joko’s World hopes to provide children with access to a diverse range of cultures by providing an environment that works to challenge, stimulate and engage kids to interact with unique customs and traditions all around the world.
Our apps, for ages 7-14, use the power of video gaming to create daily, immersive cultural experiences through modern smartphone and tablet (iphone and Android) as a medium. In each game Joko, the main cartoon character, invites users on an adventure with him to explore different kinds of folk music’ and their instruments, such as Chinese flute, African balafon and so on. They also help teachers and parents to expand their children’s knowledge of world geography and history with the encouragement and support of Joko’s. The digital learning platform was created by Australian cultural enterprise Cultural Infusion. Joko’s World was conceived in early 2013 with the aim of advancing the principles adopted in the organisation’s internationally recognised project, Sound Infusion: bringing the cultures of the world together through music. As of today, Joko's World apps suite has reached 10,192 active users and gathered over 10,000 likes on social media in just 12 months. The potential number of people affected by Joko's World is indredible and we are rapidly scaling and growing in the hope of helping 100,000 audience in Australia and worldwide.
Detail the approach that was taken to implement the project or initiative, what actions were taken and why?
Joko's World entails five approaches to race, class and gender under two main categories:
I.Developing Cultural Understanding
– Cultural Integration (Knowing)
The Joko’s World apps align with Cultural Infusion’s mission to build cultural harmony and wellbeing, they give players an opportunity to gain intercultural understanding, witness and engage in cultural and artistic expression,
– Tourist(Understanding)
This is where we focus on differences and commonalities across cultures. Using the Joko’s World tools we learn about the customs and cultures of other nationalities and how that relates to facts within our curriculum.
II.Develping Intercultural Understanding
– Relational Multiculturalism (Applying/Analyzing)
This approach begins to look under the surface for how different cultural perspectives manifest in our thinking, attitudes and relationships. This is where the cross-cultural competence building exercises of the Cultural Journeys program can fit in.
– Human Relations(Synthesizing)
Armed with this new awareness, students can interact through programs that connect schools via digital communication technologies. Armed with factual cultural knowledge from Joko’s World that may facilitate understanding (e.g songs and history) and awareness of difference in communication styles from the Cultural Journeys program.
– Transformative Multiculturalism (Evaluating)
Through the Leadership and personal development programs, students begin projects that can transform their community, that work with schools in other countries to build bridges.
Was there organisational/industry or other resistance to the initiative? If so, detail the actions taken to overcome resistance to the project or initiative.
Facilitating a game based curriculum is a very complex undertaking and is very challenging. To manifest a build-measure-learn cycle we need to work closely with teachers through webinars, school visits and professional development sessions. Teachers need assistance with technology integration and inclusive education practices. We also have to engage young kids and students to keep them interested. To overcome this resistance we have found out that integration is the key. Joko’s World apps create the initial user engagement. Novel and curiosity inspiring they introduce information and concepts in short form that serve as the attention grabbing first point of contact. Music is the first point of contact and the central hub around which our integrated curriculum revolves. They form the first clues before we incorporate numeracy, literacy, humanities, physical education, the sciences and art together within the Joko’s World Interactive Learning Platform .
The server connection that already exists within our apps then allows student scores and unique identifying codes to be exported into a self contained Learning Management System that takes advantage of Interactive Learning capabilities and gamified education. It is where Learning Tool Interoperability amplifies the intrinsic motivation capabilities of game based learning. Numeracy, Literacy, Humanities, Languages, Science and the arts become unified around music and culture. Rather than assessment acting as an end of session evaluation, gaming scores become a running metric of student achievement and progression.
Detail the follow up or response to the project or initative by the organisation /industry /sector. For example has it been extended for a further year, or has the scope been expanded?
The response and feedback after Joko's World: Tambourine's first launched has been incredible that's why we have consecutively launched the other four apps. Joko's World Pocket Planet went exceptionally successfully for wining the Best Mobile Educational App Award and receiving grants from Australian government. We are now expanding our horizon beyond just mobile devices and tapping into the interactive web tools and games, including:
– Sound Infusion. A web-based composition engine that allows students to access to over 5,000 unique instrument loops from cultures around the world online. The loops are matched in rhythm and tonality to the instrument apps so that students can play along with their composition and record their performances. Compositions created within Sound Infusion can also be sent into the instrument apps and played along with in-app. Specific power up packs of instrument loops match the songs and rhythms learned by the student within the app game play
– Ancestry Atlas. A school/customer census tool for a school to do an audit on what cultures and family heritage exist in the school. Students fill in an online form that creates an infographic which tells the story of their ancestry which begins dialogue around “who we are” as a community. Obtaining demographic information also helps schools to plan strategic targeting based on cultural demographicsa.
– We have also been building Joko's own online LMS (Learning Management System). We have been develping and putting everything conneted to the web-based Learning Management System, including lesson plans, online games, activities, and other resources to facilitate teacher teaching the intercultural understanding. We are offering this use of the technology to the Victorian State Education Ministry for their social media initiative as a fun sharing tool that functions also as a research instrument and data visualizer
References
Please provide 2 references being the beneficiaries or people that experienced the change (as a result of the initiative). Details to be provided should include:
1. Name
2. Organisation
3. Email
4. Phone number
5. Role
6. Short description (up to 250 words) of association with the nominated diversity initiative eg as a beneficiary, experiencing the outcome, etc.
GARY D BOUMA AM FAICD
Emeritus Professor of Sociology, UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations – Asia Pacific
ARTS
School of Social Sciences
Monash University
Level 5, Building H, Caulfield Campus
900 Dandenong Road
Caulfield East VIC 3145
Australia
T: +61 3 9903 4587
M: +61 (0)409 234 960
===========================================
Liam Routt
Manager – Games and Digital Content
Film Victoria
Level 3, 55 Collins St, Melbourne, VIC 3000
T: +61 3 9660 3224
liam.routt@film.vic.gov.au | www.film.vic.gov.au
What outcomes have been achieved against overall program or organisational performance? Using metrics specify these outcomes, for example financial, growth, policy achievement, performance or capabciltiy uplift?
Since its inception, Joko's World has continued to grow rapidly. Cultural Infusion has achieved all this with a dedicated team led by CEO Peter Mousaferiadis. Peter is supported by a skilled, diverse, and committed Board of Directors of Cultural Infusion Foundation.
Our business model is based on an expanding international, national and local network of partnerships across for-profit and not-for-profit entities, large and small.
Over the 2015/2016 financial year Cultural Infusion continued its reputation for being largely self-sufficient, earning the vast majority of its revenue through operations and services, with public funding making up only small percentage of its overall income (less than 5%). In comparison, similar organisations earned only 15%-51% of their revenue through government grants, subsidies, philanthropy, sponsorship, bequests, donations and membership to make up most of their annual income.
Key Metric
4.84% of the total amount being $1897700 raised for both entities, was public funding.
4.84% Funding and Grants
95.16% Earned Income from operations
