University of Southern California

What are kids learning in Virtual Worlds?
Davidson Conference Center, University of Southern California

What are kids learning in Virtual Worlds?
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Davidson Conference Center,
University of Southern California 
 

The featured panelists had a discussion on the aspects of kids having the exposure of Virtual Worlds and included following points:

What do Club Penguin, Whyville, The Sims, Second Life Like Virtual Worlds mean for kids?
What are kids really doing in virtual worlds?
How are they learning?
What does this mean for parents and educators?

Logos of MacArthur Foundation, Commonsense Media, USC CPD, Global Kids.

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Read the Text Transcript

View the comprehensive description of the event and presentation by Doug Thomas, written in her article "What kids learn in virtual worlds?" by Stefanie Olsen.

Following were the featured Panel Participants:

Introductory Remarks
Julia Stasch, Vice President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grantmaking will present an overview of MacArthur's $50 million digital media and learning initiative and introduce panelists.

Anastasia Goodstein
Journalist and author of Totally Wired: What teens and tweens are really doing online will describe the virtual world landscape for kids.

Doug Thomas, Principal Director
Annenberg School of Communication at USC, and founding editor of Games & Culture: A Journal of Interactive Media, will demonstrate his latest project, an immersive online world designed to teach students ethical decision making.

Yasmin B. Kafai, Associate Professor
UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies, will discuss her research in tween's learning about science, race, and beauty in Whyville.net, a virtual world for tweens.

Barry Joseph
Director of Global Kids Inc, Online Leadership Program, will share his experience using virtual worlds, such as Teen Second Life to develop youth leadership skills around world issues.

Moderated by Jim Steyer
Founder and CEO of Common Sense Media, author of The Other Parent: The Inside Story of The Media's Effect on our Children, and a respected expert on issues related to children's policy and media.

About the MacArthur Foundation
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. http://www.macfound.org

About Common Sense Media:
Common Sense Media is the nation's leading non-partisan organization dedicated to improving the media lives of children and families. Today, hundreds of thousands of parents, educators and young people will turn to the Common Sense Media Guide for the trustworthy information, easy-to-use tools and practical guidance they need to raise a generation of media savvy kids and families. http://www.commonsensemedia.org/

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