In anticipation of their upcoming initiatives promoting open source learning and games for foreign languages, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation partnered with The Education Arcade to consolidate and disseminate current research on the use of games for learning and interactive digital foreign language learning. The Education Arcade hosted a symposium in Shanghai in January, bringing together leaders from industry, government, media and academia to discuss the possibilities for learning games in the Asia Pacific region and beyond. The Education Arcade will also be publishing a series of papers outlining the current issues surrounding the creation of open learning games, the possible marketing and distribution opportunities they create, and the relevant issues to consider when making learning games for foreign languages.

This work was used to inform future opportunities for interactive media within the Hewlett foundation’s continuing efforts to provide Open Educational Resources worldwide. Currently the Hewlett foundation plays a leading role in this space, providing sponsorship for projects such as MIT Open Courseware Initiative, The Internet Archive, The African Virtual University, Creative Commons, The CMU Open Learning Initiative, Connexions and numerous other initiatives.