The Center has a deep commitment towards dissemination of useful and timely research and policy reports. Working closely with Cooney Center Fellows, national advisors, media scholars and practitioners, the Center will be publishing a regular series of papers examining key issues in the field of digital media and learning.
White Paper: The Digital Promise: Transforming Learning with Innovative Uses of Technology
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center and Apple present a white paper on literacy and learning in a new media age. Authored by Jeanne Wellings and Michael H. Levine, this paper describes how investment in technology tools, network access, professional development, and new personalized curricula can help schools address each of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's (AARA) four reform goals and simultaneously modernize to meet the needs of 21st century learners. Innovative examples and related resources are offered on how technology can be used to promote literacy and to engage struggling learner.
Policy Brief: Game Changer: Investing in Digital Play to Advance Children's Learning and Health
Children as young as four are immersed in a new gaming culture, but many parents, educators and health professionals, concerned over violence, sexual content, and reports of addiction, do not consider games to be a positive force in children's lives. Game Changer addressed this critique, offering a new framework to use games to help children learn healthy behaviors, traditional skills like reading and math, and 21st-century strengths such as critical thinking, global learning, and programming design. It specifies how increased national investment in research-based digital games might play a cost-effective and transformative role and provides comprehensive actions steps for media industry, government, philanthropy, and academia to harness the appeal of digital games to improve children’s health and learning. The report was co-authored by Ann My Thai, David Lowenstein, and Dixie Ching, as well as David Rejeski of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; support was provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio.
Industry Brief: Pockets of Potential: Using Mobile Technologies to Promote Children’s Learning
Industry Fellow Carly Shuler draws on interviews with mobile learning experts as well as current research and industry trends to illustrate how mobile devices might be more broadly used for learning. Examining over 25 handheld learning products and research projects in the U.S. and abroad, the report highlights early evidence of how these devices can help revolutionize teaching and learning. Pockets of Potential also outlines mobile market trends and innovations, as well as key opportunities, such as mobile’s ability to reach underserved populations and provide personalized learning experiences. This study was featured at the Kids@Play Summit at the 2009 International CES® in Las Vegas, and was made possible by the generous support of the Pearson Foundation, with additional support from CPB and PBS Kids Raising Readers.
Challenge Paper: The Power of Pow! Wham!: Children, Digital Media and Our Nation's Future
Dr. Rima Shore, Adelaide Weismann Chair in Educational Leadership at Bank Street College of Education, is the author of the Center's inaugural "new directions" report on learning for elementary-aged kids in a digital age. The paper reflects a field scan that the Center staff and Dr. Shore conducted during the summer of 2007, including interviews with over 50 experts on literacy, educational media, children and family policy, and industry innovations. Dr. Shore nests these leaders' observations about research, practice and policy trends in a highly accessible framework for action, including key challenges and recommendations. This paper was released at our inaugural symposium on May 9th.
Policy Brief: Getting Over the Slump: Innovation Strategies to Promote Children's Learning
Dr. James Paul Gee, the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University and a leading authority on literacy and the potential of educational games, is working with the Center to develop a new policy framework to use digital technologies and different assessment techniques to avoid the “4th Grade Reading Slump." The paper, which was released at our inaugural symposium on May 9th, examines how conventional and "new" literacies can converge with emerging media to produce a powerful new learning equation that can stimulate both our early education system and our children's abilities to innovate and create.
Survey: Growing Up Digital: Adults Rate the Educational Potential of New Media and 21st Century Skills
The Center conducted a national survey with Common Sense Media that examines parents’ and educators’ attitudes regarding digital media use in young children. Among the findings, parents expressed skepticism about the value of many digital media platforms, particularly when it came to whether digital media could teach kids how to communicate and collaborate, skills that are essential in a 21st-century workforce.
Market Scan Report: D is for Digital
Cooney Fellow Carly Shuler, a recent graduate of Harvard's Educational Technology program with expertise in the educational toy industry, has conducted a scan and analysis of the children's interactive media environment with a focus on mass marketed products for children aged three to eleven that promote learning. The report documents key factors influencing the current market environment and offers recommendations to expand educational uses of digital media for industry action. The paper was released on January 8th at the International Consumer Electronics Show’s Sandbox Summit in Las Vegas.
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The mission of the Center is to catalyze and support research, innovation and investment in digital media technologies to advance children's learning.
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