Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

4.2.08 | The last few weeks have seen considerable activity in the digital media and learning program at MacArthur. We started off with a major launch of the Justice Commons in Second Life that included a wonderful series of art exhibits and conversations exploring issues of international justice, with a focus on the international criminal court (see Rik’s overview). One discussion to highlight – between the Lead Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Louis Moreno-Ocampo, and former Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy, was simply extraordinary and worth watching again.

We also held a board meeting in New York City (a Spotlight post announcing new grants is forthcoming) and attended the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.  Many of those involved in our digital media and learning program came out in force for the conference (see a list of panel discussions)—a meeting of over 15,000 members of the international educational research community. 

I want to thank those who attended the conference and participated in the many panels representing the Foundation’s digital media and learning program.  It was incredible to see the common themes, language and new understandings emerging across all the panels. I had the privilege of chairing two sessions. In a free wheeling discussion, Henry Jenkins, Jim Gee, Howard Gardner and Nichole Pinkard explored civic engagement, ethical development and learning in the digital age.  Later on the same day, Mimi Ito, Diana Rhoten, Mike Smith, and John Seely Brown offered their collective vision(s) of the paradigmatic shifts underway in how young people learn. Check back at the end of the week for the powerpoint slides from select presentations.

Spotlight blog posts for the remainder of the week include further reflections on AERA from MacArthur staff, Craig Wacker and Benjamin Stokes.