Digital media and learning is hot. Leading thinkers in the fields of education and digital media are pushing for a learning revolution in which highly effective and well-trained teachers act as mentors in student-centered learning environments.
We at FrameWorks are doing plenty of learning ourselves on this issue – and we’re practicing what the experts are preaching. We are using what we’ve learned from initial research conducted on digital media and learning, supported by the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, to design a set of innovative and interactive teaching tools to help experts and advocates learn to be effective tellers of the core story of education.
The education core story consists of key principles that experts across the field believe are important for informed citizens and policymakers to understand if they are to support education reform.
SWAMPED! is the first of a series of video games we’re producing on how to talk about the education core story. In it, advocates will learn how to talk about what is at stake for the U.S. education system; how learning happens; where and when learning happens; what derails learning; why the system isn’t currently working to everyone’s advantage; how the system can be improved; what teachers’ roles should be; and what the public goal is of an expanded set of skills.
Phew. It’s quite a job, but we think it’s among the most important issues facing us as a nation today.
Here’s a sneak preview of SWAMPED! Stay tuned for more.
A test screen of SWAMPED! -- FrameWorks' video game on talking Education & Budgets and Taxes