"I'm sad that my son is so busy with homework and other stuff lately that he hasn't had time to even play Minecraft! I think it's a better use of his time than homework." That's a comment from a mom and educator in San Jose, Calif., posted under an article by educator Kevin Jarrett in Edutopia last fall: "Too much is never enough: managing a child's time playing Minecraft." Because he ran an … [Read more...] about Digital summer camp Part 2: Of managing a child’s Minecraft time
Youth
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!)
A media mentor for every child
Author and journalist Lisa Guernsey has a great idea – one that clearly grows out of her research for the recent book, Screen Time: How Electronic Media – From Baby Videos to Educational Software – Affects Your Young Child, and her work in early childhood education for public policy think tank the New America Foundation. [I loved her cover story for The Atlantic based on the book and wrote about … [Read more...] about A media mentor for every child
Our kids’ privacy & a White House report on ‘big data’
Referring to a new report from the White House that she contributed to, social media scholar danah boyd points out how impossibly simplistic it is to view "big data" as either all good or all bad. I'm thankful for the balance it struck in its findings on big data in education between the tremendous opportunities it represents for students and educators and the risks to student privacy. It … [Read more...] about Our kids’ privacy & a White House report on ‘big data’
An 18-year-old’s exploration of ‘Internet addiction’ in video
In a series of man-on-the-street interviews, one young woman's answer to the question, "Do you think you're addicted to the Internet?" was: "Yes…. Twitter. I can't get off of it." Another responded, "I love creeping on Facebook. I never post; I'm just always creeping, creeping, creeping [also called "lurking," looking at people's comments, likes, photos, etc.]." A third said, "I just run to the … [Read more...] about An 18-year-old’s exploration of ‘Internet addiction’ in video