New Report Analyzes Digital Educational Products for Kids

NEW YORK/LAS VEGAS, January 8: The Joan Ganz Cooney Center
at Sesame Workshop has released a new study at the International Consumer
Electronics Show’s first Sandbox Summit examining digital media’s educational
potential.

The 50-page study, the first to analyze the current
interactive media environment for preschool and elementary age children,
documents how digital products are shaping how children, ages 3-11, live and
learn.

D is for Digital found
that of the 300-plus products studied, most do not take advantage of available
research regarding children’s educational needs. Among the findings, the survey
yielded only two educational video games based on explicit educational
curriculum design available in the market, in an industry that generated $500
million in 2006 for the top 20 titles alone.

The report also identified influential market trends with
strong potential for education, examined the type of informal learning products
on the market and recommended ways to expand the availability of quality
educational media for children. The report’s recommendations include building
partnerships between the research community and media developers to leverage
knowledge. The Center had found that there were significant gaps in
informational exchange between the research community and media developers,
which inhibited valuable research from being seen and incorporated into
products. Other recommendations include placing new emphasis on educational
video-game development, encouraging intergenerational interaction between
adults and children through the use of digital media products and devising
industry and regulatory standards to monitor the media in an effort to protect
children from “improper commercialism” in digital products.

D is for Digital was
authored by Cooney Fellow Carly Shuler, an expert on marketing and the
educational toy industry and a graduate of Harvard’s Technology, Innovation and
Education program. The Sandbox Summit was produced by The Consumer Electronics
Association and Parents’ Choice Foundation.

The Joan Ganz Cooney Center, named after Sesame Street’s founder, is a new institute launched by Sesame
Workshop that is examining new-media platforms such as the web, cell phones and
video games to better understand their role in children’s learning and literacy
development both in and out of school.

“The study’s findings are cause for both concern and optimism,”
said Dr. Michael Levine, the executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center.
“Kids today are spending almost as much time with media as attending school, so
there is an opportunity to create more engaging educational products than ever
before. Unfortunately, most of the new digital products we reviewed, with
notable exceptions, do not yet promote the vital literacy, creativity and
problem-solving skills children need to succeed. The report documents how
industry leaders, working closely with experts in child development and
research, can develop interactive educational products that can leverage key
market opportunities and promote a new vision for learning and entertainment.”

—By Irene Lew