At the Joan Ganz Cooney Center, we are constantly documenting the rapid changes in the digital media landscape, and we are now getting ready to embrace changes in our own neighborhood. This summer, Mel Ming, one of the Founders of the Cooney Center (along with former CEO Gary Knell) announced that he would retire after […]
Monthly Archives: September 2014
Games in the Classroom: Overcoming the Obstacles
September 19, 2014
Part #20 of MindShift’s Guide to Games and Learning Series Even for educators who are excited about using games in the classroom, questions inevitably come up around the very real obstacles to implementation, and strategies for overcoming them. A recent survey from the Games and Learning Publishing Council asked 700 teachers to identify and rank the […]
Outsmarting the World: Three Reasons Why Hackers Lead the Pack
September 15, 2014
The word “hacker” was first associated with the ne’er-do-well swagger of the word “pirate.” Hackers disrupted systems that should not be disrupted, after all. We made movies about them—young, disenfranchised punk geniuses huddled in basements, monkeying with our belovedly predictable institutions. Hackers compromised security! Hackers made the status quo vulnerable! Hackers were unwelcome party crashers […]
Using Games for Learning: Practical Steps to Get Started
September 12, 2014
Part 19 of MindShift’s Guide to Games and Learning By now, you’ve probably read enough to be convinced that it’s worth trying games in your classroom. You understand that games are not meant to be robot teachers, replacing the human-to-human relationship. Games are a tool that teachers can use to do their jobs more effectively […]
Need Help Picking the Right Learning Game? Some Things to Consider
September 5, 2014
Part 18 of MindShift’s Guide to Games and Learning To make sense of the broad and complex world of games and learning, we’re inclined to create neatly organized lists and categories. The truth is that there are so many different kinds of learning games, it’s difficult to break them down into clear-cut categories. Especially in […]
More than E-book vs. Print: The Concept of ‘Media Mentors’
September 4, 2014
This summer, the School Library Journal stoked a debate long simmering in libraryland. Print books or ebooks: Which are better for helping children learn to read? Children’s librarians have strong opinions on the subject, as shown in essays published last week with battling headlines. In one corner of the ring: “The book is far superior […]
Goodbye, MechaStayPuft
September 2, 2014
He called himself MechaStayPuft. That was the username and avatar he would use across all of the game design platforms we used. It struck me as an odd choice for a teenager, a compound reference to Ghostbusters, which turned 30 this past June, and Gozilla vs. MechaGodzilla, which predates Ghostbusters by a decade. How did […]
The Future of the Internet and the History of Public Education
September 10, 2014
The debate on net neutrality is old news by now, and perhaps even John Oliver has accepted that Federal Communications Commissioner Tom Wheeler seems unlikely to change his mind. But supporters of net neutrality have shown comparable iron will: The protest today staged by Netflix, Reddit, and Vimeo (among others) could be an important step […]