Named 2023 word of the year by the American Dialect Society, “enshittification” is a pervasive decline attributed to many online platforms — now we’ve interviewed the activist and author who coined this term: Cory Doctorow! @doctorow.pluralistic.net 🌟 New Q&A: connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope...
THIRD in the 4-part Raising the Next Generation in the Age of AI series, meet our community and leading experts at UC Irvine next Tuesday, Sep. 9 for a research-backed dialogue on supporting young people’s digital mental health and online experiences! 💙 RSVP: connectedlearning.news/parenting-te...
Curated by our ✨WONDERFUL✨ team, we’ve stuffed our monthly newsletter with more events, insights, and opportunities from the #ConnectedLearning and adjacent communities! Just out — get the latest, Volume 275, here: connectedlearning.news/Vol275
How Youth and Educators Can Fight Enshittified Tech
Belonging In A Digital Age: Teens, Tech, and Third Places California Partners Project
connectedlearning.news
Tech companies make their products worse on purpose. We all feel it, and Cory Doctorow has a name for it: enshittification. Banning tech doesn't fix the problem and neither does walking away. 📵 NEW Q&A with @doctorow.pluralistic.net! 👇 connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope...
How Youth and Educators Can Fight Enshittified Tech
Everything costs more and works worse. The subscription you already pay for now shows you ads.
connectedlearning.news
Founder of @datasociety.bsky.social, @zephoria.bsky.social says that while parasociality can be fun for young people, intergenerational dynamics have changed and these role models, although seemingly closer online, take us further away from social connections. connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope...
What Every Adult Should Know About Parasocial Media and Teens
Ask a teenager what they post online these days, and you may get a blank look in response. Posting has waned, scrolling has taken over, and what fills a feed now is more likely strategically produced ...
connectedlearning.news
😱 It’s happening again… the 𝑪𝑳𝑨 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓! 🌟 Q&A with danah boyd about “parasocial media” and its impact on young people. Plus new insights, opportunities, and events. Read your July edition of the CLA newsletter now👇 connectedlearning.news/Vol274
🚨 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐐&𝐀 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓 🚨There's a better name for what your social media feed has become: 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮. In this month's Kaleidoscope Q&A, danah boyd ( @zephoria.bsky.social ) argues that "social media" has slowly become a misnomer for what's actually happening on these platforms. (1/2)
🌠 In next week’s edition of Kaleidoscope, we are publishing our Q&A with danah boyd (@zephoria.bsky.social) about what the transformation from social media to “parasocial media” means for young people, and how the connected learning community can act now!
✨NEW✨ The Neurodiversity Potential Group explored #Neurodiversity and #CreativeLearning with leading voices from both Japan and the United States. We ask, "What do children want to create with computers?" "Supporting Creative Learning for Neurodiverse Children": connectedlearning.news/cla071026
ニューロダイバースな子どもたちの創造的な学びを支える / Supporting Creative Learning for Neurodiverse Children - Connected Learning Alliance
Crossposted from Neurodiversity NPO. Read the full article here. Neurodiversity at Work: Transforming every sphere of society for neurodivergent people This essay is based on the dialogue from our s...
connectedlearning.news
Globally, legislative efforts have restricted children’s access to online spaces… but the same efforts to actually support the alternative — safe only spaces — remain minimal. ⭐ Read the new OpEd by our executive director, Katie Salen👇 connectedlearning.news/online-space... #OnlineCommunities
Online Spaces for Children Don’t Have to Be Outlawed. They Just Have to Be Safe Enough. - Science Politics
In well-designed play environments, safety is not achieved by eliminating risk but by designing for it.
connectedlearning.news
With the pressure and changing landscape of education, how can we commit to equity and support the next generation of scholars and young people? 🎓 ✨ICYMI✨ We’re ecstatic to think about the here-and-now with Kris Gutiérrez in the latest Kaleidoscope:
It’s time for a hard reset on DEI
Equity work is under real pressure right now, and the field is splintering as some people quietly drop terms like diversity, equity, and inclusion and others keep them despite the backlash and…
connectedlearning.news
🌠 We’re wrapping up June with our monthly newsletter, full of insights, events, and opportunities! 📨 connectedlearning.news/Vol273 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 - Q&A with Kris Gutiérrez on what needs to follow the DEI backlash; what we're getting wrong about teens & tech; Play Make Learn conference and more…!
It’s time for a hard reset on DEI
How 30 Years of Federal Investment in Educational Media Supported Families, Communities, and School Readiness for Millions of Children EDC
connectedlearning.news
Equity work⚖ is under real pressure, and the field is splintering — some quietly dropping terms like diversity, equity, and inclusion… others holding on despite the backlash. Where do we go from here? 🚨 𝐍𝐄𝐖 𝐐&𝐀 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓 with Kris Gutiérrez👇 connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope... #Equity
It’s time for a hard reset on DEI
Equity work is under real pressure right now, and the field is splintering as some people quietly drop terms like diversity, equity, and inclusion and others keep them despite the backlash and…
connectedlearning.news
SO THRILLED to share with our #ConnectedLearning community, a new and beautifully hand-drawn children's show that centers the lived experiences of Black children as main characters. ✨ Watch Stuntboy, the Animated Mixtape on YouTube Kids: connectedlearning.news/StuntboyAnim...
Stuntboy, The Animated Series
Everything you need to understand the Frets, where it comes from, what it does to your body, and why the community around you makes all the difference. This ...
connectedlearning.news
✨ ICYMI ✨ Q&A series spotlights Connected Camps co-founder and UC Irvine researcher and professor Katie Salen. She believes online play deserves a diversity of options that cater for specific communities of young people— just like how physical playgrounds are! connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope...
Your monthly #ConnectedLearning goodies🍬 are in! Get our round up of insights, opportunities, events, and what’s new with the Connected Learning Alliance in the latest volume of our newsletter:
Why tweens need more online playgrounds
Teens Aren’t As Disengaged As You May Think: What Adults Get Wrong About Adolescents’ Civic Contributions The Conversation
connectedlearning.news
Tweens need to play. 🪁🤸♀️ Not consume, not scroll… they need to play 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 — in spaces designed for who they are right now. ✨ JUST PUBLISHED: the 3rd edition of Kaleidoscope featuring Katie Salen Tekinbaş! connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope... #ConnectedLearning #OnlineCommunity
Why We Need to Build More Online Playgrounds for Kids
For all the debate about kids and technology, the question of what young people actually need online rarely gets answered. And so tweens are caught exactly where the internet leaves them: too old for…
connectedlearning.news
✨NEW✨ from the Neurodiversity Potential Group, a recap of their webinar last fall on amplifying support for neurodivergent students in higher education settings, including insights from @northeasternu.bsky.social. 🔗 connectedlearning.news/cla052226 (English Version after Japanese Text)
高等教育におけるニューロダイバーシティの受容と支援 / Neurodiversity Inclusion in Higher Education - Connected Learning Alliance
Crossposted from Neurodiversity NPO. Read the full article here. Neurodiversity Inclusion in Higher Education In Japan, the provision of reasonable accommodations became mandatory on April 1, 2024.…
connectedlearning.news
✨ Our NEW REPORT on “𝗡𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗢𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀”! 🏝💙 These spaces, whether they’re in games like Minecraft or media fandoms like the BTS army, function as refuges for neurodivergent young people. Report (English & Japanese): connectedlearning.news/Neurodiversi... Blog: connectedlearning.news/cla052026
✨ Our latest guide focuses on one of the core functions of Out-of-school Intermediaries —coordinating between programs and organizations—and the impact these activities have on recruitment and retention of young people. connectedlearning.news/Strengthenin... #OSTIntermediaries #Afterschool
Strengthening Coordination and Connections: How Out-of-School Time Intermediaries Build Relational Infrastructure and Boost Recruitment and Retention - Connected Learning Alliance
Out-of-school time (OST) programs are ideal settings for learning connected to young people’s interests, identities, and communities. After a program sparks an interest, however, young people often…
connectedlearning.news
🎇 Announcing our NEW guide on out-of-school time (OST) programs that focuses on the often-overlooked role of out-of-school time intermediaries (OSTIs) in strengthening coordination and connection. Read our write-up in the latest CLA Blog: connectedlearning.news/cla051326 #OSTIntermediaries
Announcing a New Guide to Strengthening Coordination and Connections in Out-of-School Time - Connected Learning Alliance
Out-of-school time (OST) programs are some of the most powerful spaces for learning rooted in young people’s interests, identities, and communities. But even the strongest programs face a familiar…
connectedlearning.news
✨ ICYMI ✨ ~ Our new Q&A series, Kaleidoscope, spotlights Hopelab CEO Jaspal Sandhu. He argues we need to start somewhere else instead of “what’s wrong” with youth mental health — and young people have the power, vision, and imagination to know where. connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope...
📥 Volume 271 of our #ConnectedLearning newsletter is now hitting the inbox! The goodies? New Q&A with Hopelab CEO Jaspal Sandhu, plus the latest insights, opportunities, and events from our feed. 🔗 connectedlearning.news/Vol271 Subscribe to our newsletter 👉 connectedlearning.news/newsletter
”This is the impossible position teachers are in: having to make consequential decisions about AI integration without shared norms, adequate resources, or even a reliable definition of what kind of thing AI is supposed to be.” 👩🏽💻 New CLA Blog: connectedlearning.news/cla042926b #AIinEducation
AI and Education: Is It Any Different This Time? - Connected Learning Alliance
Over several months in 2025 and 2026, Dr. Roderic Crooks, Associate Professor of Informatics at UC Irvine, and Michelle Ciccone, PhD candidate in Communication at UMass Amherst, held a sustained…
connectedlearning.news
💬From youth voice to youth power✊ When youth mental health is organized around crisis, deficit thinking is all you can see. ✨OUT NOW: The latest edition of Kaleidoscope Q&A with Hopelab’s Jaspal Sandhu — sharing power with youth changes the narrative:
From youth voice to youth power
The dominant conversation in youth mental health starts with what's wrong. But when the conversation is organized around crisis, risk, and pathology, the solutions that follow are built to reduce…
connectedlearning.news
New from the #ConnectedLearning community and containing essential research insights, critical perspectives, and design frameworks supportive of youth well-being in a technology-rich world from 40 contributors — Youth Well-Being by Design is now out! 🔥 Read + Buy:
Youth Well-Being by Design: A Timely and Practical Resource for Researchers, Policy Makers and Technology Developers - Connected Learning Alliance
We are in the midst of a public reckoning about the relationship between technology and youth well-being. Concerns about harmful influences of social media have accelerated with the growth of…
connectedlearning.news
NEW 📔 collection takes into account of teen’s varying experiences with tech and spotlights the true drivers of stress and disconnection in young people’s lives. ✨ Get insights directly from the authors, Mimi Ito ( @mimiito.bsky.social ) + Carrie James in the latest:
Youth Well-Being by Design: A Timely and Practical Resource for Researchers, Policy Makers and Technology Developers - Connected Learning Alliance
We are in the midst of a public reckoning about the relationship between technology and youth well-being. Concerns about harmful influences of social media have accelerated with the growth of…
connectedlearning.news
For game designers, researchers - or educators and students who are PASSIONATE about games🎮🕹🎲 - the Meaningful Play Conference 2026 is happening in October 13-15 in Pittsburgh! They’re still accepting papers, games, talks, and poster sessions. More info:
Meaningful Play - Center for Transformational Play - Carnegie Mellon University
The Center for Transformational Play for presents Meaningful Play 2026, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in partnership with Michigan State University
connectedlearning.news
✨ ICYMI ✨ ~ In the first edition for our NEW Kaleidoscope Q&A series on LinkedIn, we dove into the hot-button issue at the forefront of edtech and education with Amanda Third: social media regulation and the research surrounding children’s digital practices. connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope...
NEW Q&A 🗣️📢 ~ an in-depth interview with Amanda Third on the new Australian law banning kids from social media. ”The problem, as I see it, is thus a failure of imagination.” 💬 Don’t forget to subscribe to Kaleidoscope, our new Q&A series on LinkedIn! connectedlearning.news/kaleidoscope...
Australia banned kids from social media. Now what?
When Australian policymakers began discussing social media age restrictions in 2024, Amanda Third was part of the Australian Child Rights Task Force that co-authored an open letter calling on the gove...
connectedlearning.news