Globaloria Student Recognized for Game Design Work at Carnegie Hall

Last Friday (May 31st), Matthew Samples of Tygarts Valley High School was recognized for his game design work at New York City's Carnegie Hall for the 90th Annual Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards Ceremony. Matthew's silver medal-winning game, Carl and Carly's Big Day, was created in Globaloria with partner Brittany Shrader, who was unable to attend the events in New York.

Prior to attending the ceremony, Matt and his teacher, Mrs. Diane White went on a bus tour of the Big Apple and stopped by World Wide Workshop's headquarters for lunch.

Special guests to the Carnegie Hall event included keynote speaker Sarah Jessica Parker, 2013 Alumni Achievement Award Honoree Zac Posen, Terrance Hayes, and Usher. There was also a video message from First Lady Michelle Obama.

Over 230,000 entries were submitted for judging in the Video Games category this year, with just over 1,800 awarded silver and gold medals. The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards were created to identify teenagers with exceptional creative talent and bring their remarkable work to a national audience.

Thanks to Scholastic for making sure Mrs. White and her student were able to attend the event.

Here are a few photos from their visit to New York City:

Congratulations to Matthew, Brittany and Diane!

I get a little jealous!

Okay, I can't help it!  Sometimes I get jealous and what is bad I was jealous of two of my mentees recently. 

Sophia from the Boys and Girls Smythe Clubhouse in California and Zander from The Young Women's Leadership School of Astoria in New York were able to take their students to present at Google offices in their cities.  How awesome for those students!  
 
Students in California visited the Mountain View location and students in New York visited the New York City offices.
 
Through the years with Globaloria my students have presented to a variety of audiences and what a great experience for them.  Now these two groups were able to present to Google representatives. This is a great way for students to build their confidence and get expert feedback. Yeah Sophia and Zander for taking your students.

Make opportunities for your students to present to others, even if it is for other teachers.  The more they present the better they get and the better their games tend to get. 

Globeys Deadline: Tuesday 4/30

Reminder: Hidden Object Games nominations are due Tuesday, April 30.

You can nominate 1 Hidden Object Game per Globaloria class you teach. Students submitting team games to the Globeys are also eligible for the Hidden Object Game competition.

Click here for directions on submitting a nomination.

Don't let your students miss out on the opportunity to win great prizes for their Hidden Object game!

Mini-Workshop Survey!

Hi Everybody!

Hope you had a great weekend. Just wanted to remind everyone about the Mini-Workshop survey we put together to improve our Professional Development program for next year. If you haven't already, please take 5 minutes to fill out the survey and help us help you!

2012-13 Mini Workshop Survey


Thanks in advance!

Yvonne

The Globeys: How to Nominate Games

This year the Globeys Game Design Competition includes an award for Best Hidden Object Game. We are asking YOU to nominate the top games from your students by April 30.

Here's how:

Log into LMP & click Globey Entries

    Select Hidden Object Game as the Competition. Check off a student to nominate him or her for consideration in the next round of review.  Each teacher gets 1 nomination for the number of Globaloria class sections they teach. You can apply these however you would like.

   Nominated students will be reviewed by our judging committee & winners will be awarded a prize at the Globey Awards Ceremony in the spring.

Globaloria Students Work Overtime

Last Saturday, 45 students and 3 teachers at Overfelt High School in San Jose, CA, put in extra hours of programming to accelerate the development of their Globaloria games. Spirits were high -- fueled by pizza! -- and the successful Hackathon resulted in completion of many programming milestones.  

Bravo to these hard workers!

 

An Overfelt HS student hacks away at his Globaloria game.

 Interested in scheduling a Hackathon at your school? Email kara@worldwideworkshop.org.

Straight from the Help Desk! -- March Edition

Picture courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Happy Wednesday everyone!

It is March, and that means that Globey deadlines are approaching soon. The next big deadline for many of your students in the Game Demo, due in early April. For a full list of deadlines for your area, please see any of the following links.

Via the World Wide Workshop homepage (available to all)
Via Globaloria Central (available to registered users, including students)
Via the Globaloria Educators platform (available to registered teachers only)

Moreover, since many of your students have been using Globaloria and programming for some time, they may need a refresher. Check out the Actionscript Cheat Sheet as a helpful reference for your students' team or hidden object games. It reviews syntax, programming topics, and some other things that your student might need for their projects.

There is a printable version of this page, as well as many other great resources on your school's Help Center!

Have a great day! =D

Famous Faces Support Students Learning to Code

What do Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and entertainer will.i.am agree on? 

Kids need to learn computer programming.

Watch this video from code.org featuring tech leaders explaining why learning to code is so essential for today's students.

Share the video with your Globaloria classes!

Globeys Deadline: March 1

Reminder: A Globeys Deadline is Coming Up!

Paper Prototypes are due on Team Pages next Friday, March 1, for full-year students.

Did you know Globeys winners and finalists win great prizes like laptops and video games?

Don't let your students miss out on the chance to win!

Obama: Let's give more kids the opportunity to make games

On Presidents' Day, our own president was speaking out in support of programs like Globaloria.

During a Google+ Hangout open to the public, President Obama called for more in-school offerings for K12 students in game-based learning, noting that computers and video games can be a substantial force to engage students in STEM and learning in general.

"What it does is not only to prepare young people who may choose to not go to a four-year college to be job-ready," Obama said, "But it also engages kids--they feel like 'I get this, this is not just me sitting there slouching in the back of the room while somebody's lecturing.'" 

Read the article here.