The “Digital Promise” to Advance Education

Recognizing the need to ensure that new digital technologies would be harnessed to advance the public interest, in 1998, Lawrence K. Grossman, former president of NBC News and PBS and Newton Minow, former chair of the Federal Communications Commission, PBS, and former chair of the Carnegie Corporation Board, worked with the Corporation and the Twentieth Century Fund to convene a group of leaders from schools, universities, libraries, museums and public broadcasting companies across the country to explore this issue. As a result, the Digital Opportunity Investment Trust (DO IT) was established to formulate recommendations for developing related programs and policies. In 2008, with bipartisan support, Congress built on DO IT’s work by creating the National Center for Research in Advanced Information and Digital Technologies to “to support a comprehensive research and development program to harness the increasing capacity of advanced information and digital technologies to improve all levels of learning and education.” In 2011, these efforts were furthered by the White House and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who announced the launch of “Digital Promise,” http://www.digitalpromise.org a new national effort supported by the Department of Education, the Corporation, the Hewlett Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. The aim of Digital Promise is to support research that is developing next-generation learning environments. In addition, a number of private-sector partners have announced an array of related efforts, including an initiative by schools and school districts to improve educational outcomes through the wider use of effective teaching and learning technologies; the launch of a new national alliance of top education-policy researchers focused on improving outcomes among the nation’s disadvantaged children; and a number of new challenges and prizes for the development of video games and other forms of digital entertainment that spur learning and interest in science, math, and engineering.