Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

Welcome from the MacArthur Foundation

Welcome to Spotlight, the MacArthur Foundation’s first foray into blogging.  Today we announced plans to help build the emerging field of digital media and learning, committing $50 million over five years to the effort.

Henry Jenkins: Ensuring Technological Access Will Solve the Digital Divide (A Misconception)

The Digital Divide (which has historically been understood primarily in terms of technical access) masks a deeper cultural challenge which we are calling the Participation Gap as many young people lack access to core social skills and cultural competencies that might enable them to fully participate in the new media landscape.

James Paul Gee: A New Kind of Child

Many children are turning to a productive attitude to literacy and knowledge, not a consumption attitude alone.  What are the implications for schooling, learning, and equity?

Mimi Ito: Learning with digital media involves more than “educational technology.”

Learning happens with digital media even if it is not explicitly educational or academic.

danah boyd: Culture Matters (and is overlooked)

In a culture that is obsessed with formal education and college admissions, it’s hard to remember that there are other things that teens must learn during their formative years.

Henry Jenkins: Youth Are So Media Savvy They Don’t Need Any Media Education (A Misconception)

Many adults believe youth know more about new media culture than they do. So what’s the need for media education?