Links to visit - or revisit: Digital Media, Technology, Learning & New Research / Grant Opportunities

Here are some links to some resources that might be of interest:

Building the Field of Digital Media and Learning: The MacArthur Foundation launches a $50 million Digital Media and Learning initiative.

"The MacArthur Foundation launched its five-year, $50 million digital media and learning initiative in 2006 to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to developing educational and other social institutions that can meet the needs of this and future generations. The initiative is both marshaling what is already known about the field and seeding innovation for continued growth"

Found on the Digital Media and Learning Website:

Confronting the Challenges fo Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century", a 72-page white paper by Henry Jenkins, from MIT.

Digital Media and Learning Fact Sheet, a 2-page summary of facts and statistics related to digital media and learning.

Ecology of Games : This web page summarizes chapters that will be included in upcoming book about the use of games in learning, including a chapter about game accessibility for young people who have special needs.

Individual Grants: This web page has links and descriptions about individual projects that are in process related to the Digital Media and Learning Initiative.

Online Edutopia Magazine: Innovations in technology and learning from the George Lucas Foundation.

BioMap: A technology tool based on neuroscience research developed by Northwestern University to diagnose learning disabilities.

Link to Bio-map: Using technology for evaluating learning disabilities

Northwestern University's Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory has developed a method of identifying learning disabilities through the use of technology. The following is a quote from the website:

"The BioMAP (Biological Marker of Auditory Processing) is a neurophysiological test used to quickly and objectively identify disordered processing of sound that has been associated with learning impairments in many children.

Unlike traditional brainstem evoked response recordings using clicks or tone bursts, the BioMAP uses a complex speech syllable that reflects the acoustic and phonetic characteristics of sounds that present difficulties for disordered populations. Over the past decade Dr. Nina Kraus and her colleagues at the Auditory Neuroscience Lab at Northwestern University have evaluated the evoked brainstem responses of more than 1000 children, and have found that the BioMAP acts as a unique biological marker for those learning disabled children with central auditory processing disorders that have a high likelihood of benefiting from an auditory training program."

It will be interesting to see if this technology has validity for use in the schools, and if this technology can play a role in planning for interventions within the RTI/problem solving model.

Suspension Alternatives that Work- Article from eSchool News

E-School News has an article with links to resources about effective alternatives to suspension. Take a look!

Link to FutureLab's Teaching With Games research website.

I've posted additional information about FutureLab on the Interactive Multimedia Technology Blog.

Math Tools

According to the website, "Math Tools is a project of The Math Forum @ Drexel, funded in part by the National Science Foundation. The goal is to create a community digital library that supports the use and development of software for mathematics education"

Link to post about Universal Design and Access for games and multimedia applications.

If you are interested in Universal Design for Learning and the use of learning and edutainment games with students, take a look at the post about game accessibility on the Interactive Multimedia Technology blog.