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Connected Learning: An Agenda for Research and Design

CLRN Project Updates

Dedicated to researching and reimagining learning for the 21st century

This interdisciplinary research network is dedicated to understanding the opportunities and risks for learning afforded by today's changing media ecology, as well as building new learning environments that support effective learning and educational equity. Our work focuses on a model of connected learning -- learning that is socially connected, interest-driven, and oriented towards educational opportunity.

As an agenda for research, connected learning is about examining learning that cuts across the contexts of home, school, and peer culture, looking at the links and disjunctures between them.
As a learning theory, connected learning posits that the most meaningful and resilient forms of learning happen when a learner has a personal interest or passion that they are pursuing in a context of cultural affinity, social support, and shared purpose.
As a model for design, connected learning offers a way of connecting the often-fragmented spheres of home, school, and peer-based learning, leveraging the affordances of digital and networked media.

Our work cuts across research, design, and practice and includes social scientists, learning theorists, educators, and designers. We are committed to research that is collaborative, action-oriented, and united by educational values of equity, social connection, and full participation.

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Featured Blog Posts

Book Review: Reclaiming Conversation – the Power of Talk in a Digital Age

Wendy M. Grossman reviews Sherry Turkle’s most recent book, Reclaiming conversation: The power of talk in a digital age. Wendy explores how human connection has changed and how families must negotiate how they allow technology to disrupt their lives. She writes about the border wars between cyberspace and real life. She is the 2013 winner of the Enigma Award and she has released a number of books, articles, and music. [Header image credit: Peggy, CC BY 2.0] Last year’s six-person Chris read more

The Content and Context of Screen Use Is More Important Than the Amount of Screen Time

Mark Griffiths reflects on the realities, implications and consequences of “screen time” in the context of gaming. He argues that it is not about the amount of screen use, but rather about its content and context. His piece follows a special workshop¹ convened by the Media Policy Project and Parenting for a Digital Future on ‘Families and “screen-time”: challenges of media self-regulation’ and the publication of a new policy brief about families and “screen time”, authored by Alic read more