Idit Harel Caperton
Encyclopedia
Idit Harel Caperton, Ph.D.
(born September 18, 1958 in Tel Aviv
, Israel
) is an educational psychologist and epistemologist specializing in the study of the impact of computer-based new media
technology on the social and academic development of children. Her research, along with that of Seymour Papert
, has contributed to the development of constructionist learning
theory, a hands-on approach to the use of technology as a tool in juvenile education and acculturation.
She is the founder and CEO of MaMaMedia
Inc., the executive director of the MaMaMedia Consulting Group (MCG), and founder and president of the World Wide Workshop Foundation. Additionally, Caperton is an advisor for several non-profit educational initiatives and is a regular featured speaker at universities and educational conferences worldwide.
. Israel was a 10-year-old democracy
when she was born, and in the process of building socio-political systems that combined leftist philosophies of cooperation and mutual reliance with free enterprise
entrepreneurship. While a youth in the Levant, she experienced the Six Days War, the Yom Kippur War
, and the 1982 Lebanon War
. These events, along with other regional conflicts, such as the Gulf War
, the First Intifada
, and the Al-Aqsa Intifada
, have led Caperton to actively support efforts to foster, build, and sustain peace in the Middle East
and throughout the world.
In 2003, she married her second husband, Gaston Caperton
, former Governor of West Virginia (1989–1997) and current President of the College Board
, the organization responsible for the Advanced Placement
(AP) programs and SAT
examinations. They live in New York City
and together have five children and five grandchildren. In addition, they continue to own a residence in West Virginia
.
in 1982 for graduate study at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
in Cambridge
, Massachusetts
after having previously received a Bachelor of Arts
in Psychology
and Philosophy
from Tel-Aviv University. She earned two graduate degrees from Harvard
: an EdM in Technology in Education (1984) and a CAGS in Human Development (1985). In 1988, Harel Caperton was one of the first students to receive a Ph. D. in Epistemology and Learning Research from the new MIT Media Lab
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
after helping to formulate a new, constructionist-inspired educational model called "Instructional Software Design Learning Paradigm." Caperton was instrumental in figuring out the role and meaning of computational technology for learning, education, and society, and in 1985, Caperton and her colleagues at MIT built the first model school of the future, where every student had a PC, worked on creative programming projects, and constructed knowledge through a project-based learning and social interaction.
until 1994.
The students, who included children with different levels of mathematical prowess, worked on their own pieces of software for four to eight hours per week for fifteen weeks.
Harel Caperton then observed and quantified the effect of the experience on their mathematical understanding and overall learning behavior. Her research indicated that children who learn fractions using a combination of Logo programming and the techniques of constructionist learning scored on average eight to eighteen percentage points higher on standardized post-test examinations than those taught using traditional techniques. She identified the tendency of Logo-based programming to allow for individual variations in "learning, mastery, and self-expression" in children, and further called for an expansion of research into the nature of these differences by education scholars. Such exploration would help to uncover the long-term benefits of similar academic models on the subjects as they develop into young adults. These results were later expanded upon by Yasmin Kafai
who found, in a similar six month project with inner-city forth graders, that learning through design resulted in statistically significant improvements in mathematical development.
(a playful variation of the Italian-American exclamation Mama Mia! used to express Mother of all Media), a pioneering Internet dot-com
that focuses on the fostering of digital literacy and creative learning skills for children and their parents. Basing itself on the educational principles of constructionism
, the site's goal is to allow children a vast selection of "playful learning" activities and projects. MaMaMedia.com is the first technological adaptation using the Internet for some of the concepts originally espoused by educational theorists such as John Dewey
, Jean Piaget
, and Seymour Papert
. In applying these theories, the site seeks to allow children worldwide the opportunity to grow creatively at their own pace from a young age. For example, children using the site can create, save, and share their own animations, cartoons, stories, digital art and games with dynamic tools provided on the website, thereby creating a global exercise in experiential education
.
for children about the Internet, MaMaMedia: A Kid's Guide to the Net. Additionally, the company formed content distribution partnerships for both its magazine and its website with notable companies such as Time Warner
(specifically AOL
and Road Runner
), Microsoft
's Web TV
, WGBH-TV
, Netscape
, Intel, and Scholastic
; as well as advertising business with Minute Maid
, Nintendo
, Disney
, and General Mills
.
In particular, the deal with AOL, announced on December 29, 1997, led to a dramatic jump in traffic for the main website of MaMaMedia.com. Before the site was linked from AOL's "Kids Only" channel, the MaMaMedia.com averaged 300,000 visits per month. After the deal, however, the URL had 450,000 visits in a twelve-hour period. At the end of 1999, MaMaMedia.com had about 300,000 registered members, and by early 2006 the figure had grown to over 5.7 million registered members.
As the company prepared for an initial public offering
in April 2000, the dotcom bubble popped and the company remained in private hands. By 2002, MaMaMedia, which had previously generated its revenue through advertising, became profitable after downsizing and restructuring; it transformed into the MaMaMedia Consulting Group (MCG), and has been hired for consulting, along with research and development, on educational technology and global learning projects in the United States, Europe
, and Asia
.
—for its contributions to the "global information-technology revolution and its positive impact on society." In 2002, MaMaMedia received the coveted 21st-Century Achievement Award from the Computerworld
Honors Program for visionary use of information technology in the category of Media, Arts & Entertainment: "Recipients of the Computerworld Honors 21st-Century Achievement Awards represent those organizations whose use of information technology has been especially noteworthy for the originality of its conception, the breadth of its vision, and the significance of its benefit to society," according to Daniel Morrow, Executive Director of the Computerworld Honors Program.
MaMaMedia has also been awarded Computerworld's Award for Technology Innovation twice (1999 & 2002), and Yahoo!
Internet Life's Best of the Net award twice (1999 & 2000). Most recently, MaMaMedia.com was selected as one of the best Web sites for elementary teachers and students on the Internet today by the International Society for Technology in Education, a worldwide, non-profit, professional organization for leaders in educational technology. ISTE is also the home of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), the Center for Applied Research in Education Technology (CARET), and the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC).
In 2002, the Network of Educators in Science and Technology and MIT also honored Harel Caperton "for devotion, innovation, and imagination in science and technology on behalf of children and youth around the world."
The foundation’s goal is to provide the people it serves with an opportunity to work together and individually, using Web 2.0
tools and methods, to master and be empowered by technology as they use it to achieve productivity, personal learning, leadership, communal success, and a deeper understanding of the world.
relating to education and acculturation of this generation in comparison to the methods used with the youth of bygone eras. In other words, where people of the past worked with print-based literature, current and future generations will click their way through technologically-based mediums of digital information and communication — and will need to be prepared adequately with digital literacy skills for their successful development, citizenship, and leadership within such physical-digital blended environments.
's FOCAS and Info-Tech policy programs and is a member of the board of directors for the ATLAS Institute. She has long served as an Advisor to TakingITGlobal, a youth-led, technology-empowered charity based in Toronto, Canada. TakingITGlobal.org operates as the online largest community of globally aware youth by providing inspiration, information and involvement opportunities. In 2006 TakingITGlobal launched its educational platform, called TIGed, with inspiration from Harel Caperton.
In 2004, she reunited with former colleagues Negroponte and Papert for One Laptop Per Child, the organization responsible for the oversight of MIT's controversial $100 laptop project. OLPC seeks to ensure that every child in the world has access to education through inexpensive computers and networks that can operate in areas with little or no existing infrastructure.
by working with individuals, corporations, and educational organizations (like Saybot, ECNU, BNU, and OLPC). In doing so, she has been a featured speaker and lecturer at numerous universities in Beijing
and Shanghai
. During the fall 2005 academic term, Caperton and her youngest daughter lived in Shanghai while she was a visiting professor and consultant at the Software Engineering Institute at East China Normal University
, where she developed and modeled a student-centered, project-based curriculum for their graduate schools.
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
(born September 18, 1958 in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
) is an educational psychologist and epistemologist specializing in the study of the impact of computer-based new media
New media
New media is a broad term in media studies that emerged in the latter part of the 20th century. For example, new media holds out a possibility of on-demand access to content any time, anywhere, on any digital device, as well as interactive user feedback, creative participation and community...
technology on the social and academic development of children. Her research, along with that of Seymour Papert
Seymour Papert
Seymour Papert is an MIT mathematician, computer scientist, and educator. He is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, as well as an inventor of the Logo programming language....
, has contributed to the development of constructionist learning
Constructionist learning
Constructionist learning is inspired by the constructivist theory that individual learners construct mental models to understand the world around them. However, constructionism holds that learning can happen most effectively when people are also active in making tangible objects in the real world...
theory, a hands-on approach to the use of technology as a tool in juvenile education and acculturation.
She is the founder and CEO of MaMaMedia
MaMaMedia
MaMaMedia is an educational consulting firm run by Idit Harel Caperton that specializes in applications of constructionist learning theory.MaMaMedia.com is designed to foster digital literacy skills for children using contructionist theory principles....
Inc., the executive director of the MaMaMedia Consulting Group (MCG), and founder and president of the World Wide Workshop Foundation. Additionally, Caperton is an advisor for several non-profit educational initiatives and is a regular featured speaker at universities and educational conferences worldwide.
Personal life
Caperton often compares the early years of Israel to a business startupStartup company
A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
. Israel was a 10-year-old democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
when she was born, and in the process of building socio-political systems that combined leftist philosophies of cooperation and mutual reliance with free enterprise
Free enterprise
-Transport:* Free Enterprise I, a ferry in service with European Ferries between 1962 and 1980.* Free Enterprise II, a ferry in service with European Ferries between 1965 and 1982....
entrepreneurship. While a youth in the Levant, she experienced the Six Days War, the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, and the 1982 Lebanon War
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
. These events, along with other regional conflicts, such as the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, the First Intifada
First Intifada
The First Intifada was a Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories. The uprising began in the Jabalia refugee camp and quickly spread throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem....
, and the Al-Aqsa Intifada
Al-Aqsa Intifada
The Second Intifada, also known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada and the Oslo War, was the second Palestinian uprising, a period of intensified Palestinian-Israeli violence, which began in late September 2000...
, have led Caperton to actively support efforts to foster, build, and sustain peace in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and throughout the world.
In 2003, she married her second husband, Gaston Caperton
Gaston Caperton
William Gaston Caperton III was the 31st Governor of the U.S. state of West Virginia from 1989 until 1997. He is currently the president of the College Board, which administers the nationally recognized SAT and AP tests. Caperton announced his intention to step down as president of the College...
, former Governor of West Virginia (1989–1997) and current President of the College Board
College Board
The College Board is a membership association in the United States that was formed in 1900 as the College Entrance Examination Board . It is composed of more than 5,900 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. It sells standardized tests used by academically oriented...
, the organization responsible for the Advanced Placement
Advanced Placement Program
The Advanced Placement program is a curriculum in the United States and Canada sponsored by the College Board which offers standardized courses to high school students that are generally recognized to be equivalent to undergraduate courses in college...
(AP) programs and SAT
SAT
The SAT Reasoning Test is a standardized test for college admissions in the United States. The SAT is owned, published, and developed by the College Board, a nonprofit organization in the United States. It was formerly developed, published, and scored by the Educational Testing Service which still...
examinations. They live in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and together have five children and five grandchildren. In addition, they continue to own a residence in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
.
Academic career
Along with her first husband, David Harel (an Israeli investor, ex-fighter pilot, and Harvard MBA), she moved to the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1982 for graduate study at the Harvard Graduate School of Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education
The Harvard Graduate School of Education is one of the graduate schools of Harvard University, and is one of the top schools of education in the United States. It was founded in 1920, the same year it invented the Ed.D...
in Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. It was named in honor of the University of Cambridge in England, an important center of the Puritan theology embraced by the town's founders. Cambridge is home to two of the world's most prominent...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
after having previously received a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
and Philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
from Tel-Aviv University. She earned two graduate degrees from Harvard
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
: an EdM in Technology in Education (1984) and a CAGS in Human Development (1985). In 1988, Harel Caperton was one of the first students to receive a Ph. D. in Epistemology and Learning Research from the new MIT Media Lab
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a laboratory of MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of design, multimedia and technology, the Media Lab has been widely popularized since the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a...
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
after helping to formulate a new, constructionist-inspired educational model called "Instructional Software Design Learning Paradigm." Caperton was instrumental in figuring out the role and meaning of computational technology for learning, education, and society, and in 1985, Caperton and her colleagues at MIT built the first model school of the future, where every student had a PC, worked on creative programming projects, and constructed knowledge through a project-based learning and social interaction.
Constructionism
During her time at MIT, Harel Caperton co-wrote and published several articles with Seymour Papert (creator of the Logo programming language), and in 1991 they co-edited and published Constructionism, the first book about constructionist learning. This book includes their articles and several other works by the first generation of MIT Media Lab researchers in the (then emerging) fields of Media Technology Arts and Sciences, and Epistemology and Learning. She continued to work at the Media Lab with Papert and Nicholas NegroponteNicholas Negroponte
Nicholas Negroponte is an American architect best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab, and also known as the founder of the One Laptop per Child Association ....
until 1994.
Children Designers
In 1991, she published a book, Children Designers, which won the 1991 Outstanding Book Award from the American Education Research Association. In her research, Harel Caperton introduced several disadvantaged fourth grade children from the Boston area to the Logo programming language. She then facilitated their use of the language to allow them to create their own mathematical software applications that would help third graders learn fractions.The students, who included children with different levels of mathematical prowess, worked on their own pieces of software for four to eight hours per week for fifteen weeks.
Harel Caperton then observed and quantified the effect of the experience on their mathematical understanding and overall learning behavior. Her research indicated that children who learn fractions using a combination of Logo programming and the techniques of constructionist learning scored on average eight to eighteen percentage points higher on standardized post-test examinations than those taught using traditional techniques. She identified the tendency of Logo-based programming to allow for individual variations in "learning, mastery, and self-expression" in children, and further called for an expansion of research into the nature of these differences by education scholars. Such exploration would help to uncover the long-term benefits of similar academic models on the subjects as they develop into young adults. These results were later expanded upon by Yasmin Kafai
Yasmin Kafai
Yasmin B. Kafai, Ph.D., is a Professor of Learning Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, past president of the International Society of the Learning Sciences , and an executive editor of the Journal of the Learning Sciences.Dr. Kafai was born in Germany and has...
who found, in a similar six month project with inner-city forth graders, that learning through design resulted in statistically significant improvements in mathematical development.
Startup
In 1995, Harel Caperton moved to New York City, where she founded MaMaMedia.comMaMaMedia
MaMaMedia is an educational consulting firm run by Idit Harel Caperton that specializes in applications of constructionist learning theory.MaMaMedia.com is designed to foster digital literacy skills for children using contructionist theory principles....
(a playful variation of the Italian-American exclamation Mama Mia! used to express Mother of all Media), a pioneering Internet dot-com
Dot-com company
A dot-com company, or simply a dot-com , is a company that does most of its business on the Internet, usually through a website that uses the popular top-level domain, ".com" .While the term can refer to present-day companies, it is also used specifically to refer to companies with...
that focuses on the fostering of digital literacy and creative learning skills for children and their parents. Basing itself on the educational principles of constructionism
Constructionism
Constructionism may refer to* Social constructionism* Strict constructionism — a term referring to a conservative type of legal or constitutional interpretation* Constructionist learning — an educational philosophy developed by Seymour Papert...
, the site's goal is to allow children a vast selection of "playful learning" activities and projects. MaMaMedia.com is the first technological adaptation using the Internet for some of the concepts originally espoused by educational theorists such as John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...
, Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....
, and Seymour Papert
Seymour Papert
Seymour Papert is an MIT mathematician, computer scientist, and educator. He is one of the pioneers of artificial intelligence, as well as an inventor of the Logo programming language....
. In applying these theories, the site seeks to allow children worldwide the opportunity to grow creatively at their own pace from a young age. For example, children using the site can create, save, and share their own animations, cartoons, stories, digital art and games with dynamic tools provided on the website, thereby creating a global exercise in experiential education
Experiential education
Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is mistakenly used interchangeably with experiential learning...
.
Development and expansion
After founding MaMaMedia, Harel Caperton was quick to develop the site's niche in the emerging Internet and print marketplaces. Between 1996 and 2000, the company published the first print magazineMagazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
for children about the Internet, MaMaMedia: A Kid's Guide to the Net. Additionally, the company formed content distribution partnerships for both its magazine and its website with notable companies such as Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
(specifically AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
and Road Runner
Road Runner (ISP)
Road Runner High Speed Online is a US Internet service provider which provides cable Internet service over DOCSIS-compatible modems. A division of Time Warner Cable, it also contracts its service to other cable providers, often in competition with ISPs owned by local telephone...
), Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Web TV
Web TV
Web TV may refer to:* MSN TV , a thin client which uses a television for display and the online service that supports it* Web television, an emerging genre of digital entertainment...
, WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
, Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
, Intel, and Scholastic
Scholastic Press
Scholastic is a global book publishing company known for publishing educational materials for schools, teachers, and parents, and selling and distributing them by mail order and via book clubs and book fairs. It also has the exclusive United States' publishing rights to the Harry Potter book...
; as well as advertising business with Minute Maid
Minute Maid
Minute Maid is a product line of beverages, usually associated with lemonade or orange juice, but now extends to soft drinks of many kinds, including Hi-C...
, Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
, Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, and General Mills
General Mills
General Mills, Inc. is an American Fortune 500 corporation, primarily concerned with food products, which is headquartered in Golden Valley, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The company markets many well-known brands, such as Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Colombo, Totinos, Jeno's, Pillsbury, Green...
.
In particular, the deal with AOL, announced on December 29, 1997, led to a dramatic jump in traffic for the main website of MaMaMedia.com. Before the site was linked from AOL's "Kids Only" channel, the MaMaMedia.com averaged 300,000 visits per month. After the deal, however, the URL had 450,000 visits in a twelve-hour period. At the end of 1999, MaMaMedia.com had about 300,000 registered members, and by early 2006 the figure had grown to over 5.7 million registered members.
As the company prepared for an initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
in April 2000, the dotcom bubble popped and the company remained in private hands. By 2002, MaMaMedia, which had previously generated its revenue through advertising, became profitable after downsizing and restructuring; it transformed into the MaMaMedia Consulting Group (MCG), and has been hired for consulting, along with research and development, on educational technology and global learning projects in the United States, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
.
Awards for MaMaMedia
In 2001, Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel, recognized the MaMaMedia Peace Project—created 48 hours after the September 11, 2001 attacksSeptember 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
—for its contributions to the "global information-technology revolution and its positive impact on society." In 2002, MaMaMedia received the coveted 21st-Century Achievement Award from the Computerworld
Computerworld
Computerworld is an IT magazine that provides information for senior IT leaders. It is published in many countries around the world under the same or similar names. Its publisher is International Data Group. Computerworld serves the needs of IT management via print and online...
Honors Program for visionary use of information technology in the category of Media, Arts & Entertainment: "Recipients of the Computerworld Honors 21st-Century Achievement Awards represent those organizations whose use of information technology has been especially noteworthy for the originality of its conception, the breadth of its vision, and the significance of its benefit to society," according to Daniel Morrow, Executive Director of the Computerworld Honors Program.
MaMaMedia has also been awarded Computerworld's Award for Technology Innovation twice (1999 & 2002), and Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
Internet Life's Best of the Net award twice (1999 & 2000). Most recently, MaMaMedia.com was selected as one of the best Web sites for elementary teachers and students on the Internet today by the International Society for Technology in Education, a worldwide, non-profit, professional organization for leaders in educational technology. ISTE is also the home of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), the Center for Applied Research in Education Technology (CARET), and the National Educational Computing Conference (NECC).
In 2002, the Network of Educators in Science and Technology and MIT also honored Harel Caperton "for devotion, innovation, and imagination in science and technology on behalf of children and youth around the world."
MaMaMedia Consulting Group
In 2001, Harel Caperton became the executive director of a small consulting division that provides services encompassing children's learning websites, educational publishing, Internet media, and online kid's channel programming. In addition to developing online activities to teach science to students in developing countries, the consulting group also created a model website for Childhood [Obsessive Compulsive Disorder]. They have built consulting and advisory relationships with MSN-TV, AOL, Schlumberger Corporation SEED, in2books, National Telemedia Council, PBSkids, GoKNow, European Union School Networks, Czech Ministry of Education, MIT Media Lab, OLPC, as well as the Hanban-MOE, East China Normal University (ECNU), and Beijing Normal University (BNU) in China.The World Wide Workshop Foundation
Idit Harel Caperton is also founder and president of the World Wide Workshop Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that collaborates with educators and leaders worldwide in order to incorporate new technologies into their country's curriculum. Much of the Foundation's work looks at ways to create new online educational applications or overhaul existing Internet programs, designed for kids and youth, to inspire them to make their communities and our world a better place for everyone.The foundation’s goal is to provide the people it serves with an opportunity to work together and individually, using Web 2.0
Web 2.0
The term Web 2.0 is associated with web applications that facilitate participatory information sharing, interoperability, user-centered design, and collaboration on the World Wide Web...
tools and methods, to master and be empowered by technology as they use it to achieve productivity, personal learning, leadership, communal success, and a deeper understanding of the world.
GLOBALORIA Program
The Globaloria Program is an online social network for learning through game and simulation production. It was established by the World Wide Workshop Foundation in the spring of 2006 to create technology-based educational opportunities through a virtual learning network for students in developing nations and other technologically underserved communities. With a network of educational, web 2.0 platforms, students develop 21st century skills and digital literacy, master social media technology tools, and gain a deeper understanding of curricular areas, such as science, mathematics and health. Its activities help students sharpen their communication and critical-thinking skills for leadership online and offline, bringing them closer to the participatory and collaborative nature of work in the 21st century.Clickerati
Much of Harel Caperton's recent work in the past decade has focused on what she calls the development of the "Clickerati Generation" (a play on the term Literati) - the new generation of young people who were born—or will be born—between 1991 and 2010. She advances the notion that children born during this time will grow up immersed in new media, and will not be able to imagine a world without Internet technology. Therefore, she contends that there is a need for a radical, global paradigm shiftParadigm shift
A Paradigm shift is, according to Thomas Kuhn in his influential book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions , a change in the basic assumptions, or paradigms, within the ruling theory of science...
relating to education and acculturation of this generation in comparison to the methods used with the youth of bygone eras. In other words, where people of the past worked with print-based literature, current and future generations will click their way through technologically-based mediums of digital information and communication — and will need to be prepared adequately with digital literacy skills for their successful development, citizenship, and leadership within such physical-digital blended environments.
Non-profit work
Harel Caperton has been active with consultation work for several non-profit educational entities. She has spent a great deal of time and effort with the Aspen InstituteAspen Institute
The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1950 as the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies. The organization is dedicated to "fostering enlightened leadership, the appreciation of timeless ideas and values, and open-minded dialogue on contemporary issues." The...
's FOCAS and Info-Tech policy programs and is a member of the board of directors for the ATLAS Institute. She has long served as an Advisor to TakingITGlobal, a youth-led, technology-empowered charity based in Toronto, Canada. TakingITGlobal.org operates as the online largest community of globally aware youth by providing inspiration, information and involvement opportunities. In 2006 TakingITGlobal launched its educational platform, called TIGed, with inspiration from Harel Caperton.
In 2004, she reunited with former colleagues Negroponte and Papert for One Laptop Per Child, the organization responsible for the oversight of MIT's controversial $100 laptop project. OLPC seeks to ensure that every child in the world has access to education through inexpensive computers and networks that can operate in areas with little or no existing infrastructure.
Other recent endeavors
Her primary focus during 2005–2006 has been the establishment of educational links between the United States and the rapidly growing technological infrastructure of ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
by working with individuals, corporations, and educational organizations (like Saybot, ECNU, BNU, and OLPC). In doing so, she has been a featured speaker and lecturer at numerous universities in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
and Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
. During the fall 2005 academic term, Caperton and her youngest daughter lived in Shanghai while she was a visiting professor and consultant at the Software Engineering Institute at East China Normal University
East China Normal University
East China Normal University , was founded in October 1951 in western Shanghai, on the campus of Great China University. It is the first Normal University founded after the establishment of the People's Republic of China.-History:...
, where she developed and modeled a student-centered, project-based curriculum for their graduate schools.
Further reading
- Harel Caperton, Idit. "The Instructional Software Design Project for Learning Mathematics in a Computer- Rich School." Journal of Mathematical Behavior (1989)
- Harel Caperton, Idit. "Learning about Learning." Newsweek 1989
- Harel Caperton, Idit. "And a Child Shall Lead Them: Young Kids Show the Benefits of a New Affinity with Technology." Context Magazine January 1999
- Harel Caperton, Idit. "Learning Skills for the New Millenium: The Three X's." 21st Century Learning 1996 October
- Harel Caperton, Idit. "Clickerati Kids: Who are they?." 21st Century Learning 1997 March
- Harel Caperton, Idit. "Learning New-Media Literacy." Telemedium Journal of Media Literacy (2002)
- Harel Caperton, Idit. "“Hard Fun:” The Essence of Good Games AND Good Education." Telemedium Journal of Media Literacy (2005)
External links
- MaMaMedia Inc.
- The World Wide Workshop Foundation
- My Global Life
- TalkingITGlobal
- Tiged.org
- Globaloria