Voices from the Field & The Globaloria Civics Track

The Foundation team is proud to announce a new installment of our Voices from the Field testimonial video series, this time with a special feature on students from RTC in the Globaloria Civics Track! Watch classmates Caleb and Valerie talk about how Globaloria is helping them approach civics learning from an exciting new angle:



The Civics Track, which was first announced to the Globaloria community at the June Academy, is becoming one of the most dynamic initiatives of our program. The games topics developed at RTC alone range from how a bill becomes a law, the differences between political parties, the three branches of government, the Second Amendment, different types of political systems, the judicial branch, public debate, and environmental policy!

Visit the Voices from the Field page to see the whole series!

Comments on Blogs with Templates Installed

A number of you have been having trouble with the comments feature on your student's blogs being disabled once students install templates from the internet.

Matticus, a student in Liz Daigle's class at Greenbrier East High School, has used his masterful tinkering skills to solve this problem and drafted a step-by-step guide for the Globaloria community:

1. After signing in, choose the layout option

2. Click the Edit HTML tab

3. Scroll to the bottom of the window

4. Click Revert widget templates to default

5. A pop-up window will appear, click OK

6. The layout should save and the problem should be solved (I recommend checking this to be 100% sure)

Hope that helps you all! Please contact comment or e-mail me at rachel@worldwideworkshop.org if you need more help!

Your GB,
Rachel

Globaloria WV in 2009: A Job Well-Done (And The Best is Yet to Come)!!

Happy December 1st! As the last month of 2009 begins, it's important that we recognize Globaloria WV educators for all that they accomplished this year. The 23 educators who have been implementing Globaloria in WV for the 2009-2010 school year have created an impressive state-wide learning community. The mentoring, collaboration, and support that our educators provide each other and the guidance they are providing their students has been phenomenal. Globaloria students are benefiting greatly from a united front of seasoned and new educators who are cultivating students' creativity, technical and communication skills, and leading them through the game design curriculum by modeling effective, consistent and collaborative wiki usage and purposeful blogging. I'm looking forward to witnessing the Game Presentations that students give this month at the three colleges and one high school that are wrapping up their first semester courses (http://www.myglife.org/usa/wv/mctcwiki/index.ph/Game_Presentations; http://www.myglife.org/usa/wv/southernwvwiki/index.php/Game_Presentations; http://www.myglife.org/usa/wv/suwiki/index.php/Game_Presentations; and http://www.myglife.org/usa/wv/rtcwiki/index.php/Game_Presentations).

An amazing group of 10 new educators from seven new schools went through the Globaloria Academy in last month and will join the Globaloria Learning Community in January of 2010. These highly-skilled and dedicated educators are eager to join the 23 educators who are currently teaching with Globaloria. The ten who will begin in 2010 are already working on their wiki pages, team games, and blogs (http://melinda-spencer.blogspot.com/; http://www.photoglarry1.blogspot.com/; http://rhscordle.blogspot.com/; http://chezglobaloria.blogspot.com/; http://nataschaonglobaloria.blogspot.com/; http://oakglenhighdesigners.blogspot.com/; http://donnateachblog.blogspot.com/; http://natalieellis.blogspot.com/; http://gaming4math8.blogspot.com/; and http://bmsglobaloriajf.blogspot.com/).

Educators in our growing Globaloria WV Learning Community are pioneering innovation in education as we enter the second decade of the 21st century, leading our nation in cultivating STEM skills and fostering computer science learning in today's youth. Our national government is catching on to the importance of the work we do, and the U.S. House of Representatives' recently designated December 6-12, 2009 as Computer Science Education Week (CSEdWeek) in recognition of the transformational role of computing and necessity of rigorous computer science education at all levels.

As 5 of the top 10 fastest growing jobs are in computing-related fields, CSEdWeek will communicate the importance of exposing students—particularly in grades K-12—to robust computer science education if the nation is to truly prepare students for future jobs. Current obstacles to computer science education in the areas of teacher training and certification, standards, and curriculum restrict the number of students who benefit from this coursework. That is yet another reason why it is so important for Globaloria to continue to flourish in WV.

The CSEdWeek Web site, www.CSEdWeek.org, will launch the week of Dec. 6^th to be a hub for computer science education resources and social networking, through sites such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The development of CSEdWeek is a joint effort led by ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) with the cooperation and deep involvement of the Computer Science Teachers Association, the National Center for Women & Information Technology, the National Science Foundation, the Anita Borg Institute and the Computing Research Association and with the strong support of Google, Inc., Intel, and Microsoft.

The World Wide Workshop Foundation is a proud partner with ACM in this national effort.

It is extremely gratifying to be involved in the Globaloria West Virginia program, to see the impact we're having as a state-wide team that is informing the nation on how to harness innovation in the formal learning environmment.

It is an honor to prepare today's youth for full engagement in our emerging cybercivilization. And it is a joy to be working for and along-side the World Wide Workshop team and such an incredible group of educators, principals, superintendents, government leaders, and private sector and foundation partners.

Thank you for making 2009 such a meaningful success for Globaloria WV, for the students, and for each other! I look forward to making 2010 our best year yet!!

Yours in appreciation,
David Lowenstein
State Director, Globaloria WV

World Wide Workshop

Being Thankful

Coming up on the end of or Thanksgiving Break, I found several things that I wanted to give thanks for and share with you all.

I am thankful for everyone at the World Wide Workshop that helped to bring such a forward-thinking program as Globaloria to our state and our schools. We have so many wonderful people who offer their guidance and support. Idit has an energy that is contagious to the point of making you feel you can accomplish anything. Shannon and David juggle more things on their plate to keep us going than most of us could handle. Rachel's insight and positive outlook is always a breath of fresh air. And we could not have asked for a better technical support staff than we have had with Maitreyi, Brian, Jeff, and Meredith.


I am thankful for the great mentors I get to work with who help inspire me as well as their own mentees. Patrick and Denise led the way with this program last year and always provide me with great insight and inspiration. Ingrida is as new to this process as I am but has the drive, positive outlook, and approach that I admire and hope to live up to as well.

I am thankful for our mentee groups, who help to keep us on our toes. Our mentees, in seeking help fro us, often help us to continue our own growth in directions that not only benefit us but our own students as well. Thank to all of the mentees. Each new round of educators helps keep the Globaloria approach fresh, strong, and invigorating.

I am thankful for all of the students who are taking what we have to offer and building on it. It never ceases to amaze me how wonderfully creative our students can be when provided with the proper tools and inspiration. Our students will always be what makes the extra work and effort truly worthwhile. Here are some examples from EGMS, Shepherd University, RTC, and Sandy River Middle School.

So, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Holiday that reinvigorated you for the remainder of this semester. Until next time, the soapbox is yours.

A Glimpse of Our Students' Futures

While channel surfing sunday evening, I stumbled on 60 MINUTES doing a story about James Cameron's upcoming movie, Avatar. After having seen many movie trailers and commercials about the film, I decided to settle in an watch the interview with Morley Safer and am very glad I did.

Not only did the story focus on how much time and energy Mr. Cameron put into getting every detail just right on his dream movie, it showed a great example of what we want are students to experience. During one of the interview clips we are shown the director and his staff tweeking a CG animated scene in the film. Not so unusual or futuristic you say? Well, they were modeling what we tell our kids the future of the workplace will be like. People in two different locations were both watching the same video feed of the animation and collaborating virtually.

We are still just on the cusp of this business approach's commonality. Sometimes this makes it hard for us to really drive the point home to kids who are just used to the interface between them and a television or computer screen. Where kids often do not see the usefulness of communtication technology beyond tweeting and status posts, this was a brief glimpse of the future. You know that when a director is willing to bank over $400 million on the success of a film created in this collaborative manner with nearly a competely digital medium, it must be the new ticket to success.

We really are on the brink of an amazing change. The challenge I want to post to us all is to find one example of producton utilizing virtual collaboration to share with your fellow educators and students. This could be a documentary, news show, or interview.

For my example, check out a clip from the interview below. I invite you up on te soapbox now to show examples the rest of you might find.

Bill


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Entrance Interview: Meet Meredith!

Though we're sad about Jeff's departure, there is a silver lining to every dark cloud. Meet your new Wiki and Webmaster, Meredith!



You can reach Meredith for support as you need it through e-mail, gchat, skype or and all other help offerings found at our Help Desk.

Exit Interview: Jeff Gray Edition

We are very sad to announce that our Wiki and Webmaster, Jeff Gray, is leaving the World Wide Workshop Foundation to pursue his music career (Jeff is a master saxophone player!), and possibly move out to sunny California (can't blame him as the November chill sets in...brr)

Jeff has provided amazing support to all of us in the Globaloria community, helped the Foundation team and Globaloria educators with all aspects of the platform and guided us like a virtual Virgil through the seven circles of Flash. Globaloria wouldn't be what it is today without you Jeff--you will be missed!

As October ends, the real fun is starting to begin

Educators and students throughout the Globaloria West Virginia have made great progress in the month of October and are entering the stage of Globaloria where the real fun begins!!

Educator and student blog posts are getting more and more reflective. Many students have learned how to embed music, links, photos and other multi-media in to their blog posts. Some are starting to focus their blog posts on their game topics, the challenges and fun of learning Flash, and the research that goes in to choosing a game topic, finding information about the issues surrounding that topic, and playing professionally-made educational games to find examples of game mechanics that facilitate both fun game play and learning. Also, students are beginning to take advantage of the Globaloria learning community and are visiting the wikis and blogs of students from other schools, leaving comments, and learning from each other.

School wikis are getting better as well. Educator and student learning logs are being written more consistently, more social profiles and avatars are being created, and paper proto-types and videos of student's presentatios are being uploaded.

Almost all of the educators in Globaloria have lead their classes through the mini-game project this month and students are expressng their excitement about learning Flash, dividing in to teams, and getting started on their social issue or educational game projects. Students are developing their game ideas, which range from games with civics topics (like the Bill of Rights, how the courts operate, and the election process) to games on responding to natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, and national health epidemics like obesity and swine flu.

While the month of October was a time of tremendous growth and accomplishment for Globaloria educators and students, the World Wide Workshop team had a productive month as well. David Lowenstein visited 9 Globaloria schools this month (5 of them with World Wide Workshop team member Rachel Rosenfeldt and 4 of them with Our Courts Exec. Director Abby Taylor).

The World Wide Workshop also convened a Globaloria Leadership Colloquium this month at the Governor's mansion to honor superintendents and principals who are supporting Globaloria educators in their schools and counties throughout the state. The luncheon, hosted by WV's First Lady Gayle Manchin, featured remarks by Globaloria WV Advisory co-chairs Dr. Idit Caperton and the First Lady, and also by Advisory Board members Dr. Steve Paine (State Superintendent of Schools), and B. Keith Fulton (Verizon WV President).

In addition, the World Wide Workshop President and Founder Dr. Idit Caperton and WV State Director David Lowenstein represented Globaloria at the National Academies of Science meeting in DC this month in which education, science, and government leaders gathered to discuss recommendations for equipping students with STEM skills through game-based learning.

As October winds down, our clocks fall back an hour but our Globaloria community is springing ahead!

Globaloria Goblins and Goodies

Happy Halloween fellow bloggers! Now that the first nine weeks of school has passed, hopefully Halloween has marked the end of "scary" part of starting a new Globaloria class. This is a holiday where children get to face the things that go bump in the night and haunt their nightmares for the reward of candy and treats-- and this first nine weeks of school can be thought of as our Halloween. We have all had the scares of getting students to buy in to the program, computer and technical glitches, and actionscript that fails to go Bump! or even to the next frame.


But, after looking over the wikis and blogs, we are seeing the sweet candy of student success and the fulfilling treats of student empowerment in their education.

While that may be an overly sweet analogy, I really do think it is true. Here are some examples to look over. Check out both Crittendon's User Gallery and Pressley Ridge for some really great examples of user wiki personalization. Check out Sandy River Middle's User Gallery for some great examples of students' progress on the minigame and their own game ideas. They even have different stages of the minigame on their projects pages to help demonstrate their progress. RTC has also got some additional work students have done with tweening and animations.

At the college level, check out some of the work at Shepherd University, including minigame and Flash art. Here is my favorite example so far. At MCTC, many of their students have great game ideas on their projects pages, ranging from polar bears fighting greenhouse emissions to bats and sonar. Here is a great example of some of the individual work being done by a Southern WV Community and Technical College student as well!

Gobble up all those treats and sweets, you and your students have earned them. But don't let the "sugar" rush wear off. Use the energy to fuel your class' momentum toward bigger and better things.

Blogging as a Medium

Greetings fellow bloggers!

Though we often talk about using our blogs as a tool, another way we could describe blogs is as a "medium." According to Merriam-Webster Online, a medium can be defined in the following ways: a publication or broadcast that carries advertising; a mode of artistic expression or communication; something (as a magnetic disk) on which information may be stored.

Mediums have changed and grown over time. Telegrams offered a medium for messages and lead the way to telephones allowing communication in real time. Then there was radio, which carried voices over great distances and to great numbers of people. Television followed shortly adding visuals to the audio. Not too long ago we added the internet as a medium which brought information in both visual and auditory formats to a greater depth and breadth than anything before it.

Most of the modern mediums have fallen short in one aspect; they are one-way methods of communication. Blogs are the answer to that lack. In blogs we can not only produce a "broadcast" to advertise ourselves, we can also connect to other blogs and their authors. With all of the different arrangements and images we can use it gives even the least visually talented of us a means of artistic expression. Even the information we value above all else can be forever stored in a location untouched by time or the elements. And best of all, the world can talk back to us. People in countries far away can pat us on the back, offer differing viewpoints, thank us for our insight, and offer more of their own.

I am usually not this long winded but that is another beauty of the blog, limitless digital storage. What moved me to write this post was a couple of our bloggers' recent blogs. Vicky posted a blog that not only shared a bit of insight, it also linked to several sites designed to show students more about themselves. When I first read her posting, my first thought was how fully she was using this medium. She was using this to not just give an assignment but to offer insight from other sources to her students. The other blogger was Jim who posted two blogs that not only showed off the skills of his students and their work but also himself and his kids. In that way, he also showed us the full depth this medium allows. Now, we can all see him as a teacher, father, learner, and inspiration.