"Value-Driven Learning with Educational Technology"

In this talk, DiSalvo will touch on three lines of study that take a value-driven approach to learning to understand educational disparities and design to navigate around them. 

The first of these initiatives is directed at improving parents’ access to, and use of, informal learning and educational resources. Studies with parents from financially distressed neighborhoods have found many parents’ lack of engagement with informal learning resources were tied to lack of autonomy with technology, a focus on monitoring school achievement, and a lack of confidence in their use of information technology.  

The second set of initiatives looks at the challenges educators have in achieving learning goals when using maker movement tools and approaches. While these approaches are popular they often lack a rigorous approach to art and design and use tools designed for professionals rather than students. 

The third initiative builds upon theories of motivation through cultural values. The goal of this initiative is to test and understand work/learn settings for underserved youth and to look closely at how broader cultural values, or value-driven learning, may be better motivators than interest-driven learning.