TLT Community Hubs

One mission of the EGC is to build community around educational games.  We recently had the opportunity to continue towards this goal by talking with the folks from Learnstorm, a company that is putting together a great platform to bring educators together around games utilizing several web 2.0 tools along the way.  They already have many Charter Schools on board on the West Coast and are putting together games that map to curricular objectives.  They also plan to release an SDK that will allow other game makers to submit games to their platform, similar to Apple's App Store.  We look forward to a continued dialogue and possible ways we can collaborate with Learnstorm as they grow by providing opportunities for PSU teachers and researchers to leverage their tools and technology.
A couple years ago we explored using CyberCIEGE, a network security game, in a course in the College of IST.  The game was still a bit raw, but it did show a great deal of promise.  Now that IST has a major in security and risk analysis, a few faculty are revisiting CyberCIEGE.  Dr. Aungst and his colleagues have downloaded the SDK and conceptualizing a project around CyberSIEGE for the fall.  We're looking forward to helping wrap instructional materials around this game as it appears to be gaining adoption in educational use.
The Learning Design Summer Camp is right around the corner and we are working on a small game that participants will be able to play throughout the 2-day event.  During a brainstorming session, we jokingly brought up "Buzzword Bingo".  Anyone remember that IBM commercial from a couple years back?

I thought I'd share with you some of the things we're working on at the EGC.
First, we have two exciting Engagement Projects started. One is to build a game on ion identification, the other is to spot common grammar and writing errors. Stay tuned for more information on both in the coming weeks.
Next, we're starting to interview the many folks we've worked with over the past year or so. Every two-thee weeks, we'll be releasing a new podcast or vodcast, as well as a short related article that features a PSU faculty member that's using games and/or virtual worlds in their classes.
We're starting to script a short "Here's the EGC" video that will give newcomers a quick overview of who we are and what we do.
Jason Kaveney, our IST intern, is going gangbusters on a library of games that are or can be used for educational purposes. Building on the power of the masses, this library will be open for adding comments and ratings. It may be the first of it's kind in the country and I know it will be of incredible value to educators.
Finally, we're looking for ways to bring the various blogs with which the EGC staff share their words of wisdom together, so you can read posts from not just me, but from Bart Pursel and Chris Stubbs as well.
Stay tuned - the snowball is rolling down the hill, going faster and faster....

So you want to remove that bad tattoo from your left arm or maybe you don't like Uncle Chris any more and you want to remove them from last years holiday photos.
read more

So you want to remove that bad tattoo from your left arm or maybe you don't like Uncle Chris anymore and you want to remove them from last year's holiday photos.
read more

Theme: The Value of Information Sharing

From the ANGEL Help Desk
read more

From the website:
We invite you to focus your talents, creativity and passion upon this year's theme: "Celebrating Science and Technology". If you know how, show us. Submit your work to be reviewed, judged, and hopefully, selected as a category winner! If you don't know how, learn it here. Register now for the conference and learn from experts in the field. Join us to fuel your talents and to learn from others.
FlashFilm And Digital Arts Festival Winners Each Receives The 2009 HUFF-Da Award
All Premium Pass attendees automatically get tickets to the FlashFilm and Digital Arts Festival where the 2009 winning work will be celebrated. It’s your chance to view the most innovative and compelling projects created with Adobe®Flash™ and other web technologies. It’s the Oscars of the Flash industry here in Central Pennsylvania!
Developers, submit your work to be reviewed, judged, and hopefully, selected as a category winner! Finalist will be posted in early Fall. Winners will be announced during the live Film Festival Awards Ceremony, October 24, 2009. Submittal Fee: $50 (with discounts for students)

Theme: "Celebrating Science and Technology"

ANGELshorts Vol. 3, Issue #1 Five Things You Should Know about Discussion Forums is now available.
From the article:
"Discussion forums are completely redesigned in ANGEL 7.3. There are dozens of new features designed to better facilitate teaching and learning as well as reduce the amount of time required for instructors to manage them. A discussion forum is added on the Lessons tab. It also appears in the Discussion Forums component on the Communicate tab by default."
Go to the ANGELshorts tab to read previous issues.
read more

ANGELshorts Vol. 3, Issue #3 Five Things You Should Know about the New HTML Editor is now available.
From the article:
"The HTML editor is available wherever there is a text area, including discussion forums, course mail, and quiz essay questions. The HTML editor is a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor that allows you to quickly create or edit formatted online content without knowledge of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)."
Go to the ANGELshorts tab to read previous issues.
read more