Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

11.25.09 | More than 200 educators, parents and nonprofit and civic leaders attended The Power of Youth Voice: What Kids Learn When They Create With Digital Media forum in Philadelphia on Nov. 18. Another 200 people took part in a live webcast and simulcast in Second Life. The forum was presented by the MacArthur Foundation, the National Writing Project and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.

In the video below, Connie Yowell, director of education at the MacArthur Foundation, introduces a panel of experts, including Nichole Pinkard, founder of the Digital Youth Network in Chicago; Renee Hobbs, founder of the Media Education Lab at Temple University; and Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, co-director of the National Writing Project. The panelists share their experiences using digital media for learning and discuss the future of the classroom.

Plus: Michael Gallagher, an educator and trainer for JSTOR, attended the Power of Youth Voice Forum and came away impressed by the work of Global Kids. He shares his impressions of the event at his blog.

In a post published prior to the event, Gallagher argues for the need to “move beyond the shiny new object syndrome and start applying rigor to our technology and content selections.” He adds: “To do that, we need to know what works and what doesn’t, what technology is appropriate for what age ranges, and how interaction with digital media and the technology that supports it augments/diminishes both traditional learning paradigms and new facets of information literacy.”