Authors: Rich Halverson, Julie Kallio, Sarah Hackett, Erica Halverson

October 2016, 23 pp.

Abstract: This paper describes how the idea of participatory culture can provide a robust model for thinking about emerging learning practices in digital media spaces, in and out of schools. Although schools implement technologies intended to improve achievement, technologies in the wild aim to improve engagement. This gap between achievement and engagement means schools often struggle to take advantage of the tools transforming learning in everyday life. The participatory culture framework helps make sense of learning in and out of schools and points to viable paths for integrating the best of new media experience into contemporary school design.

Keywords: learning technologies; new media; participatory cultures; accountability; data-driven decision-making

Read the full working paper: Participatory Culture as a Model for How New Media Technologies Can Change Public Schools (PDF)