Here are four very powerful videos from the Digital Media and Learning Research Hub that are guaranteed to make you think hard about learning, teaching, and schooling. You can watch them all in less than half an hour. My quick notes from the videos are included underneath each one…

Engaged (7 minutes; Connie Yowell)

• we are fundamentally starting with the wrong questions
• we start with learning outcomes – and content defines everything – rather than “what is the experience we want kids to have?” 
• our core question is around engagement; if you ask “is a kid engaged?”, you have to pay attention to and start with the kid
• we have to make room for curiosity, we don’t have enough opportunities for kids to take things apart and wonder about them
• little opportunities to fail and iterate are also opportunities to play with identity
• we need opportunities to explore who we are in the world and how the world works, particularly as teenagers
• we so decontextualize learning for kids, we’ve forgotten we have a passion for learning
• in school they could care less, but in complex games kids demand that they learn how to do something so they can move on
• as adults, we have to deeply connect content and students’ activity, otherwise learning has no meaning

Everyone (7 minutes; Mimi Ito)

• we give responsibility for learning to professionals instead of remembering it’s the fabric that frames all of our interactions with everybody
• connected learning networks force us to fundamentally rethink what we think is the problem and goal of education
• it’s about expertise that’s widely distributed; anybody can help somebody else get better at something
• if you have an educational system that always tell students what to do, you’re not building their capacity to make effective learning choices themselves
• we used to have capacity bottlenecks for learning, so you had to go to school or a library – now we don’t have that problem but we still act as if we do
• education isn’t bound to particular institutions anymore, it can happen anywhere
• how does a kid find a mentor or peer that helps them develop their interest, make their interest relevant, find a sense of purpose, etc.
• how do we use the capacity of the network to bring people together who want to learn together?
• everybody can participate in a connected learning model
• the great side benefit of interest-based, connected learning is that it fosters social connection and well-being: fulfillment, belonging, and purpose

Play (7 minutes; Katie Salen)

• play creates for people a reason for them to want to engage
• body and spirit are transformed by play
• play is a state of being, a very different state of mind, openness to ideas and other people
• not a closed, rules-bound place – the openness of the play space is extremely important
• play is one of the most fundamental human experiences
• play is a practice space, we play to get better at something, it helps us build confidence
• kids are driven to want to share with you what they’re doing, what they’re making, what they’re learning
• at school, we cordon off a time for play (recess) and then you’re not doing that anymore
• when you get older, play becomes embedded in objects (video games), you can activate play when you pick up that object
• when we’re young, play is the frame for how we experience the world
• adult life becomes about a set of responsibilities rather than a way of engaging your soul in the world

Creative (5 minutes, Nichole Pinkard)

• we’re just now getting to the place in America where we realize it needs to be different everywhere, not just in some places
• we have to completely overhaul how we think learning happens, where it happens, and what people are capable of
• technology transformations show us the world is going to be different
• they are going to have to be more nimble and more proficient with technology to communicate and to learn, or they’ll be a new form of illiterate
• we no longer live in a world where you can only write and read text and you will be successful
• we have to teach these new literacies and then let kids be creative in how they express themselves with these literacies
• schools always have been about ‘the right answer’
• now we care more about how kids find information, think about information, communicate information

The DML Research Hub also has an 8-minute summary video, Essence, which includes some of the best pieces from each video above plus some new stuff.

• there’s no longer a promised future for all kids
• how do we create environments that delight learners at all ages?
• open up the question of who contributes to learning
• how do we help kids grow up to become curious, engaged citizens?
• kids say over and over that schools are (merely) a node in their network of learning
• we have an embarrassment of (information) riches but we still have to figure out how to bring those pieces together
• learning principles need to start with the idea of connectedness 

Finally, be sure to check out the core values, learning principles, and design principles of connected learning:

• Core values: equity, social connection, full participation
• Learning principles: interest-powered, peer-supported, academically oriented
• Design principles: production-centered, openly networked, shared purpose

See also the infographic below. There’s a lot here to digest. Thoughts?