The Digital Generation Project is produced with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
Content for this project is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND License.
More Resources to Explore
Joan Ganz Cooney Center: Advancing Children's Learning in the Digital Age
PBS Parents: Children and Media
Quest Atlantis (QA), a three-dimensional multiuser learning environment for children ages 9-15
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Digital Youth Portrait: Dana
A nine-year-old aspiring singer revels in Webkinz and games and helps develop tech-design ideas with a cohort of peers and adult researchers. More to this story.
Release Date: 5/27/2009
Running Time: 08:42
Video Credits
Produced and Directed by
- Ken Ellis
Coordinating Producer
- Lauren Rosenfeld
Editor
- Steve Jensen
Camera Crew
- Brian Buckley
- Brett Wiley
- James Pride
- Ken Ellis
Production Support
- Amy Erin Borovoy
Production Assistant
- Doug Keely
Senior Video Editor
- Karen Sutherland
- © 2009
- The George Lucas Educational Foundation
- All rights reserved.
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Glossary
Webkinz: Toy stuffed animals that come with a unique secret code that allows access to the Webkinz World Web site, where the user owns a virtual version of the pet for online interaction.
Digital native: A person raised in a technological environment who accepts that environment as the norm, and who often has grown up surrounded by digital devices, such as mp3 players and cell phones, and regularly uses these devices to interact with other people and the outside world.
Sources: Wikipedia.org, DigitalNative.org
Discussion Questions
1. Is Dana typical of kids in your community? Why, or why not?
2. Technology is just an ordinary part of Dana's family life. Is this true for you and the kids you know?
3. Dana is very enthusaistic about the virtual world Webkinz. What do you think she's getting out of the experience?
4. Dana's parents give her a lot of freedom to explore online, and ask her to talk to them about anything that is inappropriate. Is this practice similar to Internet-use policies in your school or home?
5. Dana's mom defines literacy as "the combination of the visual, the oral, and the interactivity." What implications does this definition have for teaching and learning?
