Rethinking Learning: The 21st Century Learner | MacArthur Foundation

From cell phone and video games to Facebook and YouTube, digital media are changing the way young people play and socialize in the 21st century. Learn more at http://www.macfound.org/programs/learning.

The MacArthur Foundation's grantmaking aims to determine how digital media 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.

- Probably the most important thing

for kids growing up today

is the love of embracing change.

(upbeat music)

The catch for preparing students

for the 21st century workforce

is how do you get kids
that have curiosity,

and a questing disposition.

We have called in the past
the gaming disposition

'cause if you look at the disposition

of hard core gamers, such
as World of Warcraft,

massive multiplayer games, the
surprising things you find,

contrary to what people think,

is these kids first of all are incredibly

bottom line oriented.

They want to be measured
because they want to see

how much they're improving, and in fact,

the most common mantra of a real gamer

is if I ain't learning, it ain't fun.

- I don't think any kid
is born digitally native.

I think kids are born consuming media,

but I don't think kids
are born producing media,

so almost any kid that you look at

and say oh wow this is a
great user of digital media,

you can trace back.

There's a parent, there's
a, you know, program,

there's something that inspired them

and developed them.

- You know, part of the opportunity here

is learning the content which is very much

the 20th century idea around education,

but in 21st century,
it's learning the tools

and the skills of remaking that content

and becoming the creator and the producer.

- We know that the
learning outside of school

matters tremendously for
the learning in school,

so a lot of what we're trying to say

about kids in formal
learning with new media

is part of an already existing set

of understandings that educators have

of the importance of the home environment,

for the peer environment,
for the community,

for learning that happens in schools.

The question is how can we be more active

about linking those two together?

- We just assumed when
we opened the school

that digital media would be
available at all moments,

and we have a technology philosophy

around bring it out when we need it

and put it away when we don't need it.

We have a wireless building,

the kids use laptops,
and the reason we do that

is so that we can put them away

when it's actually not
the best tool for them

to be learning with.

- We find when we talk
about 21st century skills,

people often reduce them
to skills for the workplace

and skills involving technology,

and we really are thinking
about skills for creativity,

for civic engagement, for social life,

the full range of
experiences that young people

will be involved in in the future.

- I think for teachers and
schools and classroom learning,

there's still an incredibly
important role to play

which is about giving kids access

across the board to a
baseline set of standards,

literacies, expectations
about what they need

to participate in contemporary society

to be reflective, and
to also take opportunity

of the fact that you
really have kids and adults

in a shared space that's
safe, that's sanctioned,

that gives kids an opportunity
to reflect on things

in their everyday life
that's not just about them

being immersed in it all the time,

so I think there are incredibly
functions for schools.

What we're saying by
evaluating in formal learning

is not that we should
abandon formal learning,

but that we should get
those working together

in a much more coordinated way.

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