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From a learning point of view, aging has its consolations, along with its detriments like loss of memory and quick math skills. Read this if you want a general perspective on research into the mature adult mind.

I know Gordon, and this should be an interesting talk...

A new study finds that when adolescent girls play age-appropriate games with their parents there may be some benefits, such as feeling closer to family members and having better mental health.

This is a brief summary of the Games for a Digital Age report released by the Joan Ganz Cooney Center (Sesame Workshop related) on the challenges facing Digital Educational Games market. I recommend linking through to the full report. I am curious to know what the class thinks of the recommendations the report makes. One thing they emphasize is situating games as supplementary material - do you think this is a good thing/bad thing?

After dinner, when Tom Beasley is ready to take a break from his day job in the Yale classics department, he busts out the comic books. But it's all in the name of education, with a digital twist. Beasley, a seventh-year graduate student, is writing his dissertation on Thucydides, chronicler of the Peloponnesian War. In his evening project, he turns from history to the mythology of the Trojan War - in particular, the comic book series Age of Bronze, written and illustrated by Eric Shanower. Beasley's task: produce a reader's guide to the richly detailed, 31-part (so far) comic series in preparation for its release as an iPad app, intended for classroom use. The digital version, called Age of Bronze "Seen," launches on October 15 and includes maps, genealogy charts, and other interactive features.

internet facilitates exposure, opportunities for collaboration and informal mentoring for  young photographers

A talk about how the RSA Animate series seeks to engage learners in innovative ways and how it draws from new research on cognitive engagement.

Brandon, have you ever used one of their animations

I haven't used it in a formal way. Although I find myself very engaged in the content. I've seen some of the animations that are other talks that they converted to an animation, and it's really incredible how much more engaging it becomes with fairly simple, yet beautiful graphics.

Chris Dede chimes in -- quoted in this article!

This article applies what we've learned about self-efficacy, interest, and engagement to literacy: "What makes a child an engaged reader?"

Thanks for sharing this, Stephanie. Part of my job is to select books for a reading & writing academy in Seoul, and after reading this article I realized that affective elements of reading play a significant role in my book selections.

Hi Stephanie - The author is listed as working for Reading is Fundamental, which is an organization I now follow for my work on the T545 class project. Part of their agenda is to "prepare and motivate children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most." They focus on reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. I am hoping my website project addresses some of the issues raised in this article. Thanks.

An article from the popular press that I think is worth reading. It mentions the increasing importance of virtual worlds and simulations, a topic we will be covering next week !

Everything in moderation, but this article helps people see how well-developed, age-appropriate video games are a positive.

I think vocational schools give students the means for making time spent in school relevant and useful to them. They pursue an interest and see it connected to a relevant future. In the current age where interdisciplinary work is the norm, jobs are mutable, and careers are evolutionary, vocational education is no longer preparing students for a job or career; just their first one.

I completely agree! I have a good friend who dropped out of high school, earned his GED the same week, and went on to a technical vocational school to study IT/systems management. Turned out that once he got to the vocational school, he became the top student in most of his classes, and well-known for staying after class to engage instructors in intellectual debate. I find it disappointing that our society tends to devalue vocational schools; it seems to me that we should instead be focusing on what fits each student best.

Clark Aldrich's "The Complete Guide to Simulations and Serious Games" is a good complement to Prensky's books on the subject. We require both in our "eLearning Games" course at UB. The instructor of that course directed my to these two resources.

Although the goals are different from the Oneville research, folks may be interested in Planned Parenthood's recent demonstration of one of the most successful uses of texting (providing age-appropriate, medically accurate answers to questions). [http://www.plannedparenthoodchat.org/]

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop studied almost 200 education apps for Apple's app store. Good insight into what's in the market right now and what the current trends are.

Thanks Chris! I am looking forward to reading this thoroughly. It covers so many important topics/questions from: creating standards for apps marketed as educational (right now the developers just need to say it is "educational") to a call to academia to dive into research and help design effective, high quality material for digital age learning.

Interesting study on rewards and motivation: Some excerpts - Rewards worked much better if they were given to students before the test, not after. Researchers found students worked significantly harder to keep what they had than they did to win something new. But none of the incentives worked at any age if students knew they wouldn't get the reward for a month. "All motivating power of the incentives vanishes when rewards are handed out with a delay," the researchers concluded. "Especially among children, the difference between right now and tomorrow is a big difference," Ms. Sadoff said. "For all students it's important that the reward be immediate." That impatience creates a massive problem for incentive programs based on state test results, which can often take months to turn around.

Thanks for this Kasthuri! This gives additional strength to the immediacy of digital rewards and students having access to their own "stats" (both potentially available in games and simulations). The thought of actual green-back monetary rewards for study/learning gives me the heebie-jeebies. I appreciated Alexandra M. Usher's comment, that "it's really important to reward inputs, not outputs [and] to reward behavior that kids can control, rather than just telling them to get better grades."

This is great! Teaching kids at a very young age that computers are not just smart but are programmed to be smart can be very valuable. So many new tools and technologies these days are completely abstracting how they actually work, which makes me worry that kids just think computers are magical.

So true! Clearly, it's the people who create the technologies that are magical. =p

This is a great overview of connected learning, an initiative/movement to enhance educational experiences