Aligning Your Content with Academic Standards

We all know by now that the digital shift taking place in publishing is nothing short of revolutionary.

The iPad was only released April 2010 and there are already 600,000 apps for sale in the App Store and over 55 million ipads sold.

Now factor in the explosive intersection of children's content and digital literacy (education) and you have a perfect storm for children's IP creators.  Aligning your content with academic standards adds more value to your IP. By creating curriculum you can extend your story and create new revenue streams for your content.

Publishers large and small are looking toward education as a way to add value to their new digital products (ebooks + apps) and build an engaged audience.

Ruckus Reader "The Ruckus Reader is a breakthrough learning program, a unique series of digital storybooks designed to help your child practice important reading skills AND keep you up to date on your child's progress. All of the stories and interactive activities are developed by educational experts to adhere to national educational standards for preschool through second grade." - Ruckus reader Website

Scholastic / Storia, the "fun, interactive and educational eReading App for Children" that is "enriched with fun activities that build vocabulary."
Smart. Extending content they already own into the digital space.

Utales, a subscription based model that is "fun and educational."

TumbleBook Library, "an online collection of animated, talking picture books which teach young children the joys of reading in a format they'll love."

NookKIDS, "Play activities built right into amazing picture books and hear them read aloud. Find your favorite characters in this best-in-class collection."

Meegenius, "millions of parents are using this simple app to introduce a life of reading to their children." More than 700 kids' books to choose from, over 1,000,000 downloads in the App Store.

Ripple Reader, "A free ebook reader for kids. Parents and other adults purchase recordable ebooks that work on both a PC or MAC. The iPad Ripple Reader app is coming soon."

International Children's Digital Library, "A Library for The World's Children."
I enjoyed reading the classic & beautiful A Apple Pie by Kate Greenaway from the Rare Books Collection, Library Of Congress.

A Apple Pie by Kate Greenaway, published by F. Warne 1900

Are you extending your content with digital games and activities that are built around the K-12 common core standards or 21st Century Skills?

 In his doctoral thesis: What Is Digital Literacy, Doug Belshaw, now a researcher/analyst at JISC infoNet, defines the the 8 elements of digital literacy as: cultural, cognitive, constructive, communicative, confident, creative, critical and civic.

Slide from Doug Belshaw's presentation: How To Develop Digital Literacies In Yourself And Others.

How many of these can you build into your curriculum to enrich your IP?
Follow discussions around digital literacies by following the hashtags #digilit & #mlearning on twitter.

Transmedia Education: Digital Literacy Skills For The 21st Century

In order to participate and prosper in the 21st century children will need to develop a new range of media literacy skills.
Henry Jenkins  identifies 11 core media literacy skills in his book Confronting The Challenges of Participatory Culture, Media Education for the 21st Century published by The MIT Pres and available here as a free download.

CORE MEDIA LITERACY SKILLS

1.  PLAY: The Capacity to experiment with the Surroundings as a form of problem solving
2.  SIMULATION: The ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes
3.  PERFORMANCE: The ability to adopt alternative identities for the purpose of improvisation and discovery
4.  APPROPRIATION:  The ability to meaningfully sample and remix media content
5.  MULTITASKING:  The ability to scan the environment and shift focus onto salient details
6.  DISTRIBUTED COGNITION:  The ability to interact meaningfully with tools that expand mental capacities
7.  COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE:  The ability to pool knowledge and compare notes with others toward a common goal
8.  JUDGEMENT:  The ability to evaluate the readability and credibility of different information sources
9.  TRANSMEDIA NAVIGATION:  he ability to follow the flow of stories and information across multiple modalities
10.  NETWORKING:  The ability to search for, synthesize, and disseminate information
11.  NEGOTIATION:  The ability to travel across diverse communities, discerning and respecting multiple perspectives, and grasping and following alternative norms

How many new media literacy skills do you have as an adult?
Do you share them with the children in your life? 
If you are a teacher,  how do you share them in your classroom?

Transmedia methods used for education are transforming the classroom from an isolated top down system to a connected global network of virtual classrooms.

"Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes its own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story." -  Henry Jenkins, Sandbox Summit 2010

Here's what a media literacies class project might look like.

Explore Locally, Excel Digitally by Vanessa Vartabedian
Posted on the NEW MEDIA LITERACIES BLOG here.

Did you know, "65% of young people are creating media?"-Henry Jenkins

Doug Belshaw's presentation to the Association of Independent Schools of New South Wales (Australia) ICT Managers Conference 2011

The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies from Doug Belshaw

Read more about transmedia & education

Transmedia Education: the 7 Principles Revisited, Henry Jenkins 

Transmedia & Education: Three Essential Readings, Jeff Watson