The Hive Learning Network is a community of civic and cultural institutions dedicated to transforming the learning landscape, and creating opportunities for youth to explore their interests in virtual and physical spaces. Through the Hive, youth will have multiple, continuous and connected opportunities to explore their intellectual and skill-based interests.

Background
In 2005, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation established a new grantmaking area in Digital Media and Learning. Representing an investment of more than $80 million, the effort is focused on understanding how digital media are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize and participate in civic life, as well as how institutions are adapting to these changes.

As part of this initiative, the Foundation has invested in the creation of two Hive Learning Networks, one in New York City and the other in Chicago. The rationale behind Hive is two-fold: First is the belief that, today, the school is not the sole provider in a community’s educational system. Every day, young people move among different sites within larger learning environments. These environments—which can be formal or informal, physical or virtual—are increasingly defined by learners’ personal interests and social networks and less by geographic proximity. Second is the capacity of new technologies and media to provide the necessary integration and coordination between formal and informal education organizations within a community. When they are designed to link together, these multiple environments can create a connected learning experience in which youth can more easily participate in accessible, "anytime, anywhere" learning activities by pursuing their interests and following their peers.

Hive mission
The fragmented learning environment highlights the need for organizations that serve youth in the out-of-school space to work together in order to create connected learning experiences, to not only engage and meet youth where they are, but to provide them with necessary 21st century skills. Through programs created under a shared, Network framework, Hive sites will demonstrate ways to connect learning experiences, so that informal, out-of-school learning is connected to formal, in-school learning, which will increase the number of diverse learning opportunities for youth. The Hive Network will utilize digital media and mentoring as devices to deliver learning, and will provide a system to recognize student work produced in informal spaces as acceptable documentation of performance against core academic standards.

Read more about MacArthur's grantmaking to re-imagine learning.