Paula Ascher, Distance Learning and Instructional Technology Coordinator at the school was a reviewer on Grace’s course. As she reviewed the class using QMs rubric, she realized that there were aspects of quality “gamification” that weren’t present in the rubric, so she began to create some of those herself. This led to a larger discussion among EDUCAUSE’s Games & Learning Constituent Group, including Deb Adair, from Quality Matters.

Take a look at Paula’s Gamification Rubric in-progress, and let her know what you think!

For comments, you can reach Paula directly at PAscher@cgcc.cc.or.us
To learn more about 3D GameLab: http://3dgamelab.com

Brett has worked with us in the past, and we are extremely thankful to have his talents as a Hollywood movie and game trailer producer.  Check out his show reel, and you’ll see why Brett is perfect for helping us translate a cool educational experience into a videos that work for today’s educators.

Enjoy!

We had a great shoot on the set of 3D GameLab yesterday, as we’re preparing informational videos to launch our new website.

Many thanks to Tri-Digital Group for allowing us to use their awesome studio in Boise, and providing the talents of Tony Anderson to shoot the video.  Director Brett Smith did a fantastic job leading the team through the day, and working on post-production.  We can’t wait to see the final videos!

Check out some outtakes of Dr. Chris.  Just for fun.

We’re welcoming back former guild officers, Mark Suter and Kae Novak, and super excited to be bringing on board Tracie Hightower and Bill Krebs.  Check out our quest strands for May and we hope to see you there!  All beta players are welcomed back from prior camps to enjoy another year in 3D GameLab on us.  It pays to play beta!  More to come, stay tuned….

A sneak peak for the curious…yes, we are hosting a teen game design summer camp in August, fully online!  Play, design, build, test, and showcase your games.  Previous coding experience not necessary to participate, but game developers will find great information on storyboarding, rules, rewards, outcomes, audio, animation, adventure maps, interact with actual game designers from software companies, and more!

Stay tuned to our new Teen GameLab site for more information!

3D GameLab and guild officer Lucas Gillispie get a great shoutout for his Minecraft in Schools program.  Thanks Katie!

WoW in School: A Hero’s Journey

Our first Spotlight Interview focuses on a rather special guild that we here at Shivtr are proud to host. Of course, many of us say that about our own clans and guilds; they are our family, friends and a part of our lives. But this one also has the advantage of being an elective class in the Language Arts department of more than a few different school districts across the continent!

“WoW in School: A Hero’s Journey” began in Pender County Schools in North Carolina as an after school program for at-risk kids. Lucas Gillispie, founder of the program, told us, “We wanted to help students who had attendance, social, or academic problems in school, giving them something they could ‘own.’ So, we decided that a World of Warcraft-based program would be an ideal place to foster leadership, teamwork, and build reading and writing skills.” Not long after that, a colleague in New York, Peggy Sheehy, decided to start the program as well, which got the two schools playing together as a guild– The Legacy. What happened next? In Gillispie’s words, “The successes were astounding! We literally had students running to the media center at the close of the day eager to get started. Behaviors, social skills, attendance, and academic performance all showed improvement.”

“The sorts of interactions I witnessed: students taking roles of leadership, refining their communication skills, and their depth of understanding regarding the intricacies of these fantasy worlds astounded me.”

We asked Gillispie what his inspiration was to start such a bold project, and here’s what he had to tell us: “Before taking a district-level position in Instructional Technology, I taught high school Biology. The interactions between my MMO-playing students and I laid the initial groundwork. In fact, it was a student years ago who introduced me to EverQuest and I’ve been playing informally, outside of the classroom, with students ever since. The sorts of interactions I witnessed: students taking roles of leadership, refining their communication skills, and their depth of understanding regarding the intricacies of these fantasy worlds astounded me. What would it take to create this level of engagement in the classroom? How many other students, quietly sitting in the back of a lecture, under the radar, are leaders, organizers, and champions by night in the online world? These sorts of questions were the starting point.”

After that, the program took off by leaps and bounds! Gillispie said, “We launched in November of ’09 and carried through to the close of school in May 2010. The principal was blown away by the things she saw in our first group, and so were we. She asked Craig Lawson (the classroom teacher with whom I worked on the project) and I what the program needed to go to the ‘next level.’ We agreed. It needs to be a part of the regular school day. So, through grant funding we set out to create a year-long, standards-aligned language-arts-based curriculum and have been using that since.” Since then, the program has been adopted by ten different schools, not only in the United States, but also in Canada. They have also shifted from World of Warcraft into Guild Wars 2 and the curriculum was updated to accommodate both games.

The success of the program is documented on a couple of different websites, where you can even see a sample of the curriculum; wowinschool.pbworks.com and nerdscience.com. These websites highlight the amazing possibilities this program has to change the way we think about teaching our children in this digital age. Gillispie told us, “There’s a great deal of talk about how to reform schools and how we need to change education. The real change is happening at the grass-roots, classroom level.”

But, you may ask, why us? Why did they make Shivtr a part of this amazing school program? As Gillispie tells us when he spoke about expanding into Guild Wars 2, “I’ve been working to update the online quests in 3DGameLab to be friendly to both games… [and] the beauty of the marriage between 3DGameLab and Shivtr is that we can easily update and expand upon our prior work.”

It works beautifully. We use the Journals for more reflective pieces. The Gallery is fantastic for hosting digital images captured or created by our Heroes. Students have also made good use of the chat and shout boxes, as these tools are great for fostering that ‘community/family’ feel we’re wanting to emerge between schools in the project.

The Legacy Guild also utilizes the forums to their advantage for writing assignments, where they can review and respond to each other. Gillispie adds, “It works beautifully. We use the Journals for more reflective pieces. The Gallery is fantastic for hosting digital images captured or created by our Heroes. Students have also made good use of the chat and shout boxes, as these tools are great for fostering that ‘community/family’ feel we’re wanting to emerge between schools in the project.” Almost all aspects of the learning quests are integrated into their Shivtr site and there is even talk of having the students write articles for the front page as well! Gillispie was also kind enough to add, “Your [Shivtr's] willingness to imagine the possibilities and come alongside us in this venture is invaluable. You guys ‘get it’ and I really appreciate it.”

We are proud to be a part of such a growing success in schools where kids, teachers and parents alike can see the advantages of MMORPGs in our day to day lives. They continue to shape us, challenge us and become an integral part of our learning process– regardless of age or circumstance. Gillispie shared with us a bit of wisdom on this subject, saying, “Games, especially MMO’s, will come and go. There will always be a new one on the horizon. What lasts are the relationships you build with others. Foster those. As you invest in others, you’ll build valuable relationships that are as real, and even more so, than face-to-face ones.”

So here’s to our communities: May you grow, thrive and become more than just a group of players. Be inspired by the ideas that have come to fruition because of these games– and never stop learning!

YOU’LL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR

• Working closely with front-end developers and product managers on the enhancement and development of GoGo Labs products.
• Actively contributing ideas for product improvements and solutions to technology challenges
• Showing a passion for continued learning, staying abreast of new technology and trends
• Delivering clean code supporting consistent user experience and product quality

SKILLS AND REQUIREMENTS

• Ruby on Rails development skills
• 0-3 years of experience in web development and Rails
• Experience with HTML & CSS, modern JS frameworks (jQuery)
• Familiarity with git
• Passion for OOP and TDD/Unit testing
• Experience working with a relational database (mysql, etc)
• Excellent project management skills; in other words, be self-directed and capable of working effectively in a deadline-driven environment
• Excellent communication and writing skills, and the ability to facilitate your own meetings as necessary
• Eye for good design; positive and dependable
• Bachelor’s Degree preferred, but not required
• Experience with the Spree e-commerce platform, but not required

Send resume, github username, and cover letter to info@gogolabs.net.  We need you!

GoGo Labs is a new learning technology start-up company in downtown Boise, and we’re looking for a part-time professional office manager. The ideal candidate is comfortable with the rapidly evolving nature of a tech startups and has experience helping establish company systems and procedures, and pitch hitting where needed. Time commitment between 15-20 hours per week with increasing available hours (or job splitting) very likely as we continue to grow.  The Office Manager reports to the CEO. Our CEO is a smart, but demanding person, who wants an office manager with raw intelligence, great organizational and project management skills, and a sense of humor.  Business savvy and a take-charge attitude are appreciated.  Proficiency with Excel, Google Apps (gmail, Drive, calendar, etc.), QuickBooks, and Insightly or other CRM preferred.  We work in a largely digital world and avoid paper (filing, printing, lots of little pieces of paper) as much as possible, you will help us understand how to get better at it.

Please email a resume, your desired hourly wage, and answer the following questions:

1) My greatest passion is ___________
2) I’m interested in this job, because _________
3) What was the last piece of software you learned to use?
4) What did you do with it?
5) The last website I visited before Facebook was ___________
6) People at work tell me I’m _______________

BONUS POINTS: Find a picture of a cute puppy online. Send a link to the picture.
EXTRA BONUS POINTS:  Send your LinkedIn profile with your resume.

Contact:  info@gogolabs.net