From the MacFound November 2009 Newsletter:
Today, as President Obama called for new efforts to reimagine and improve education in science and math, the MacArthur Foundation announced a $2 million open competition for creative ideas to transform learning using digital media. The competition seeks designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and others to build digital media experiences — the learning labs of the 21st Century — that help young people interact, share, build, tinker, and explore in new and innovative ways. Supported by a grant to the University of California at Irvine, the competition was planned and announced in partnership with National Lab Day, a movement to revitalize science, technology, engineering and math in schools that was highlighted today at a White House event.
The competition is designed to promote participatory learning, a form of learning connected to individual interests and passions, inherently social in nature, and occurring during hands-on, creative activities. Awards will be made in two categories: 21st Century Learning Lab Designers and Game Changers. A new component of the competition, Game Changers will provide awards for the creation of new game play experiences using Sony’s popular video game, LittleBigPlanet™. Sony will also donate 1000 PlayStation 3 consoles and copies of the game to libraries and community-based organizations in low-income communities.
The competition is part of MacArthur’s digital media and learning initiative, which seeks to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to education and other social institutions that must meet the needs of this and future generations.
