Gathering Evidence of Life-long, Life-wide Learning with Technology
William R. Penuel, University of Colorado
The National Educational Technology Plan lays out a vision of learning as life-long, and life-wide. But most technology-supported innovations focus on promoting learning in a single setting (usually schools), and researchers focus their efforts on gathering evidence of short-term impacts on end-of-year accountability tests.
It’s important also to consider innovations that reach young people in multiple sites as well (including as part of online communities) and to develop evidence about how such innovations shape outcomes. One such innovation is YouMedia, which occupies a physical space at the Harold Washington Library Center in downtown Chicago, as well as a virtual place—a website—dedicated to YouMedia users. READ MORE
