Berkman’s Digital Literacy Toolkit Among Winners of the Trust Challenge

The Berkman Center is one of thirteen winners to receive funding as part of the Digital Media and Learning Competition’s recent “Trust Challenge,” which aims to foster trust in online learning environments.  In collaboration with with MIT Media Lab’s Lifelong Kindergarten, New York Public Library, Press Pass TV, NuVu, the Engagement Lab, and Walnut Hill School, the Berkman Center will develop and curate a freely accessible collaborative platform, hosting an evolving toolkit targeted at solving hard problems related to safety, privacy, and control of information that arise out of connected learning environments and interact with law, policy, and social norms.  

"As students, parents and caregivers, and educators continue to participate in networked digital learning communities, they are encountering a wide range of opportunities for collaboration and innovation, as well as the challenges that come with adapting to any new environment,” said Professor Urs Gasser, executive director of the Berkman Center. “In order for connected learning and connected learners to reach their full potential, we need to give stakeholders the legal and practical tools they need to promote interoperability and navigate the development and use of educational technologies."

The “Digital Literacy Toolkit” will tackle three sets of issues with cross-layer implications identified by various stakeholders as concerns in connected learning environments: (1) safety concerns; (2) privacy threats; and (3) restrictions on creative expression, with the goal of providing learners, caregivers, and educators with the knowledge and skills to minimize and manage risks online. As described by Professor Gasser, “the goal is to empower learners, caregivers and educators with the knowledge and skills needed to optimize positive uses of networked tools, while minimizing and managing the risks associated with networked technologies.”

The Trust Challenge is a response to a call to action issued in the 2014 Aspen Task Force Report “Learner at the Center of a Networked World,” which sought innovations and solutions that enable people to pursue learning experiences online in an environment that is safe and private.

The awards were announced on March 10th by educational innovator Richard Culatta, acting director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology, at the South by Southwest EDU Conference. The Trust Challenge is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and administered by HASTAC, an alliance of more than 14,000 humanists, artists, scientists, and technologists working together to change the future of learning.

Media Contact
Gretchen Weber, gweber@cyber.harvard.edu

About the Berkman Center
Since its founding in 1997, the Berkman Center has been at the forefront of the field of Internet and Society, pursuing a unique mix of interdisciplinary scholarship and engagement with legal and policy issues. We are home to a diverse group of scholars, policy experts, and advocates focused on the identification of emerging problems related to digitally-networked society and the search for solutions. We are committed to tackling the most important challenges of the digital age, to think big, to act with ambition and humility, to maintain academic rigor while keeping a focus on tangible real-world impact, and to serve the public interest. At its foundation, the Berkman Center informs and engages in the public interest through four core activities: conducting research, building tools and platforms, education, and creating and cultivating networks. More information can be found at http://cyber.harvard.edu.