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