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!)
digital citizenship
The ‘lived curriculum,’ Part 2: What that looks like
Part 1 looked at citizenship as a disposition and practice in digital environments, not an academic subject to be taught. Here, a little more about what that looks like in digital spaces used in classrooms – from the viewpoint of an educator who has worked with teachers and students in them for over a decade…. Here's what digital citizenship practice looks like in Quest Atlantis, an educational … [Read more...] about The ‘lived curriculum,’ Part 2: What that looks like
Digital citizenship, the ‘lived curriculum’: Part 1
Have you ever heard of taking a cooking class that didn't include a kitchen or learning how to swim in a classroom not a pool? It can be helpful to watch instructional videos on YouTube, but mastery of anything usually requires practice with the tools and within the context of whatever a person wants to master. Especially digital citizenship. But students are being taught this "subject" largely in … [Read more...] about Digital citizenship, the ‘lived curriculum’: Part 1
When kids are skilled navigators of our networked world
We all – young people and everybody who works with them – are learning what that looks like: skilled navigation of a networked world. We're also working out what the skills are, how to teach them and what kind of environment (home, school and media environment) supports that learning. As a society, we've only just begun working the problem. The first 15 or so years of the public discussion … [Read more...] about When kids are skilled navigators of our networked world
Minecraft & the shared, creative safety of gaming, social media
Reporters and reviewers write about Minecraft as if it's just like any other videogame. Even this highly readable piece about its creator (Markus Persson, aka "Notch") and its parent company (Mojang) by Harry McCracken in Time magazine doesn't cover what makes it different from other games specifically for its kid (and parent) players. But he does bring out this extraordinary differentiating … [Read more...] about Minecraft & the shared, creative safety of gaming, social media