Governor's Press Release: Globaloria Preparing Students for Digital World

Jan. 29, 2008

GLOBALORIA EDUCATION PROGRAM
PREPARING WV STUDENTS FOR DIGITAL WORLD

Contact: Lara Ramsburg, 304-558-2000

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Students across the Mountain State are learning how to become active citizens in today’s increasingly connected and digital world through Globaloria, an innovative educational program that launched last summer with funding from the State of West Virginia and the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. Today, Verizon West Virginia also demonstrated its support and vision with a grant to continue expanding the program in 2008.

The Globaloria program, established in 2006 by the World Wide Workshop Foundation, uses the latest World Wide Web and social media technology to empower young people to learn how to create interactive games and simulations, collaborate online and solve problems together. Its activities help students sharpen their communication and critical-thinking skills for leadership online and offline, bringing them closer to the participatory and collaborative nature of work in the 21st century.

In July 2007, the Office of Governor Joe Manchin invited the World Wide Workshop Foundation to partner with the State of West Virginia and Benedum Foundation to launch Globaloria. Since then, 14 educators and 65 students from six schools across the state have been learning Internet media technology and game-development skills.

West Virginia First Lady Gayle Manchin said, “I am so pleased and appreciative of Verizon joining this collaboration. Everyone on this team- Benedum, Verizon, World Wide Workshop -- brings great expertise and commitment to the table, and I am so grateful on behalf of the state of West Virginia. I am so proud to see all that is already happening through the Globaloria project in West Virginia in its short time of operations. It is 21st-Century-Skills being exemplified, and as we can all see in the field when we visit, the students are excited and engaged.”

Dr. Idit Caperton, president and founder of the World Wide Workshop Foundation, said Globaloria and its virtual learning platforms challenge students more than typical curriculum.

“Through project-based teamwork and a great deal of self-learning in a virtual space, students with no prior experience in computer programming or using Web 2.0 tools, become wiki producers and digital designers of web-based software applications for social change and educational purposes,” Caperton said. “These valuable skills prepare young people to become leaders in the digital and global marketplace .”

Globaloria’s emphasis on technology and education matches closely with Verizon’s goal to support the use of technology to improve literacy and K-12 education. Verizon West Virginia’s grant will help to further expand the program in 2008, said B. Keith Fulton, president of Verizon West Virginia.

“Globaloria gives West Virginia students a unique opportunity to develop critical 21st-century job skills,” Fulton said. “Verizon looks forward to working with our partners to expand this engaging, online learning environment for our state.”

Jim Denova, vice president of the Benedum Foundation, said, “The Benedum Foundation is very pleased to have invested in this first-year demonstration of Globaloria in West Virginia. We are always looking for innovation in education, and Globaloria is proving to be an effective instructional tool that has broad application to a number of educational settings, whether they are high schools, colleges, or community-based after-school programs.”

Program officials are currently accepting applications for more educators and students in WV high schools, community colleges and universities to join this spring, with plans to double the size of the program by end of 2008. The Globaloria program works best when implemented as a daily activity at school or a college, Caperton said. It also provides opportunities for alumni internships and employment via the Internet.

Dr. Lee Kraus, Globaloria-WV Program Manager, said, “Our participating students and educators become skilled users of the latest technology; they learn to be active contributors, collaborators, designers and programmers of the Internet. Simultaneously, they develop life and professional skills needed to be productive and globally aware – prepared to take on leadership roles in the innovation economy and the fast-changing, digital world we live in.”

For more information about the program, contact info@worldwideworkshop.org.

Kasson Middle School an Exemplar in Education

I went to make a quick pitch for Globaloria at the Barbour County Board of Education tonight and learned a lot about what a wonderful pick we have in our new partner school, Kasson Middle School. Following a series of presentations including an increase in Special Education scores of the past few years, school of excellence at Math Field Day, and finally having over a 95% attendance rate for the past three years, you can see that there is something special at Kasson. The Principal and new Globaloria Educator Michelle Barb led the presentation and was quick to point to her teachers for the credit.

This makes me feel really good about entering a new project like MyGLife with a great school. The picture above is of the presentation of the State Exemplar school, which they have received for the third year in a row. Way to go Kasson!

A few Project Links for Globaloria

I wanted to take a second to post some valuable project links. From time to time, I will try and post links that might be useful or just might be interesting to be put in a list.




Globaloria West Virginia homepage: http://myglife.org/usa/wv – A clickable map that highlights and links to the current pilot sites.

Globaloria WV blog: http://globaloria-wv.blogspot.com – The globaloria blog. I try to spark conversations, provide help with technical issues and share interesting ideas that will inspire, and help program participants. Be sure to read this post -- an interview with Dr. Idit Caperton who has provided the vision of the program.

MyGLife RTC wiki: http://www.myglife.org/usa/wv/rtcwvwiki/index.php/Main_Page - See a real group of program users in action! This is the virtual space where the Randolph Technical Center pilot group (Denise’s class) work on their games and share ideas.

WV Educators’ Wiki: http://www.myglife.org/usa/wvwiki/index.php/Main_Page - This is kind of like a virtual teachers’ lounge, where all the educators and stakeholders in the program share ideas and information.

These are all good links to check out if you are new to Globaloria. I'll post more links soon.

Games for NASA: Teaching Complex Skills

For any of you game designers wondering who is using games, check this out. NASA is looking for anyone who can build an online game.

DEVELOPMENT OF A NASA-BASED MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE LEARNING GAME

NASA Learning Technologies Request for Information: Development of a NASA-based Massively Multiplayer Online Learning Game Introduction The NASA Learning Technologies (LT) Project Office supports projects that deliver NASA relevant content through innovative applications of technologies to enhance education in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Research and development in each of the STEM areas are at the core of the LT mission. LT seeks to enhance formal and informal education in STEM fields with the goal of increasing the number of students in those fields of study. The LT is currently evaluating the development of a NASA-based massively multiplayer online educational game (MMO). Background Persistent immersive synthetic environments in the form of massive multiplayer online gaming and social virtual worlds, initially popularized as gaming and social settings, are now finding growing interest as education and training venues. There is increasing recognition that these synthetic environments can serve as powerful "hands-on" tools for teaching a range of complex subjects, including STEM-based instruction. Virtual worlds with scientifically accurate simulations could permit learners to tinker with chemical reactions in living cells, practice operating and repairing expensive equipment, and experience microgravity making it easier to grasp complex concepts and quickly transfer this understanding to practical problems. MMOs help players develop and exercise a skill set closely matching the thinking, planning, learning, and technical skills increasingly in demand by employers today. These skills include strategic thinking, interpretative analysis, problem solving, plan formulation and execution, team-building and collaboration, and adaptation to rapid change. The power of games as educational tools is rapidly gaining recognition.

This is interesting stuff. Notice that it specific talks about how games can provide "hands-on" tools for teaching complex subjects.

Interview with Dr. Randy Jones of MCTC

I was sent this conversation with Dr. Jones of Marshall Community and Technical College via email and he agreed to extend it a little with me and allow me to share it on this blog. The conversation is about his impressions of the first semester with the Globaloria game development curriculum. Dr. Jones team-taught the course this past semester, here is the wiki.

What do you feel you've learned about 21st Century teaching?

o Faculty role is more of facilitator verses disseminator of information.

o Much of the learning takes place on-line through an interactive process.

What benefits are you seeing in your students?

o Students are more interested in learning if they have more control over the learning process.

o Student interaction among their peers also allows for more learning to take place.

o Students within broad boundaries are able to move at their own pace. The final learning objective bar is a minimum. The maximums are limited only by the student.

What is fun?

o From a personal perspective, I get a great deal of satisfaction from learning new things, developing new programs, and pushing the envelope on technology.

What is challenging?

o Note above: learning new things, developing new programs, and pushing the envelope on technology.

What more do you need, by way of support from Globaloria, to help you do your best work?

o A complement, everyone has been quick to respond to any issues related to the program.

o A complement, everyone has been focused on the student's future marketability. I appreciate a willingness to support our Internship requirement for our students.

o A comment, at some point a PR campaign that would highlight the program and our college which is somewhat hidden in the shadows of the University.

o A comment, our college has been very supportive of the partnership we are establishing. All basic adobe software has been made available through MCTC. Additional tutorial software has been purchased to support this program. Additional screen-capture and presentation software is also being purchased to support remote training. If we needed additional resources that could not be supplied by existing means, it would be nice to know we could apply to an alternate source for consideration.

How might you plan to approach anything differently in the New Year?

o Each cycle of courses to be taught in the future will be over a full semester (15 weeks).

o Dual-credit remote link to a high school program.

o Implementation of pre-requisite courses in future cycles might be suggested. A key component in the initial courses is a basic knowledge of the flash interface. Programming concepts would also be beneficial.

Additional Comments: We are planning on offering the cycle of classes in the Summer of 08. It would be a good thing if we could work with the University, offer graduate credit for the courses, and encourage future teachers to sign up for the classes. This would give them the background they need to teach the courses and would also meet their continuing education requirements.

You can check out more from Dr. Jones and his co-teacher Patrick Smith on YouTube.

YouTube Interviews Dr. Caperton

Here is a great interview from Munich last week. Dr. Caperton attended the DLD Conference that address all things Digital, Life, Design (DLD). The interview is a great overview of the Globaloria program and provides some insights as to how Dr. Caperton views the implementation of the program.

RTC Final Game Page

So I am out on the road today, but I wanted to make quick link to the final game page. It is a single page on the RTC wiki that has all of the final games. I was just there with the class and they were still trying to squeeze in the last animations, audios, and graphics.

If you are looking for great game examples, check these out.

RTC Presentations Make the News

The local media provided coverage of the RTC presentations.

Finding students who enjoy attending a class may be a rarity. The exception is students who signed up for Game Design, taught by Denise Stalnaker at the Randolph Technical Center, who say they looked forward to their class almost every day.

Go and read the full article here. The article also appeared on the front page of the daily paper on January 16th.

Instructor Tutorials: A How to Movie on Flash

Yesterday I highlighted a tutorial developed by a Globaloria student. Today, I wanted to point out that you can also get a lot of Flash resources from the Instructors. Here is a video tutorial on how to create a button in Flash. It was built by Patrick Smith at MCTC and posted on his wiki page.

Education of the Students, For the Students, By The Students

The title might be a little hookey, but it kind of captures the idea of what we are going for here. Yeager33 at MCTC actually "jumped into" Action Script 3 for flash. He worked through the approach and decided to create his own tutorial and share it on the wiki.

This is the first one.

Displaying a Block

• 1. Open a new Flashfile(ActionScript 3.0)
• 2. Create a rectangle and convert it to a movieclip

   Using the Rectangle tool create a new rectangle,Use selection tool and group the rectangle together
  Right click the rectangle and select Convert to Symbol..
  In the Convert to Symbol dialog box Enter Block in the Name: textfield
  Select the radio button for Movie Clip
  Click the Advanced button
  Under Linkage select the Export for ActionScript checkbox
  (this will also check the Export in first frame button Leave it checked)
  Click Ok
  ActionScript Class warning message box will pop up Select Ok

After converting to symbol make sure your stage is clear

• 3. ActionScript Code

Select frame 1 right click and select Actions from drop down menu or press F9 to open Actions window In the Actions window type

  import flash.display.*;
 import flash.events.Event;

This basically lets flash know that we will be working with display objects and events so it can load the code to handle these things.

• Next we want to define a variable to represent our display object in this case the block we created

  var myBlock:DisplayObject= new Block()

• At this point we have a variable(myBlock) representing our display object

We can now use ActionScript to alter the display object properties of our variable Let us set the starting point for myBlock before we draw it to the screen

 myBlock.x=300
myBlock.y=200

• Now we create myBlock on screen

this.addChild(myBlock)

• Publish preview and you should now have a block sitting on screen at the (X,Y) position that you specified.

This may not seem like much right now, however we now have the ability to change properties of our object with ActionScript code

Go check out his page for the others.