It’s definitely not your typical American high school – not the one in “Agents of Influence.” But high school is the backdrop, which is smart for a media literacy videogame aimed at middle schoolers, right? Especially a sketchy, slightly dystopian fictional one like “Virginia Hall High,” in which the game is set. First, the school occupies what used to be the HQ of “the Omni-Directional … [Read more...] about New game to help middle schoolers be media literacy masters
education technology
Student voice for meaning, self-actualization, safety (ISTE 2017)
"Our kids can be experts in the world," said visionary educator Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann), meaning right now, as students, in school, in digital spaces, in life. Then he asked, "How can we help them be that?" He was speaking last week at ISTE, the world's largest ed tech conference. I went to ISTE to see what educators were saying about student voice, and what I found was a trend: growing … [Read more...] about Student voice for meaning, self-actualization, safety (ISTE 2017)
Leadership in bullying prevention and so much more
We need to prevent and solve bullying. No question. But we also need to encourage and empower our children with the knowledge that most kids don't bully, that bullying is not normative – that, in fact, kindness is. As Dr. Marc Brackett at Yale University's Center for Emotional Intelligence said Friday at the federal government's Bullying Prevention Summit in Washington, "Children are wired for … [Read more...] about Leadership in bullying prevention and so much more
Breadth of videogames’ benefits to kids may surprise
It being summertime here in the global North, there may be a little extra videogame play going on in households with kids. So it may be helpful for parents to know about a mother lode of the latest wisdom on videogames' effects on kids' learning, social development and futures. It's MindShift's "Guide to Games & Learning," and here are a few nuggets: Gaming fuels motivation "We want our … [Read more...] about Breadth of videogames’ benefits to kids may surprise
For digital summer camp, kid-source a game (or play this one!)
One year ago this month, its 3rd-through-6th grader designers launched the fifth and final iteration of Escape to Morrow, an open source digital game they designed in Minecraft for Minecraft players. The five iterations – including writing and rewriting backstories, creating maps, finding mods (Minecraft modifications out on the Web) and producing the trailer – took a year of work in summer camp, … [Read more...] about For digital summer camp, kid-source a game (or play this one!)