About Connie Yowell

Director of education at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She oversees an $80 million program on digital media and learning, one of the first philanthropic efforts in the United States to systematically explore the effects of digital media on young people and its implications for the future of learning and education. Previously, Yowell was an associate professor at the University of Illinois, where she conducted extensive research on the connections among educational research, policy, and practice. Most recently, Yowell received the Distinguished Fellows Award from the William T. Grant Foundation, under which she is working with the National Writing Project to develop approaches that integrate Web 2.0 technologies into the social practices of teachers.