Followers of the Center’s blog and research initiatives will know that we have been closely following the evolving, but not yet precisely documented transition from print to digital information that is impacting just about everyone these days. Our perspective on this phenomenon is to identify the ways in which digital books, games and other content is shaping household interactions, as well as the types of opportunities children have to learn outside the home—in schools, museums, libraries and the like. Our work is grounded in what we refer to as the “ecology of human development,” a research theory originally advanced some three decades ago by Dr. Urie Bronfenbrenner of Cornell, and now being updated by scholars such as Brigid Barron of Stanford University and our own Director of Research at the Center, Lori Takeuchi. Our interest in the types of interactions and preferences that families are sharing when it comes to the integration of new technologies into their relationships, and in promoting young children’s learning, has led the Center to focus on how media are influencing “learning together.” One key line of work is our focus on early reading development, because parents and caregivers dramatically shape early literacy habits through their own actions, and, of course, what results often sets the foundation that children have in a basic competency that is central to their long-term success.

We are pleased to share the results today of a large-scale parent survey on “co-reading” that was conducted by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center over the course of four months this spring. To follow up on insights revealed in our Print vs. E-books QuickStudy, Cooney Center Research Fellow Dr. Sarah Vaala and Director of Research Lori Takeuchi conducted a survey among 1,200 parents to ask them about their attitudes and practices toward reading books with their 2-to-6-year-old children. Because the Apple iPad has demonstrated a quick rise to dominance in the tablet marketplace, this report delves into iPad owners’ (approximately 500 of the participants) practices and their perceptions surrounding the use of e-books in their kids’ literacy development. While iPad owners are not representative of parents across the nation as a whole, we did found noteworthy patterns of perceptions and use of e-books among the families in this sample that we believe warrants broader conversations. Given the speed with which many lower-income families are now adopting iPads and other tablets, we believe that this study poses emerging, and more generalizable questions for researchers and designers. Our study was designed as a quick exploration of parents’ perceptions and practices of young children (6 and under) during a time of rapid growth in the e-book industry. With this survey, we were primarily interested in how parents today are reading books with their children, and how their perceptions of e-books compare to print books for learning and engagement, as well as what factors contribute to a parent’s decision to read or to not read e-books with their kids. The main findings are set out below. To read a copy of the full report, go to Print vs. E-books QuickStudy.

• iPad owners who read e-books with their children see certain features as helpful for early readers, and others as distracting.
  Parents reported that audio features were most helpful for their young readers, including the option to click on a word to hear it read out loud. Conversely, embedded games and videos were found to be distracting, contributing to a perception among some parents that co-reading e-books with their children was “difficult”.
• Parents with iPads vary in their perceptions and expectations of the experience of reading e-books with their children.
  We found that just because a parent owns an iPad and enjoys reading on it herself does not mean that she will prefer reading with her child on the device. But those parents who do read e-books with their kids tend to feel positively about features in e-books that can help children learn to read on their own.
• Perhaps most interestingly, reading e-books has not replaced reading print books together in families with iPads.
  Even among parents who enjoy reading e-books with their children, the majority still prefers to read print books over e-books with their kids.

As innovation in the e-reading space and parent-child interactions naturally evolve, we are confident that experiences with co-reading will similarly be reshaped. Above all else, the research-based principle of spending a dedicated amount of time together (about a half hour for preschoolers) exploring print–whether it is in a physical book, or on-screen–should remain a staple of effective practices for the foreseeable future. It is up to all of us to remember that the new technologies can be delightful allies in doing what generations of parents and caregivers have taken to quite naturally. When it comes to reading we need to effectively blend “something old with something new.”

Download the report.

Illustration by Baiba Baiba

Congratulations to Dan Caldwell, one of our 2011 National STEM Challenge Video Game winners. His app, Body Adventure with Captain Brainy-Pants! is now available in the iTunes App Store. The app includes six games that explore the systems of the human body and features original music composed by Dan himself

Body Adventure with Captain Brain-Pants is now available for iPad, Android, Kindle, and Nook.

Watch the trailer below, and check out the game in the App Store.

When I wrote the first iLearn report in 2009, mainstream news and industry sources were just starting to document the trend of kids and apps, and there was a significant amount of skepticism around whether apps would play an important role in the children’s media landscape.  The original report addressed this doubt by answering the question of whether apps were becoming a significant part of the children’s media landscape.  What we discovered was a resounding yes.

It may sound crazy now that we—along with the entire field—were skeptical about this “trend” of kids and apps, but one has to remember the context.  When iLearn was published, one billion apps had been downloaded from Apple’s iTunes App Store. That number has now topped 25 billion. Apple was celebrating 100,000 apps available in the app store. There are now 650,000.  There was no such thing as an iPad. (more…)

They say that every summer has a story, and now at the end of my experience teaching for the Gamestar Mechanic Online Learning Program, it’s time for my students’ stories to come to an end. But it’s wonderful to realize that for many of them getting more interested and involved with game design, this is just the beginning. As we wrapped up the program last week, my inbox was filled with an exciting flurry of final assignments, last chances to get one more round of feedback on the latest iterations of game designs, moments of thoughtful reflection, and earnest thank yous and goodbyes.

As I’ve described in my two previous posts in this series about the Online Learning Program, kids from all over the country have taken the time this summer to be a part of the first ever class offered on game design using curriculum based on the Gamestar Mechanic platform and narrative quests that go along with it. One parent pointed out the advantage of this by saying: “I absolutely love it! There is a clear, fun, and engaging learning path for the students that incorporates the quests. I like that the students are motivated to complete the quests so they can move on to the next task.”

The final assignment in the course was for students to create a game of their choosing, in any genre and with any game mechanics that had been a part of the curriculum, to submit to a professional game designer for review. The game industry pros (from companies as varied as Disney Interactive, Large Animal Games, and Fresh Planet) created some awesome video reviews of student games using Screencast-o-matic so that students could see their own games being played on screen while the reviewer spoke directly to them and provided feedback. I think this was my favorite part of the program because it gave me a chance to see how far my students had come from when they first began, and feel a sense of pride in how great their games turned out!

Click the image above to play Space Jump by StrongChris15

One thing that really stood out in the final games that students submitted to the pros was how focused their game narratives had become. In a program that emphasized storytelling along with interaction design and game mechanics, it was exciting to see that so many students really developed their abilities to incorporate funny dialogue and mysterious plots into the greater action. It seemed that every student ended up having a story to tell and a character, or even whole alternate universe to develop on the Gamestar Mechanic platform. I was even honored as a teacher to have a character named after me! (For those interested, Meagan the Assassin took part in an elaborate drama which slowly unfolded to reveal that she was NOT actually an assassin after all, but someone to be trusted. Score one for Meagan!)

So what will happen to these game design learning experiences as the summer sun sets into the horizon and cool fall breezes announce that it’s time to go back to school? How can classroom learning benefit from the lessons of the Gamestar Mechanic Online Learning Program?

I asked one of my students what he thought, and it became clear that after going through the Gamestar Mechanic quests, he feels that storytelling has a lot to offer in learning environments:

StrongChris15: It’s better because it covers a lot of topics in a short period of time and it’s more fun. I didn’t mind going through the lessons because the storyline was better and it also had more interesting games. The program pushed me to finish the levels in order to proceed to the next task… If school subjects had a storyline and a good one at that, I would be interested in school more. It would be like I was reading a book all day, but in real life.

A sixth grade teacher taking my class as a student also had some very valuable insight to offer on the role of reflection and thoughtfulness in the design process, as well as in learning processes:

DukeHodgson: I admittedly hit numerous points in some of the quests where it seemed like I was stuck in a task and the path forward was insurmountable. I got frustrated. I often needed to step away from the computer, go over things in my mind, and try again later (sometimes, minutes later; sometimes, hours later). It dawned on me that we don’t allow that much reflective walk-away-from-the-problem time for our students; instead, we see that action as giving up. I wasn’t giving up so much as working things through, but no one could see that but me. My students do that, too. I need to remember that.

The instructional designers of the Gamestar Mechanic Online Learning Program are also trying to remember that, with the program being offered again this fall as an open-ended experience for students with no deadlines or time constraints. When I asked E-line Media’s Learning Content Producer Katya Hott about what changes parents and students can anticipate in the future, she said: The next iteration of this Online Learning Program will focus on scaffolding design challenges so that students learn in a supportive and controlled environment how to make fun and challenging games.  The curriculum will also provide more opportunities for students to reflect on their work and their progression as game designers throughout the course.

E-line media has opened registration for the fall for any parents or teachers interested in getting more kids involved in learning by designing video games: http://gamestarmechanic.com/onlinelearning

Thanks for following this blog series about my experience—it’s been a pleasure to geek out with all of you!