karen brennan

I'm Karen.

I am a PhD student in the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab. My primary research interest is the development of technologies to support communities of practice, particularly the case of supporting educators working with Scratch. I am also interested in curriculum development, computer science education and gender equity.

I came to the Media Lab in August 2007, after having explored music, computer science, mathematics, and education in my post-secondary studies. I have a BSc in computer science and mathematics, a BEd in the same areas, and an MA in curriculum studies - all from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.

Please feel free to email me at kbrennan@mit.edu

I like to work on a variety of projects. Some of my current or recent projects include:

say what?!
in collaboration with Shaundra Daily and Colleen Kaman

In this project, we explore the intersections of empathy, technology, and storytelling - and how those intersections support civic engagement.
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scratch-ed

I am developing a site for educators who support (or want to support) learning with Scratch. In this online space, educators can share stories, exchange resources, ask questions, and find people.
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scratch@mit 2008
in collaboration with Stephanie Gayle, Mitchel Resnick, and countless MLers

What happens when you have lots of help from around the Lab, eight months of planning, and two giant Scratch cat posters? For three days, more than 300 people gathered at the Media Lab for Scratch@MIT - the first Scratch conference.
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Brennan, K. (2008, September). Scratch. Invited keynote, Women in Games, University of Warwick, England.

Brennan, K., Monroy-Hernandez, A. (2008, June) Scratch. Invited panelist, Creativity and Media Literacy Forum, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Cambridge, MA.

Daily, S.B., & Brennan, K. (2008, May). Utilizing technology to support the development of empathy. Poster presented at Interaction Design & Children, Chicago, Illinois.

Brennan, K., Daily, S.B., & Kaman, C. (2008, May). Say what?! Interactive storytelling as a path to youth civic engagement. Presentation conducted at Knight conference, Cambridge, MA.

Brennan, K. (2008, April). Sowing the seeds for a more creative society. Invited lecture, Open World Learning, Denver, Colorado.

Brennan, K. (2008, March). The Jared phenomenon: Intergenerational learning in a teacher education context. Presentation conducted at American Educational Research Association conference, New York City, New York.

Brennan, K., Hall, L., Hara, H., & Trey, L. (2007, November). Reuse & recycle: Collective acts of identity on (creative) commons materials. Presentation accepted for Association of Internet Researchers conference, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Brennan, K., Hall, L., Kojima, D., & Petrina, S. (2007, June). Methodologies for researching cognition and technology: Dynamically responsive learning environments. Presentation conducted at ED-MEDIA, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Brennan, K., Hara, H., Trey, L., & Hall, L. (2007, June). A community of (new media) practice: Examining learning stories from a videoblogging collective. Presentation conducted at ED-MEDIA, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Kim, S., Brennan, K., & Petrina, S. (2007, June). The sources of production: Open source, philosophy, policy and practice. Poster presented at ED-MEDIA, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Brennan, K., & Clarke, T. (2007, May). Recent B.Ed. graduates returning to campus to facilitate instruction for current B.Ed. students: A case of intergenerational learning? Presentation conducted at Canadian Society for the Study of Education conference, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Brennan, K. (2007, March). New media and pre-service professional development: Using blogs for student teacher e-portfolio creation and open source programming. Presentation conducted at Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education conference, San Antonio, Texas.

Brennan, K., Feng, F., Hall, L., & Petrina, S. (2007, February). Complexity of technology. Presentation conducted at Complexity Science and Educational Research, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Morton, C., & Brennan, K. (2006, May). Bulletin board technology in the classroom: A demonstration of and discussion about online musical communities. Presentation conducted at Investigating Our Practices conference, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Nicol, C., Baird, J., Barney, D., Brennan, K., Burgess, D., Hamilton, D., et al. (2006, May). Action research: Investigating practice, practicing change. Poster in group presentation conducted at Investigating Our Practices conference, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Dean, V., & Brennan, K. (2006, February). Planning your professional teaching portfolio. Presentation conducted at WestCAST conference, Vancouver, British Columbia.