summary report: http://bit.ly/CLreportsummary

Mimi on DMLcentral: http://dmlcentral.net/blog/mimi-ito/connected-learning-interdisciplinary-researchers-recommend-core-changes

It’s actually quite hard to learn that way. You have to be charming and extroverted and have supportive parents. He was a special case, but it made me wonder why we can’t support more kids to learn in ways that are more social and integrated with the real world.”

What does connected learning look like when it is centered on civic and political interests? A new paper that I co-authored with Lissa Soep, Neta Kliger-Vilenchik, Sangita Shresthova, Liana Gamber-Thompson, and Arely Zimmerman, investigates this question. Drawing from case studies of a wide range of youth affinity groups, we suggest that “connected civics” can be understood as a form of participatory politics grounded in young people’s deeply felt interests and identities.

from paper:

Though different in important ways, the HPA and dreamactivist.org are examples of youth-led organizations that sit at the intersection of youth-centered peer networks and formal, adult-led institutions like schools and the state.

[..]

At Youth Radio in Oakland, California, for example, young people are often drawn to apply for the organization’s free, after-school multimedia classes initially based on a friend’s recommendation or because they heard it was a place where they could get on the radio and learn to deejay and produce beats. Once young people come into the organization, they do get to make music. But they are also called upon to facilitate roundtable discussions, write opinion pieces and news spots, produce public service announcements, and learn to spread all this youth-generated content via social media.

[..]

When young people are able to connect both flexibly networked as well as more formalized and capitalized kinds of infrastructures and institutions, we see the largest impacts, both personal and societal.

[..]

By focusing on consequential connections, we have turned our attention to social and cultural contexts rather than individual skills, capacities, and ladders of engagement. Rather than limit our educational interventions to “engaging” or “developing” youth who are assumed to be in some way deficient, we might instead consider that the lack lies in the stories, identities, activities, and organizational roles that are open and available to them.

4 min – motivation – just been fun/exciting to see what kids do

5 min – on how a lot of these kids/geeks.. learn different.. ie: self-directed

i like to showcase the cool things kids are doing w/tech

about a year ago launched startup – connected camp – w/katie salen and tara tiger brown.. an effort to deliver creative/social learning experiences through minecraft.. effort to take passion/creativity/social learning and meta game minecraft has built…

8 min – w/homegrown servers… we let kids join our servers.. but also offer classes… they wouldn’t get on homegrown servers..

9 min – built … around hunger games…

built on our servers… guides/mediations

10 min – when playing multi player…

13 min – we call it trolling normally but minecrafters call it griefing.. – connected camp left my daughter feeling empowered… encourages player agency/creativity… finding ways to work around rules… et al..

14 min – kids can really do stuff… but can also lead to space for this griefing..

17 min – one goal of connected camp – early experience in online gaming.. that is positive .. because of adult involvement..

lord of the flies – interviewer – exactly – mimi

20 min – really big goal.. help kids make wise choices online

22 min – modeling our learning approach .. in all my research.. to be positives of learning online..  important that servers staffed with young people …who also grew up with minecraft.. dynamic similar to organic/geek learning.. just a little more accessible/comfortable for parents/young-kids/girls…

28 min – i think my superpower is that i listen to kids.. i’m a translator… showcasing kinds of learning kids are doing .. to get parents more buy in

30 min – i like observing people who are different from me.. i learned from watching joi… and now.. he’s at a uni and i have a startup

31 min – focus now – how to make a diff in the world in a for profit space..

on finding how much you learn when having fun in affinity groups..

our focus now on the geeking out part.. leads to more academic (?)

connected learning is that bullseye.. where find out who they are

creating opp for younger to be influenced by older – one instructional model that works

modeling what goes on in summer camp.. interest driven specialties pathway/apprenticeship.. just not pathway we use in formal ed

our problem isn’t a capacity problem it’s a match making problem

once everybody wanted one.. the regulation didn’t matter – joi

if you could create informal learning experiences.. like connected camps.. and if they experience interesting learning systems.. maybe the parents will say.. this is what we want – joi

i’ve been waiting for that tipping point.. *because progressive schools already embrace this.. it’s been going on for some time –  mimi

problem now is that the top down pressures are too intense to adopt… – mimi

the reality is that if you don’t finish college.. going to have a tougher time.. in a choke point of both/and..  world demanding connected learning.. system demanding other.. so we’re driving our kids crazy right now.. – mimi

how do we address the job driven ness..? saying.. how do we change what we’re doing because we can’t think of a better way.. ie: if hire 1000 people a year.. turns into a measurement problem – joi

when learning is dependent on feeling bonded.. and it’s very hard to break in.. – mimi

there is lot of need for measurement.. top down policy.. but there is a root cause difficult to break.. schools designed to teach kids things.. we’ve bundled assessment and teaching.. so ranking is part of what teachers are asked to do.. so have to come up with ways to fail kids.. grading/sorting/selectivity.. – mimi

if our purpose is to ed kids.. we’d pick the least prepared.. but now.. and why we have selective schools.. and employers recruit from them.. – mimi

you could unbundle the selection from the instruction – mimi

revolution already happening at learner level.. if you learn how to learn – mimi

can’t solve that right away – joi … we have to solve that – mimi

no pathway to econ.. because way to get jobs.. can’t rely on formal system.. – mimi

in era where info is free.. role of ed should be shifting to social relationships/currency – mimi

i’m pessimistic in short term but optimistic in long term.. to reach that tipping point.. so many pieces.. i think eventually it’s going to happen..  – mimi

tech isn’t going to make the change.. it’s going to be the nitty gritty coalition building..w/in system.. – mimi

you have to have social scientists and everybody at the table..  to make the tech work – mimi

Nathan Phillips (@nathancphillips) tweeted at 1:05 PM on Fri, Aug 03, 2018:
.@mizuko discussing equity: We (designers, educators) often ask, How can we make *this thing* inclusive? or How can we get girls into *our* world? or How can we get youth of color into *our* world? Instead of, Where are kids already and how can we support them there? #CLS2018
(https://twitter.com/nathancphillips/status/1025457729069088769?s=03)