San Jose, CA (June 15) -- There is one education project this city and adjoining cities need to replicate: The Annual Globaloria Civics Game Competition.
Globaloria is a civics games competition for public school students throughout West Virginia enrolled in Globaloria classes and students are creating their own original web games with civics concepts, according to David Lowenstein, State Director, Globaloria WV at Worldwide Workshop Foundation.
"We do not currently have any Globaloria program going on in California. We are focused on the state of WV right now. We are also working with one charter school in East Austin, Texas. We do hope to begin replicating the program throughout the United States in the next several years," Lowenstein said.
Asked by this writer if they want to replicate the project in California, especially in San Jose, Lowenstein said, "Absolutely!"
Former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the World Wide Workshop Foundation announced recently the winners to the 1st Annual Globaloria Civics Games Competition.
The winners are Kaitlyn and Billy, students from the Sandy River Middle School in Avondale, West Virginia, members of a team they named The Fox Racers which won first place for their original game, "The Race to Justice".
This new "Globaloria Civics Track" features a community website; a comprehensive civics knowledge framework; a digital library of civic resources including sample games and simulations for students to play, remix, and expand; and a mentoring program to help educators facilitate research and discussions about civics topics and game design content.
"Ensuring that our children are prepared for college and careers, and ready to take their places as active citizens is vitally important to our nation's economic and intellectual vitality," said former Governor Bob Wise.
Members of the Education Department were also impressed. "The Globaloria Civics Games Competition was a great opportunity for teams of students to learn together and apply their technology knowledge in the design and construction of an educational game prototype to support civics content learning," said Dr. Jorea Marple, Assistant WV State Superintendent.
The World Wide Workshop (www.WorldWideWorkshop.org) is a global foundation for developing innovative open-source applicaiton of social media technology and game production, to enhance learning innovation, entrepreneurship, and an understanding of the world in economically-disadvantaged and technologically-underserved communities.
Globaloria (www.worldwideworkshop.org/programs/globaloria) was invented by the World Wide Workshop in 2006. The globaloria.org platform and program teach young peoplle to create educational games and simulations for their own academic and professional development and for the social and economic benefit of heir communities. Using the Globaloria, students learn to work independently or in teams to develop original games from idea to finished product. They learn game design and programming through a hands-on curriculum. Along the way, they learn to author wikis, and post interactive game content, prototype videos, simulations, graphics, music and sound effects, and write blogs about their gaming ideas and content research. They receive feedback and support from their classmates students from other schools, and professional game makers from around the nation, and the world. Globaloria is an advanced college-style course that is suitable for students at all levels. No prior web design or programming skills are needed (see videos: www.worldwideworkshop.org/programs/globaloria/voices-from-the-field).
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