The document discusses a forum held at USC's School of Cinematic Arts on May 16-17, 2011 about how entertainment media can ignite education reform. It notes US students' declining performance in international assessments and how learning occurs outside of school. Digital media presents both threats and opportunities for children's development. The forum's goal was to stimulate change through collaboration to leverage kids' media consumption for vulnerable children. Challenges discussed were improving 4th grade reading proficiency, advancing STEM literacy, and developing digital and inquiry skills. Sifteo cubes were presented as one response to address these challenges through playful learning.
1. May 16 and 17, 2011 | USC School of Cinematic Arts
Learning from Hollywood
Can entertainment media ignite an education revolution?
2. May 16 and 17, 2011 | USC School of Cinematic Arts
3. May 16 and 17, 2011 | USC School of Cinematic Arts
Ryan Blitstein, SCE Foundation
Linda Burch, Common Sense Media
Rita Catalano, Fred Rogers Center, SVU
Milton Chen, GLEF and Edutopia
Kevin Clark, George Mason University
Mimi Ito, DML Hub
Laird Malamed, Activision Blizzard
Krista Marks, Disney Online, Boulder Studios
Amy Moynihan, A Squared Entertainment
Mary Ann Petrillo, Cisco
Judith Pickens, Boys & Girls Clubs of America
Michael Robb, Fred Rogers Center, SVU
Carla Sanger, LA’s Best
Andrea Taylor, Microsoft
Damian Thorman, Knight Foundation
Esther Wojcicki, Creative Commons
Thank you!
4. May 16 and 17, 2011 | USC School of Cinematic Arts
Rebecca Herr-Stephenson, Forum Director
Caitlin Skopac, Event Coordinator
Ingrid Erickson, Action Team Coordinator
Pam Abrams, Director, Partnerships&Strategy
Special thanks to:
5. … there is a quiet crisis in the United States that we
have to wake up to. The U.S. today is in a truly global
environment, and our competitor countries are not
only wide awake, they are running a marathon while
we are running sprints.
— Thomas L. Friedman, The World Is Flat (2005)
“
”
6. The U.S. has fallen behind as a
leader in a globalized economy
Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.
United States Science Score 502
7. The U.S. has fallen behind as a
leader in a globalized economy
Source: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Program for
International Student Assessment (PISA), 2009.
United States Math Score 487
9. Source: The LIFE Center: Stevens, R. Bransford, J. & Stevens, A., 2005
School isn’t the only place for learning
< 20 percent of K-12 time spent in school
10. Source: Takeuchi, 2011
School isn’t the only place for learning
Government
Agencies
Mass
Media
Parents’ Work
Digital
Media
Market
Local
School
System
Church, Library,
After-school
Spaces
Home,
Parents,
Siblings
School,
Teachers,
Peers
Digital
Media Spaces
Attitudes & Ideologies
of the Culture
The
Neighborhood
19. • Television continues to
exert a strong hold over
young children
• Children appear to shift
their digital media habits
around age 8, when they
open their eyes to the
world of digital media
• Mobile media is the new
“it” technology, from
handheld video games to
portable music players to
cell phones
Source: Gutnick, Robb, Takeuchi, & Kotler, 2011
Digital Media: Always Connected
Joan Ganz Cooney Center, 2011
0- to 11-year-olds
20. Photo by Flickr user JR_Paris
• Mobile media is the next
“it” technology, from
handheld video games to
portable music players to
cell phones.
21. • Family values powerfully
shape children’s experiences
• Two-thirds of parents restrict
kids’ media use on a case-by-
case basis
• A third of parents have
learned something technical
from their child
• Parents worry about digital
media interfering with the
healthy development of
young children, but most
parents don’t believe their
own kids are at risk
Source: Takeuchi, 2011
Digital Media: Families Matter
22. Source: Herr-Stephenson, Rhoten, Perkel, & Sims, 2011
Digital Media: Communities Matter
• How afterschool programs,
libraries, and museums
integrate technology and
digital practices
• How digital practices support
participation and learning
• How research can drive more
effective integration of
technology within and across
these organizations
23. Learning from Hollywood: Why we are here
The Forum’s goal is to stimulate educational change through
collaborative, multi-sector action resulting in the effective
deployment of digital media for the nation’s vulnerable children.
Essential Question: How can the almost 8 hours a day that kids
spend consuming media be viewed as an opportunity for the
critical sectors to “pull in the same direction” to create quality
content and an effective distribution infrastructure?
25. Challenge 1:
Only one in seven African-American children are considered
“proficient” in reading by age 10. We have spent billions of
dollars on this national disgrace with only scant progress in 25
years. Can the power of storytelling and the personalization
of digital media help solve the 4th grade reading crisis?
The Forum Challenges
26. Challenge 2:
America faces a surge from competitor nations who are
recruiting top engineers and research scientists, while our
own performance in science and math has crested. How can
the engagement and technical content of digital media—the
ability to blow stuff up—promote learning complex subjects
anytime, anywhere to advance STEM literacy?
The Forum Challenges
27. Challenge 3:
Access to the blizzard of content that characterizes our
Information Age has led many observers to worry about
children’s ability to develop unbiased and creative inquiry
skills. How can every 4th grader achieve basic digital literacy
competence as a down payment on lifelong learning and
civic participation?
The Forum Challenges
28. Sifteo cubes
• Inspired by MIT research and popular culture
• Designed for children under age 12
• Develops literacies needed to compete/cooperate in a global age
Three challenges: One response
Editor's Notes
Here are the key takeaways. First, kids’ 8-18’s media exposure on a daily basis is up over two hours on average in the past five years. On a daily basis, kids are spending more time with media than they are at school.