Gaming Education Reform: Starting Points for a Digital Revolution

At the 2011 Games, Learning and Society research conference in Madison, Joan Ganz Cooney Center Executive Director Michael H. Levine was the closing keynote speaker on the topic “Gaming Education Reform.” His presentation to a multidisciplinary group of scholars, game industry leaders and practitioners focused on several missing key elements in our current approaches to learning. He shared some of the most cogent lessons learned from Sesame Street’s rich and instructive history as well as the Center’s more recent research on games and “the new coviewing” that he hopes will reunite generations in play and learning. If we are to change the trajectory of achievement in our country, Levine argued, we will need to radically modernize early childhood education by introducing developmentally appropriate technology in preschool, change the current 20th century approaches to assessment and teacher education, and add a lot more engagement to the learning diets of kids who have been raised in a ubiquitous media culture. The talk ended with five new priorities for President Obama and Congress to consider.

View the presentation after the jump.
Michael Levine: Gaming Education Reform: Starting Points for a Digital Revolution