Photos by Matt Beard Photography.

Learn more about the 2011 Leadership Forum at www.learningfromhollywood.org.

This piece originally appeared in the Huffington Post.

On Tuesday, June 7, the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop will present a report at the E 3 Expo in Los Angeles that may surprise media designers and cause policymakers to step back from their current concerns about kids’ digital multitasking addiction, cyber-bullying, violent videogames, and mobile disruptions in school. While much of the public discussion about digital media is concentrated on how little influence parents have in shaping their children’s consumption habits, and how designers are creating a panoply of empty calories that may be poisoning healthy development, our research finds a more nuanced view. While there is certainly cause for concern, especially for the quality of content now produced for children in their primary years, our research finds plenty of room for new hope and confidence. Most parents actually have the media explosion under control!

Written by our Director of Research Lori Takeuchi, Families Matter: Designing Media for a Digital Age finds, unsurprisingly, that digital media have become a major force in the rhythm of modern family life. It documents how most families are in a “transition period,” one in which parents recognize the importance of technology in their children’s learning and future success, but don’t always grant their kids access to the newer forms of media transforming their own adult lives.

The report profiles how parents’ personal experiences with media are one of the key factors shaping the approaches they take in guiding their children’s media consumption. A national survey of 800 parents of young children (ages 3-10) found that nearly two-thirds limit media consumption on a case-by-case basis. Of parents surveyed, 57% recognize that digital media presents ways for children to converse and connect with friends and family, but two-thirds of parents restrict their children from chatting online and visiting social networking sites.

The study also revealed that only half of parents are playing with their kids on newer platforms such as video game consoles: They report spending more time with their children engaged in traditional activities, including watching television, reading books and playing board games. More than half of parents are concerned about the effect of media usage on their children’s health, but fewer than 1 in 5 parents think their kids spend too much time with digital media. Other findings include:

• – More than a third of parents have learned something technical from their child.
• – Lack of exercise and online privacy are parents’ greatest concerns.
• – Most believe that video games help children foster skills that are important to their academic achievement.
• – Rule setting peaks at age 7. Parents with children older than 7 are more likely to set parent controls on their computers.

The report also features in-depth case studies, probing how parent attitudes toward technology, along with family values, routines and structures, are shaping young children’s experiences using digital media.

Families Matter offers recommendations to bolster the development of media content that can support learning and encourage adult-child interactions. Recommendations include:

• – Tailor media platforms for children – Many media platforms are designed for adult use. Media producers should examine how the features of new platforms relate to children’s social, cognitive and physical development.
• – Investigate co-viewing – Children learn more from television programs when they watch with a parent. Co-participation should be explored for video games, e-books, tablet devices and other media that will encourage adults to engage with children to further enhance their learning.
• – Foster teamwork – Digital media are often faulted for children spending less time socializing face-to-face with peers and family. Producers should design content that drives participants to interact and play together.
• – Design for healthy development – Adults are concerned that digital media are superseding activities including outdoor exercise, imaginative play and socializing. Media producers should look to use technology to get children involved in these foundational activities.
• – Industry Educational Standards – Especially during a time of weak U.S. educational performance, industry producers have an opportunity and responsibility to expand educational products for children and families. To date, no established mechanism for rating digital media’s educational value has been established, but recently Common Sense Media announced the formation of a new research-based report card. This approach holds promise in stimulating greater production of educational media by holding producers accountable.

Our study concludes that when it comes to digital media’s influence on children, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Kids obviously need guidance to understand the critical skills that are required in a ubiquitous media environment. It is critical that industry, researchers and policymakers understand that when it comes to promoting learning and positive social habits, families still matter most.

At long last, summer is finally here. And while things don’t necessarily slow down for us here at the Cooney Center, we still think of summer’s longer days as a time to tackle some new books – titles we’ve been meaning to read for awhile, perhaps, or have been recommended by friends and colleagues. We often ask each other what we’re reading, so we thought we’d share our most current lists with you!

Our book lists range from popular bestsellers and thought-provoking non-fiction titles to recent work by leaders in media and ed tech. (Along with a few guilty pleasure reads, of course.) Tina Fey’s Bossypants seems to be the most popular book around the office, while many plan to read Ellen Galinsky’s Mind in the Making, as well as the latest books by Steven Johnson and Sherry Turkle.

What are you reading this summer, and why?

To quote the Digital Youth Project, we too will find ourselves “Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out” as we go through our reading lists this summer. Here are some of the highlights:

Bossypants by Tina Fey – Lori Takeuchi used to totally relate to Liz Lemon on 30 Rock, but now after reading the memoir, sees that Fey is nowhere near as pathetic as Lemon in real life and, in fact, even funnier.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Baby, which Carly Shuler thinks should be called “Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Mommy”

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein – Caitlin Skopac is checking out this title that reportedly has “everything” – love, tragedy, danger, anda dog who speaks

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

A Game of Thrones by George R.R Marti

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Steig Larsson – Lili Toutonaus is looking forward to this read, so that she can finish the trilogy  

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan – Gabrielle Cayton-Hodges plans to get lost in tales of the punk rock scene from the late sixties to the present day and into the near future

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Mind in the Making by Ellen Galinsky – this book made the #1 choice on many people’s serious lists, and Catherine Jhee even checked out (and highly recommends!) the first installment of the video book (vook) version.

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson – Ingrid Ericsson was especially welcoming of this book because it suggests that innovation is both highly messy as well as highly social. While Meagan Bromley has trusted Steven Johnson ever since he convinced her that “Everything Bad is Good for You.”

Tell to Win by Peter Guber – Michael Levine is excited for this read after hearing the author recently speak at the Center’s Forum!

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other by Sherry Turkle (a well-known commentator on technology who, as of late, has become more skeptical about technology’s social affordances)  

Education Nation by Milton Chen

Reality is Broken by Jane McGonigal – after she’s finished, Pam Abrams will have to report back on “Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World”

The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

Cinderella ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein – Good luck to Becky Herr-Stephenson as she reads through “Dispatches from the Frontlines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture” – hopefully she’ll make it back intact

Growing up with Technology: Young Children Learning in a Digital World  by Lydia Plowman, Christine Stephen and Joanna McPake

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer – Catherine Jhee wants to read this book, because Foer’s investigation into the science of memory sounds absolutely fascinating, and she’s hoping to pick up some good tips on remembering more!

In January, I attended a workshop dedicated to games, assessment and learning hosted by the MacArthur and Gates Foundations and the USC Game Innovation Lab. The workshop brought together game designers, educators, and researchers to work together on designing games around various curricula topics that would be engaging, educational, and contain features to allow for the collection and feedback about how players were faring when engaged in the game. The conversation went beyond what players could learn from games: We also focused on the valuable information we can gather from patterns of game play, such as where players might make errors and the kind of errors players might be making so that either the game or another knowledgeable player can help provide the necessary support to improve game play and therefore, learning.

This kind of thinking always reminds me of math class tests where we were asked to “show our work” so that the teachers could see how we went about solving a particular problem. A wrong answer to a division problem that had more to do with a simple subtraction error is very different from getting the wrong answer because of a fundamental lack of understanding of how to approach the problem. Patterns of responses can provide much more specific information than whether children get the answer right or wrong (as many standardized assessments generally report). Game play data may indeed provide another valuable way to assess patterns of children’s understanding in a less threatening way than common testing conditions.

Not only might such games be useful in formal learning situations for assessment, but they might also encourage parents to become more engaged in children’s learning. As part of some recent research around Prankster Planet on The Electric Company website that Mindy Brooks wrote about in last month’s blog post, we asked parents (about 40 of them) to fill out a survey. The survey included questions about parents’ interest in receiving feedback about how well their children were doing on the math and literacy activities within Prankster Planet.

I assumed that perhaps only a third of parents would be interested in receiving information on how well children were doing on the game. Surprisingly, the vast majority of parents (over 70%) said would be very likely to use information about how well their children were doing on the games. Furthermore, even more said they wanted specific feedback as to how to support the activities that the children were doing in the games even more so than general suggestions how to work on math and reading skills with their children. Parents said they would be most receptive to receiving this information through an email (rather than a text message or in a password protected site). This might be a particularly interesting opportunity to engage more parents and provide very specific information about how to extend children’s learning based on children’s individual game play patterns.

Before we rally for more widespread use of games as assessment tools, we likely need more investigation as to whether scores, errors, and successes in games are indeed highly correlated with the very same things that success on standardized or classroom tests are supposed to predict. Clearly, this assumes that standardized measures or classroom tests are the “gold standard” for information about what children “know” and that, of course, is the topic of much debate. Still, at this point in time, children are often classified or assigned to particular learning interventions based upon standardized assessments.

Games might provide a less “frightening” testing environment. Perhaps games might indeed reduce what Dr. Claude Steele termed “stereotype vulnerability.” Girls and children of minority status might do better under conditions that don’t seem test-like because they have been unfortunately conditioned to believe that children like them do not do as well as others on academic tests. Games might provide a neutral playing ground as well as reduce test anxiety.

On the other hand, perhaps children take more risks in games that they would not do if they were being tested, which may in fact be what educators encourage, but might interfere with their scores. Furthermore, I have seen situations where some children may actually choose wrong answers every so often just because the wrong answer feedback was funny, or perhaps they were just interested in seeing what would happen with a wrong answer choice.

Nevertheless, games provide a very efficient and engaging way to collect valuable information about performance. To be most useful as an assessment tool, however, game designers should work with educators and experts in assessment to ensure that information is captured in meaningful ways. Using the data in ways to support further learning is critical. Providing additional opportunities to practice skills and expand learning through additional gaming or materials for parents can only help make gaming experiences richer for children.