The purpose of the Matrix Project is to “use mobile technology and electronic games to make learning relevant and addictive.”
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, small technologies such as iPods, PDAs, and digital video and techniques from electronic games will be used to capture the interest of middle schoolers and improve math and reading achievement. Schools and community centers with after school programs in Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico, and California are the initial participants.
Thinking in terms of this project in relation to teens and the public library, here are a few things:
1. The design principles for this project reflect a similarity to the developmental asset model many librarians already use to guide their work–except in a framework that is more exploratory and allows for more constant and purposeful change of the participant.
2. Matrix partners are “educators and researchers, software and game developers, and curriculum designers” who are concerned about the lack of interest in middle schoolers in math.
–What about dialoguing with game developers for using strategies to capture interest of library users?
3. “Researchers and observant teachers are beginning to ask how the learning opportunities offered by mobile technologies and electronic games might be used to support children’s formal learning.”
–Check out this upcoming audio conference on September 20, 1-2:30pm sponsored by the Urban Libraries Council which will address in part how techniques from electronic games such as information gathering, building expertise in subject areas, and encouraging group work apply to libraries. Presentations for this audio conference will be given by Jenny Levine, and Beth Gallaway.
4. –How can we/how are we already using mobile technologies more as libraries?
Posted by Kelly Czarnecki