Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

2.2.07 | The MacArthur Foundation is hosting a panel discussion on the use of video games for learning on February 8, from 5:30-8pm, at Chicago’s Newberry Library. Please join us if you are in the area and are available. It is the first in a series of regional public programs the Foundation is hosting on the topic of digital media and learning. These public programs are designed to showcase the work of grantees who are part of MacArthur’s digital media and learning initiative. We will be sure to keep you aware of events in other areas of the country as our planning moves forward.

At next week’s program, Sasha Barab of Indiana University will demo his latest project, Quest Atlantis, an immersive online world designed to help teach science to junior high school students. Nichole Pinkard, Director of Technology at the University of Chicago’s Center for Urban School Improvement, will share her experience creating an innovative digital media after school program. And David Williamson Shaffer, a professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of How Computer Games Help Children Learn, will discuss his latest research on games and learning.

If you are not in Chicago, but are interested in hearing the public program, you can visit the MacArthur website or the digital learning initiative’s website on February 9th for a webcast of the event.