Spotlight on Digital Media And Learning

How Teachers Make Cell Phones Work in the Classroom

In our final post in a series on mobile learning, MindShift’s Tina Barseghian visits classrooms in San Francisco to find out what it looks like when mobile devices enter the classroom—when it works, whether it’s worthwhile, and how some educators are leveraging the technology to teach students what it means to be learners and citizens in a digital world.

The Magic of Going Mobile: Augmented Reality, Design Thinking and the Power of Place

How a new augmented reality platform for the iPhone is helping educators explore the possibilities of mobile for learning, and the value of putting students in the driver’s seat.

Welcoming Mobile: More Districts Are Rewriting Acceptable Use Policies, Embracing Smartphones and Social Media in Schools

No longer afraid of giving kids access to the internet and using mobile technologies for learning, a growing number of school districts across the country are developing digital media policies that emphasize responsibility over fear.

Amidst a Mobile Revolution in Schools, Will Old Teaching Tactics Work?

Are traditional teaching practices changing to adapt and fully take advantage of what mobile devices have to offer? What lasting effect will these technologies have on the “formal” learning equation? We take a closer look at the promise and practice of mobile learning in the classroom today.

Technology in Early Childhood: Advice For Parents and Teachers From A Trusted Source

The National Association for The Education of Young Children and The Fred Rogers Center released long-awaited advice on technology use in early childhood programs. Here’s what they have to say, and what it means for parents and educators.

Q&A: John Seely Brown on Interest-Driven Learning, Mentors and the Importance of Play

As the leading thinkers and do-ers meet this week at the third annual Digital Media and Learning conference, Spotlight talked with DML2012’s keynote presenter John Seely Brown, self-proclaimed “chief of confusion,” and one of the most enlightening thinkers on nearly any topic.

Programming With Scratch Jr: When it Comes to Screen Time and Young Kids, Content and Context Are Important

Since MIT’s Lifelong Kindergarten group released Scratch in 2007, kids ages 8 to 13 have built more than 2.2 million animations, games, music, videos and stories using the kid-friendly programming language. Now with a grant from the National Foundation of Science, Lifelong Kindergarten is collaborating with Tufts University’s DevTech Research Group to make Scratch Jr, a new version aimed at kids in preschool to second grade.

The Future of Assessment, Accreditation & The Internet: Deconstructing Mozilla’s Open Badges Project

Heather Chaplin talks with Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation, and HASTAC Co-founder Cathy Davidson on what this new model for assessment and accreditation may mean for learners, teachers and the future of the internet.

From Ideas to Learners' Hands: Startl Boosts The Next Generation of Ed-Tech Startups

Spotlight talks with two nascent education software developers, both of whom have received support through Startl, a technology accelerator funded in part by the MacArthur, Hewlett and Gates foundations.  Is personality the “x-factor” when it comes to developing a potentially far-reaching idea?

Q&A: Hive Learning Network Uses the City as a Game Board for Learning

Spotlight talks with executives from the Mozilla and MacArthur foundations about programs underway to connect cultural institutions with educational digital projects—and with each other.

Q&A: Cathy Davidson on the Brain Science of Attention and Transforming Schools and Workplaces in the Digital Age

In “Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn,” Cathy Davidson has offered an antidote to the anxieties about the effects of digital media on kids—and on all of us.

Q&A: Heather Weiss on Evaluating Connected Learning

Heather Weiss, the founder and director of the Harvard Family Research Project (HFRP), is working with the MacArthur Foundation to evaluate its work at the intersection of digital media and learning.

Teaching Tolerance, Nurturing Democracy: Using Digital Media in the Classroom to Encourage Civic Participation and Social Action

Facing History and Ourselves helps educators use new media in their classrooms to spark critical thinking and embrace the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy.

Making Media, Making Sense, Making Change

Facing History evaluated its digital media program, surveying the 578 participants of the online workshop, with a 49% response rate (for a total of 255 respondents). Students ranged in age from 13 to 19 years old, and were, on average, 15 years old. Here’s a look at some of the results.