Photo via the ESA Foundation website

Thirty students, all women or minorities, will receive scholarship grants from the Entertainment Software Association Foundation for the 2011-2012 school year.

The $3,000 scholarships were offered to students enrolled full-time at accredited four-year colleges and universities as well as graduating high school seniors who plan to go into fields necessary for video game creation, including graphic design, computer science, animation, computer programming, software engineering and digital entertainment.

“ESA is proud to support the next generation of video game industry innovators. This year’s scholarship recipients have the talent and passion needed to succeed in our industry, and we are confident they will go on to create games that will entertain, educate and inspire,” said Michael D. Gallagher, president and CEO of the ESA, the trade association that represents U.S. computer and video game publishers. “These students will also play an important role in enhancing diversity among game developers, a critical factor in fostering the variety and creativity of content that drives our industry.”

Here’s a full list of scholarship winners — congratulations to all of them!
Alexandra Barlow
Hometown: Scarsdale, NY
Institution: Ringling College of Art & Design
Major: Game Art & Design

Coleman Beasley
Hometown: Boise, ID
Institution: University of Idaho
Major: Computer Science

Ashley Carli
Hometown: Harvard, IL
Institution: DePaul University
Major: Computer Games Development

Janelle Desborough
Hometown: Canton, PA
Institution: Art Institute of Pittsburgh
Major: Game Art & Design

Miranda Due
Hometown: Broken Arrow, OK
Institution: University of Southern California
Major: Interactive Entertainment

Ardra Farrier
Hometown: Apple Valley, CA
Institution: California State University – San Bernardino
Major: Graphic Design

Desiree Fernandes
Hometown: Granby, MA
Institution: Champlain College
Major: Game Art & Animation

Nicolette Hart
Hometown: Round Rock, TX
Institution: University of California – Santa Cruz
Major: Computer Science: Game Design

Eileen Heilsnis
Hometown: Apex, NC
Institution: Savannah College of Art and Design
Major: Visual Effects

Rachael Hosegood
Hometown: Barre, MA
Institution: Becker College
Major: Interactive Entertainment Design

Jennifer Johnson
Hometown: Redmond, WA
Institution: DigiPen Institute of Technology
Major: Production Animation

Gabriella Jraige
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Institution: Otis College of Art and Design
Major: Digital Media

Elizabeth Kirby
Hometown: Redmond, WA
Institution: DigiPen Institute of Technology
Major: Production Animation

Kim Krueger
Hometown: Port Washington, WI
Institution: University of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Major: Multimedia Design

Erica Larson
Hometown: Bozeman, MT
Institution: University of Idaho
Major: Virtual Technology Design

Karen Layman
Hometown: Warren, CT
Institution: Becker College
Major: Interactive Entertainment Design

Charles Lee
Hometown: Bellevue, WA
Institution: DigiPen Institute of Technology
Major: Real-Time Interactive Simulation

Valerie Magri
Hometown: Milford, NH
Institution: Rochester Institute of Technology
Major: Game Design and Development

Mavin Martin
Hometown: West Jordan, UT
Institution: University of Utah
Major: Computer Science

Kevin McQuay
Hometown: Atlanta, GA
Institution: Morehouse College
Major: Computer Science

Gordon Ngo
Hometown: Burke, VA
Institution: George Mason University
Major: Applied Computer Science

Anna Nguyen
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Institution: Drexel University
Major: Game Art and Production

Joanna Ogburn
Hometown: Hilton Head Island, SC
Institution: Savannah College of Art and Design
Major: Sequential Art

Mario Ramirez
Hometown: Chicago, IL
Institution: Columbia College Chicago
Major: Game Design

Emily Russo
Hometown: Uniontown, OH
Institution: Kent State University
Major: Computer Science

Audre Schutte
Hometown: Snohomish, WA
Institution: DigiPen Institute of Technology
Major: Production Animation

Jennifer Tran
Hometown: Bothell, WA
Institution: DigiPen Institute of Technology
Major: Production Animation

Charles Weaver
Hometown: Northfield, VT
Institution: Champlain College
Major: Game Art & Animation

Angela Wilson
Hometown: Valrico, FL
Institution: Savannah College of Art and Design
Major: Animation

Gretchen Zarle
Hometown: Akron, OH
Institution: Bowling Green State University
Major: Digital Arts

The Monkey Tales Games series, developed by Larian Studios in Belgium, was given the MEDEA award for Best Professionally Produced Educational Media in Europe by 54 education professionals from around the world. The series also received the 2011 Audience award.

The series focuses on improving children’s mathematical skills, and is the product of years of research and development with teachers, schools and universities.

“Larian has a decade of experience developing games for children, but developing educational games that work has turned out to be quite challenging,” said David Walgrave, executive producer of the Monkey Tales series. “Over the last years we’ve gained a wealth of new insights and these awards now show that we have found the right approach.”

It’s great to see a game get official recognition as a teaching tool. What are some of your favorite educational games? I fondly remember days with Math Blaster on my Sega Genesis — it definitely taught me about division a bit earlier than I would have been exposed to it otherwise!

Ladies and gents, you can’t beat that price….unless you were giving something back. In a way, Valve is.

As seen though the new website that gives you the link to download either the Mac or PC version of Portal for free, Valve is promoting “Learning with Portals,” which uses the game to teach math, logic, physics and engineering concepts. (I get the warm and fuzzies when education and gaming are combined.)

This is not the first time that I have heard that teachers are using video games within the classroom. (I wrote an entire master’s education paper on such a concept, I should know.) This is the first time that a company as huge as Valve has provided their game for free for education purposes.

Now, don’t be tardy with the download, unlike the last high school assignment that you might have handed in. This offer ends September 20.

So get your learning on, and maybe a little cake, too.

Learning with Portals

Since that time, the ECA has increased membership benefits and advocacy, so that’s probably just one reason for the increase in membership.

“Perhaps the most important aspect of this announcement reflects the fact that gamers care, that the trade supports them and that non endemic companies and brands want to support gaming,” said Hal Halpin, President of the Entertainment Consumers Association. “It makes more people want to join and more partners want to be associated, which translates into even more member benefits… a self-perpetuating cycle. Truly, I couldn’t be any more proud of our members, partners and staff.”

To join, visit the ECA’s website here. (Hey, I’m a member.)

Each day technology is entering the school system. Better computers, smartboards, projector units, software for core subjects and let’s not forget the technology that is used each day in terms of students and even teachers to communicate. The “21th centery” school has begun. With that being said, what should this school include? Should the technology be used only for the benefit of students and the educational process or should the use of technology be extended to the monitoring, or dare I say policing?

This fundamental question arrises because a school district within Connecticut has decided to place RFID chips within the I.D Cards of the students and staff of their schools. They have also decided to include the chips within a number of educational items within the school. Items that this would include would be T.V units, Projectors and Laptops.  For clarification, I shall do into a lengthy discussion of the article, before I begin looking at the possible pros and cons of such a system. I will also sprinkle in my own personal opinion as we continue on.  RFID chips are chips that send out radio signals which is specific to each chip. That way each signal would be specific to each child or educational item.  The chip then could be tracked down to the location of the chip holder.  The idea was purposed by SecureRF Corporation, a company specializing in secure RFID software, which then got a grant of $100,000, from the National Science Foundation. What the purpose of the whole science experiment of the RFID chips is to do a number of scientific experiments, which could help with budgeting, such as one that was suggested, to tracking how many students actually ride the bus. To date, there is still a wait for getting a green light for this project, yet it is suggested by the article, that this will indeed go ahead.

First, let’s discuss the cons of a system like this. There is one con that bring up huge red flags. The first is privacy in general. I say in general because I want to look at the rights of the teacher as well as the hotly debated rights of the child.

So what about privacy? Where are the child’s rights? Are we not invading their individual rights are a human being?

When I read the original article, the comments where all directed towards the rights of the child.   Since there has been such a huge push for the rights of children, and young adults in terms of privacy within the school environment, this flies completely in the face of what child advocates have been working towards.

And, what about the teachers? No where in the article comments was there a discussion about the rights of the monitoring of a teacher or in this case, whole schools of teachers. If it is ok to monitor teachers, then wouldn’t it be ok to monitor children, who should be treated like adults,  if an actual adult is being monitored? I do understand that I am playing Devil’s Avacate, and I know that many people will say, “A child can not speak up for themselves.” Well, if you have never taught in a grade 8 English class, then you know, they can very well speak up for themselves, as well as have their parents ringing the same prospective as their child.

So, let’s look at the pros.  The two red flags in this area are security and financial.

Security within a school, no matter what the size, population, or social-economic area has become a highened issue. With so many school shootings, abduction of children, bomb threats, bullying and fighting; children need to feel safe when they enter a school. One of the first things I learned while finishing my B.Ed was that if a child does not feel safe in the school or classroom they can not, or will not, learn. So, would the chip system detour bullies? When I posed this question to a academic English class, they believed that it could. They thought that if the system existed within their school, teachers would be able to see who was being bullied and who the bully was. At the same time, if charges were ever filed that way there is a documentation of time and occurrence.

The second of the  pro for a system like this is financial. According to the article, the school wishes to take the money that they would save from the replacement of stolen items such as a laptops, and reroute the funding into areas of the school that have been suffering, the one that is being discussed is the arts programs. For those of you that do not know,  the arts programs, be it music, visual or theatre arts is normally the programs that suffer the most when it comes to the school budget. So, if you are able to track down that missing laptop, projector unit, or science equipment, That was a personal favourite of my generation for stealing, then next year, you would not have to factor in that new laptop into the budget to buy. That money can be placed into art supplies for at least the first term. So, the school, and hopefully students would benefit from having more programs, and opportunities to offer the students.

What do you fine readers think? Are is the school system steeping across the line in terms of the rights of the students? Is this movement of the new 21st century school too Big Brother? Or are we all over reacting?

The 3G Summit: The Future of Girls, Gaming, and Gender

Running from August 12 to 15, the summit will feature panels by prominent women in the game industry including Mary Flanagan, Tracy Fullerton, Jennifer Jenson, Susana Ruiz, and Erin Robinson. The summit’s capstone 3G Indie Expo and Design Challenge is a public expo and design challenge, in which game proposals from the young women participants can be voted on by visitors, with the top game design to be developed into an actual prototype in conjunction with the IAM Department’s Fall capstone course at Columbia College Chicago.

Check out the schedule of events at http://www.colum.edu/specialevents/3G_Summit/3GSchedule.php

GamingAngels.com is proud to be a sponsor of this extraordinary event.

It wasn’t too long ago that I had a friend who taught English at the university level ask me, “What are you doing to the kids? They can’t write.”  Of course, I smiled, crooked my head to one side and said. “To be honest with you, I don’t know.” I have been attempting in these last two years, to help develop my student’s writing abilities and trust me, it is not an easy task.  ”ur” is You’re or Your, “@” is at, and BTW is often the way sentences are started. Capitalization is no longer used, and when it does get used, it’s sparingly.  Sentence fragments are all too common and there is rarely any use of punctuation, except to create emoticons. I spend the majority of my time fixing these mistakes, giving assignments back to students only to see no improvement in their work. Sure, this can be frustrating when correcting a paper and seeing a mess of spelling and grammar mistakes.

When I saw this article within the local newspaper, my interest was piqued. A study was performed at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, where they attribute social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter as factors in the “downfall” of the English Language. Social Networking sites are where most people of this generation are doing the majority of their writing. They aren’t writing emails, they are texting and tweeting within that 140 character limit. Having to spell out each word means not fitting as much information into a single text or tweet, and can mean spending more money (if they’re paying for their own texts).

To summarize the study: students current have a 30% failure rate of on the general writing skills exam that students have to complete before entering post-secondary schools such as Simon Fraser and Waterloo.  This has jumped from up 5% in the last few years.  The article is also filled with sources from the post-secondary level of how terrible student’s grammar has become.  In other linked articles, there are a number of people that believe that the fault lies with the grade school teacher for not teaching “proper” grammar and spelling.

To those of you that think that this is all the grade school teacher’s fault; here’s what’s required in a typical English class: four novels, two plays, a short story unit, a poetry unit, an essay/research paper unit, each required to be at least a month long with only ten periods in a fourteen day cycle. (Do the math.) What about a writing course? Well, dear readers they exist, but are not mandatory in order to graduate.  If you had a choice between gym and a writing course, what do you think many students are going to choose?

In my personal opinion, I would change the word “downfall” to “evolution”. That’s right, evolution. The English language has and will forever be changing; the words we use, how we speak, and then how we write, changes. Sure, there is a time and place for everything. Sure, the “golden age” of English language has gone, but the “golden age”  is also relative.  When Old English (Anglo-Saxon) transitioned to Middle English, do you think that people where having a fit? Saying “The kids today, don’t know how to speak?”. The same thing happened when Middle English transitioned to Modern English.  Now, it is just happening again, maybe it will be called “Future” English, or “Tech English” or whatever. We just have to try our best to keep formal writing, looking formal, and work to accept change.

Of course the question is, how doesit all work?  Well, there are two types of events; online and offline. The offline events are events that are taking place in different places all over the world. Each event is run by volunteers. In order to find out which event is happening near you, you can check the Twestival twitter feed or if you wish to register an event or school, head over to the website.  If there isn’t an event near you and you wish to get involved, then you can make a donation via Paypal, or you can make a donation through Twestival FM and be able to download some music from artists in return for your help.

For more information, or to donate head over to the website.
http://twestival.com/

They are doing this as part of their “Changing the Game” campaign, which aims to equip youth with the ability to create games with social content. They do this by encouraging science, math, technology and education skills. AMD believes that teaching video game design also encourages this.

The Awards, which have a storied 87-year history, represent the cutting edge of youth creativity, and adding a prize for young developers fits right in. The grant provided by AMG will allow them to host multiple workshops and fund several scholarships. The Alliance anticipates 700 entries for the video game design category.