Study news

The Woolf Fisher Research Centre team hosted a small gathering on Tuesday 11 June to celebrate 21 years of the centre, together with the Woolf Fisher Trust…

From the 9th to the 10th May, the Developing in Digital Worlds team hosted a delegation from SMILE, the Shanghai Municipal Institute for Lifelong Education at East China Normal University. SMILE is the first research institute of its kind in China, with an aim to provide solid decision-making consultation and academic support for the development…

"The planet Astria is doomed to destruction by an approaching asteroid, and you, Alpha Leader, must save it. Only you can engage the help of scientists and world leaders to find a solution to the threat. Your planet needs you!" The educational game Astria: Countdown…

The Developing in Digital Worlds study is now in its last phase, and our data collection operations are now complete. If you participated in the Developing in Digital Worlds study over 2015-2019, we would like to sincerely thank you for your support and involvement. We are now turning our attention to the analyses and dissemination…

A recent feature article in the New Zealand Herald has profiled the Developing in Digital Worlds study and its impact on New Zealand's social and economic future. The study is at the forefront of international research on digital pedagogies, the article reported, and New Zealand stands to benefit socially and economically from the findings. A…

Key researchers Dr Rebecca Jesson and Naomi Rosedale presented a workshop entitled The Three Dimensional Digital Landscape at the New Zealand Literacy Association (NZLA) Conference in Palmerston North. The workshop began by posing questions about how online landscapes increasingly mean that students need to employ higher order literacy, thinking and social skills to engage with…

This morning, Mike Hosking of Newstalk ZB spoke to our principal investigator Stuart McNaughton about argumentation and empathy. In the age of increasing digital classrooms, Woolf Fisher Research Centre director Stuart McNaughton said that learning how to argue and be more empathetic would help kids learn to think about other people's positions. Professor McNaughton is…

Recently, the team from TV3's Newshub Nation spoke with our principal investigator, Professor Stuart McNaughton, about what skills we need to teach children in schools. Newshub reports: Increasingly digitised classrooms call for a new way of teaching, with more focus on critical analysis and argument, argues one Kiwi academic. Professor Stuart McNaughton is Director of…

Recently, the Developing in Digital Worlds research team presented at the annual hui of the project’s digitally experienced school cluster. Having collected data from students, teachers and parents in the profiling phase via questionnaires, observations, and discussion board activities, it was our chance to give back by sharing and discussing the findings. The presentation began…

Last week, the Faculty of Education and Social Work hosted visiting academic Dr Cynthia Greenleaf, a key researcher on  the Developing in Digital Worlds project team and the Co-Director of the Strategic Literacy Initiative at WestEd, USA. As well as giving workshops to teachers in Developing in Digital Worlds partner schools, Dr Greenleaf addressed the…

Last week, literacy expert Dr Cynthia Greenleaf arrived in Auckland to give a series of workshops at our partner schools. Dr Greenleaf is the Co-Director of the Strategic Literacy Initiative at WestEd, a research,…

Our Developing in Digital Worlds research team have a new article forthcoming in the peer-reviewed journal Computers & Education (volume 126). The article is titled "How Digital Environments in Schools Might Be Used to Boost Social Skills: Developing a conditional augmentation hypothesis", and will be out in November 2018. Click here to view the journal

Last month, questionnaires were emailed and posted out to participating parents and whānau who signed up in February 2018. If you received a questionnaire, we look forward to hearing about your child’s digital skills, and how you can be better supported to help your child develop cognitive and social skills in digital environments. There are…

This month, the University of Auckland hosted a celebration event at the Old Government House pavilion to recognise research excellence. The event, named Shaping Future Communities, included our very own team from Developing in Digital Worlds who were specially requested to present the study. The Minister for Research, Science and Innovation Hon. Megan Woods, the…

If you are a parent of a child in years 3-4 or years 5-9 and were invited to contribute to Developing in Digital Worlds at the beginning of this year, or if you have just heard about the project and would like to participate, we would love to hear from you. Please note that the…

Phase 2 of our project is well on its way with our participating schools putting in their best to report back on their use of digital devices and its impact on 21st century cognitive and social skills. Our Year 3 and 4s have been working hard to tell us how they use digital devices to…

Two members of our research team were lucky enough to be featured on Education Central last week, with an overview of Developing in Digital Worlds and ways the project is supporting development of students' cognitive skills in schools. "Using the internet to teach critical thinking…

In the first two terms of 2018, we will  be finalizing data collection for Phase 2 of Developing in Digital Worlds. All schools that commenced Phase 2 data collection in Term 4, 2017 will be using the latest version of our argumentation tool to test and further develop students' argumentation skills. Invitations are now open…