Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

21st Century Learning in Action: Literacy, English Language Learners and Digital Storytelling

In fall 2007, instructors at the Life Academy in Oakland, Calif., and Bay Area Writing Project Teachers led students in a digital storytelling project. The semester-long integrated unit was grounded in the development of literacy, writing and 21st-century skills. The students’ digital storytelling let them see writing in a new light.

Civics Under the Sea: What Happens When Kids Dive in to WhyReef

After building a coral reef on the gaming website Whyville to teach middle school kids about fragile ecosystems, scientists at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago decided to damage the reef with overfishing, without telling the kids. Not only did the kids notice the effect on their reef, but they started a movement in Whyville.

Kids’ Participation in Online Interest-Based Communities Leads to Offline Civic Engagement

Research by education professor Joe Kahne shows online experiences—such as participation on fan sites—can help make kids more active offline citizens.

This one caught even Mayor Daley’s eye

Justin and Chance’s video gets a viewing from Mayor Daley when he stopped in at YOUmedia to see what the teens were creating. Ben Wolff remixes the experience.

Digital City Planner Competition Winners

Watch the winning projects by YOUmedia teens, who were honored Oct. 8 at the United Nations’ World Habitat Day: Global Thoughts…Local Action. Shani Edmond and Shannon Jackson: Art Inspires!  Shani and Shannon use public art to build community and help stop the violence in their neighborhood. Digital City Planner: Life1909 - Art Inspires! from Shani Edmond on Vimeo.

Finding Daniel Burnham / Finding Community

Teens at YouMedia were given a challenge: read Daniel Burnham’s “A Plan for Chicago” and create your own digital urban plan. They took that challenge and ran with it, all the way to the United Nation’s World Habitat Day celebration.