Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

Conversations with Education Visionaries, Technologists, and Students at the 2012 Digital Media and Learning Conference

Researchers mingled with makers, hive learners and digital artists at the 2012 Digital Media and Learning Conference in San Francisco last week.

Programming With Scratch Jr: When it Comes to Screen Time and Young Kids, Content and Context Are Important

Since MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten group released Scratch in 2007, kids ages 8 to 13 have built more than 2.2 million animations, games, music, videos and stories using the kid-friendly programming language. Now with a grant from the National Foundation of Science, Lifelong Kindergarten is collaborating with Tufts University’s DevTech Research Group to make Scratch Jr, a new version aimed at kids in preschool to second grade.

Access For All: The White House Announces New Summer Jobs Initiative to Teach STEM to Low-Income Teens, Prepare Them for Jobs

President Obama has called on businesses and non-profits to help close the youth unemployment gap. Is teaching kids to code enough? We look at other models that encourage minority students from low-income communities to develop mobile apps, robotics and other technologies and to consider STEM careers.

Teachers Explore Badges for Mastery and Feedback

The Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition last week announced the 16 Stage One winners of the Teacher Mastery and Feedback Badge Competition.

The Future of Assessment, Accreditation & The Internet: Deconstructing Mozilla’s Open Badges Project

Heather Chaplin talks with Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation, and HASTAC Co-founder Cathy Davidson on what this new model for assessment and accreditation may mean for learners, teachers and the future of the internet.

Digital Media and Learning Competition Announces Stage One Winners in Badges for Lifelong Learning

The Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition announced 60 winners of stage one this week, part of the annual Digital Media and Learning Competition.

Modern Education: A Round-Up of New York Times Education Stories

The New York Times Education Life supplement is full of stories that may be of interest to those following technology-related learning shifts, from closing the gender gap among STEM majors to a new university library that demonstrates the future is now.

PLAYBACK: Poets, Astronauts, Rebels and the New Content Creators

YouTube’s SpaceLab; Why Steve Jobs couldn’t fix your classroom; Celebrating National Day of Writing; Digital Badges 101; and listening to YouMedia’s young artists—all in this week’s Playback.

How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn

Author Cathy Davidson will read from her new book, “ Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn,” at the Chicago Public Library tonight at 6 p.m.

A Digital Promise From Washington Aims to Increase Technology Use in Schools

A new public-private partnership will help develop technology for learning in and out of the classroom.