Educator Innovator: Recent Episodes
None
‘Curriculum design may thus be centered organically in the rich literate lives and social contexts of the students themselves, rather than merely being manufactured for teachers and transmitted into classrooms.’ In our June reading for LEARN: Marginal Syllabus, we’ll annotate “‘You Can Still Fight’: The Black Radical Tradition, Healing, and Literacies,” the editor’s introduction to […]
In our May reading for LEARN: Marginal Syllabus, Ebony Elizabeth Thomas examines the instructional decisions by two teachers who navigated race conversations in their ELA classes.
Our April reading for LEARN: Marginal Syllabus looks at a high school creative writing course that is the site of collaboration between a university and a local public high school.
Our March reading for LEARN: Marginal Syllabus describes the career dreams and future goals of Tamika and Malia.
The 2021 Marginal Syllabus will amplify conversation aligned with the Black Lives Matter at School Year of Purpose.
by Karen W. Gavigan, University of South Carolina and Kasey Garrison, Charles Sturt University Teen activists worldwide are making headlines for their social justice advocacy on everything from climate change and immigration to substance abuse and LGBTQ issues. As young people get more vocal about these issues, this trend is being reflected in the graphic […]
Our visit with Equable illustrates why educators should take a more active role in thinking about retirement funding and the relationship between underfunded pensions and schools.
The Redford Stories Project is designed to provide flexible and thought-provoking learning experiences and projects to engage students.
Highlights from Write Out 2020 and links to all the great resources for educators that are still live.
Our Democracy is a civic journalism project started by award-winning photographer Andrea Bruce, in partnership with PhotoWings and the National Geographic Society.
With support from Minecraft, NWP educators created 10 ELA writing lessons related to Minecraft world-building to inspire fun, game-based learning with rich possibilities.
In collaboration with the Kunhardt Film Foundation, the National Writing Project hosted a special online screening of True Justice followed by a discussion with Mr. Anthony Hinton.
By Beatrice Dias, Michelle King, and Laura Roop When do we feel most human? Is it when we connect with each other and with nature? Is it when we create works of art, food or ideas? Is it when we move our bodies in response to our inner rhythm? Is it when we reflect and […]
Writing Project teachers and interested authors and illustrators are getting set to launch a series of webinars this summer to re-imagine the author classroom visit.
The National Writing Project has put together a set of summer playlists designed with the framework of Connected Learning—activities that engage parents and kid.
Our partner KQED Education has made it easier for teachers to lead students through the process of sharing their important evidence-backed opinions.
Our May Marginal Syllabus reading and author discussion asks, "What is possible when youth are asked to engage in the discourse about what is meant by 'adolescence'?"
Conceived by grad students at USC, the #ThroughMyWindow project asks people to connect with themselves—their past, present, and future—and to share and connect with others.
Lessons to civically engage K-12 youth at the most fundamental level of being counted through the census.
By Beatrice Dias, Michelle King, and Laura Roop Our third session in the Grapple Series focused on exploring the economic engine that propels advances in AI technology. This led us to grapple with the motivations behind the tools – from whose gaze are these technologies designed, and to whose benefit? Before engaging with the theme […]
April is National Poetry Month and the National Writing Project invites you to make a pocket to keep your favorites in to share on April 30 for Poem in Your Pocket Day.
Join our exploration of how two middle-school teachers established trust in their classrooms to set the stage for challenging discussions on race and inequity.
Educators with experience teaching and learning online have been supporting their colleagues in making thoughtful choices as they begin to work with their learners from a distance during the time of COVID-19. Below are a few of these resources; check back for updates. Critical and Creative Teaching in Response to the COVID-19 Crisis by the […]
Join other educators in four synchronous social reading opportunities—or annotation "flash mobs"—with a focus on equity and social justice in education.
A sojourn at home can be the occasion for lots of creativity around topics and projects of interest. Check out this short list of ideas from some of our partners.
Educators explore and discuss algorithms and their relationship to justice. Part of a collaboration between NWP, the CMU CREATE Lab, and the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project.
Learn about one teacher's pedagogical approach to literacy, writing, and metaphor that can help others foster consequential writing with students.
This new report describes the connected learning approach and research in the context of broader social, economic, and technological changes.
The Grapple Series: Exploring the Intersections of Artificial Intelligence & Humanity is organized by educators from The Western Pennsylvania Writing Project & The CMU CREATE Lab.
Our February reading for the 2019-20 Literacy, Equity + Remarkable Notes = LEARN Marginal Syllabus explores the multiliteracies among youth of color who constructed tributes to the city of Detroit and envisioned strengths in their communities. Researchers Vaughn W. M. Watson and Alecia Beymer write about the after-school Verses Project at Detroit’s Community Music School. […]
The Share Your Learning campaign advocates for public presentations to give students an authentic audience and assessment.
The Let’s Talk About Election 2020 youth media challenge showcase officially opened January 20, 2020—exactly one year before before our next president is inaugurated.
Our January reading describes how one teacher helped students design their own learning, study issues of critical importance like racism, and engage in activism.
Study shows that expert ratings of news sources had stronger effects on belief than ratings from non-expert users.
Our December text for Marginal Syllabus examines how a book, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, by Jason Reynolds, exemplifies possibilities for a new type of literary canon.
KQED, the National Writing Project, and PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs are co-hosting the KQED Media Challenge: Let’s Talk About Election 2020.
The first reading for our 2019-20 Marginal Syllabus employs racial storytelling as a means to think critically about whiteness.
Marginal Syllabus 2019-2020 invites everyone interested in equity to read and annotate online texts with each other and author partners. Begins November 4!
A spark grant from The Ganz Cooney Foundation provides a unique opportunity to connect National Parks with schools in science and technology learning.
Intentionally and thoughtfully sharing student writing in community and digital spaces helps educators advocate for high-quality process writing.
This online course will focus on trends in youth voting and provide educator participants with resources and discussion opportunities to educate and mobilize young voters.
Information and support for educators willing to take up the important challenge of civic media literacy education for youth.
WriteOut with students and educators across the country. Starting Oct 13; hosted by the National Writing Project and the National Park Service.
Makerspaces in museums hope to improve equity for low-income families and people of color by increasing access to technology.
Student Voice is seeking high school students to join its 2019-2020 cohort of journalism fellows. Deadline: August 16
According to the recently released Common Sense Census, approximately six out of ten U.S. K–12 teachers used some type of digital citizenship curriculum or resource with students in their classrooms, while approximately seven out of ten taught at least one type of digital citizenship competency. Almost half of those teachers focused on cyberbullying and hate […]
"Reclaiming Digital Futures,” a free report and associated website is available for youth organizations to use as they integrate digital learning into their programming.
This online course will focus on trends in youth voting and provide educator participants with resources and discussion opportunities to elevate civic learning.
The authors of our June reading call out the oppressive ways our society depicts Black girls in media and the ways schools in America compound their mistreatment.
LRNG Innovators supports environmental science program designed for young women in rural communities.
This month we spotlight youth participatory action research and the way youth writing became a vehicle to speak truth to power and enact policy change.
With support from John Legend's The Show Me Campaign and the National Writing Project (NWP), 10 grantees have been selected based on their proposed programs or projects.
One year ago we were able to invest in this inspiring and transformational work through our LRNG Innovators collaboration with John Legend's Show Me Campaign.
How to celebrate LGBTSTEM Day, an international day celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) people in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Our April reading for Marginal Syllabus spotlights a middle school teacher’s approach to teaching through a pedagogy of spatial justice.
When students engage in high-quality discussion they enjoy their classes more and are interested in what their peers have to say. So what does this look like in the classroom?
During the month of March, join the CLMOOC Book Club in an online learning experience on the book Affinity Online: How Connection and Shared Interest Fuel Learning.
Teen Hangout, part of the YOUmedia Learning Labs Network, provides afterschool space for youth to make, create, learn, build leadership skills, and connect with the community.
For March, our Marginal Syllabus reading casts a light on the ways in which books about Native people often reinforce stereotypes and cause harm to Indigenous students.
Connected learning opportunities—like our Marginal Syllabus partnership—help improve digital literacy among educators and address some equity issues.
Learn how to help students research issues they care about, engage in rich dialogue, and participate effectively in the digital world.
Our February Marginal Syllabus reading critiques narratives of failure associated with literacy and literacy education that schools weave about Black male students.
LRNG project cultivates community support for public schools by sharing student work and the process embedded in its creation.
Through supporting student choice and agency, educators help build cross-regional community through storytelling and making.
This report provides insight on how advocates can make a stronger case for bridging STEM education across settings.
Explore the experiences of three secondary English teachers who sought opportunities to support teaching for social justice.
A collaboration between the National Writing Project and the National Park Service implements programming for young people and their families to play and learn in national parks.
Our December reading for Literacy, Equity + Remarkable Notes = LEARN, considers the shortcomings of traditional writing instruction in schools and suggests a radical approach.
Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) report finds that continuing education that takes place over time and allows for integration into daily practice is best.
A unique collaboration encouraged educators to take their students out of classrooms and into public spaces and parks to write and create.
The 2018-19 Marginal Syllabus is set to begin! November’s conversation will focus on ways educators can address trauma and create safe, relational, anti-oppressive classrooms.
EduCon happens in January and is both a conversation and a conference where educators come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools.
This third iteration is an opportunity for social reading, writing, and discussion about the intersection of literacy and equity.
Our friends with 22x20 have put together recommendations and resources to support youth engagement in the democratic process for the upcoming (and future) elections.
This 2017 LRNG Innovators challenge project provided space for students to pursue an authentic passion for an authentic audience, and a robust structure of peer support.
Partners highlight the need to combine media literacy and civic education efforts, in order to help students move beyond media consumption and into informed action.
The Philly School Media Network is building partnerships with local teachers and journalists to create authentic platforms for students to make their voices heard.
This fall, communities across the country will continue conversations about what it means to be American today, inspired by the film American Creed which will be re-released by PBS later this season. Additionally, youth will continue to have the opportunity to engage with this film and related conversations by sharing their own responses and stories […]
Joe Dillon summarizes the eight texts, author partnerships, and annotation conversations that comprise “Writing Our Civic Futures,” the 2017-18 Marginal Syllabus collaborative web
David Cole brings together key insights and resources on maker education from the 2018 Connected Learning Summit. This text originally appeared in Make: Education, a monthly newsletter exploring the intersection of education and the maker movement. Sign up for more at http://makezine.com/join. “There was a space where there was nothing, and then there was an […]
Educator Innovator's newest partner, The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, provides educational resources for students and teachers to engage with underreported global issues.
A partnership wtih a nearby vintage auto shop creates opportunities for students to reconnect with the world of passionate pursuits.
The Share Your Learning campaign highlights the value of having students present their work to authentic audiences.
From Connected Learning to Connected Teaching examines the need to bring the transformative principles of Connected Learning into teacher education.
The Digital Civics Toolkit organizes resources for engaging youth in the civic potential of digital life.
Charlottesville students dig into the stories, told and untold, that make up their community's history, and prepare to engage as citizens in the dialogue of the present.
Learn all about Write Out, a summer open online adventure being sponsored by the National Writing Project and the National Park Service.
The YOUmedia Learning Lab in Kansas City gives teens space, time, and support to “hang out, mess around, and geek out” (HOMAGO), in a newly remodeled public library branch.
The final Marginal Syllabus annotation of the school year takes on Steven Zemelman's From Inquiry to Action.
High school ELA teacher and NWP teacher leader Janelle Bence explores how civic engagement forms the essential “why” of her classroom practice, helping students consider their identities, values, and connections to communities big and small. I was recently asked, “What is a current trend in education that has shaped your teaching?” My immediate response was […]
Students connect out-of-school passions, new maker skills, and rigorous design thinking to identify a community need and construct a solution, spurring profound growth.
Science teacher Mariana Garcia Serrato introduces KQED Learn, a new online platform that supports student investigation and inquiry, and allows students to collaborate and share.
Grass Valley Elementary’s maker ed program, supported by an LRNG Innovators Challenge grant, is letting students shine by giving them opportunities to express their passions.
Resources for deeply and meaningfully assessing students' civic learning from Civic Engagement Research Group (CERG) scholars Erica Hodgin and Joseph Kahne.
April's Marginal Syllabus reading tackles online civic dialogue, conceptualizing five stages of opportunity for students to engage in online dialogue that builds their civic voice.
The National Writing Project is thrilled to announce Writing Our Future: American Creed, a youth publishing project in partnership with Citizen Film.
Social Innovation Leadership Sabbaticals, a 2017 LRNG Innovators Challenge grantee, provides the space and resources for students to connect to the local community and environment.
March's conversation explores how Black youth use social media as counterspaces and how critical media literacy tools support young people in rewriting harmful narratives.
Join the conversation sparked by the new PBS documentary AMERICAN CREED through the National Writing Project's youth publishing platform.
In a world of nearly ubiquitous YouTube viewership, teaching video essays is not only a great platform for close reading and digital composition, but a media literacy imperative.
Do you know a budding young builder, maker or scientist? Encourage them to submit their best and brightest ideas for this year’s Inventor’s Challenge, happening until February 28th
This month, Writing Our Civic Futures explores research about the impact of media literacy education on how young people judge the accuracy of claims tied to controversial issues.
Engage your students in dissecting and speaking back to the State of the Union Address with resources from KQED Education, inspired by the #22x20 campaign.
Ten members of Remake Learning, a network of innovative educators and organizations in Pittsburgh, have created lesson plans capturing their engaging connected learning work.
In a challenging time for our democracy, how can we help students prepare for civic and political life in the digital age?
In October, we launched Writing Our Civic Futures, a collaboration of the National Writing Project and Marginal Syllabus that supports conversations about civic engagement and learning over the course of the 2017-18 academic year. Refer to the syllabus for information on all the annotatable readings, which will go “live” on the first Monday of each […]
Our December edition of Writing Our Civic Futures, our annotation collaboration with Marginal Syllabus, explores critical literacies that center students' lives with a recent artic
LRNG Innovators co-founder John Legend highlights the work of educator teams who are building the future of connected learning.
High school social studies teacher Peter Paccone shares how his students have "stepped up", and why he is pointing them to the KQED Youth Media Challenge.
Last month we kicked off Writing Our Civic Futures, a collaboration of the National Writing Project and Marginal Syllabus that supports conversations about civic engagement and learning over the course of the 2017-18 academic year. Refer to the syllabus for information on all the annotatable readings, which will go “live” on the first Monday of […]
October 20 is the National Day on Writing and we've put together some resources to inspire and get you started.
KQED and the Bay Area Video Coalition's Youth Media Challenge asks teens to create video, audio, or writing sharing how they’ve stepped up to take action.
Connected learning scholar Mimi Ito explores lessons learned from a successful long-distance collaboration to create innovative STEM learning experiences for elementary students.
Our collaborative annotation project, Writing Our Civic Futures, is underway with a conversation about youth voice and civic participation.
Middle Eastern and Muslim-American youth are creating new ways to use social media and other digital tools to find their voices, educate, and organize for social change.
With Writing Our Civic Futures, a collaborative project of the National Writing Project and Marginal Syllabus, educators will have the opportunity to bring margin notes to life.
Learn about StoriumEdu, a new game-based learning system for writing, and join the free beta program.
Get ready for this year’s 4T Virtual Conference on Digital Writing with a look back at some of the conversations and resources that resulted from last year’s edition.
The Current at Educator Innovator, our redesigned open publishing platform, is now live and ready for your contributions!
Engage students in issues of science and media literacy with KQED's entertaining and informative hype-busting video series Above the Noise.
Nicole Mirra begins a framework of connected teaching, a set of moves and practices that can help teachers understand the how of connected learning and put its principles into prac
Three 2014 LRNG Innovators Challenge grantees share how their work has progressed, relaying both tremendous successes and ongoing challenges.
Parent Playlists, from LRNG and Educator Innovator, offer activities to engage parents and kids in connected learning, highlighting the ways that learning happens outside of school
Nikole Collins-Puri, CEO of TechBridge Girls, explores her organization's mission and outlines six key strategies for for building makerspaces that are girl-inclusive.
Steven Zemelman provides an easy guide to getting started with civic action projects, bringing together the benefits of student civic engagement and project-based learning.
Through training and outreach, maker programs aim for greater diversity among future innovators.
A group of YOUmedia makerspaces band together to innovate and support library makerspaces facing the opportunities and challenges distinctive to the middle, “post-emergent” years.
The Networked Narratives team talks with scholars and practitioners thinking about new ways to collaboratively tell and share stories using digital tools.
“Creating with Confidence” revamps AP Art, using collaboration and design-thinking to spur students to create art with public purpose.
Students share their thoughts on what makes Cosby Hunt's Real World History program, one of the 2014 LRNG Innovators Challenge grantees, such a unique and powerful way to connect with history.
Students take to the river, building collaboration and problem-solving skills by building and sailing their own rafts, in conjunction with a critical reading of Huckleberry Finn.
From video chats to charity basketball games, educators are empowering youth civic engagement by connecting politics to interest-driven learning as a means for teaching argumentative writing.
The Sitka Story Lab, which helps students explore and express their stories while building writing and media skills, extends its work into rural Alaskan native communities with support from our LRNG Innovators grant.
Collaboratively explore the meaning of love and the power of personal narrative in our annotathon of Bronwyn LaMay’s Personal Narrative, Revised: Writing Love and Agency in the High School Classroom.
We're excited to announce the 10 teams of educators who are building the future, today, through our LRNG Innovators challenge grants. These grants were made possible with support from the National Writing Project, John Legend's Show Me Campaign, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Girlhood Remixed and Ink Spilling create formative summer camp experiences for youth nearing adolescence, connecting young women with STEM skills and opportunities, and giving the STEM-inclined an opportunity to embrace writing.
Join us this month as we launch our partnership with Marginal Syllabus with a Hypothesis annotathon of By Any Media Necessary and a kick-off webinar with the book's authors.
Northern California Writing Project teacher-consultant Kim Jaxon’s jumbo-sized composition class is designed to harness the collaboration, virality, and spontaneous exchange of “epic learning.”
Examining historical case studies with resources from our partner Facing History and Ourselves helps students think about the cultural and institutional factors necessary for a healthy democracy.
Civic engagement projects give students at East Los Angeles Renaissance Academy an opportunity to celebrate their community, as well as the skills and experience to make positive change.
At Philadelphia’s Workshop School, students are developing media production skills to shape their school community and their own learning.
Librarians have been on the front lines of information literacy for years, putting them in a prime position to help youth learn to navigate a complex and growing world of digital information and news.
Remi Kalir, one of the organizers of the open annotation project Marginal Syllabus, explains how the project is an example of open educational resources (OER) and open educational practices (OEP), and its potential for ongoing teacher education.
Math Teachers Circles create a space for educators to connect with the joys of discovery and collaborative problem-solving, creating lessons that inform their classroom practice.
A new storytelling project in Kansas City—supported by an LRNG Innovators Challenge Grant—builds community among diverse high school students.
With the 2017 LRNG Innovators Challenge ongoing, we revisit the continuing success of some of our past grantees.
Facing History’s essay contest prompts students to reflect on civic participation and ethical decision-making by asking them to write about a person or text that has shaped the way they think about what it means to make moral choices. I came to the teaching profession with big ambitions. Like many readers of this blog, I […]
Read Brave is a city-wide one book project in Saint Paul, Minnesota, facilitated by a small but passionate group from the Saint Paul Public Library’s Createch program, part of the YOUmedia Learning Labs Network. Marika Staloch, one of the facilitators, recently spoke with K-Fai Steele, of the YOUmedia Network and the National Writing Project. You can listen to the full interview below.
For this year's Break the Super Bowl advertisement remixing event, The Lamp focused on the representation of women in partnership with the #WomenNotObjects campaign.
A program based in Brooklyn, NY, makes learning enticing for teenagers, combining topics they might already know a thing or two about: fashion, technology, and video games. “Playable Fashion” began in 2012 as an afterschool program at the nonprofit art and technology studio Eyebeam. Today the teenage participants learn about electronics, coding, and “wearable technology” […]
Library makerspaces, including members of the YOUmedia Learning Labs Network, offer students a chance to design, tinker, and build critical thinking skills. “Libraries are all about inquiry,” says Valerie Jopeck, a former librarian and current education specialist for a large public school district in Virginia. But in this case, Jopeck is not talking about just […]
LRNG Innovators is launching its third challenge, inviting educators to imagine engaging ways to help young people explore their interests, thereby igniting a passion that can lead to college, to a career, or having a positive impact in the community. We seek proposals for programs, curricula, or projects that actively help youth discover interests connecting the spheres of their lives, both in and out of school, and provide potential future opportunities.
Andover Bread Loaf facilitates writing workshops in Lawrence, MA, creating space for youth and adults to come together, tell their stories, and become the authors of their community. In 2017, Andover Bread Loaf, an outreach program of Phillips Academy Andover in partnership with the Bread Loaf Teacher Network, will hold its thirtieth anniversary celebration. It […]
English teacher Molly Vasich has always been curious about class participation—what prompts it and what discourages it? Teaching upper-level International Baccalaureate courses to predominantly white students at Washburn High School in Minneapolis, Vasich was particularly aware of the class participation patterns among her few students of color. For some, engagement spiked during units on African-American […]
An afterschool writing center offers fourth- and fifth-graders the opportunity to explore their creative capacity upon completing a warm-up writing exercise.
How a local public library in Nashville is using digital media to help teens see themselves as readers, and much more. It began with a simple library lending program. When funding for the library at the Woodland Hills Development Center in Nashville, Tennessee, was slashed in 2015, the staff there reached out to their local […]
New media educator Howard Rheingold interviews educator Kevin Hodgson about connected learning and how educators enact its principles with technology.
New media educator Howard Rheingold interviews professor Shelly Terrell about her new book, which highlights the power of students' mobile devices to drive learning in and out of the classroom.
The Hour of Code, a global movement to introduce students to the fundamentals of computer science organized by Educator Innovator partner Code.org, takes place next week, December 5-11.
Librarian and maker Colleen Graves recaps a lively and learner-driven session on makerspaces and embracing making as teachers of writing at the 2016 NWP Annual Meeting. Session Info In our interactive session for “Makerspace in the Library: What it means for your Classroom,” we really let our participants drive the learning. We started out with […]
This Sunday and Monday, Join our partner Facing History for Face the Future, a global virtual game about what the future of empathy might look like, and how that impacts our choices today. Read more from Jane McGonigal, world-renowned game designer and Director of Games Research and Development at the Institute for the Future, about why you should care about imagining the future.
This resource from the New York Times Learning Network provides seven recommendations for teaching and writing personal essays, as well as a curated collection of essays from the Times to serve as mentor texts.
The Educating for Democracy in the Digital Age Initiative's new video series documents best practices and new strategies in civic education.
Teenagers all over the world are invited to take part in the New York Times Learning Network's Civil Conversation Challenge by taking part in discussions of big issues dividing Americans this campaign season, such as immigration, climate change, and race, gender, and identity.
Our partner The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation's free online Learning Differences course aims to help teachers better understand and meet the needs of all learners. See what a Constance Seibert, a former participant-turned facilitator, has to say about what makes the course so valuable.
Through interest-driven learning and making, the Global Cardboard Challenge by our partner, Imagination Foundation, puts the principles of connected learning into practice while celebrating youth creativity in an annual day of play.
Project Zero’s Agency by Design team is developing documentation and assessment tools for maker-centered learning and "maker empowerment", which they see as the key to ensuring that the maker movement secures a long-term place in education and pedagogy.
Out of Eden, a program of our partner Project Zero, aims to nudge students toward an open-minded and authentic embrace of difference.
Our partner Project Zero previews the insights from its forthcoming book, Maker-Centered Learning: Empowering Young People to Shape their Worlds, the results of their multiyear Agency by Design research initiative.
To help alleviate concerns around privacy with ed tech tools, our partner, The Lamp, outlines three crucial steps for students and educators to follow that minimizes the risks.
As the summer winds down and a new school year begins, teacher-consultant and 2014 National Teacher of the Year Sean McComb reflects on the need to stay focused on the objectives that really matter.
Three keys for educators and administrators preparing to launch a new technology initiative in the school year, from our partner Digital Promise.
Teachers are using Letters to the Next President 2.0 to engage their students with civic and political issues, and to amplify their students' voices on the issues that matter to them.
"Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age," a recent article in Theory and Research in Social Education provides an overview of the core principles and practices of the Educating for Participatory Politics (EPP) project from two researchers at Mills College and Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, Executive Director of the National Writing Project.
Letters to the Next President 2.0 publishing website launches. Student Submissions are rolling in.
Built on principles of evidence-based learning, these twenty micro-credentials from our partner Digital Promise and the Global Financial Literacy Center at George Washington University can help educators prepare to teach a unit or class on personal finance.
A brief history of political advertising and an invitation to “Break the Election” from our partner The LAMP. Students and educators can use their MediaBreaker/Studios tool to remix and critically dissect election advertising and media.
Submit your proposals today for MozFest 2016: Demystify the Web! The conference, which will take place in October at Ravensbourne College in London, will focus on tackling the challenges of digital inclusion, web literacy, online privacy and security, open innovation, and decentralization. Proposals are due by August 1st!
To measure the impact of its media literacy programs and tools, our partner, The Lamp developed an assessment rubric to analyze the work created by students and how that form of activism enables the role a student plays in a participatory digital culture.
Professional development training at Nashville Public Library, a member of the YOUmedia Learning Labs Network, focuses on the planning and designing of programs that are centered around connected learning.
Our partner, KQED compiled a list of the ten best resources to help educators prepare for the fall by building curricula that engage students with the Presidential election using Letters to the Next President 2.0.
To promote digital civic learning opportunities, teams from Educating for Participatory Politics (EPP) participated in a webinar series sharing their experiences in working with educators to develop a framework of the core practices of participatory politics that articulate a new vision for civic education. This work featured two Educator Innovator partners: Youth and Participatory Politics and Facing History and Ourselves.
Our partner, The New York Times Learning Network offers ways educators can teach and help students learn about the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history and the questions it raises.
Every Friday from June 17-August 19, teens can submit an essay in The New York Times Learning Network's summer reading contest by outlining what current events they found to be the most interesting in The Times that week.
Our partner Edutopia explains how Letters to the Next President 2.0—hosted by the National Writing Project, KQED and Educator Innovator partners—can productively bring the presidential election into classrooms to improve students’ argumentative writing and media literacy.
The Digital Promise Map connects education leaders and product developers with research from thousands of articles in education and the learning sciences, in addition to summaries on some of the most relevant findings in key research topics.
Four members on the spring Student Council for our partner The New York Times Learning Network curated a list of the best 18 articles on education, happiness, and social awareness that provide advice to youth entering adulthood.
As the use of digital content in education connects to improved teaching and learning, our partner OER Commons aims to elevate the potential of the school librarian, especially in relation to open educational resources (OER).
Many believe that media literacy is an essential component to education, and our partner The LAMP explains how it could lead to a less divided country.
An educator shares how our partner NaNoWriMo has affected the writing of youth in international schools.
A professional development program emphasizing process, challenge-based learning, collaboration, and reflection is being held throughout the summer of 2016 by our partner Jacob Burns Film Center to prepare educators to integrate viewing and creating media into their literacy instruction.
At the YOUmedia Community of Practice site, Learning Labs practitioners from around the country share resources and expertise, and work toward improving their own practice.
Found poems are composed from words and phrases found in another text and are the subject for The New York Times Learning Network's contest running through May 3.
In 2011, a young man named Mohammad posted a video on YouTube where he spoke into the lens of a handheld camera. “My name is Mohammad, and I am undocumented,” he said. He explained how his parents immigrated to the United States when he was 3 years old, and detailed the difficulties of being undocumented, […]
From now until Earth Day (April 22), our partner Imagination Foundation is holding the 2016 Earth Day cardboad challenge, a contest for youth to use recyclables to address environmental challenges.
Students learn in an environment that is conducive to building a sense of autonomy at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) Maker Space, a site in the network of our partner YOUmedia Learning Labs, by approaching problem-solving with the "I Can Mentality."
As longtime advocates for civil liberties, librarians are uniquely positioned to teach today’s teens about digital privacy.
Educators problem-solve the complexities of introducing a new concept to students by participating in new workshops centered around STEAM and maker movement practices.
An initiative to fill community spaces with programs using innovative equipment, software, and professionals is teaching youth how to learn by immersing them in digital arts.
Through the Letters to the Next President 2.0 project, students and educators embrace digital writing and media-making as chance to be heard in an election year.
In its 2016 National Education Technology Plan, the Department of Education emphasizes model approaches to digital learning. Educator Innovator partners and National Writing Project teacher-leaders helped shape the plan through model examples of effective practice which also addressed issues of equity and access.
In honor of Women's History Month, the New York Times Learning Network asked its spring Student Council—25 teenagers from all over the United States, as well as from China, South Korea, England, and Canada—to search the Times and find the most interesting pieces they could on the broad topic of gender.
Two popular apps that support young artists and writers are calling on teens to create works, twisting the fate of heroes and villains. “Twist Fate,” an art and writing challenge for 13 to 17 year olds, is being hosted by DeviantArt, the world’s largest community for visual art, and by Wattpad, the world’s largest community of readers and writers. This effort is also supported by the Connected Learning Alliance (CLA), the National Writing Project (NWP), and the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA).
We're excited to announce the 11 teams of educators who are building the future, today, through our LRNG Innovators Challenge grants. These grants were made possible with support from the National Writing Project, John Legend's Show Me Campaign, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
From software tools to facilitation guides, these toolkits have everything a librarian needs to run their own Learning Circle, a lightly facilitated study group for learners who want to take online courses with their peers in a community space. This resource is brought to you by Peer to Peer University (P2PU), an Educator Innovator partner, and leverages the Connected Learning principles.
The New York Times Learning Network is holding its third annual student editorial contest, featuring short, evidence-based persuasive essays where teenagers take a stand on an issue and attempt to convince readers of their point of view.
From now through March 11, 2016, our partner Imagination Foundation is putting the principles of connected learning into practice by launching its first ever Inventor's Challenge, where youth seek to solve a problem in their schools or community by making something cool, useful, or even wacky.
In an effort to reach more patrons and spread innovation, librarians are taking their digital learning and staff development programs on the road.
A new partnership between the National Writing Project and the National Park Service helps connect students and educators to some of our country’s lesser-known national park resources, and become stronger writers in the process.
From now through the fall, The New York Times Learning Network will be providing lesson plans, student contests, and more to support educators in teaching the election. At the top of the list is our own project, Letters to the Next President 2.0, that currently provides opportunities and resources, and will become a publishing platform for youth (13–18) where they can voice their opinions on important issues through writing and an array of media.
A superintendent's take on what really matters when trying to implement a successful edtech plan.
In a personal post, author Zenzele Johnson shares how The Learning About Multimedia Project (LAMP) helps youth think critically about issues of race, class, and gender in the world around them.
Do you have inspiring ideas for cultivating a growth mindset in students? Our partner Common Sense Graphite has all the info you need to get started on this challenge.
This election year, Facing History and Ourselves reminds us that young people can make a difference outside the voting booth by standing up and voicing their concerns about the injustices around them.
A fun, engaging contest from our partner, the New York Times Learning Network, that develops vocabulary and many other skills, including media-making.
Teachers in the South Bronx extend opportunities for student-driven online writing projects through the Youth Voices platform. The work was supported by a 2014 LRNG Innovation Challenge grant and benefited students who have immigrated to the US and lack the resources that many of their native-born peers enjoy.
The Turtle Mountain Art and Writing Workshop—sponsored by the Red River Valley Writing Project (RRVWP), Turtle Mountain Community Schools, and Scholastic—gave Native American middle and high school students opportunities to write and make art with instructors and mentors that they could relate to.
For those looking for new ways to engage the public with science that include a significant demonstration of what the scientific method is, citizen science is becoming an increasingly used tool, and its importance continues to grow. This archive from the latest broadcast of ASTC On Air provides a first-hand look at what to expect in the near future.
The YOUmedia Learning Lab network helps transform a vacant space into a thriving community of youth who create, make, and collaborate.
Although originally published in the fall of 2015, the insights that author Greg Garner shares about mentorship and leadership still hold strong value in a new year. This piece was originally published as part of the "Innovation to Change Education" blog series by the Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative which is powered by The William & Ida Friday Institute for Educational Innovation.
Lighthouse Community Charter School in Oakland, CA uses maker-centered learning—with direction from Project Zero's "Agency by Design" research initiative—to engage students in "looking closely, exploring complexity, and finding opportunity." This post from Teaching Channel introduces us to "Agency by Design" and provides examples from the classroom.
Youth in Ypsilanti, MI utilize mobile technology in a combined thematic project using math and geography to plan a road trip. Our partner Digital Promise is capturing the stories that are emerging from their Verizon Innovative Learning Schools partnership that provides kids with mobile learning technology (in school and at home), and teachers with professional development.
It takes more than just engaging content to have a successful MOOC. Through an inquiry-based process, our partner The Friday Institute discovered that offering multiple ways for participants to connect during the MOOC led to more positive outcomes.
New funding opportunities through LRNG will support connected learning by leveraging rich resources in communities and helping young people connect their interests beyond classroom walls.
As the push for everyone to learn how to code increases, and with the Hour of Code approaching in December, our partner The LAMP reminds us of the importance of not only learning how things on the web are made, but why.**
Originally posted on The Learning Network blog, this piece dives into what annotation is in general, and provides an overview of web tools to get started with annotating online. The Learning Network is an Educator Innovator partner and this article also features another partner, Hypothes.is—a free, open web annotation tool.
Educator innovator Mia Zamora introduces Virtually Connecting, a new connected learning community with a foundational commitment to equity and access.
A growing group of libraries have opened up space for maker projects as one way of experimenting with new identities to attract young patrons in the modern age.
The “Pop Up and Make” project in Greenville, North Carolina—supported by a 2014 LRNG Innovation Challenge grant—is supporting the creation of mobile spaces where students can play, tinker, make, and collaborate on a host of projects that speak to their interests in informal learning pathways.
Common Sense's new study quantifies screen use, identifies unique types of users, and uncovers patterns that could spark improvements in content, access, and learning.
Through a newly launched grant competition, LRNG Innovators is challenging teachers to reach beyond the schoolhouse door to develop partnerships and programs that connect in-school and out-of-school learning and create opportunities for young people to follow their interests and do ambitious work.
A unique initiative is giving teachers and museum educators the chance to design programs that blend science and writing for youth, educators, and community members.
We know young people have strong opinions and now they can earn recognition for expressing them. The New York Times Learning Network is running a contest from now until November 24 for the best written reviews on art, music, architecture, games, movies, and more.
Learn about a new set of offerings from Connected Camps geared to the schedules and rhythms of the school year. Connected Camps is a benefit corporation providing connected learning experiences that foster creativity, problem solving, collaboration, and interest-driven learning through Minecraft.
YOUmedia Chicago and well-known alumni/performers—Chance the Rapper and Malcolm London—attract youth to Teens in the Park Fest (TIP Fest), a celebration with live music that also featured Chicago’s array of summer youth programs.
The National Student Poets Program is the nation’s highest honor for young poets who represent some of the best young writers today. On behalf of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, we are pleased to announce Chasity Hale, De’John Hardges, Eileen Huang, Anna Lance, and David Xiang as the Class of 2015 National Student Poets.
Sean McComb, an English teacher at Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts in Baltimore, MD, shares a personal look behind his writing and teaching practice. This piece was featured on the Teaching Channel's blog, Tchers' Voice, and was his response to the upcoming National Day on Writing prompt, "#whyiwrite." On October 20, everyone is invited to celebrate writing, community, and voice through the hashtag #whyiwrite. Sean is a 2014 National Teacher of the Year and a Teaching Channel Laureate.
This recently developed multimedia lesson on making infographics offers storytelling resources for educators compiled into a DIY Toolkit from our partner, Youth Radio.
Today, the National Writing Project and Educator Innovator join partners across the country in announcing Collective Shift, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to redesign social systems for the connected age. As a collective, our current focus is LRNG, a movement to create a 21st-century ecosystem of learning that combines in-school, out-of-school, work-based, and online learning opportunities that are visible and accessible to all.
Our partners at Teaching Channel have been working with Student Achievement Partners on a blog series about digital literacy tools for educators. In this final installment of the series, Natalie Franzi and Steve Figurelli outline nine tools that create opportunities for students to employ their speaking and listening skills as creators and producers, and as called for by the Common Core State Standards.
The fourth annual Connected Educator Month (CEM) kicks off today and Educator Innovator is leading the theme, “Connected Learning: Time and Space.” CEM is a month-long exploration of key educational issues through online communities and networks, bringing education leaders together to move towards a more fully connected and collaborative profession.
Invite kids in your community to build something amazing out of cardboard, recycled materials, and imagination, and on October 10, 2015, celebrate a day of play with participants all over the world. Register your event with our partner the Imagination Foundation to receive resources and updates.
How do you teach and learn in ways you can't imagine teaching and learning? Chad Sansing, Curriculum Developer for Web Literacy with the Mozilla Foundation, offers his ideas on future curriculums that involve an open process, hyper-localizability, sustainability, and a future-facing design when implementing Universal Web Literacy.
Seventh and eighth graders at Kenilworth Junior High in Petaluma, CA host a live news show every single day of the week. This self-directed production allows them to learn how to use cameras and editing software, write scripts, and learn other skills related to broadcasting. Although this isn't a new program at Kenilworth, a 2014 LRNG Innovation Challenge grant has given them the opportunity to take their production to the next level.
The redesigned Thimble—a free, open-source tool for teaching and learning web literacy in a simple, hands-on and visual fashion—includes a better code editor, a rich platform for educators to build curriculum on, a sleeker look and feel, a more guided learning experience, and so much more.
The New York Times Learning Network has compiled a list of 15 ways that teachers, students (of any age), and parents can use their blog—from visual-literacy discussions to resources for frequently taught subjects to interactive news quizzes. The Learning Network wants educators to be successful in creating dialogue and conversations with students this school year, and everything is completely free and accessible without a digital subscription.
Schools wanting to adopt competency-based learning may have a challenging time doing so due to inconsistent policies nationwide and very few models to follow. Jason Tomassini, communications director at Digital Promise, follows a rural school district in Piedmont, Alabama to learn about their victories and lessons learned from their first year of implementing self-paced learning.
Mobile, mash, and magic—"3Ms" of digital learning and teaching from Dr. Lisa Hervey, Senior Research Scholar for the Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative at NC State University. Hervey encourages the use of the 3Ms to ignite students' curiosity and creativity.
"When students are web literate, information becomes more accessible, and learning becomes more dynamic." Chris Lawrence, VP of Learning at Mozilla, discusses why web literacy should be added as "the fourth R" to the three cornerstones of education.
The Mix, a new 4,770-square-foot digital media center and digital learning space was designed, start to finish, by a teen advisory board. This four-year project opened in June and was supported by the YOUmedia Learning Lab Network.
Just in time for the beginning of the school year, this collection of resources provides community-building classroom activities. From breaking down stereotypes to telling powerful stories, these activities from our friends at Facing History and Ourselves go beyond "breaking the ice" and move towards strengthening classroom community.
This post from our partner, YOUmedia, shows how one Learning Lab at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, CA, created an event to be more inviting for female makers and hackers, addressing a need to be more inclusive in the community.
Supported by a 2014 LRNG Innovation challenge grant, some 200 students in rural New Mexico spent the spring and summer harvesting herbs, playing with lie detectors, and learning their way around Photoshop.
Earlier this month, community members and counselors from Summer of Minecraft gathered at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts to reflect on their experiences in the online summer camp organized by Connected Camps. Summer of Minecraft enabled kids ages 9-13 to hone their skills in the creative, construction-based game with the help […]
LRNG-funded project in Riverside, CA builds multi-themed, interest-driven learning stations for students to explore, collaborate, and produce.
What tools would you use to improve democracy in the US? Our partner Facing History and Ourselves uses inspiration from common tools found in toolboxes and shares some images and ideas from their latest seminar to answer this question.
Jane Stavem, associate superintendent for instruction at Lincoln Public Schools (NE), discusses her district's strategic planning to set out to design a comprehensive technology plan and digital conversion for the district.
Mediabreaker is a first-of-its-kind, free, cloud-based video remix tool developed by The LAMP—a New York-based nonprofit organization and an Educator Innovator partner—to help people critique and deconstruct media content through remixing.
“This Is Media,” a 20-minute documentary on some of the thornier issues in life online for young people and adults, is available for all educators, along with an accompanying discussion guide.
This new set of resources details digital badging efforts around the country with examples of digital badges issued in programs, recommendations for programs that are interested in introducing badges, and lessons that network and program staff learned along the way.
Real World History—a unique afterschool elective through Inspired Teaching—gives students the chance to explore the past by interning at museums, libraries, and historical sites across Washington. The course was supported by a 2014 LRNG Innovation Challenge grant.
According to researchers at Digital Promise—an Educator Innovator partner—administrators and district leaders can help build a culture of research to improve student learning by supporting their teachers in three ways: Identify a Research Champion; Foster Research Communities; and Support Skill Development.
“Making Our Worlds”—a project in Charlotte, NC that was funded through a 2014 LRNG Innovation Challenge grant—has increased engagement, energy, and achievement by giving students the space to create projects that not only give them experience with new technologies, but also strengthen their positions as global citizens
As the 2015 CLMOOC continues through a fifth Make Cycle, we’re excited that our partners, KQED and the National Park Service, will be leading the final two weeks. It's not too late to jump into Make Cycle #5, Stories and Spaces!
Inspired by the TV show, this Shark Tank was developed by National Writing Project educators as a format for teachers to tap into students' feedback on curriculum-in-process. When it comes to the effort it takes to writing and to write well, students are investors.
The biggest party of the year is right around the corner! In 2014, Maker Party brought together almost 130,000 people who hosted more than 2,500 hands-on, community-run events across 86 countries. And they built some 44,000 projects — fun, funky, and useful apps, web pages, and games that made the Web a more exciting place. […]
CLMOOC is in the middle of its third Make Cycle, "Level Up Your Game Design!" Find out how to get involved and get caught up on Make Cycles 1 and 2. CLMOOC is a knowledge-building and sharing experience open to anyone interested in making, playing, and learning together about the educational framework known as Connected Learning, and anyone is invited to jump in at any time.
Educator innovator Antero Garcia shares his observations about a game jam in LA and some background information leading up to the event. Funded by a 2014 LRNG Innovation Challenge grant, the event showcased the potential of new approaches to educational practices.
Our partner, The Learning Network, introduces the origins of #CharlestonSyllabus—a crowdsourced list that provides information about the history of racial violence in the United States—and provides a collection of resources from the New York Times that's free to students and teachers.
Educator innovator Nicole Mirra reminds us that it's not so much the tools that create innovation, but that innovation lies in the activities and opportunities that teachers provide to harness these tools.
See how the Critical Design and Gaming School (C:\DAGS) in South Central Los Angeles has taken a new approach to education through game-based learning. This weekend game jam was the culmination of a year of professional development supported by a 2014 LRNG Innovation Challenge grant.
Students in southern Connecticut have been connected and inspired by the collaborative digital media project, We, Too, Are Connecticut. Funded through a 2014 LRNG Innovation Challenge grant, the project is inspired by Ubuntu, the African philosophical concept about a connected humanity that states, “I can be me because of who we are together.”
This summer, Chicago, Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. will double as Cities of Learning (COL) where young people can take self-directed journeys through any number of participating organizations, completing activities and receiving digital badges to recognize their achievements. This initiative, funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, hopes to break down some of the barriers that kids from low-income families encounter when trying to access summer learning opportunities.
Launched just last week in celebration of the White House’s Week of Making, CLMOOC is a collaborative, knowledge-building and sharing experience open to anyone interested in making, playing, and learning together about the educational framework known as Connected Learning. The first Make Cycle begins today but anyone is welcome to jump in at any time.
This post from our partner, Digital Promise, highlights several stories that help shift and shape the conversation about public education and the role of technology in it.
The Imagination Foundation invites you to become a chapter leader and join a vibrant community of volunteers from around the globe who are helping kids build the world they imagine.
This Summer, our partner Project Ed is launching a new series of video contests that hopes to inspire young filmmakers to read classic novels and make them come to life in short videos. Cash prizes of over $20,000 are available along with the opportunity to have your video featured.
Through an LRNG Innovation Challenge grant, Eastern Heights Elementary School in St. Paul, Minnesota has transformed a learning space to support connected learning while meeting the individual needs of students.
Every year since 2010 The New York Times Learning Network (an Educator Innovator partner) has invited teenagers to add The New York Times to their summer reading lists, and every year more and more have taken up the offer. This year, we’re running the contest with an all-new, and much-improved, commenting system that we hope […]
Summer Minecraft camps give youth opportunities to engage in something they love while learning from their peers.
See how youth from socially and economically diverse backgrounds have come together, through an LRNG Innovation Challenge grant, to create micro networks that have given them opportunities to have a positive impact in their communities.
Learn more about the upcoming Digital Media & Learning Conference where some of the nation’s top scholars and practitioners in digital media and education will come together to think about how learning organizations and institutions can explore ways for youth to engage in meaningful and relevant learning. There will also be Saturday workshops geared specifically for educators.
Instructional technology specialist Suzy Lolley interviews six librarians to see how they're creating makerspaces that bring books to life and follow a new mantra, "Innovate, create, collaborate."
In June, Webmaker's suite of web literacy tools will be evolving. See what's in store and how to prepare for this exciting transition.
On the eve of its third iteration, CLMOOC has expanded, but the idea remains the same: the free informal course engages educators in making and sharing, online and off. Sign up today!
It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee… —Edgar Allan Poe We’ve all heard songs that describe love in powerful and moving ways. Great writers capture feelings in words that describe otherwise indescribable emotions. […]
In this post from our partner, Connected Camps, learn all about the Summer of Minecraft, a month-long online Minecraft camp for kids ages 9-13. The camp is a unique opportunity designed to level kids up around their interests and skills in Minecraft.
In this Q&A, researchers Shirin Vossoughi and Meg Escudé delve into the dynamics of interaction and learning within spaces of making, with a focus on issues of culture and equity.
Grounded in Youth Participatory Action Research and supported by an LRNG Innovation Challenge grant, students at Castle Hill Middle School in the Bronx are engaged in thinking critically about issues that matter to them, and are empowered to provide solutions.
Learning scientists and educational philosophers have long understood that when we learn with the combination of our hands and our minds, we see the best results. In the realm of science, this process is called “inquiry”—it encourages curious learners and scientific researchers alike to interact with the natural world to better understand it. In the […]
Digital Promise is thrilled to announce, along with partner EdSurge, that they are accepting applications for the second annual Digital Innovation in Learning Awards. They are inviting educators, administrators, and organizations to submit videos that showcase how they support teaching and learning. Winners will be selected in 15 categories, including five new awards introduced this […]
Teens from YOUmedia Miami grow an antiviolence campaign by flooding social media with messages of nonviolence and providing a platform for students to create projects and discussions around the topic.
In this post, Matt Farber—a social studies teacher and author of Gamify Your Classroom: A Field Guide to Game-Based Learning—discusses the iterative process he and his students explored while designing games to teach the American Revolution.
Are you an experienced maker educator? Want to connect with other progressive colleagues committed to taking a collective step toward making change in education? Join Maker Ed for the first Maker Educator Convening on May 13, 2015.
Educator Innovator Nicole Mirra shares an experience that demonstrates an innovative way that teachers can use technology to engage young people from different geographic locations in discussions about controversial political issues of common concern.
Water Bears EDU is a Systems Thinking game built by Schell Games in collaboration with the Creativity Labs at Indiana University. It comes with real-time reports, a teacher's guide, and sample lesson plans that can easily complement or supplement existing curriculum.
Through specific examples, this piece outlines ways that youth can use technology they're already familiar with to address social and political issues that matter to them.
A new research brief series from the Maker Education Initiative provides a rich, fascinating set of findings that ultimately re-emphasizes the importance of open maker portfolios and the wealth of future possibilities they hold.
Learn more about the White House's new Future Ready initiative and how it plans to bring districts, schools, and libraries into the 21st century, and give kids the skills and opportunities they need to succeed in a fast-changing world.
The Digital Media and Learning Research Hub has a new connected course called DML Commons. Focused on professional pathways for interdisciplinary work and design-based research, this course is targeted towards graduate students, postdocs, and junior scholars, but is open to anyone.
This new report from our partner, Digital Promise, explores the Deeper Learning Framework—a guide for redesigning teaching and learning to ensure that students are engaged in classroom activities, motivated to persist, and developing key skills—and identifies the specific skills students must master to succeed in college and their careers.
An Imagination Foundation Chapter—a community-organized learning space—inspires kids to use creativity to solve real-world problems.
The Maker Education Initiative invites you to apply to become a Maker Corps Member. Maker Corps Members are maker-in-residences at Host Sites that are an inclusive spectrum of youth-serving organizations and programs.
Learn about two exciting new planning projects by Mozilla to help in- and out-of-school educators identify and teach digital-age skills, and to prototype badges with clear learning and achievement outcomes related to those skills.
Take a look behind the scenes at the collaborative design process between content experts and game developers in this post by Educator Innovator partner, GlassLab Games.
Teach The Web Talks are webinars that are broadcast monthly by our partner, Mozilla Webmaker. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to join in on the discussion, ask questions or advice, and come together to learn and share ideas about education and the web.
At Chicago’s Tilden Career Community Academy, high school students double as enterprising reporters. They film, photograph, and write stories for Tilden Talks, a multimedia journal funded by an LRNG Innovation Challenge Grant.
Teachers and students at Elizabeth Forward Middle School add some spice to learning definitions and food terminology through game design and play in their Consumer Science class.
Ben Root's documentary about a fellow student with cerebral palsy fighting for handicap access wins the official selection for the 2015 White House Student Film Festival. Root is a veteran of the PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs.
ASTC On Air—a new series from our partner, the Association of Science-Technology Centers—will kick things off with guest Rane Johnson-Stempson, principal research director at Microsoft. Johnson-Stempson will be discussing a new study on how girls perceive the effort necessary to get them into or to stay in STEM studies and careers.
Youth Voices is a community and a platform. It’s an openly networked social media site that was created and is maintained by secondary school teachers in the New York City Writing Project and other local sites of the National Writing Project. Beyond being just a blogging platform, Youth Voices is a place where real conversations […]
The summer before freshman year at college can be tricky—filled with anticipation, transitions, and sometimes nerves. For teens participating in a college preparation program at the Free Library of Philadelphia last summer, it was also filled with making, film production, and creating a set of badges for younger kids.
Through the TeacherQuest program, Allegheny County teachers are working with Institute of Play—an Educator Innovator partner—to build a learning community dedicated to collaboration and iteration across sites, putting games and game-making at the center of a new movement in district-wide innovation.
The dangers of professional football dominated headlines last year when thousands of athletes brought a lawsuit against the National Football League for mishandling concussion claims. Broadcasters with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) wondered: How does this issue play out on high school fields? The network sent dozens of student reporters to do some digging, and […]
A new video contest from our partner, ProjectEd, in collaboration with Participant Media, calls for creators to imagine a world without teachers—an effort to inspire students to join the profession.
The SXSWedu Conference and Festival is a four-day event beginning March 9, 2015. It’s an opportunity for community and collaboration across a broad and diverse field of educators. Educator Innovator, along with a few of our partners, will be represented in several sessions and events throughout the festival.
GlassLab, an Educator Innovator partner, aims to identify what teachers want in games by employing and soliciting input from a collaborative crew of educators, game designers, and scientists. The GlassLab Teacher Network gives participating educators the opportunity to provide direct feedback to the company and share lesson plans with their peers.
Take a glimpse into the classroom of Bill Wilson, an educator using games to engage special-needs students. He attended and was inspired by TeacherQuest, a unique professional development program by Educator Innovator partner, Institute of Play, that focuses on games and game design.
Educator Innovator partner P2PU is joining forces with littleBits to bring you a course where you will learn how to invent anything using littleBits electronic modules and P2PU-designed courseware. The course is free, online, and open to anyone who wants to participate. It is peer-powered by P2PU. You can follow the five-week curriculum starting on February […]
As part of its LRNG-funded Maker Rings project, students at the the Birch School in Rock Tavern, New York, are forming cross-age interest groups and designing their school's makerspace.
If you’ve been following the growing buzz about maker-centered learning, you’ve probably heard someone somewhere say that learning from failure is an important aspect of any making experience. Slogans like “fail early, fail often” and “failing forward” are now popular refrains throughout the maker-sphere. What’s meant by “failure” in this context, of course, is iteration. […]
Many teachers are faced with the hard task of teaching a really complex math concept to kids: fractions. Not only is it a hard concept to grasp, it is an essential building block for understanding algebra later on. To address this situation, Ululab’s team has created Slice Fractions, a new game developed in partnership with […]
Nominate an Educator Innovator who you know to be a Digital Learning Champion as part of this year’s Digital Learning Day on March 13, With a 250-character summary and a photo or 15-second video, spotlight an educator you know who champions high-quality digital learning opportunities in their school and communities, and joins the Educator Innovator […]
This post tells the story of EdCamp's beginnings, and outlines the ways the for educators, by educators professional development platform continues to grow in both size and impact.
Whenever I am presented with the opportunity to participate in any form of professional development, the most important question that I ask is this: Is it worth my time? By “worth my time” I do not mean, Will I enjoy it or is it fun? I do not mean, Do I have a free spot […]
In this post from DML Central, educator Antero Garcia discusses defining a participatory critical literacy, using Nicole Mirra and Danielle Filipiak's Literacies of Contemporary Civic Life speaker series presentation as a framework.
In this post from GlassLab Game's Developer Diaries Series, Game Over Gopher, a tower defense game designed to enable students to better understand mathematics concepts, is described and the product development process is highlighted.
“Mentorship to me at its core is about love, you loving what you do enough to pass that knowledge on to the next person.” – Brother Mike Hawkins The typical mentor at a YOUmedia Learning Lab has an active creative practice. These mentor/artists include video producers, rappers, poets, fashion designers, illustrators, and more, and often […]
Today, afterschool programs are providing their students a host of learning opportunities. From designing websites to writing poetry to gardening, the list goes on and on. Though the opportunities differ, what many afterschool programs share is the way in which they approach creating learning opportunities for their students—finding new ways for young people to take […]
Do you know who has access to your private data? When so much of our personal information is available online, it is difficult to know what is ours, what are the threats, and how we can stay in control of our personal data. Join Mozilla Webmaker on Data Privacy Day for a #TeachTheWeb webinar and chat. January 28th at 12:00 p.m. PST/ 3:00 p.m. EST.
In this new DML Central post, educator Buffy Hamilton describes how digital media was used to help overcome an instructional design challenge and meet student learning goals.
What does walking on water, a nine-year-old cardboard magnate, rotoscoping, and communities of kindness all have to do with each other? They are all part of Common Sense's new informal learning program called Digital Bytes, a brand-new site for teens ages 13, and up to discover, analyze, and explore what it means to be a digital citizen in today's tech- and media- rich landscape.
Findings are beginning to emerge from Project Zero's Agency by Design, a multiyear research initiative investigating the promises, practices, and pedagogies of maker-centered learning experiences.
In this post from GlassLab Game's Developer Diaries Series, Game Over Gopher, a tower defense game designed to enable students to better understand mathematics concepts, is described and the product development process is highlighted.
It has become increasingly clear that youths’ experiences in schools do not match the kinds of experiences they are likely to have once they have completed school. The push to support “21st century” skills stems from this mismatch, and many have advocated for ensuring that young people learn to think about the world not as […]
David Bowles, a museum educator, discusses how he has captured some of the most indelible teachable moments from his gallery experiences by using Facebook posts as a documentation tool.
In recent years, much has been made of connected learning, and of new media’s power to expose students to new ideas, perspectives, and communities of thought. But what about those students given few opportunities to see beyond their own backyards, or for whom the 24-hour media cycle can seem like a relentless onslaught of violence, […]
KQED’s learning and education technology blog MindShift has long been one of our go-to sources for news about the future of learning. MindShift recently released the Guide to Digital Games and Learning – a comprehensive resource that answers many of the most pressing questions that educators, parents and others have raised around using digital games […]
As a teacher, Marcia Chatelain—a Georgetown University professor—knew talking about Ferguson in the classroom last August might be challenging for many educators. As Chatelain explained in The Atlantic, she tweeted teachers—asking them to devote one day to talking about Ferguson in their classrooms. And she prompted them to use the hashtag #FergusonSyllabus to suggest a […]
The Maker Certificate Program, based out of Sonoma State University, provides a professional development opportunity for educators looking to create and develop an environment of making in and outside of traditional classroom settings.
Some enthusiasts of digital media in learning and inclusion of making/tinkering as a learning activity — including myself — believe that talking about tinkering while doing it, in person and online, can enhance social contexts for peer learning and for learning thinking skills. Although the contemporary availability of resources such as YouTube and Arduino seems […]
Educators share how learning to write online in multiple formats is a key to literacy today's students are going to need in the future, and how digital platforms like NaNoWriMo, Youth Voices, and Figment allow today’s students to understand the power of publication, circulation, and their own writing.
For the second year in a row, Webmaker and Hive Learning Networks, both Educator Innovator partners, will be participating in the largest learning event in history–the Hour of Code, running from Dec. 8-14, 2014. Code.org launched this global campaign in 2013, to align with Computer Science Education Week, and to demystify code and show that anyone can learn […]
What do game-based learning strategies look like when applied to literacy teaching and learning? We at Institute of Play are teaming up with the National Center for Literacy Education to find out. On December 10, we invite you and your colleagues to join us in a webinar to explore the power of games and game […]
I’ve been writing for 45 years, and have always owned more physical notebooks than I need at any one time, and I’m an enthusiastic novice at electronics, so several of my antennae tingled vigorously when I first came across the term “circuit stickers” — peel-and-stick circuitry and components that are flat enough to make paper […]
You wouldn’t necessarily expect the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden—an arm of the Smithsonian Institution—to be a teen hangout spot. Museums have a reputation for attracting a very different kind of crowd—older, for one, according to museum consultant Nina Simon in “The Participatory Museum.” But museums like the Hirshhorn are reaching out to young people—with […]
NewsHour Extra, PBS NewsHour’s educational resource site and an Educator Innovator partner, is challenging students with its annual #MyZeitgeist contest to create digital projects about the most important news events of 2014. Inspired by Google’s annual Zeitgeist year-in-review montage, #MyZeitgeist encourages innovation in the classroom, news and media literacy and an understanding of how current events […]
In my last post I introduced a method for deconstructing learning games to estimate their effectiveness. Now, let’s test this method by using it to analyze a classic learning game that many of us who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s will have played: The Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail, first published in 1985, […]
At the National Writing Project Annual Meeting this week, we’re excited to launch a new book collection for educators interested in design-based thinking with a digital edge. A leading group of designers and educators from the Creativity Labs @ Indiana University, Vanderbilt University, Institute of Play, along with the Digital Youth Network and the National Writing Project, have developed […]
Educator Innovator—in partnership with LRNG, the Show Me Campaign, and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation—is delighted to announce the winners of the first ever LRNG Innovation Challenge. In response to the issues students and teachers face in finding time for deeper learning or the space to create, the LRNG Innovation Challenge grants […]
Learning games have it rough. Non-learning games are designed around a single primary goal: player enjoyment. That can be challenging enough to accomplish, but learning games have two primary goals: enjoyment plus learning. This can feel like a struggle. Often, it seems like learning and fun are diametrically opposed ideas, dooming learning games to be […]
How young people at Oakland’s Youth Radio are using digital media to elevate their political voices. During this past midterm election, ballots around California’s Bay Area were as befuddling as ever. Should Oakland residents vote yes on Measure FF to raise the minimum wage? Or would this be too hard on small business? Would a yes vote […]
If your students have been creating characters, crafting conflicts, developing dialogue and plotting plots, then they are probably chomping at the bit to start writing their novels. So what will that look like? What’s on the agenda for the month of November, better known as National Novel Writing Month? Here are my suggestions for making […]
“Why is it that when young people use technology on adult terms, they are praised as 21st century learners, but when they use technology on their OWN terms, they are castigated as deviant rule-breakers?” -Nicole Mirra, Innovators, Not Hackers. Stop Portraying Youth as Digital Deviants This quote from Nicole Mirra’s post at the DML […]
Teens are continually finding new social media platforms. But no matter the network, there are both concerns about how teens use new technologies and a realization of the opportunities for collaboration and peer learning. Social Media Week Chicago explored these issues and more in a panel at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Two of the panelists, Sam […]
Facing History and Ourselves, the latest Educator Innovator partner, believes that the lifeblood of democracy is the ability of every rising generation to be active, responsible decision-makers. We believe that inspired teachers and innovative methods are the key to this work. We work with educators around the world and throughout their careers to improve their effectiveness in […]
The nation’s 23.8 million non-dominant students comprise nearly half of the school population, and many of them are underserved by their school systems, particularly when it comes to technology use. Walk into one of the under-resourced schools in which many of these young people spend their days and you're liable to notice that although SMART Boards may have replaced blackboards and some computers may be visible around the room, in many cases there are few differences between today and the previous century in the ways classroom tools are leveraged for learning.
Two weekends ago, I had the opportunity to help co-“wrangle” a floor for the 2014 Mozilla Festival, better known as Mozfest. Emphasizing the space’s festival-like ethos (as opposed to typical conference drudgery), Mozfest spills into hallways, walls, and, of course, the web with its bend toward productivity. Described as a “a hands-on festival dedicated to forging the future of this open, global web,” Mozfest brings together a global audience to spend a weekend making stuff.
Digital Promise believes that in order for innovation to spread in education, we first have to elevate the visibility of where it’s already in practice. To that end, they’ve partnered with EdSurge to celebrate the leadership and work of teachers, administrators, and organizations with the 2014 Digital Innovation in Learning Awards (DILA).
This post originally appeared at Usable Knowledge at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The maker movement — think of it as “smart DIY,” a high- and low-tech approach to tinkering that turns users into inventors — is spurring excitement about the power of ingenuity in fields as disparate as robotics and design and agriculture. […]
This past Friday afternoon might just have been one of my favorite moments ever in my life as a teacher. This past Friday afternoon, my whole school joined together to take on the Global Cardboard Challenge. The results were beyond what any of us expected.
This post originally appeared at Edutopia. The first time I introduced National Novel Writing Month (a.k.a. NaNoWriMo) to my 8th graders, I was terrified. One of my teacher friends had said, “They’ll run screaming from the classroom in tears!” Some students did later confess to a brief moment of panic (“I almost lost my lunch!”), […]
This post originally appeared on the Startup Classroom blog. This is a big year for me as an educator. I’ve crossed the 25-year yard line on the teaching field and am pleased to find myself feeling as invigorated as I did when I began at age twenty-three. I’m a middle school math teacher but I […]
We know that when the school bell rings, kids take off in all different directions. Unfortunately, more than 15 million kids are left alone and unsupervised after the school day ends. The parents and guardians of more than eight million of these young people would like their children to participate in an afterschool program, but those children […]
This post originally appeared on Hive Chicago. How we can leverage a Hive network-effect to create pathways to STEM success for students from populations currently under-represented in STEM. As the Chicago Botanic Garden celebrates the 20th Anniversary of our #CollegeFirst20 program, I got to thinking about the impact the program has had on so many […]
This post originally appeared on Facing Today, a blog of the international educational non-profit and Educator Innovator collaborator, Facing History and Ourselves, which empowers teachers and students to think critically about history and to understand the impact of their choices. For decades, students, parents, volunteers, and community members have been inspired by their Facing History […]
October, also known as Connected Educator Month, has arrived. The great news is that there are hundreds of organizations participating and a multitude of programs, events, and resources dedicated to making this a festive month of celebrating professional development within the global connected learning community. For those finding it difficult to know where and how to […]
Take The Lights On Afterschool Webmaker Challenge! Two Educator Innovator partners – the Mozilla Foundation and the Afterschool Alliance – are teaming up to celebrate afterschool programs this October by creating the Lights On Afterschool Webmaker Challenge. On October 23, more than 1 million people around the country will take part in the 15th annual Lights On Afterschool, […]
This post originally appeared on dmlcentral. Clive Thompson is a longtime contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired. I recently had the opportunity to bring him to my office in the American Museum of Natural History, tour the dino halls, and explore how his new book — “Smarter Than […]
Educator Innovator and its network of partners is leading a theme on youth agency and voice as part of this year’s Connected Educator Month, which starts next week. Beginning with a kickoff webinar on October 1 and culminating with Edcamp Online, Educator Innovator’s participation will focus on disseminating resources that highlight the critical importance of interest- […]
This post originally appeared at the Out of Eden Learn blog How do we talk with one another in a digital age? Who do we friend, follow, and otherwise connect with? How do we share our ideas and respond to the ideas of others? And how do our online exchanges contribute to our understandings of […]
October is right around the corner…. And that means it’s almost Connected Educator Month! Edcamps are a significant part of the Connected Educator Movement. With over 500 face-to-face events in dozens of countries, educators everywhere are coming together to learn and share organically. Edcamps are unconference events designed for educators. The schedule is built on […]
Educators looking for a way to encourage the kind of dreaming in their young people that leads to new ideas can turn to their local libraries this October. Teen Read Week™, the national adolescent literacy initiative created by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), an Educator Innovator partner, is an annual celebration of reading for […]
In just one year, Project Ed has inspired thousands to create videos with the power to teach K-12 topics. This is how. As we approach one year since launching ProjectEd.com, now is a great time to reflect on what we are doing and why. When we set out to build Project Ed, we knew the […]
Following Hack Your Notebook Day, a nationwide paper circuitry and applied STEM learning event held this summer that brought together makers from around the country, libraries and other connected learning spaces have continued “hacking” notebooks by holding independent events for diverse groups of learners around the country. In August, a group of teens gathered at […]
The following article was first published in The Storybook and focuses on how the Imagination Foundation’s Global Cardboard Challenge is being used to unleash the genius in every child. Before kids graduate from high school, they will spend more than 14,000 hours in the classroom. During this time, they’ll gain an understanding of reading, writing, […]
This post originally appeared on the YALSA blog. A new survey from the Games and Learning Publishing Council sheds light on just how commonplace games have become in today’s classrooms. Among the findings: Among K-8 teachers surveyed who use digital games in teaching, 55% have students play games at least weekly 72% typically use a […]
This post originally appeared on Project Zero’s Agency by Design blog. If you know where to look around my mother’s house, you can find a carefully curated collection of items that I made throughout my life. These artifacts represent my dabbling, over the years, in a wide range of media.There are watercolors, primitive looking sketches, […]
Posted from the White House Game Jam Let’s take it as given: there are games we won’t play just like there are books we won’t read. There are games we won’t teach, just like there are books we won’t teach. There are games we don’t like, just like there are books we don’t like. Although […]
Connected Courses, a free open online learning experience that starts September 15th, is designed to get educators ready to teach open, connected courses no matter what kind of higher-ed institution they’re working in. The 12-week course will focus on how blended learning, openness, and collaboration can improve practices and allow for the development of new and […]
This post originally appeared at Common Sense Graphite. Our awareness of the world and our place in it is fueled by a natural sense of inquisitiveness and curiosity. When we encourage this motivation in ourselves and in others, we discover that our capabilities extend far beyond the limits of school and work. School does many […]
Summer is a wakeful and wily tinkerer’s tale about freedom and justice – it’s told with light and scribbled in a notebook hacked with stars. Or at least that’s the way it seems to me after working with all sorts of teachers and learners engaged in the Summer to Make Play and Connect. I came […]
This post originally appeared at the Connected Learning Alliance. Voting is easy! Sign up for an account on SXSW’s Panel Picker site — all you need is an email address. The voting is now open, and runs through Friday, September 5. Community-driven support is vital to earning a place at SXSWedu, so please support the […]
As educator innovators, you’re likely aware that exciting and innovative STEM learning often happens in out-of-school spaces. Within the afterschool field, STEM has been increasingly popular and today, many afterschool and summer programs include STEM as a standard part of their comprehensive programming. Afterschool providers recognize the importance of improved STEM education for their students […]
This was originally posted at Common Sense Graphite. As the new school year begins, articles and resources dedicated to helping teachers develop curriculum and assessments aligned to the Common Core literacy standards are popping up everywhere. But, as every teacher knows, it matters little how perfectly your lesson meets Reading Anchor Standard #3 if 30 […]
Educator Innovator partner Project Zero, a research group based out of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is a collective of independently-sponsored research projects focused on key aspects of learning such as the nature of intelligence, understanding, thinking, creativity, and ethics. How do students learn? What resources and tools are most relevant for their lives? […]
Spontaneous classroom restructuring may feel like punishment to students, designed to keep chatty friends separated or to prevent others from staring out the window and daydreaming. But as educators we understand there are numerous benefits to restructuring learning environments: addressing better students’ individual learning styles, improving group dynamics,and increasing accessibility to resources, just to name […]
This was originally posted at DML Central For nearly four decades, economists have been discussing what is generally referred to as skill-biased technical change. That is, the degree to which technological transformations — computerization and automation — privileges high-skill workers over low-skill workers. Schools are under increasing pressure to design classrooms, curricula, and learning experiences […]
Net Neutrality, the principle that all online content or data, regardless of who creates it or receives it, should be given equal footing by Internet Service Providers – which was a founding principle of the Internet – is currently under threat by a recent court ruling. As a result of that ruling, policymakers are considering […]
This post originally appeared on the Mozilla Webmaker blog At the heart of the Maker Party campaign, Webmaker tools/resources, and Hive Learning Network is the Web Literacy Map, which outlines what we at the Mozilla Foundation think are the important skills and competencies needed to be literate on the web. Each web literacy competency has a dedicated […]
New research from the 2014 edition of America After 3PM, the most comprehensive household survey of how students in America spend their after school hours, shows that summer learning programs are strongly supported by parents and that participation in summer learning programs is on the rise. According to the survey of nearly 14,000 families: Eighty-six […]
Each November, over 2,000 K-12 educators bring literary fun and adventure into their classrooms through National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). One educator, Seve Isaacs, shares his story below, as well as the results he sees in students long after the month is over. A group of high school biology students were told to write a […]
A friend recently pondered why so many kids create parodies of pop songs and public figures on YouTube. “Are kids losing the ability to appreciate other people’s work?” she wondered. Fairly or unfairly, these words echoed in my head: Kids should be seen, not heard. Kids should consume, not create. Teachers, as much as any […]
Educator innovators are lifelong learners, and that means we are always looking for inspiring new learning opportunities. One professional learning event that happens every year, the K12 Online Conference in October, is a free online conference open to ANYONE and organized by educators for educators around the world interested in integrating emerging technologies into classroom […]
This post was originally featured on dmlcentral. I consider myself pretty invested in the Connected Learning community — I had the privilege of co-chairing the “Civic Education & Youth Serving Organizations” strand of the Digital Media and Learning conference in 2013, I contributed to an eBook edited by Antero Garcia focused on the application of […]
CLMOOC, the Making Learning Connected MOOC, is going strong with lots of making going on! One of the features of this year’s collaboration is the new and improved Make Bank. Participants of last year’s MOOC may remember the make bank which was a place for people to find or post “make” projects for others to […]
The Mozilla Foundation launches a worldwide celebration of web literacy this week, bringing tens of thousands of digital enthusiasts together for ‘Maker Parties’ that place internet learning and making at the center of 21st-century citizenship. Focused on the use of Webmaker tools, Maker Parties include young people as well as adult educators, all with the […]
At the end of the 2014 school year, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) honored 24 graduating seniors from 12 different high schools. While celebrating students’ academic achievement is a common focus at the end of the school year, what made this event stand out was something that was starkly missing. There was no mention of […]
This article was originally featured on BoingBoing. We’ve heard a lot of talk these days about open educational resources and online courses and how these platforms can make high-quality learning available for all. The code.org campaign has been touting the potential of online courses to teach kids how to code. Khan Academy has been the […]
We know. You want to relax this summer. But we also know that for many educators summer is a time to collaborate, try new tools, and come up with ideas. And, if you teach in a community of less-privileged students, you may be concerned that your students will fall further behind during the long summer […]
Citizen science—scientific research conducted by nonscientists—is rapidly becoming a tool to bring relevant, hands-on learning to young people. But connecting professional scientists with educators and youth can be tricky. Science center educators are bridging the gap. The Association of Science−Technology Centers, or ASTC, an Educator Innovator partner, recently featured some outstanding citizen science projects on […]
Have the young people you work with put their powers of persuasion to the test with Mars Generation One: Argubot Academy. GlassLab is looking for ELA and STEM educators and summer program leaders to pilot and provide feedback on a brand new iPad game to teach argumentation and reasoned thinking. Designed in collaboration with the National […]
Educators in schools and out have taken up the challenge of supporting youth to develop the digital citizenship skills they need to navigate online spaces safely so that young people can then make best use of the collaborative nature of the web and its myriad, always-available resources. Online safety for the purpose of greater learning opportunities is the focus of a […]
The second Making Learning Connected (aka #CLMOOC) starts Friday, June 13. Making Learning Connected (#CLMOOC) is a knowledge-building and sharing experience open to anyone interested in making, playing and learning together about the educational framework known as Connected Learning. CLMOOC provides educators of all types with an opportunity to experiment with new tools, make projects and […]
Most people don’t complain of time moving too slowly. Busy schedules coupled with the constant barrage of information and new technologies buzzing around make weeks seem like just a few days and months seem to pass in a flash. News cycles refresh at a dizzying pace, and it’s often difficult to mull through the media […]
Game designers are incorporating assessment tools into new learning games in ways that are useful for instructional decision-making, without overpowering teachers with irrelevant data. Last fall, at Robinswood Middle School in Orlando, Florida, 65 students were learning about air pollution. They weren’t learning by textbook or even a video. Rather, they were part of a […]
The Afterschool Alliance, along with like minded organizations and educators from around the country were in Washington, D.C. on May 22, to meet face to face with Members of Congress and urge them to co-sponsor the Afterschool for America’s Children Act—legislation supporting the innovative advances occurring between schools and community-based organizations during the out-of-school hours. […]
Museum educators invite students and other visitors to share in the dialogue about art, transforming the role of the museum. By Heidi Moore | Museums can be intimidating places, especially for young people who lack familiarity with art history and its insider language. Today a number of museum educators are seeking to change that—and, in […]
By Matt Williams, Educational Technologist, KQED #TeachDoNow is a free, collaborative learning experience offered by KQED this summer in partnership with Educator Innovator and the National Writing Project. This online opportunity is open to anyone interested in learning how to use Twitter and other media sharing applications to promote social and civic discourse with students and will […]
The Connected Learning Alliance, supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, has kicked off a 30-day “make learning relevant” campaign. The campaign, focused on a learner-centered approach to education, comes at a time of widespread agreement that education needs a dramatic upgrade. The campaign features podcast interviews with thought leaders, leading practitioners, […]
By Maureen Kelleher Recent research and innovative school practices show how games—both digital and non-digital—inspire young learners. The secret? Games tap into the power of interest-driven learning. What is the fastest way a teacher can spark students’ curiosity and channel their internal motivation to learn? Make a game of it. Research on how video games […]
Every year a group of public high school students from all over Pittsburgh gathers at Winchester Thurston School for an afterschool course that teaches them how to program mobile apps. Some students might learn how to design a game. Others might learn how to create a painting program. And some might learn how to build […]
By Kira Baker-Doyle, Assistant Professor of Education, Arcadia University In the summer of 2013, 15 teachers in Philadelphia gathered around a classroom table at Arcadia University to hack some toys. Discarded Barbie doll heads, wheels from plastic dump trucks, and board game pieces lay strewn across the table as teachers chatted with each other and […]
By Laura Hilliger, Mozilla Foundation Training and Curriculum Lead Mozilla’s Webmaker Training is all about connection. It is about connecting with other people who are passionate about spreading digital and web literacies. It is the interaction with the people around you that will make this a successful learning experience. Webmaker Training is meant to be […]
YALSA has launched its 2014 Teen Read Week™ website as part of Celebrate Teen Literature Day, April 17, 2014. With the launching of the site, online community members now have full access to a variety of resources to help them plan their Teen Read Week™ (TRW), which takes place in October. Individuals who are not online […]
Educator Innovator is excited to announce that sign-ups are now open for Making Learning Connected 2014. Making Learning Connected (#clmooc) is a collaborative, knowledge-building and sharing experience open to anyone interested in making, playing, and learning together about the educational framework known as Connected Learning. As part of The Summer to Make, Play & Connect and Educator Innovator, […]
When Chancellor Bennett was suspended during his senior year at Jones College Prep in 2011, few would have guessed that just two years later he would be featured in major news publications and headlining Lollapalooza. During the ten-day suspension, Bennett, who is now more commonly known as “Chance the Rapper,” took to Chicago’s YOUmedia space to […]
By Nicole Mirra and Antero Garcia We’re very excited to be working with Connected Learning TV to host a series of webinars throughout the month of April that delve more deeply into themes that emerged from the recently published eBook, Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom. The webinars will take place each Tuesday in April […]
Nathan Cummings, an 18 year old from Mercer Island, WA, wrote his first novel in 5th grade about a race of blue aliens from a faraway star system. Ever since that first novel, he’s been hooked on writing and it still plays a central role in his life today. Last week, Nathan’s writing earned him […]
By Mozilla’s Webmaker Team We are thrilled to share that Thimble, our code editor for beginners, has been recognized by Common Sense Media as one of the best educational tools online with the 2014 ON for Learning Award. The awards celebrate the year’s best in digital media products designed to educate and engage young people, and have […]
By Maureen Kelleher Rachel Kaplan, a 16-year-old from Northbrook, Ill., a Chicago suburb, started plotting mysteries almost as soon as she could hold a pencil. Her short stories have won regional awards in Scholastic’s annual art and writing competition. Last week, she became an e-author, published on Scribd and in the iBooks store. Serena Dinh, […]
by Kristen Swanson, Edcamp Founder The Edcamp Foundation team is excited to be partnering with the United States Department of Education for Edcamp USDOE on June 6, 2014. This collaboration was borne out of discussion at the Educon conference in Philadelphia this year related to professional development for teachers, microcredentials, and lifelong learning. The purpose of Edcamp USDOE is […]
Learning Creative Learning: It’s not (just) a course, but a community for educators, designers, technologists, and others interested in creative learning. Learning Creative Learning 2 (LCL2) is an online community that focuses on creative learning, hosted by the MIT Media Lab. LCL2 will start on March 18, 2014 with six weeks of discussions and activities, followed […]
By Heidi Moore Using digital tools in the classroom isn’t the future of learning, it’s the present—except at the significant percentage of schools without reliable high-speed internet. A teacher at an elementary school in a Boston suburb leads students through a story creation session using Pixie. Enabling users to combine text with images and narration, […]
Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom, a collection published by the Digital Media + Learning Research Hub, is now available as a free downloadable PDF. This collection, unique in its focus on in-school work, explores the principles of Connected Learning exemplified in classroom practice through the curation of pieces from the National Writing Project’s Digital […]
By Kathleen Costanza Digital Learning Day (DLD), held on February 5, immersed kids from coast to coast in activities like tinkering with robotics, penning blog posts, and painting digital canvases. The next DLD isn’t until next year, but thanks to social media it’s easy to look back at all the amazing ways kids engaged with digital […]
By Jane Park, Project Manager, Creative Commons Following on the heels of “Writing Wikipedia Articles: The Basics and Beyond,” three more School of Open courses are now open for sign-up. These free courses are: 1. Copyright 4 Educators (AUS) This course will equip Australian educators with the copyright knowledge to confidently use copyright material in […]
By Kelsey Herron The inner workings of a beehive are intricate, purposeful, and pragmatic: each member of the self-sustaining community works together to create a truly magnificent collaboration. So perhaps it’s no surprise that the MacArthur Foundation called its new connected citywide learning networks “hives.” The goal of the networks, as Kevin Gavin of Pittsburgh’s […]
A Day to Celebrate, Explore, Question, and Look Ahead On February 5, 2014, educators and students around the country participated in Digital Learning Day (#DLDay). The National Writing Project and Educator Innovator, along with the Afterschool Alliance, were among the core partners and sponsored a set of #Make4DLDay challenges. (View the story “Digital Learning Day: […]
By Joe Dillon, Instructional Coordinator for Educational Technology, Aurora Public Schools; Denver Writing Project During Computer Science Education week, Aurora Public Schools (APS), with support from Educator Innovator, promoted and participated in the Hour of Code. We aimed to look closely at a project called Scalable Game Design, work that our teachers and students have […]
We at NWP Digital Is are excited to join our fellow Educator Innovator partners in today’s #Make4DLDay campaign, part of the Digital Learning Day effort. We’re participating by simply being OPEN and inviting educators — whether inside or outside of school — to share what they are making, their stories about making, and their connected […]
A majority of parents say that educational media has helped their child learn a lot about one or more subjects. And parents count nearly half of their kids’ screen time as educational. That’s according to a new survey-based report by Sesame Workshop’s Joan Ganz Cooney Center, which documents parents’ perspectives on their children’s informal use […]
We’re inviting teachers, afterschool leaders and educators everywhere to celebrate Digital Learning Day by accepting the #make4DLDay challenge, a set of digital storytelling activities that allow youth and adults to be makers for Digital Learning Day. Both the maker education and digital learning movements are grounded in the belief that kids learn best by doing. […]
Note: Educator Innovator partners the Afterschool Alliance, the National Writing Project, Digital Is, Edutopia, YALSA and the Maker Education Initiative are all involved in this year’s Digital Learning Day On February 5, thousands of educators will take part in the third annual Digital Learning Day, a nationwide celebration of common-sense, effective applications of digital learning that […]
New digital literacies have affected all areas of life, including the way that we practice politics and experience political life. So it is no surprise that educators who focus on civic engagement and the civic mission of schools are looking at new ways to involve youth in community life through digital tools, and in productive […]
By K-Fai Steele, first posted at MakerJawn Libraries and museums across the United States are building youth maker spaces and programming in an effort to broaden free, community-embedded educational opportunities. However, the tech enthusiasts who are championing the programming comprise a small percentage of library or museum staff. Many remain skeptical or unconvinced; they may […]
Several Educator Innovator partners are participating in the upcoming 3rd annual Digital Learning Day on February 5, 2014, an event that recognizes the powerful work of educators and youth, in school and out, who are making thoughtful use of digital tools. The Afterschool Alliance, Edutopia, YALSA, Digital Is, and the National Writing Project will be […]
By Megan Leppla, DIY Outreach Coordinator DIY is a tool for kids to learn new skills, meet others who share the same passions, and generally be awesome. When we conceived DIY we weren’t thinking about its place in the classroom, we were thinking of ways to help kids achieve creative autonomy. We wanted to create […]
By Joe Dillon, Instructional Coordinator for Educational Technology, Aurora Public Schools; Denver Writing Project The week of December 9 – 15th is Computer Science Education Week and this year Code.org aims to have 10 million people engage in an Hour of Code to promote computer science education. In Aurora Public Schools (APS), middle and high […]
By Laura Hilliger, PD & Curriculum Lead at the Mozilla Foundation As part of next week’s Hour of Code, Educator Innovator partner Mozilla Webmaker will be leading several webinars, events and projects, which you can read about here. Additionally, Atul Varma and I are hosting a Geekout that combines writing and webmaking to Make a Beautiful […]
by Jennifer Dick, NEXMAP Program Director For many years, policy makers, employers, and other stakeholders in the sphere of education have expressed concern about ensuring our youth are adequately prepared for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). There are those, such as John Maeda of RISD, who argue that STEM education alone is […]
Megan Leppla and Ryan Brock of DIY led a hangout with National Writing Project educators on what DIY might look in the classroom, now and in the future. Megan and Ryan also revealed some of DIY’s development plans being considered with educators in mind. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLaMfV_9ous?rel=0] If you’re interested in joining the conversation, jump into a […]
SimCityEDU, an Educator Innovator partner, is proudly releasing its first game-based learning and assessment product built on the popular SimCity video game platform. And now the just-released SimCityEDU: Pollution Challenge! will be showcased today, November 14, at the fifth annual Washington Ideas Forum—a gathering of U.S. policymakers and industry innovators, presented by The Atlantic, the Aspen Institute, […]
The National Writing Project is joining Code.org to support the Hour of Code. The largest initiative of its kind, the Hour of Code is a campaign to recruit 10 million students to try computer science for one hour during Computer Science Education Week (December 9–15). Join the National Writing Project, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Bill Gates, […]
November has quickly become synonymous with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Hoping to welcome around 400,000 writers this year, NaNoWriMo will provide a shared space for all those daring enough to take on this exciting effort. Writers worldwide will exchange knowledge and build communities through online forums and social media. There is a shared goal—a […]
Cross-posted from DML Central, with permission. By Howard Rheingold “Freedom and autonomy are the key words for this class,” says Don Wettrick, describing the “Innovations” course he teaches at Franklin Community High School in Franklin, Indiana. I believe these words also convey the most important reason for using digital media in schools. While the availability […]
The Olymp-i-a Challenge is hosting a unique Lights On Afterschool event as part of the Afterschool Alliance celebration. The event will take place online and runs October 14–20. All afterschool programs and supporters of afterschool programs and activities are invited to participate at any time throughout the week. The Olymp-i-a Challenge engages youth in daily […]
The Making Learning Connected MOOC (clmooc) that happened this summer was a great experience for me and for many others. I’m remembering it now during Connected Learning Month (#ce13) because being connected as a learner and maker is not just something that just happens during one month, but is something that happens year round, and #clmooc was […]
Teen-led Geekouts are designed to enable youth to share something they have made with other youth and educators, to lead a short “making” activity for participants, and to get feedback on their work. These sessions will offer educators an opportunity to explore the potential for learning by making, and will empower youth to share their […]
There have never been more opportunities to share perspectives and lessons learned with inspiring colleagues from around the world. Whether it’s through social media, video conferencing, or as a reader and writer in the blogosphere, we don’t have to search anymore to hear the voices of educators. But sometimes the sheer number of possible options […]
Writing today is the way we most often connect—through texts, status updates, blog posts, and new media compositions. And writing, as ever, continues to be the way we connect our ideas, connect across disciplines, and connect to other writers, thinkers, and makers. This year, as part of October’s National Day on Writing and in conjunction with
The Afterschool Alliance is inviting you to help celebrate the 14th annual Lights On Afterschool! On October 17, more than 1 million kids, educators, families, and communities will come together at thousands of events around the country to raise awareness about the wide range of creative and innovative learning experiences taking place outside of school, […]
In this Op Ed, published in the Oakland Tribune, Joe Kahne and Ellen Middaugh of the Civic Engagement Research Group at Mills College touch upon the youth learning and action possibilities arising out of Educating for Democracy in the Digital Age, a project that aims to help young people throughout the district become community ready (and […]
No, the spaces in this video don’t look like the average U.S. high school classroom, school library, or cafeteria. And that’s the point. Elizabeth Forward High School in suburban Pittsburgh is remaking itself as a laboratory for new thinking about learning spaces. With support from the Grable Foundation and in partnership with Carnegie Mellon’s Entertainment […]
Throughout the Summer of Making and Connecting, innovative educators have been experimenting with making, tinkering, and learning creatively during the broad expanse of summer. Now, as summer winds down, many are thinking about the implications for the design of the learning spaces they manage. What about classrooms designed for anything but innovation? What about the […]
Sixteen museums, libraries and nonprofit institutions have been awarded a total of $150,000 to engage young people in the development of apps, badges, curricula and other tools that will make the online experience more civil, safe and empowering. The Competition is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, administered by Humanities, Arts, […]
by Emily Gordis, NaNoWriMo Program Associate National Novel Writing Month is known for launching thousands of writers on a mission to write a novel of 50,000 word in the month of November. But we’re also hard at work in the summer, running two sessions of Camp NaNoWriMo, a program with flexible word-count goals. Our next […]
What would fill this cafeteria at McClymonds High School in Oakland with so many teachers at the start of summer vacation? The answer turns out to be a fresh vision of civic engagement and action for youth. Though a partnership between Educator Innovator’s Educating for Participatory Politics (EPP) and Oakland Unified School District, high school […]
After a Department of Education kick-off at the Reimagining Education Conference and initial practitioner learning opportunities by partners Scratch, the Afterschool Alliance, and Mozilla Webmakers, the Summer of Making and Connecting kicks into even higher gear with the launch of Maker Party 2013 and the Making Learning Connected mooc on June 15. Maker Party consists […]
By Megan Leppla, DIY Club Coordinator Since the start of DIY tens of thousands of kids have joined and learned new skills. Lots of stop motion videos, duct tape and Minecraft. This summer we’re encouraging kids to continue making more together by forming a DIY Club. Clubs can take many shapes – a punk band, […]
The fifth Digital Media and Learning Competition–the Project:Connect Summer Youth Programming Competition-– is accepting applications through June 10 for awards made starting July. The inaugural NYC-based youth hackathon, sponsored through the Hive Learning Network, is an example of what young people envision when given the time and space to design for a web that best serves them. […]
ScratchEd has kicked off its work with the Summer of Making and Connecting with a new Creative Computing Online Workshop. Creative Computing is a six-week online workshop for educators who want to learn more about using Scratch and supporting computational thinking in the classroom and other learning environments. The workshop, which is free, begins on Monday, […]
The Educator Innovator was unveiled at Reimagining Education, an Innovation Summit hosted by the US Department of Education and the MacArthur Foundation on May 28-29, 2013. The summit challenged educational leaders, including students, to devise creative ways to connect education to today’s opportunities and create a learning approach designed for our times. At the center […]
NWP teachers from across the country have come together to plan their own massive, open online collaboration—or, mooc—as part of the Summer of Making and Connecting. Using a range of tools on the open web, participants are invited to learn new skills, make projects, and connect in conversations around the theme of Making Learning Connected.” The […]
For young people who ‘live on the web’, making the web a better place is an ideal version of community engagement and betterment. And they have many ideas about what a better web could be. Project:Connect engages youth-serving organizations in supporting young people to take on the challenge of creating a better web community. An […]
Join the Afterschool Alliance for a three-part webinar series for afterschool and summer learning providers that want to embrace a maker culture. Designed for maker “novices”, the webinars will offer an opportunity for attendees to learn more about the learning philosophy that underpins making culture, and the chance to see and hear how it works […]
By idecoursy; Cross-posted from The Webmaker Blog— On May 9, programmers, designers, educators and learning innovators came together in New York to hack for a better web. The Project:Connect hackathon — hosted by the MacArthur Foundation, Facebook, the Family Online Safety Institute and Mozilla — kicked-off this year’s Digital Media and Learning Competition. The competition brought together teams to develop […]
By Barbara Ray, originally posted May 6, 2013 to Remake Learning, the blog of the Pittsburgh Kids + Creativity Network— Several years ago now, I visited a new charter school in the shadows of Chicago’s public housing projects. The elementary school was part of the University of Chicago’s charter experiment, where some of the best minds […]
Have fun learning new web making skills as you explore the Connected Learning framework in NWP’s massive open online collaboration — or mooc. It’s not a course—there are no quizzes or papers, only creative opportunities to make and share while exploring the Connected Learning design principles and hearing from amazing educators who have used them to push […]
You, too, can learn to program and to teach programming with Scratch. ScratchEd, a network of educators and learning theorists working together to learn about teaching programming in the Scratch environment, offer a range of ways to learn about Scratch. Creative Computing Course For the Summer of Making and Connecting, ScratchEd is pleased to offer […]
For educators, the opportunities to see the world from the vantage point of the youth with whom we work are as important as they are rare, so the symposium with young makers captured in this video is especially precious. John Dewey, in the Child and the Curriculum, talked about curriculum as traversing between the logical […]
Webmaker Mentors teach digital literacy and webmaking to the world. We’re a global community of techies, educators, instructors and friendly humans like you. So join us! Sign up for our free and open online course for mentors, running May 2 to June 30. Anyone curious about teaching the web and digital literacy — through fun making and building. All levels […]
Based on November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Camp NaNoWriMo provides online support, tracking tools, and hard deadlines— all with the goal of helping participants draft of a novel in a month… specifically, the month of July. If you sign on, you will join 20,000 other novelists around the world as we write some perhaps-awful, but definitely […]
Why not attend or host an Edcamp to network with colleagues locally who share your interest in teacher-driven and participatory professional development? You can find links to many Edcamps happening across the country in the Calendar section of Educator Innovator. You can also learn more about the Edcamp movement and upcoming Edcamps by visiting the Edcamp […]
What is International Dot Day? Every day is a good day to celebrate creativity in the classroom and all that it unlocks and unleashes for students and teachers. But since 2009, one day – September 15 — has become a great day for teachers, students and people everywhere to re-commit and re-connect to the power […]
This summer roughly 2,000 educators will be spending their summer vacation sharing their practices, exploring theory and research, writing together…in public. You can read along with them and try some projects yourself with NWP’s E-Anthology.