Repost: UPDATE: NUITEQ's Snowflake: Updated, improved, and retitled-- Snowflake MultiTeach®

I wrote a post published on October 13, 2013 about Snowflake ABC, a software suite of entertaining educational apps developed by NUITEQ®.

Fast forward to 2016, and I now work with NUITEQ® as a K-12 technology specialist, and realized that the post needed some updating.  So here's the update!

Many great improvements have been made by the NUITEQ® team since Snowflake ABC was released. Along with the changes came a new name, Snowflake MultiTeach®. 

Snowflake MultiTeach® was designed for multi-touch, multi-user displays and tables, but can be used on single-touch displays or traditional computers/laptops with a mouse. It works well for "front-of-class" presentations and has many features that support collaborative group work.



So what is new?

The Lessons app was added to the suite of applications, along with Nodes, a concept-mapping and presentation application that supports project and problem based learning, STEM, and STEAM.

The Lessons app is a powerful addition to Snowflake MultiTeach®.  Within this app,  teachers (and students) can build a variety of interactive, engaging lessons, learning games, and quizzes, with little effort. 

Snowflake MultiTeach® can support several lessons and apps running at the same time, using the Zones feature, which makes it ideal for students working in pairs or small groups.

To compliment the Lessons app, the online MultiTeach® Lessons Community  was developed to provide a way for teachers to share lessons they've created.  The lessons posted on the MultiTeach® Lessons Community can be accessed from within the Lessons home screen.  Lessons can be searched by subject and level and imported directly into the Lessons home screen.  

Lessons created with Snowflake MultiTeach® can be exported directly from the Lessons home screen to the MultiTeach® Lessons Community so they can be shared with others. Snowflake MultiTeach® and sign-up to the MultiTeach® Lessons Community is required for access.

To support teachers as they make the transition from single-touch whiteboards to multi-user displays, the MultiTeach® Pinterest site was created.  There you can find curated and regularly updated information about how to use Snowflake MultiTeach®, 21st century teaching and learning, free digital resources for the classroom, and much more.

For information about how teachers can integrate Snowflake MultiTeach® into their classrooms, take some time to read the following blog posts. Share with your peers!

Infuse Arts into STEM Projects Using Collaborative Touch Screen Technology

Collaborative STEM Education and Careers Exploration

How to MultiTeach®: Introduction to Snowflake MultiTeach® Nodes App

Differentiated instruction through Snowflake MultiTeach®

Like what you see?

If you are interested in replacing your current single-touch interactive whiteboard with a multi-touch display, contact a representative fromNUITEQ® by following the email link on the website, and you will be connected to someone in your region who can assist you. 

(Here is the old post for reference, scroll down to see information about ABC.)

Blast from the Past: My 2006 Post on Virtual Reality and Convergence with Gaming Technologies.

I started this blog in 2006-- and I do plan to get into the routine of blogging more more frequently.  

I'd love to update the posts that were the most popular in the past,  and add links and resources that reflect what is going on with interactive multimedia technology in 2016.

So much has evolved since I started this blog!

2006:  Virtual Reality & Convergence with Game Technology

Note:  Some of the links are broken.

FYI:

I still write blog posts from time to time.

Here are links to the blog post I've written for NUITEQ® about collaborative interactive technologies:

COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY IN A 1:1 WORLD

HOW TO USE TOUCH SCREEN TECHNOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY CLASSROOM

HOW TO MULTITEACH®:  INTRODUCTION TO SNOWFLAKE MULTITEACH® Nodes APP

Highlights from UIST 2015 - Animatronics + Digital Storytelling and More!

I recently attended the 28th ACM User Interface Software and Technology Symposium (UIST2015), held in Charlotte, N.C.   Although the focus of the conference was not on educational interfaces, a good number of the presentations and demos were related to education in some way.


I've been looking at ways newer technologies can take a bigger role in education, something that is important, given the spread of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) in K-12 settings.  The STEM/STEAM approach requires students to work collaboratively through project-based learning activities designed to support a variety of skills that they will need as university students-- and beyond.

The focus of this year's UIST Student Innovation Contest  session was storytelling and animatronics!

According to info from the UIST website: "Schools and museums are starting to offer experimental Animatronics classes where kids build furry robotic animals and use them to tell amazing stories. These courses blur traditional lines - between art and engineering, between the virtual and physical worlds - all while demonstrating the universality of creativity across disciplines. Everybody learns how to write stories, build mechanisms, program motions, provide voice performances, etc. In this way, kids see how it all works together, and it has a way of inspiring kids to see new career possibilities."

I was delighted to see so many kid-friendly interfaces.  The first one that caught my eye was "ZOOO".

The ZOOO platform supports digital storytelling through the creation and use of electronic stage, computer-assisted animated puppets, and an a easy-to-use visual software programming environment.  ZOOO would appeal to teachers who are implementing project-based STEAM activities with their students.

I liked the visual design of the programming interface, which can be accessed through a touch-screen.  ZOOO was created by a team of students at the IInterdisciplinary Program of Information Art & Design, Academy of Arts & Design,Tsinghua University, China.

Another demo that caught my eye was Show-Flow. Show-Flow is a software tool designed to create a non-linear animatronic puppet show.  In the following video, the story is entitled "Zee's Mystery": 


The Show-Flow software was created by Nuirit Kirshenbaum, and is available for download on github.

So where is all of this headed?

In today's K-12 classrooms following the Common Core Standards, STEM/STEAM subjects are often integrated into the English/Language Arts curriculum.  Reading instruction is very important, but new ways of teaching and learning are taking hold, such as project-based learning.   Projects are interdisciplinary in nature and require careful planning on the part of teachers---and also require plenty of space for students to communicate, collaborate, brainstorm, design, and share ideas.   

In some schools, teachers are finding that laptops, productivity software, and multimedia resources on the web are good for supporting project based learning activities, but there are limitations. Teachers can't always see what is going on with the students, and laptop screens don't allow for more than two children, at best, to easily see content and collaborate. 

What is exciting is that many schools are thinking beyond 2015.  Tired of the cost of replacing projector bulbs and "touchy" interactive whiteboards, some schools are embracing solutions that are likely to support authentic collaboration -- for example, the picture below shows young children on a Clear Touch display running NUITEQ's Snowflake MultiTeach software.  

In a classroom setting, NUITEQ's Snowflake MultiTeach software can support students working individually or in collaborative groups.  Teachers can create a variety of game-like lessons using the versatile Lessons App.    With the multi-touch, multi-user  Clear Touch display, teachers can orient the screen to meet the needs of the students - upright in an interactive presentation mode, at an angle for design and brainstorming activities, or horizontally, in a table mode.  

All of this is great for supporting science lab activities-- and also student collaboration and planning for STEAM projects. 

I'll be posting more about UIST 2015 highlights soon!

REFERENCES/RESOURCES

UIST 2015
Conference Website

ZOOO

毛成鹏 Chengpeng Mao

清华大学美术学院 信息艺术设计系
Interdisciplinary Program of Information Art & Design, Academy of Arts & Design,Tsinghua University
Mobile  (+86)155-011-21372
Beijing• China  100084
Email  adrainmao@gmail.com

SHOW-FLOW
Nuirit Kirshenbaum

NUITEQ 

Snowflake MultiTeach

MultiTeach Pinterest
MultiTeach Lessons Community

CLEAR TOUCH
Clear Touch Interactive Experience




Disclosure: I am a K-12 Technology Specialist with NUITEQ.

Men's Interest Section at Barnes and Noble: Girls Not Allowed?

I was browsing at a Barnes & Noble in Charlotte, N.C. this weekend and was surprised when I looked up to see that I was in the "Men's Interest" section.  Is this the message the bookseller wants to give to half of its potential customers?  


I don't think it was intentional.  It was just one of many subtle- and not-so-subtle - reminders that our society has a long way to go to encourage females, of any age, to consider computing and related technical fields of work and study.


Although women have made inroads in fields such as law and medicine, this is not true for many technical fields.  According to a thoughtful article written by Rane Johnson-Stempson, of Microsoft Research, a study by the Computing Research Association indicated that female students were only 14% of computer science graduates in the U.S. in 2011.  The under-representation of women in computer science and related technical fields in 2012 continues to be a problem, on many levels. 
RELATED
Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing was published about ten years ago. The book was an outgrowth of the research of Allan Fisher and Jane Margolis, of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and is still worth reading.



Getting more women into computer science
Connie Glasser, Atlanta Business Journal, 5/11/12
"Just when we need every available gifted mind to help business recover from the Great Recession, we can't afford to overlook the contributions that women could make if CS environments were more inclusive."




Addressing the Need for More Women in Computer Science Programs
Rane Johnson-Stempson, Microsoft Research Connections Team, 2/3/12


Breaking the Brogrammer Code: Margo Seltzer's View on Women in Computer Science
Morgen E. Peck, Txchnologist, 6/27/12



Marissa Mayer on Women in Tech: CNET's CES 2012 Panel (January, 2012)
"Right now it is a good time for women to be in tech, but there are not a lot of women in tech..."



Giving Women the Access Code
Katie Hafner, New York Times, 4/2/12


Percent of Bachelors going to Women: Not getting better among Computing Disciplines
Computing Education Blog, 5/11/12

Presentation: Unlocking the Clubhouse:  Developing Software Education and Practices for Diverse Beginners, Jen Myers, 11/19/11

Unlocking the Clubhouse: Developing Software Education and Practices for Diverse Beginners from Jen Myers

Why are there so few women in Computer Science?
A Syster, Best of Systers Blog, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology


Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology

National Center for Women and Information Technology

Quirky, Fun Webisode from Dot Diva (a website that encourages young women to pursue careers in technology)

I've been looking over my enormous archive of links and resources for this blog and thought I'd share some of the things that I planned on posting, but never did.  I have small collection of resources from organizations that provide support for young women who are preparing for careers in computing and related technological fields.


The Dot Diva website is part of the New Image for Computing (NIC) initiative, a joint effort between the Association for Computing (ACM), Sandhandle Workshops/SandBlast! DBG, and WGBH.  According to promotional information, "Dot Diva's mission is to create an exciting and positive image of computing for high school girls. Our nationwide survey revealed that not only do the majority of girls think of computing as "boring" and "hard," but they believe it fails to deliver two crucial benefits: "working with others" and "making a difference in other people's lives." Our ultimate goal is to transform this negative perception." 


In the following video, two young women apply for jobs working at a mostly-male video game company.  They both are hired and the viewer is presented with some interesting characters and interactions.  The video makes light fun of all sorts of people in order to convey some important messages:


Dot Diva, The Webisode



More about Dot Diva:




RELATED
Dot Diva Resources
Dot Diva Resources for Educators and Parents
New Image for Computing press release (2008)
ACM-W Women in Computing


Info from the Image of Computing website:
Taskforce 
Director, Jill Ross, Image of Computing Task Force
Co-Chair, Rick Rashid, Sr. VP Research, Microsoft
Co-Chair, Dr. James Foley, Georgia Institute of Technology and Past Board Chair, CRA
Microsoft Corporation, www.microsoft.com
Hewlett Packard, www.hp.com
Intel Corporation, www.intel.com
CRA, Computing Research Association, www.cra.org
ACM, Association of Computing Machinery, www.acm.org
SIAM, Society of Industrial and Applied Mathematics, www.siam.org
IEEE-CS, www.computer.org/portal/site/ieeecs
USENIX, www.usenix.org
NCWIT National Center for Women in Information Technology, www.ncwit.org
ATLAS Institute, www.colorado.edu/ATLAS/
Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, www.aaai.org

Make and Share Your Games Online! Update: Game Creator and the Cartoon Network Website

I came a cross the Cartoon Network's Game Creator website a couple of years ago and thought I'd take a look at how it has grown since my last peek.  If you are a kid, educator, or parent, take a look at the updated links below. 


As I mentioned in a previous post, some educators might frown upon games and cartoon-related content.  The combination of games + cartoons might not be so bad, especially when the activity is something that can be shared in a social context.  By participating in the creation of digital games, young people are provided with skills that might just entice them to consider learning more about STEM-related fields.  (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math)


About Game Creator
According to the website, the Cartoon Network's Game Creator is "an application that gives you the power to create your own action games and share them with the world. It leads you through a simple, six-step process and gives you a set of easy-to-use tools to customize your game however you wish. When you finish building a game, you can send it to Cartoon Network's game gallery for other fans to play and rate. The gallery makes it easy for you to play other people's games, rate them, sort them and even share them with your friends."


Ben 10 Game Creator
Parent Information   (Ben 10 Game Creator Website)
Clone Wars Game Creator
Parent Information (Clone Wars Game Creator)
Batman Game Creator
Parent Information (Batman Game Creator)
Game Creator Central

Cartoon Network

RELATED

Game Creators and Cartoon Network: More Games to Create, Play, and Share Online

Lynn Marentette, Interactive Multimedia Technology, 4/25/10

Ben 10 Alien Force Game Creator from Cartoon Network:  Social Game Creation Online for Kids!

Lynn Marentette, Interactive Multimedia Technology, 7/13/09

SOMEWHAT RELATED

MIXIT Video Creator  (Cartoon Network)

Cartoon Network International Sites

Flash Classroom Jeopardy Game Maker

10 Truths About Books and What They Have to Do With Video Games
James Paul Gee, 5/15/11
"There are 10 key truths we know about books. They happen to be equally true of other "meaning making technologies" like television and video games. Thus, in these 10 ways, books and video games are the same." -James Paul Gee

Are girls allowed in Google's tool shop? Just wondering.

Today I read an article in my local paper about Google workshops that provide a few select employees opportunities to create things with state-of-the art "shop" tools.  I went on to the Google blog and read the following post:


Google Workshops: a place for Googlers to get their hands dirty


Are girls allowed?  Just wondering.


I hope that the percentage of women who access the Google workshops is on par with the percentage of females who are employed at Google. 


Although there have been efforts to increase the number of females who pursue careers in engineering, computer science, and related technical fields, progress has been slow.  If you walk through an "average" high school, you are likely to find that there are few female student enrolled in classes such as computer programming, computer-assisted design (CAD), or engineering technology.   



RELATED
Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics


Engineering Your Life: A guide to engineering for high school girls


Get Smart Get WISE (Women in Information Science and Engineering, North Carolina Technology Association)


IEEE Women in Engineering


NCWIT: National Center for Women and Information Technology
"In 2009 women earned only 18 percent of all CS [computer science] degrees. Back in 1985, women earned 37 percent of CS degrees."

WEPAN:  Women in Engineering ProActive Network
Record number of girls to take part in Tech Challenge 2011
Sandeep Ravindran, Mercury News, 4/28/11


Women in Engineering:  21 Remarkable Stories
MichiganEngineering, University of Michigan

FYI:

I am old enough to remember a time when girls were strongly discouraged from taking shop classes.  In my case, when I was in high school,  I was told that auto mechanics courses were not appropriate for college-bound students.  My only option was to take a short powder puff mechanics class in the summer!   Despite scoring at the top of the scale on a measure of mechanical reasoning, I was steered towards pursuing a career in a helping profession.   

Algodoo physics app. for the SMART Board 800 series, supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction!

A few years ago, I came across "Phun", a free, hands-on application designed for use in science education.  I was impressed, and had the chance to use it with a few students.    Phun was Emil Ernerfeldt's MSc Computer Science project, created at the VR lab at Umeå Universityin Sweden, under the supervision of Kenneth Bodin. 


Phun is now known as Algodoo, and is part of the family of applications offered by Algoryx, a company that develops multi-physics and 3D simulation software.  As you can see from the recent video below, it has improved over the years.  The most recent news is that the application was transformed for use on the SMART Board 800 series, and supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction.  


One of the reasons that I like Algodoo is that it supports social interaction during learning activities, something that can enhance deeper learning among students.  It allows students to move and work in a "hands-on" fashion.  In schools that have invested stimulus money on technology and now have limited funds for upgrading traditional science equipment, applications such as Algodoo will most likely provide a good "bang for the buck".


Algodoo: Science education for a new generation

"Algodoo is a totally unique program. A program that gives you the opportunity to play with physics - using your own hands. Apply a constructionists learning paradigm, learning by doing. Use simple drawing tools to design, construct and explore with. Sounds like an interesting idea? Watch this video and learn how!" -Algoryx


Algodoo demonstration on a SMART Board 800 multi-touch/multiuser interactive whiteboards:





RELATED
Alogryx Simulation integrates Algodoo application with the SMART Board 800 series Smart Technologies
Algodoo website
Algoryx Multiphsyics and 3D Simulation website


Information about Phun, an earlier version of Algodoo:

You can download the music used in the videos and the Phun application from the following URL: http://www.phunland.com/download/Phun_theme.mp3

Video of original version: Phun - 2D physics sandbox:


Interactive Physics: Algodoo, the educational version of Phun, optimized for the Classmate PC (Interactive Multimedia Technology, 1/16/09)



Engaged Learning and Social Physics: Phun, an Interactive 2D Physics Sandbox
Interactive Multimedia Technology, 6/08/08

Interview with Don "Design of Everyday Things" Norman on Design Education: STEM+D+Social Sciences, Too! (MIT Technology Review)

The Problem with Design Education

David Talbot, MIT Technology Review, 4/6/11

"I think that the current emphasis on STEM—science, technology, engineering, and math—needs a "D," for design. Designers need to learn STEM (where S includes both the hard and the soft, social sciences). But similarly, engineers need to learn D: after all, the point of engineering is to develop things for people and society."-Don Norman


"...the creators of good products and services also must have a working knowledge of everything from the technical underpinnings of microprocessors and programming to the policy aspects of information security."  -Don Norman


RELATED
Some of my previous posts mentioning Don Norman and his work:
Words of Wisdom from Harry Brignull: UX Roots in Psychology, Design, Information Architecture, and so much more!
Essential Interaction Design Essays and Articles: Dan Saffer's Lists, Don Norman, and Interactions Magazine
Don Norman's Keynote at the 21st Century Transmedia Symposium "Design Challenge:  Co-creation" (New technologies allow creativity to blossom)
The Transdisciplinary Design Approach to Building an Interfaced World: A smattering ofideas, food for further thought.
Dr. Jan Borchers' (Annotated) Top Ten List of Books on Human-Computer Interaction -Of interest to HCI students and HCI students-at-heart.

SOMEWHAT RELATED
The following post generated a good deal of unexpected discussion ; )
For a Smile:  Gain Detergent Container Looks Like Don Norman's User-Unfriendly Teapot

Below is my final response to the conversation:
The UX of Laundry Washing:  Response to Comments and Videos of Gain Detergent Fans!

Plug for Computer Science in Education Week: Informative series of short video clips, resources, and links to promote understanding of the importance of computer science and related fields

This week is Computer Education in Education Week, part of an effort of ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and CSTA (Computer Science Teachers Association) to promote awareness of the importance of computer science education in K-12 education. CSTA developed a series of short videos to share with students as part of this effort. The videos highlight the multitude of ways that computer scientists impact our world. In my opinion, the videos would be appropriate for sharing with parents, teachers, school counselors, school administrators, and school board members.

Computer Science and Entertainment


Computer Science and the Environment


Computer Science and Communications


Computer Science and Medicine


Computer Science and Empowerment


To dig deeper into this topic, read Running On Empty: The Failure to Teach K-12 Computer Science in the Digital Age (pdf)

RELATED
CSEd: Computer Science in Education Week
Computing in the Core
Computer Science in Education Facebook Page
Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
ACM/CSTA's Recommendations
A Model Curriculum for K-12 Computer Science (PDF)
Google: Exploring Computational Thinking
ACM Computing Careers Website

Cross-posted on the Tech Psych blog.

Digital Media & Learning Competition Awards

2010 Digital Media and Learning Competition Winners (pdf)


"The Digital Media and Learning Competition, now in its third year, is an annual effort designed to find — and to inspire — the most novel uses of new media in support of learning. In May 2010, the Competition recognized 10 projects that employ games, mobile phone applications, virtual worlds, and social networks to create learning labs for the 21st Century — environments that help young people learn through exploration, interaction and sharing."
-MacArthur Foundation/HASTAC 


2010 Winners, 21st Century Learning Lab
CLICK! The Online Spy School: Engaging Girls in STEM Activities, Peer Networking, and Gaming- Emily Sturman, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, PA.
ECOBUGS- Stephen Sayers, Futurelab Education, Bristol, UK.
FAB@SCHOOL: A Digital Laboratory for the Classroom- Glen Bull, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.
Hole-in-the-Wall: Activity Based e-Learning for Improving Elementary Education in India - Hole-in-the Wall Education Limited, New Delhi, India
Metrovoice: About/In/By Los Angeles - Ann Bray, LA Freewaves, Los Angeles, CA
Mobile Action Lab: Programming Apps for Collaborative Community Change- Elisabeth Soep, Youth Radio-Youth Media International, Oalkand, CA
NOX No More: Connecting Travel Logs with Simulation, Gaming, and Environmental Education- Rosanna Garcia, Northeastern University, Boston, MA
Conservation Connection: From the West Side to the West Pacific-Joshua Drew, The Field Museum, Chicago, IL
Scratch & Share: Collaborating with Youth to Develop the Next Generation of Creative Software- Mitchel Resnick, MIT Media LAb, Cambridge, MA
Youth Applab- Leshell Hately, Uplift, Inc. Washington, DC


About the Competition


RELATED
Press Release Via Serious Games Market and the MacArthur Foundation

Global Competition Selects 10 Innovative Digital Media & Learning Projects to Share $1.7 Million (Digital Media & Learning, Press Releases- May 12, 2010)
Washington, DC) — Ten winners of the MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition were announced today at a celebration of National Lab Day in Washington, DC, to promote science, technology, engineering and math across the country. Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and administered by the virtual network of learning institutions HASTAC, the competition winners will share $1.7 million in funding to use games, mobile phone applications, virtual worlds, and social networks to create the learning labs of the 21st century. Winners include a project to show youth-produced videos on 2,200 Los Angeles city buses; the next generation of a graphical programming language that allows young people to create their own interactive stories, games, and animations; and an online game that teaches kids the environmental impact of their personal choices. 

“Digital technologies are helping us to re-imagine learning,” said Connie Yowell, MacArthur’s Director of Education. “In the digital age, the learning environment is turned on its head — it’s no longer just the dynamic of the student, the teacher and the curriculum. Today, kids learn and interact with others — even from around the world — every time they go online, or play a video game, or engage through a social networking site. This Competition is helping us to identify and nurture the creation of learning environments that are relevant for kids today and will prepare them for a 21st century workforce.”

Now in its third year, the Competition is an annual effort to find — and to inspire — the most novel uses of new media in support of learning. This year it was launched in collaboration with President Obama’s Educate to Innovate initiative, challenging designers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and researchers to create learning labs for the 21st century, digital environments that promote building and tinkering in new and innovative ways. 

Other winners of the global Digital Media and Learning Competition include:

•Conservation Connection: Using webcasting, video blogging and social networking sites, this project connects kids from Chicago’s West Side with kids in Fiji to work together to protect Fijian coral reefs; 

•Mobile Action Lab: Combining the expertise of social entrepreneurs and technologists and the knowledge and ideas of Oakland, CA-based teens, this project helps develop mobile phone applications that serve Oakland communities. 

•Click! The Online Spy School: Designed to encourage girls engagement in the sciences, Click!Online is a web-based, augmented reality game for teen girls to solve mysteries in biomedical science, environmental protection, and expressive technology. 

•Download a complete list of the competition winners (PDF, 12 pages) »

This year’s application process included an opportunity for public comment, which allowed applicants to collaborate with others and improve their submissions prior to final review. Of the more than 800 applications from 32 countries, 67 finalists were asked to submit videos of their projects for a final round of judging. Winners were selected from this pool by a panel of expert judges that included scholars, educators, entrepreneurs, journalists, and other digital media specialists.

The Competition is funded by a MacArthur grant to the University of California, Irvine, and to Duke University and is administered by the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC). The Competition is part of MacArthur’s digital media and learning initiative designed to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. Answers are critical to education and other social institutions that must meet the needs of this and future generations.

"The winning projects exhibit a wonderful creativity in developing learning platforms and environments that promote participatory and collaborative engagements for kids to learn with and from each other in their everyday engagements,” said Cathy N. Davidson, of Duke University, Co-founder of HASTAC along with David Theo Goldberg, of the University of California Humanities Research Institute. “We are witnessing the profound transformation in how young people will be learning in the future, and these projects are helping to lead the way," noted Goldberg.

Winners of the Competition were drawn from two categories: 21st Century Learning Lab Designers ($30,000 to $200,000) and Game Changers ($5,000 to $50,000). Learning Lab Designer award winners, which were announced today, will share $1.7 million for learning environments and digital media-based experiences that allow young people to grapple with social challenges through activities based on the social nature, contexts, and ideas of science, technology, engineering and math. Game Changers awards, which are to be announced on May 25th at the 2010 Games for Change festival, will share $250,000 for creative levels designed with either LittleBigPlanet™ or Spore™ Galactic Adventures. The games offer young people learning opportunities as well as engaging play. Each category includes several Best in Class awards selected by expert judges, as well as a People’s Choice Award to be selected by the general public in late May. 

Detailed information about the winning projects and the Competition is available at http://www.dmlcompetition.net.

2010 SID (Society for Information Display) International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition: Display Week

 I love interactive displays, and if I could, I'd attend the following conference:

2010 International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition
May 23 - May 28, 2010
Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, WA, USA

The SID International Symposium, Seminar and Exhibition, now in its 48th year, is the premier international gathering of scientists, engineers, manufacturers, and users in the electronic-display industry.

The event provides access to a wide range of technology and applications from high-definition flat-panel displays using both emissive and liquid-crystal technology to the latest in OLED displays, flexible displays, and large-area projection-display systems. This is where to find state-of-the-art information on image processing, systems software and display processor hardware, human factors and applied vision, and exciting new applications such as multimedia and the electronic cinema.

As the must-see event for the worldwide information-display industry, the SID International Symposium, Seminar, and Exhibition is host to hundreds of exhibitors and thousands of attendees each year.

The hours of the 2010 exhibition are:

Tuesday, May 25 10:30 am - 6:30 pm
Wednesday, May 26 3 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Thursday, May 27 4 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

Key Dates
FAQ's

Courses offered during Display Week:

Times	2AB	3AB
Wednesday, May 26
8:30 - 10:00	A-1: Emerging Touch Applications Geoff Walker NextWindow	A-2: Flexible Display Technologies and Their Applications Ruiqing Ma Universal Display Corp.
10:30 - 12:00	A-3: Various Light Sources for General Lighting Sungkyoo Lim Dankook University	A-4: Mobile Multimedia Displays Jyrki Kimmel Nokia Research Center
3:30 - 5:00	A-5: Introduction to PicoProjectors Ian Underwood University of Edinburgh	A-6: Image Sources for Near-to-Eye Display Applications James Melzer

3D In-Home Cinema:
"A special 3-D Cinema Event will be held on Tuesday, May 25, from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. 3-D film shorts will be exhibited stereoscopically on a special 30-ft. silver screen, with featured talks by 3-D filmmakers and other members of the rapidly growing industry. Attendance at this session is free for anyone that is registered for the Tuesday-Friday Symposium. The fee for attending only this session is $100 ($15 for full-time Students or Life Members). The fee includes refreshments, plus access to both the Symposium Keynote Session on Tuesday morning and the Exhibit Hall, enabling 3-D film enthusiasts to see the cutting edge in display technology that is bringing 3-D into the home."


I'd like to highlight the people who will receive awards and honors during the conference:

Awards & Honors

EACH YEAR, the Society for Information Display (SID) honors individual scientists and researchers for outstanding achievements in the field of electronic information displays and for outstanding service to the Society. Only a small number of the preeminent members of the industry are nominated and fewer still are finally chosen as recipients. This year's winners will be honored during Display Week 2010 at the annual awards banquet to be held on Monday evening, May 24, prior to the Symposium.

	Name: Dwight Berreman Award: Jan Rajchman Citation: For his many contributions to understanding electro-optic effects in liquid crystals and especially for his pioneering work on developing the 4 x 4 matrix method for simulating and optimizing the electro-optical properties of LCDs.
	Name: Philip Bos Award: Slottow Owaki Prize Citation: For his pioneering educational efforts in the field of LCDs, including the development of curriculum and student research topics for the latest LCD-technology innovations for high-speed response, bistable operation, the design of wide-viewing-angle films, and diffractive devices.
	Name: Frederic Kahn Award: Karl Ferdinand Braun Citation: For outstanding innovative contributions to the development and commercialization of flat-panel LCDs and projection systems.
	Name: Makoto Maeda Award: Lewis and Beatrice Winner Citation: For his exceptional and sustained service to the Society for Information Display, especially his outstanding leadership as Chapter Chairman, Director, and Regional Vice-President, all of which contributed significantly to the growth of the Japan Chapter.
	Name: Eli Peli Award: Otto Schade Prize Citation: For his many outstanding contributions to vision science and their application to image-quality evaluation and enhancement, including pioneering efforts in improving display performance for populations with special visual needs.
	Name: Wei Chen Award: Fellow Citation: For his many contributions to the advancement of liquid-crystal displays, including the pioneering development and commercialization of high-performance LCD computer monitors, multi-touch displays, and computer displays with LED backlights.
	Name: Edward Kelley Award: Fellow Citation: For his outstanding leadership in the theory, methods, and technology of display metrology and his many contributions to international flat-panel-display standards.
	Name: Haruhiko Okumura Award: Fellow Citation: For his outstanding contribution to the research and development of TFT-LCD driving technologies, especially overdrive and low-power technologies and for significant contributions to the advancement of the display community.
	Name: Roger Stewart Award: Fellow Citation: For his many contributions to display science and technology, including the first amorphous-silicon TFT-LCDs with integrated scanners ("SASID"), the first single-crystal silicon active-matrix EL displays, polysilicon AMLCDs, and compensation circuits for AMOLEDs, and for his creativity in TFT-LCD design.
	Name: Andrew Watson Award: Fellow Citation: For his outstanding contributions to both basic and applied vision science, including applications to image quality metrics, image compression, and psychophysically based display measurements.
	Name: Joyce Farrell Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For her outstanding contributions to the human factors of imaging systems and technology, including the development of the first successful quantitative metric for display flicker and for her exceptional service to the Society for Information Display.
	Name: Hiroki Hamada Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For his outstanding contributions to the development of display devices including red laser diodes and polysilicon TFT-LCD light-valves for projectors.
	Name: Michio Kitamura Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For leading technical and entrepreneurial contributions in putting simulation techniques to practical use as a standard tool for designing LCDs.
	Name: James Larimer Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For his many contributions to vision science related to displays and image quality, including the development of display-performance algorithms.
	Name: Ryuichi Murai Award: Special Recognition Award Citation: For his leading contributions to the research and development of large-sized plasma displays, especially his commercialization of the 103-in.-diagonal PDP.
Special Recognition Award Citation: For the technical and commercial development of high-dynamic-range displays and the pioneering of local-dimming display technology. Names: Helge Seetzen, Gregory Ward, Lorne Whitehead
	Helge Seetzen
	Gregory Ward
	Lorne Whitehead
Special Recognition Award Citation: For their outstanding contribution to the development and commercialization of super-large-area film-type display, utilizing technology that incorporates an array of plasma tubes. Names: Kenji Awamoto, Manabu Ishimoto, Tsutae Shinoda
	Kenji Awamoto
	Manabu Ishimoto
	Tsutae Shinoda

NOTE:

I sometimes use this blog as a resource for supporting career education activities for high school students.  By sharing information about the people behind various technologies, I hope to inspire young people to consider careers in STEM-related fields. (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics.)