DML Competition Game Changers winners announced!

Digital Media and Learning Competition Winners Announced

The winners of the MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition were announces in May by the first U.S. Chief Technology Officer, Aneesh Chopra. As part of the White House's Educate to Innovate Campaign for Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) Education.

On May 19th at a celebration of National Lab Day in Washington, DC,  Administration officials including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden; White House Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra; Director, Domestic Policy Council Melody Barnes; Undersecretaries of the Department of Energy Kristina Johnson and Steve Koonin; Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) John Holdren and NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenko participated in classroom projects at Washington, D.C.-area schools to engage students and encourage discovery through hands-on projects in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). 

White House Chief Technology Officer  Aneesh Chopra announced 10 Learning Lab Designers who will share $1.7 million in funding to use games, mobile phone applications, virtual worlds, and social networks to create the learning labs of the 21st century. The Learning Lab Designer Winners are:

•  Click! The Online Spy School: Engaging girls in STEM activities, peer networking, and gaming
•  Conservation Connection: From the West Side to the West Pacific
•  EcoBugs
•  Fab@School: A Digital Fabrication Laboratory for the Classroom
•  Hole-in-the-Wall: Activity Based E-Learning for Improving Elementary Education in India
•  MetroVoice: About/In/By Los Angeles
•  Mobile Action Lab: Programming Apps for Collaborative Community Change
•  Nox No More: Connecting travel logs with simulation, gaming, and environmental education
•  Scratch & Share: Collaborating with Youth to Develop the Next Generation of Creative Software
• Youth AppLab

On May 25th, at the Games for Change Festival in New York City, Mr. Chopra announced nine winning game developers who will share $250,000 for new and educational gaming experiences on the commercial games LittleBigPlanet and Spore Galactic Adventures. This year, MacArthur teamed with Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA), Electronic Arts (EA), the Entertainment Software Association, and the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation to support new and creative user-generated levels and adventures to engage young people in learning in the two games. 

The nine winning projects include:

The intention of the Digital Media and Learning Competition is to promote participatory learning, which operates under the notion that individuals, specifically young ones, learn best through sharing and involvement. The competition is administered by the virtual network of learning institutions, HASTAC, and is part of the Obama Administrations Educate to Innovate initiative. 

To view a full playlist of the winning video applications, please visit http://ht.ly/1PzPf