project mgmt +

Articles and support documentation for teachers using a browser-based data visualization platform in their classroom. … keep readingSupporting teachers in data-focused domains

Accountable Talk® is a research-backed approach to dialogic instruction developed at the IFL. Accountable Talk features can guide the planning of technology-based instruction and help educators navigate challenges to enrich remote learning. This article was published in Bridges to Learning, the IFL’s weekly newsletter. … keep readingUsing Accountable Talk features to design remote instruction

I was the project manager over a six month collaboration between Carnegie Mellon University and our client, a rapidly growing online institution. … keep readingDesigning a transparent quiz creation system

Our Fall 2017 Learning Media Design class was tasked with designing an e-portfolio solution for middle school students. … keep readingBuilding a student centered e-portfolio program for middle school learners

In 2014, I embarked on one of my favorite projects to date – EdTechPGH. Inspired by the community we nurtured online, this group was founded to connect educators and technology developers in the Pittsburgh and Western PA. … keep readingCreating results oriented nonprofit programs

From January 2017 through August of 2017, myself and another METALSs graduate student created a research-based interactive branching story that used learning science to help learners identify and demystify fake news on social media. … keep readingViral Resistance: Media literacy learning and interactive narrative

Goal: Help high school students aged 13-18 without arts programs explore the arts through an ELA curriculum designed around improvisational theater. … keep readingTeaching emotional intelligence to high school students with improvisational theater

At SXSWedu 2015 I led a panel discussion with creative teachers who had designed custom games for K12 instruction. … keep readingGaming the System: Teachers Hacking the Classroom at SXSWedu 2015

It might seem intimidating, but stepping out of your network doesn’t have to be hard- especially when you empower the community to actively participate. … keep readingYou don’t need special tools to break down walls

I led the development of a casual conference game to reinforce the organization’s values and provide social opportunities for a fun and engaging conference experience. … keep readingConference game design: GLS Quest

Failure and fear are close relations. To put it broadly, we fail when our expectations don’t match an outcome. We remember this often negative experience and can become fearful when we perceive a chance of failure in the future. When we’re fearful we’re less likely to perform at our best, making us more likely to fail. Rinse and repeat. Our biology also contributes to feelings of fear. The Amygdala , part of our brain stem, is a primitive component of our brain responsible for communicating basic needs. It sends two types of failure-focused alerts: “we are in need of something”keep readingEmbracing fear and failure

We all have good ideas, but people who create lasting change dedicate themselves to ideas with impact. Impact means change beyond our immediate environment. We can’t know exactly how much impact our ideas will have, but there are ways to ensure we’re starting off on the right foot. For starters, we can establish goals to keep our project on track. It’s deceptively simple, but taking the time to develop practical and precise goals and pausing regularly to consider how we’re addressing them makes a huge difference in our potential for impact. What’s the problem? To begin, we need to focus on thekeep readingConstruct a solid vision to boost your impact

Having a good idea is just the start of innovation. It’s hard to be successful without also garnering interest from your team and community. This post was first published at workingexamples.org. … keep readingInterest through empathy: Why listening matters

For years I have wondered if games really can change behavior. Something intuitive tells me it’s true, but the industry is only beginning to mature enough to offer long-term proof of success. … keep readingGamification without gratification

We spend a lot of time with type that we’re unaware of its subtleties. Serifs, descenders and em dashes all have attributes that affect us in ways we don’t consciously acknowledge. … keep readingBaskerville: A subtle seductress

I revel in failure. The size of a failure correlates with the size of the the opportunity it offers. Failure is how we learn. It helps us evolve and grow as individuals and as a society, which is why I was surprised to see  a very public aversion to failure at the Games for Change Festival last week. The festival attendees were roughly split between designers and educators, and everyone had come together to discuss the development of interactive experiences that enact real change. During one session, a teacher admonished game designers for producing what I, too, consider the scourgekeep readingReflecting on failure at games for change

I was reading recently about sustainability in the U.S. and abroad, and I was curious if  games could teach me about sustainability. Sust., a Scottish company, has created a pair of flash-based games that teach the basic concepts of sustainability. The games are a mix of short videos and interactive questions that ask the player to make responsible, eco-friendly decisions relating to building and lifestyle. In both these games by Sust. the Sustainability Meter is the scoring system, and it fluctuates depending on your answers to multiple choice questions. Sust. Environment Game explains the fundamentals of sustainability; location, energy usage, water usage, wastekeep readingGames for sustainability

There has been a large amount of talk lately about copyright infringement. SOPA and PIPA recently illustrated how ill-equipped the federal government is to handle the complexities and minutiae of maintaining an analog copyright system in a digital society. Recently, Banksy’s dispatch  – adapted from his books Cut it Out and Wall and Piece, eloquently articulated relationship between advertising, infringement and the plight of the modern consumer and starting me thinking. We are definitely in a transitional period (and perhaps we will forever be), because technology has changed a rate most senior and respected offices of government cannot maintain. With inadequate regulation, copyright infringement runs rampant online, governed mainly bykeep readingTrends in copyright infringement offer a lesson in merit

An interesting perspective on Gamification from designer and author Gabe Zichermann. He points out that people often ask, “Do games help children?”, instead of asking a more useful question, ” What kind of help do games provide?”. Evidence shows that at least part of the “help” games offer is an increase in fluid intelligence (i.e. critical thinking) because games continuously focus on 5 things that encourage growth of gray matter in the brain- seeking novelty, challenge yourself, thinking creatively, doing things the hard way, and networking. Combine that with the positive reinforcement that is intrinsic to games (we wouldn’t makekeep readingLearning is multiplayer