Commissioned by the Wallace Foundation, this book explores research indicating that youth are learning new ways to engage in the arts on their own time and according to their own interests. Digital technologies, such as production tools and social media, allow youth to create and share their art. Kylie Peppler urges educators and policy makers to take advantage of «arts learning opportunities» and imagine a school setting where young people are driven by their own interests, using tablets, computers, and other devices to produce visual arts, music composition, dance, and design. This book gives educators an understanding of what is happening with current digital technologies and the opportunities that exist to connect to youth practice, and raises questions about why we don¿t use these opportunities more frequently.

Kylie Peppler is an assistant professor of Learning Sciences Program at Indiana University. An artist by training, she engages in research that focuses on the intersection of arts, media, new technologies, and informal learning. Peppler¿s dissertation work on the study of the media-rich programming environment Scratch resulted in the book, The Computer Clubhouse: Constructionism and Creativity in Youth Communities. Peppler has since collaborated with Leah Buechley, Yasmin Kafai, and Mike Eisenberg to study etextiles, which resulted in the forthcoming co-edited volume titled, Textile Messages: Dispatches from the World of E-Textiles and Education. Her current work on creativity, computation, and media arts in youth communities is supported by the National Science Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Contents: The Importance of Arts Learning ¿ How Are Youths Creatively Using Digital Technology? ¿ The New Digital Arts: Forms, Tools, and Practices ¿ New Media Arts, the Do-It-Yourself Movement, and the Importance of Making ¿ Communities That Can Support Interest-Driven Arts Learning ¿ Inviting and Sustaining Participation in the Arts ¿ Challenges and Recommendations.