Blogger Notice!

Teachers, have you tried to edit your students' blogs, but realized you cannot click on their posts? Don't panic, we have a fix for you! When students add their teachers as authors to their blogs, they are defaulted as Authors. This means that they can create and delete their own posts on the blog, but not the posts of the student. In order for teachers to be able to edit their students' blog posts, they need to have their students go back to the Permissions settings and change the teachers from Authors to Admin.

Here is how you do it:
Under Settings > Basic - in the section called Permissions, set the Permission for the teacher's account from "Author" to "Admin".

Don't know what I'm talking about? Then please check out this post on our revamped Knowledge Base of the Help Desk!

Happy Blogging!

Award Day and Leadership Training: Leaders of Today cultivating Leaders of Tomorrow

After spending four days with teachers, it was soon time to celebrate with the students. That means: The Globeys!

Who needs the Olympics when you have this?

For those who don’t know, The Globeys is Globaloria’s annual award ceremony for student games. We have a ceremony for each of the states we work with, this year’s being Texas, California, and West Virginia. Because Globaloria focuses on effort and creativity, we don’t solely look at whose games work the best. We look for a good idea, originality, education factor, and how much effort went into the production of the game. So, potential is just as important in doing well in this competition as quality would be.

The energy during the ceremony was fantastic! Everyone was very excited to be there. It was especially nice to see the smiling students and their hard work being shown off. In addition, for me, it was nice to see how everyone’s hard work – from the school’s side, with teachers, students, and administrators to the World Wide Workshop side, with Shannon, Denise, and many others – came together. It really helped me understand the impact that everyone’s roles have. Kudos to everyone making this all possible!

The Winners!

After the Globeys, we had another training session devoted to training administrators. We did not have them make games, but we did show them the tools they needed to support their teachers. It was nice to see the administrators take such an active role in Globaloria.

After getting the administrators up to speed, we all headed to the Leadership Inspiration Awards at the Caperton manor. Being a newcomer to Globaloria, it was a very eye-opening experience. Various principals and superintendents shared their Globaloria stories, which really showed me how devoted everyone was to the mission of Globaloria. Overall, the entire trip was amazing, and I encourage anyone that has an opportunity to go to a Globaloria training to go and do it!

- Jonathan

The Hidden Object Game: Old faces, new problems.

The latter two days were focused on actual game design aspect of the curriculum. This was also the time that the returning educators joined the fray. Flash design and programming was a new concept to the new educators. The returning educators had experience programming in Flash after going through their first year, but they had to work on a Hidden Object game, a new addition to the curriculum this year. So, ultimately everyone was on the same page as far as the project goes!

The new educators working on their games.

The new educators did a great job in the short period that they used Flash! The games weren’t perfect (what game is, really?), but they had some really wonderful ideas in the scope of a Hidden Object game. There were games about literature, game about history, and some about science. All of them were great! It was especially nice to see the educators grow more confident with Flash (quite literally) overnight! A lot of them surprised themselves on how much they understood about the program after a few hours of tinkering and experimenting with the features and with the curriculum. Future educators, please note: You can do it too!

The returning educators working on their games.

Watching the returning educators tackle the Hidden Object game was very encouraging to me. They really showed what a difference a year of experience can make. The returners were in the same shoes as the newcomers last year, so seeing them so confident with Flash after about a year of use was nice to see. Once again, future educators: You can do it too!

Overall, everyone did a great job! Kudos to all of the educators!

WV New Educators 2012: Stepping up to the plate.

Shannon talking more about the curriculum.

The first two out of the four days were dedicated getting the new educators up to speed about Globaloria at large. This means getting them acquainted with who we are, what we do, and what their roles are. Shannon and veteran teachers Denise, Bill, and Diane lead the discussions. Me and interns (and Globaloria alumni) Lindsey and Valerie were also there to help. All of the educators had eager faces, and were a combination of being excited about the program, and being terrified about programming Flash. Nonetheless, they were all willing to give the program a try, which is what the program encourages – effort.

Bill leads the discussion about Blogger.

Training in Charleston, WV 2012

Hello everyone! My name is Jonathan, the new kid on the block running the Help Desk for Globaloria, among other things. To further facilitate my training, Shannon invited me to join her with her trip to Charleston, West Virginia. There I helped out with training both the new and returning educators of WV (and one from TX). It was a great time, and I have some neat pictures showcasing the busyness and energy of the event. I also stayed for the West Virginia Globies, which was a blast as well! Without further ado, let’s get started!

Dear Globaloria Educators,

We are gearing up for the first-ever national Digital Learning Day on Wednesday, February 1st!  Thank you all for the work you are putting in to make this day a success the Globaloria Way.

1) Attached please find Talking Tips for talking to press and media. Please review them and have them with you on February 1st.

2) We've also attached an updated Digital Learning Day Certificate to be distributed to participants on February 1st.

3) Don't forget to take lots of pictures and videos on February 1st and submit them to dld@globaloria.org

4) If you have not already done so, please reply to this email and let us know how your Globaloria class will be participating in Digital Learning Day.

Please feel to reach out to me or Deb Super (deb@worldwideworkshop.org) with any questions. All toolkit items can also be found on the Educators Wiki.

Best,

Yasmin

If Life Gives You Snow...Make Snow Cones!

Like most of the state, I am trying to get my feet back under me after all of the snow days. Just like driving on a snow day, sometimes it’s hard to get the traction you need. Too much gas and you spin your wheels; too heavy on the brake and you slide out of control. Sometimes, even with your best effort, the car just seems to head the wrong way.

The best way to make good positive headway is to find the right balance between catching up and moving on. For most of us, the Globaloria curriculum is a great tool to do just that. Those work in a self-paced environment and can pick up from where they left off before the snow. Several of our classes have other criteria that also have to be caught up. This can include any of our content standards to be covered and other activities that were that were left out in the snow.

In my Global Biology class (where I teach biology with the Globaloria platform and modified curriculum), I have been trying to wrap up a unit on mitosis that had stretched on for far too long. To handle this restart period, as well as refresh their FLASH skills, I am going to be meeting with each group this week and they are going to tell me what they will be adding to their project to teach about either mitosis or why cells stay so small. This will let them review the material once more after being tested, review the FLASH skills they have learned so far, and evaluate how to put the two together.

So, in following the title of this post, when presented with an abundance of snow, I am doing my best to make snow cones. What are your recipes for catching up after these stretches of bad weather? Share your ideas and suggestions by commenting on this posting.

Until next time, the snow cone stand is yours.

Bill Dorsey

Time for Time Management

"Time keeps on slippin', slippin',slippin' into the future."
- lyrics from "Fly Like and Eagle," Steve Miller Band

Sometimes, I think the members of the Steve Miller Band must have been teachers, because our schedules often feel just like that. As the pressures of the day go on, it can often become very easy to shortcut processes and projects; trying to fit it all in to our schedule. Even when it feels like an overload, it is all just a matter of time management.

In Globaloria, the Course Schedule is a great tool for planning ahead and it is easier than a standard lesson plan. Using this tool can help a teacher and their class feel more organized and secure in their delivery. For new teachers especially, this is a tool that can help a lot of the tension and insecurities in tackling new things like Flash and ActionScript. It allows us to plan ahead and take comfortable "bites" of material while still making forward progress. Just take a look at Heather's , Aaron's, and MCTC's schedules for different examples of how they can be used.

A second tool that can assist in time management is the Learning Log. This tool lets students and teachers reflect on successes and struggles. As a teacher, seeing what topics have stalled your class for an extra hour or day can help you adjust the future and make it easier for all parties involved. It can even help you to see what skills the students are mastering faster to alleviate extra time on redundant lessons.

In your experience with the program, have you discovered any special tips for time management in Globaloria? Please share your insights with the community!

-Bill

Starting out the Spring Semester

Heather McChesney shares images from her first day of class

From a read of the Globaloria community's blogs, it looks like the spring semester is off to a great start!

Our conversation at the January Academy on student motivation was extremely fruitful, inspiring such insights as Tracy Halsey and Larry Thackett's ideas about relevancy and feedback.

Tracy writes, "One of the reasons I applied to the Globaloria program is because I knew students would be interested and therefore hoped student motivation would be increased. For the most part, it has proven to be true. If you can see a relevancy to your life then you become an active participant. Another thing I try to do is provide feedback to my students."

And Larry resolves, "to help [my students] keep that motivation by:

• Involving them in the learning process by stressing the importance of collaboration and teamwork. Letting them know that their input is important to everyone's success.
• Relating the work they will be doing, and how they do it, to the real-world of work they will face after they graduate.
• Stressing that their success, or failure, is in their hands. I am there to help and guide, but they will have to work to succeed."

Dionne added to the discussion by stressing the importance of getting to know the specific needs of your students:

To foster student motivation, it is imperative that I know my students: their strengths, areas of improvement, and how they feel about school and learning. As I learn about my students, I begin to understand what they need to be successful, and am able to set SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) goals with them and help to provide them with the knowledge base and skills necessary to accomplish those goals. As they see small levels of success, and we recognize their accomplishment, they have an internal sense of gratification, and they continue to work, thus becoming more successful. After all, like success, motivation is continuous.

These insights and more were extremely helpful, and already they seem to be paying off!

A Spring-start educator, Heather McChesney had a great first day, and has already posted some pictures of her Globaloria class on her blog. And Tracy, starting her second semester, shares some gorgeous game scenes from her talented students.

Larry has hit the ground running, exclaiming, "Wow! Just finished my first Globaloria game design class and I am nothing short of amazed!"

It's exciting to see you all applying your new abilities and rejuvenated verve to in your classrooms. Fostering student motivation certainly can be hard, but judging from your accomplishments this week, I have to second Jim Allder's advice that motivating yourself can be infectious:

As a Globaloria educator, I have found that the more I invest myself in self-learning, the more motivated I become to teach the next lesson. It is exciting to share new information. (why do you think gossip shows and magazines are so popular?) And those around us are sure to pick up on this excitement and become more self motivated.

This comes a little "back to the basics", but I believe the best way that I can motivate others is by being prepared and learning the skills myself. In music, this involves studying scores, listening to professional recordings, in some cases communicating with the composer, and researching the story behind the composition. In Globarloria, it is accomplished by taking on personal flash projects, finding tutorials, looking for things to blog about, and keeping up the wiki.

Through this preparation, we make ourselves more confident, proficient, and MOTIVATED. This type of motivation is sure to rub off on others.

Keep up your self-learning as the year progresses, and don't hesitate to reach out to your peers, mentors, or the Foundation team for support when you need it!

Good luck!
-Rachel

A Globaloria Growth Spurt

Good day fellow bloggers! I just want to say how wonderful it is to see the Globaloria classes growing. They aren't growing in number necessarily but in the strength of the message. I am seeing so much evidence of this strength from so many different angles.

In Kevin's latest blog, he praises his class, saying how great his kids held it together despite everything that went wrong for him. I've had those kind of days and feel for him.

Denise is having great success with her students. Even when she talks about the two steps forward, one step back that our kids sometimes encounter, it's clear how hard they are working her with questions and on task requirements trying to be successful. That kind of effort in a class is priceless.

We also have very creative students. Jeremy posted a quick blog encouraging us to visit his students blogs. Having creative kids is good--having creative and focused kids is great!

Perhaps the best thing, Vicky and Angie are having their students check out other school's blogs. The benefit I have already seen from this is that two new friends have commented on my blog and opened communication--from another school no less. One is asking for advice on blogging and another shares my love of all things X-Men and the importance of blogging. Way to go ladies!

This is what Globaloria is all about: students becoming empowered in their learning. We should all be very proud!

Until next time the soap box is yours.

-Bill

A First Milestone

Well gang, we have all reached our first major milestone: we have made it through the First Quarter Progress Reports!

For some of us it has become somewhat old-hat, but for others, it can sometimes seem very hectic. Josh has the most common of experiences, a feeling of accomplishment and ease now that the first one is under your belt. I'm sure that as we all look back on the completed form, we realize it's not as daunting as it may have initially seemed. I also want t encourage everyone to read and comment on as many reports as you can. Not only can they be a source of inspiration, they can help foster a sense of community and belonging. Its one of those "we-have-all-been-there" kind of things.

It's about this time that we really start to see the community working together. Not only do we have a great new tutorial from Matt, but we also see how teammates Patrick and Josh can model great teamwork as they play off each others' strengths to the benefit of their class.

And our community does not end there-- we get to show our students just how important their work is through the participation of such great people as Gayle Manchin, the First Lady of West Virginia, who paid a visit to Tracy's class at Liberty High School. Through Globaloria, Tracy is building connections between her students and the West Virginia community.


I am really enjoying seeing this blogosphere come alive; but once again its time to turn the soapbox over to the rest of you. Have fun with it!

-Bill

The Start of a New School Year

Greetings Educators!

It's the start of a new year and your Globaloria courses are really starting to take off! As many of you have already discovered, blogs are a great forum to share your thoughts on the start of a new Globaloria year. Here are some highlights from the buzz in the blogosphere:

Melonie has been reflecting on the old fable of "The Tortoise and the Hare"

"Most of my life I have aspired to be the hare, but that has not always been to my benefit. I have come to realize the tortoise was right in most cases. As we start our Globaloria classes my students and I are finding slow and steady works best"

Ingrida is kicking off the new year with some thoughts about the Globaloria program with the help of Ian Jukes' insight.



Ingrida writes,

"That's where Globaloria comes into play. This program does try to address the needs of these neurologically different kids by engaging them in the activities they feel are important to them, thus making their learning more meaningful.This program helps students use the skills they so artfully develop outside the classroom walls for academic purposes. Additionally, Globaloria lets teachers dismount their dead horses and try new strategies and approaches. "

And Jim makes some important points about the value of "process":

"For students and educators involved in Globaloria, it is important for us to remember the work in progress philosophy. Our journey will be filled with excitement. We will have frustrating struggles and taste tid-bits of success, we will make friends, and sometimes find ourselves in fierce competition. We will share "ah-ha" moments after being baffled over a seemingly unsolvable problem....As we take this journey, all of us should be encouraged to cherish these moments. Celebrate the small victories. Share them with others in our school and extended communities through posts on the wikis. Reflect on them and savor them by posting on our blogs and commenting on our peers' and colleagues' blogs. Enjoy this adventure we will share together....In the end it will be over all to quickly."

Thanks to all of you for writing such thoughtful posts! It's such a pleasure to read them. Keep up the great blogging!

Your GB,
Rachel

p.s.
Be sure to use your "comments thread" as a forum for dialogue. Respond to those who leave comments and see if you can get a discussion going!

Tales from Texas

The Foundation team had an amazing time working with a new group of educators in Austin, TX at the East Austin College Prep Academy. I didn't have the pleasure to be on board when you all were first learning the program, but based on your stories about it, the TX educators were very much in the "what-have-I-gotten-myself-into?" frame of mind you all talked about. It was a great help to have Ingrida Barker from Sandy River Middle School come along with us and train this new group in Flash. It was only a year ago that Ingrida was learning Flash for the first time, and now she's looked to as an expert by a whole new group of Globaloria participants. Peer educating is a big part of the Globaloria philosophy, and that goes for the teachers as much as the students!

We can't wait to see how you've all when we return to West Virginia in August. Thanks to those of you who have been updating your blogs with such insightful stories and useful links. I encourage all of you to keep reading and commenting on each others' posts and stay on top of your blog! It won't be long before you'll be trying to generate a blogosphere in your own classroom and your personal experience maintaining one yourself will count for a lot.

Your GB,
Rachel

Collaboration at the Globaloria Advisory Board Meeting

I was thrilled to attend the Globaloria Advisory Board Meeting in Charleston on June 2nd. It isn't often that policy makers, government officials, industry leaders, school administrators, educators and students come together to share their perspectives on the learning process. This kind of "meeting of the minds" is crucial for the success of any educational intervention – especially one that is as new and innovative as Globaloria.

A fundamental tenet of the Globaloria learning philosophy is collaboration. Globaloria encourages joint learning, creation and exploration among both students and educators. It utilizes technology to create an active statewide virtual learning community that transcends the physical borders separating schools and districts. As cool as this is, last week's Advisory Board meeting reminds us that there is no substitute for the dynamic interchange that takes place when we're able to gather in the same room to share perspectives on Globaloria.

Educators panel, (left to right): Ingrida Barker (Sandy River Middle School), Angela Cruikshank (Capital High School) and Denise Stalnaker (Randolph Technical Center).

I especially enjoyed listening to the educators reflect on their Globaloria experiences. Randolph Technical Center (RTC) teacher Denise Stalnaker claimed with Globaloria, “I think I'm a better teacher, but I'm doing less teaching.” Ingrida Barker from Sandy River Middle School agreed that the program "pushes you as an educator." The panel, which also included Angela Cruikshank, a teacher at Capital High School, Clinton Giles, principal of Capital High School and Don Johnson, principal of RTC, variously reflected on the challenges and successes they experienced with Globaloria's forward-looking program.

It strikes me that many of the educator's comments mirrored one student presenter's feelings on Globaloria. “I didn't think I'd get anywhere in this program" said Tyler, a game designer from Capital High School, "I thought I was just screwed.”

When First Lady Gayle Manchin asked Tyler how he felt when he was able to overcome his trepidation and succeed with Globaloria, he replied succinctly: “It made me want to jump around a lot.”

Clearly, Tyler has a way with words.

Tyler presents his game at the Globaloria Advisory Board Meeting.

The prevailing sentiment of the June 2009 Advisory Board Meeting was an embrace of productive challenges and the continued commitment to work together as we advance into the future.

In light of all this, I have to agree with Don Johnson who claims, "it is such an exciting time to be in education."

You could even say, it makes me want to jump around a lot.

Your GB,
Rachel

Finding Time to Reflect

With the Globaloria Learning and Teaching Progress Reports due at the end of the month, I thought it would be a good time to revisit a question from the Educator's Forum.

Group Forum/Worry about finding time to document and do rather intensive record keeping requirements.

Ingrida left a great idea on the forum.  Take a few minutes a day to get your thoughts down in a little note to yourself. Capture what happened during the class period, what went great, what were your challenges.  These types of quick reflections are exactly what needs to go into your progress report.  It would also be good to capture some specifics about your students.  Johnny asked this question, Mary reviewed this game,  Timmy is becomming a leader in his group by providing support for his team.

A few notes a day will go a long way when when pulling together your reflections.

Do you have any ideas?

Flash Skills: Use it or Lose It

It is really important that you go back into your Flash files and work on your games as much as you can. You know as educators, when you are trying to learn new skills that you may not have a lot of experience in, you need to just put in some real time "hacking" around. Just becoming familiar with the Flash user experience is important.

Here is a little flash movie I just made for you to check out. It is nothing more the buttons on layers over a screencap. You all know how to do that. You can make a lot of creative things just with this basic technique. Try it... hand draw a game interface and scan it or take a digital picture. Paste the image in Flash and lay buttons over each area explaining the interface. Remember to put your buttons on different layers.


(note: flash object may not appear in your email, go to the blog page to see it.)

Scroll your mouse over the different areas of the picture and learn what that area is called.

I hope that you are using it... your flash skill... so you don't lose it.

Good Luck!

Mrs. Ellis' Globaloria Blog Site

Natalie Ellis

Since the Globaloria training last week, I have been taking a few minutes each day and reviewing the information for Flash that we received in the class.

Mrs. Ellis' Globaloria Blog Site

This is great!  Natalie is finding a few minutes to work on the skills she learned in the workshop and she is blogging!  Way to go Natalie.  I hope that everyone will try to follow your example.

Flash Animation in a Game

Here is a great example of a frame by frame animation that one of our educators put together this week in our workshop. This animation was part of a great game that allows the learner to consider the important balance needed in life between protecting our environment and having the energy our world needs to maintain our needs and healthy lifestyles.



Flash File is Here.

The technique is to actually change the assets (in this case the wheels, truck bed, and coal) in scene on defined keyframes. This allows the game developer to create the illusion of animation.

Globaloria Workshop: Prototypes and Flash

In day two of the Globaloria workshop everyone did a great job prototyping their games. As educators were divided into four groups and given only about an hour, they all came up with some great ideas. The teams, Team Green, Team Go, Team Odd Man Out, and Team EnviroBalance, all pulled together a paper prototype and presented it to everyone. Each of the games really started to take shape and all were based on great educational or social change issues.

Later in the afternoon everyone got to really take a look at Flash and how to draw their prototypes in Flash. It was cool how everyone educator in the class stepped up and was drawing a section of their game. This is Team Greens Game flash file based on their game pitch.






Today, day three, the educators will continue to build their game design concepts and will be presenting their final ideas, in Flash, to the entire group. It should be exciting.

Barry Joseph on Gaming in Education

We are sitting in Barry Joseph's session on Games for Social Change. He started the session by asking us to interrupt him. He is providing a history of serious games and games for change. Mention's Senator Clinton's legislation regarding the indecency of games. He has stepped through and is now talking about SecondLife. Mention's program from MacAuthor Foundation.

Mentions Games For Change conference. MacAuthor announces a Game school in New York City. Scratch. - helps with game design.

Video clip of Principal who likes Global Kids.

Jan 2008 - interest in program continues.

Study said the making a game was useful for learning. A single game could teach a complex issue.

June 2008 - Library gaming... Librains guide to gaming.

AMD Foundation announces games initiative. "Changing the Game". Shows a video clip.

Gaming langauge has become acceptable over the past six years.

The question for us is.... Are we ready?

Rezed.org - best practices for education.

---

The Session continues....

UPDATED

Continued Live Blogging from Barry Joseph Session...

http://holymeatballs.org/
Barry is providing a quick overview of a list of games and we will decide what we want to play. We decided to play Free Rice. The game helps you with language and the rice you win will be donated to those in need. Heidi scored 560.

Idit discusses how we might be able to better show the community gain at large.

Next Game: Consumer Consequences... really not a game at all, but students experience it as a game. The main goal is to be aware of the concept. Just get the idea across. You have to make decisions in your own time and own space and that is often where issues come from.

Next Game: September 12... it is not really a game.... talked about issues around the game.

The session went into a great group activity that I will go into in another post soon.