Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Feb 22, 2010, 09:34 AM

We talk about field-building and we say, over and over, that it isn't a field until there are disputes, different approaches, nay-sayers, reactionaries at the barricades.   (Academic definition of a new interdisciplinary field:  it isn't one until it generates resentiment.  Ouch.)   I return, a bit exhausted and ragged, from the CHAT Festival at University of North Carolina and the Digital Media and Learning Conference in La Jolla and the takeaway message from both, in very different circumstances and spirits, was "what is phase two?  what happens next?"   That's yet another definition of a field:  when it is feeling like there is enough earth under its feet, that it's ready to send out new shoots into new areas.

 

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Feb 17, 2010, 05:42 PM

The Digital Media and Learning Conference is expected to be an annual event supported by the MacArthur Foundation and organized by the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. With a physical office at UC Irvine and a new virtual destination—www.dmlcentral.net—the Research Hub is dedicated to supporting emerging research on digital media and learning by hosting international conferences, facilitating workshops and working groups, and bringing together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, industry leaders and others working on related projects. It also houses related research programs of the MacArthur Foundation's digital media and learning initiative. Harvard University*s Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the British nonprofit research group, FutureLab, are partnering with UC Irvine on Research Hub activities.

Submitted by NancyKimberly on Dec 17, 2009, 09:04 AM

Please note that the competition closed on January 22, 2010.

Submitted by llchrist on Dec 05, 2009, 10:30 AM

I have been actively involved in the Games4Learning initiative at UNC Chapel Hill since I started the doctoral program. I love the idea of using games for teaching and learning; but how feasible is this really?

Submitted by jaredlamenzo on Nov 11, 2009, 04:57 PM

The WildLab is an inquiry-based educational program.  As such, the team often fields students' unexpected questions--each bird sighting becoming a touchstone for questions about other plants and animals.  This creates a fuller picture of the biome--it is hard not to notice what a bird is feeding on, and ask, "What kind of plant is it?"  The design of the technology must respond to these needs to be effective.

Submitted by llchrist on Sep 16, 2009, 12:30 PM

I'm excited to tell you a bit about a project I am working on. Myself and others are creating an alternate reality game (ARG) for UNC Chapel Hill's undergraduates. An alternate reality game is a multiplayer game that mixes technology with the real world. There is a storyline with characters; and as events progress through the storyline, players must follow clues. They challenged to solve a variety of puzzles and often have to work together to do so. We hope to use an ARG to help teach undergraduates how to navigate relationships in a healthy way even when faced with intense emotions. We believe its important to not only teach writing, math, science, etc., but also how to exist in the adult world.

Submitted by jonathan.tarr on Jun 26, 2009, 09:22 AM

As we mentioned on the HASTAC blogs last week, you can now download or purchase a copy of the report entitled The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age, co-authored by Cathy Davidson and David Theo Goldberg, with assistance from Zoe Marie Jones, our former colleague extraordinaire. Click to read the details from MIT Press ...

 

Submitted by admin on Mar 04, 2009, 12:00 AM

Often the influx of daily news can be overwhelming. Disasters, violence, poverty, crime and war are the regular tally. Readers comment on the world being out of control or at least out of their control. They might ask, "What can I do?" In fact, there is much that can be done, and developing a path to the solution is the first step.

This is where Fractor will come into play. "Facts" and "acts" will be organized on a single, intuitive page where every news story will be linked to real-world actions that users can pursue.

Fractor will give news readers the tools to "act on facts."

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Aug 18, 2008, 01:22 PM
PRESS RELEASE The MACARTHUR FOUNDATION $2 MILLION DIGITAL MEDIA AND LEARNING COMPETITION, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE HASTAC VIRTUAL NETWORK, OPENS TODAY, FOCUSING ON PARTICIPATORY LEARNING. AND WE'RE GOING INTERNATIONAL! We're counting down to the opening of the Competition . . . Stay tuned!