MindHabits' Happy Games Paired with Pharrell William's "Happy" Music!

We all could use more smiling people and happy music!

If you are looking for a short burst of happiness, try playing the free MindHabits demo games. I recommend the Matrix Trainer for starters. You can uncheck the "email" box if you don't want to sign up for the newsletter.

The games have upbeat music playing in the background, but you can listen to your own music. In the Matrix game, the objective is to tap as many happy faces that you can find, out of a number of frowny or sad faces.   The research shows that this is an effective way of reducing stress.  I have used the on-line version for years with students who have autism, and it is a fun and effective way of "training" them to focus on facial features and expressions.

The desktop version of the suite of games is just under $20.00, and is available for Windows and Macs.   The desktop version tracks data and and allows users to customize the games with their own photos.   

I am about to explore MindHabit's new mobile apps: Psych Me Up PRO! and Happy Cat! 

If you work with young people - special needs or otherwise, try playing the on-line demo with Pharrell William's "Happy" song in the background (see music video embedded below). 

 This is something that wouldn't hurt to try at home!  

You are playing the MindHabits Trainer online demo. Your progress will not be logged beyond this session. Copyright © 2008 MindHabits inc. inc l rights Reserved.

Note: 
I am sharing information about MindHabits because I have been following this company since 2005, when Dr. Mark Baldwin, the lead creator of the suite of games, gave a presentation.   Dr. Baldwin is a psychology professor at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He has devoted his career to the study of social intelligence, and more recently, how technology can help people reduce stress, build self-confidence, and development, and maintain positive states of mind.



According to the MindHabits website, the Psych Me Up Pro!   ($.99) and PsychMeUp! (free) mobile apps were developed to help people focus attention on positive social feedback. A quiz is included with the application, as well as information about the research that supports the use of the games.  The "pro" version has more options.

The children's version of PsychMeUp! is Happy Cat.  The objective is to find the happy cats and ignore the grumpy cats.  The smiling cat will meow.

HOW MINDHABITS WORKS

RELATED

MindHabits Game Tips

MindHabits FAQ

MindHabits Update
Lynn Marentette, Interactive Multimedia Technology, 2/24/08

McEwan, K., Gilbert, P., Dandeneau, S., Lipka, S., Maratos, F., Paterson, K.B., Baldwin, M. (2014) Facial Expressions Depicting Compassionate and Critical Emotions: The Development and Validation of a New Emotional Face Stimulus Set. PLOS One DOI: 10.1317/journal.pone.0088783

Dandeneau, S. D., Baldwin, M. W. (2009) The buffering effects of rejection-inhibiting training against social and performance threats in adult students. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 42-50

Stephane D. Dandeneau, Mark W. Baldwin, Jodene R. Baccus, and Maya Sakellaropoulo, Jens C. Pruessner (2007), Cutting Stress Off at the Pass: Reducing Vigilance and Responsiveness to Social Threat by Manipulation of Attention (pdf) Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2007, Vol. 93, No. 4, 651–666 American Psychological Association 0022-3514/07/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.93.4.651

The Uncanny Valley is Here! Activision's real-time character demo is chillingly real. (Not an April 1st joke.)

Up with Activision in the Uncanny Valley

I first heard the term 'uncanny valley' about eight or nine years ago when I was taking a 3D-modeling class.  At that time, the technology available was not close to reaching this valley - where robots or computer-generated characters are so real that they are almost repulsive.

A lot has changed over the years.

The following video, recently featured by Activision Blizzard during the 2013 Game Developer Conference, has attracted much attention in just a few days, partly because it is so real.



Although I noticed that a little more work needs to be done with the teeth, I was impressed. I liked the quality of the eye shaders that were used in the creation of this demo.  Examples of faces created with this feature turned on and off can be found on Jorge Jimenez' blog.  Jorge's slides from a 2012 course offered during SIGGRAPH provide additional information.

Computer processers have become powerful enough to handle quite a lot of processing, and the tech world has been spreading the word. Below is a presentation by Jen-Hsun Huang, CEO of Nvidia, about the company's work simulate the human face, touching on the 'uncanny valley':


Although the use of this technology to create characters, realistic on many levels, seems to be a bit creepy, it might be OK after some refinement.  There are a few questions that remain unanswered.   What would be the impact on children or teens who might spend many hours each week playing games with such realistic characters?  I'd hate to have a nightmare featuring one of these guys!

I think that this technology might have some potential for use in serious games and simulations, such as preparing emergency workers to handle a variety of realistic scenarios. Games with realistic digital characters, capable of generating a range of facial expressions, might be useful to support the learning of social interaction skills among young people with autism spectrum disorders.


RELATED/SOMEWHAT RELATED
Is It Real?  With New Technology Has Activision Crossed the 'Uncanny Valley'?
Eyder Peralta, the two-way, NPR, 3/28/13
Activision Reveals Animated Human That Looks So Real, It's Uncanny
Charlie White, Mashable, 3/28/13
Karl F. MacDorman's Writings (some focus on the uncanny valley)
Advances in Real-Time Rendering in Games Course (SIGGRAPH2012)
Separable Subsurface Scattering and Photorealistic Eyes Rendering (pptx)
Jorge Jimenez, Presenter, SIGGRAPH 2012)
Next Generation of Character Rendering Teaser (pptx)
Jimenez and Team
Crossing the 'uncanny valley': Nvidia's Faceworks renders realistic human faces
Dean Takahashi, VB/Gamesbeat, 3/18/13
Real-Time Realistic Skin Translucency
Jimenez, J., Whealan, D., Sundstedt, V., Gutierrez, D IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 2010
Exploring the Uncanny Valley Research Website (Indiana University School of Informatics)
Gaze-based Interaction for Virtual Environments pdf
Jimenez, J., Gutierrez, D., Latorre, P.  Journal of Universal Computer Science
Mori, Masahiro (1970). Bukimi no tani [the uncanny valley] (K. F. MacDorman & T. Minato, Trans.). Energy, 7(4), 33-35. 
2013 GPU Technology Conference Keynote Presentations

Games for Health Conference: June 12-14, Hyatt Harborside Hotel, Boston, MA

Note: In conjunction with the Games for Health Conference, the Fourth Annual Games Accessibility Day, "Enabled Play", will be held on June 12th.


Here is the press release:

Games for Health Project Announces Keynotes for Its Annual Conference in Boston

April 04, 2012 – (Portland, Maine) – The Games for Health Project announced the keynote speakers for the eighth annual Games for Health Conference, the nation’s largest conference dedicate to videogames, health, and health care, which will be held June 12-14 in Boston.

The Games for Health Conference brings together hundreds of researchers, health professionals, and game developers to discuss a wide range of topics involving health and videogames.

Over three days, more than 400 attendees will participate in over 60 sessions led by an array of international speakers. Topics will include exergaming, physical therapy, disease management, health behavior change, biofeedback, rehab, epidemiology, training, nutrition, and health education.

The 2012 event adds new tracks on sensors and gamification to its traditional exercise, sensorimotor rehab, cognitive and emotional health, and nutrition games tracks.

Keynote speakers include:

Constance Steinkuehler Squire, senior policy analyst for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will discuss the opportunities for videogames to address national challenges, including those in health, health care, and biotechnology.

Bill Crounse, MD, senior director of worldwide health for Microsoft, will present “Connecting & Kinecting Health and Health Care,” which will explore how Microsoft and its partners are merging its information and game technologies to create global solutions for personal health and professional health care.

Jane McGonigal, New York Times bestselling author and co-founder of SuperBetter Labs, will highlight the design and release of SuperBetter, a game-based social application designed to help people boost personal resilience and lead healthier, longer, and more positive lives.

“In the last year, it’s been amazing to see the games for health field take some major leaps,” says Ben Sawyer, conference organizer and director of the Games for Health Project. “The number of new game-based solutions coming to market from entrepreneurs, game developers, research labs, and even the government is absolutely amazing. As biometric sensors like Nike Fuel and JawBone Up! take hold, we’re seeing entire new categories of games for health emerge. The Games for Health Conference is the best place to see and evaluate these and other future opportunities.”

The Games for Health Project will also hold three pre-conference events focusing on game accessibility, mobile games, and medical modeling with games.

“We are excited about how far the field and this conference have come,” says Paul Tarini, senior program officer for RWJF’s Pioneer Portfolio. “As a sponsor of the conference and the Games for Health Project, we believe the hard work put in by early adopters in this field is beginning to pay off. The new investments and approaches we’re seeing, informed by what is and isn’t working from years past, tells us that continued gatherings like the Games for Health Conference as well as the ongoing work of its related program, Health Games Research, are helping make the promise we see in videogames increasingly real.”

Learn more about the program of events and register for the conference today by visiting the conference web site.

About Games for Health
Founded in 2004, the Games for Health Project supports the development of the health games community, champions efforts to mainstream health games, and brings together researchers, medical professionals, and game developers to share information about the impact games and game technologies can have on health, health care, and policy. The Pioneer Portfolio of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is a major supporter of both the Games for Health Project and its annual Games for Health Conference.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and its Pioneer Portfolio
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing the United States. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. Projects in the Pioneer Portfolio are future-oriented and look beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and healthcare. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org/pioneer.

# # #

If you’d like to register now for Games for Health you can go directly to registration now.

Septris: A game to teach about Sepsis, plus resources and links

 According to a fact sheet from the Global Sepsis Alliance, sepsis "remains the primary cause of death from infection despite advances in modern medicine, including vaccines, antibiotics, and intensive care.  Sepsis, which is often misunderstood by the public as "blood-poisoning", is one of the leading cause of death around the world.  Sepsis arises when the body's response to an infection injures its own tissues and organs.  It may lead to shock, multiple organ failure, and death, especially if not recognized early and treated promptly.  Between on third and one half of patients with sepsis die...


...Rapid initiation of simple, timely interventions, including antimicrobials and intravenous fluids can halve the risk of dying. Patients with suspected sepsis should be referred immediately to an appropriate facility...Unfortunately, sepsis is still mostly overlooked and recognized too late"


SEPTRIS, a game about sepsis, was developed by a team of people from Stanford University.   The following article, written by Sara Wykes (Stanford School of Medicine), provides an in-depth account of the story behind the development of a game designed to teach medical professionals about sepsis:  Game on: Stanford develops new tool for teaching doctors to treat sepsis.



Credit:  "Dr. Septris"; Septris Screen Shot: Stanford University


Anyone can play Septris for free.  The link is optimize to run nicely on an iPad, iPhone, or Android, but can be accessed on a desktop through Firefox, Chrome, or Safari browsers.  If you are a medical professional and need CME credits, the fee for the certificate of completionis $20.00. The fee was waived for the first 100 users.


RELATED
Septris CME Website (Stanford)
Septris Game
Septris Technical Design & Development Team
Brian Tobin
Jamie Tsui
James Laird
Glenn Zephier


World Sepsis Declaration (pdf)
Sepsis Alliance
Global Sepsis Alliance
Pediatric Sepsis Initiative
STOP Sepsis Collaborative

Note:  Sepsis Awareness is now one of my "causes".  The first World Sepsis Day is September 13, 2012 and I plan to share information about this global health concern from time-to-time, and related to technology in some way.


Below is a picture of my 24-year-old daughter, her husband, and son on Friday, March 31, 2012.   At the time this picture was taken, she felt fine and had just walked about a mile and a half or so on a family stroll. She was in perfect health.  She woke up in the wee hours of April 1st with the signs of an infection, took something for her aches and pains, and went back to bed.



The next day, things were much worse. She didn't know it at the time, but her blood pressure was falling and the signs of sepsis were appearing.  Time was wasted going to an urgent care clinic. Fortunately she was referred to the E.R, where her her symptoms were identified.  She received excellent treatment at Matthews Presbyterian Hospital.  It took several days until she was stable, and she was hospitalized for one week.  Unlike many people who experience sepsis, she did not suffer tissue damage or shutdown of her organs. Her treatment was initiated early enough to prevent this from happening. 


Below is a picture of my daughter as she was beginning to recover.




UPDATE 7/15/12  
My daughter is doing much better, but she experienced a great deal of fatigue for several weeks following her hospitalization


I recently came across an article written in the New York Times, by Jim Dwyer, about Rory Staunton, a 12-year-old boy who died from a strep infection that resulted in a sepsis crisis that went untreated.  Unlike my daughter, Rory was discharged from the ER instead of being admitted for the intensive treatment that my daughter received. When his parents took him back to the hospital, it was too late. He died on April 1, 2012.  My daughter battling sepsis in the hospital in North Carolina on the very same day.


Although I am not a physician, I am sure that Rory's death could have been prevented, based on information in the article as well as information shared by Rory's parents on their website. 


To learn more about Rory's story, read the New York Time's article and a few of the comments. At the time of this update, over 1500 comments were listed on the NYT's website.


An Infection, Unnoticed, Turns Unstoppable
Jim Dwyer, New York Times, 7/11/12

Reaction to Column About a Boy Who Died
Jim Dwyer, New York Times, 7/14/12

Rory Staunton (Website created by Rory's parents)
Rory's sepsis crisis was the result of toxic shock from a Strep A infection.  Sepsis can also be the result of other types of infections. The main thing to know that  is that once sepsis sets in, the patient requires immediate and intensive treatment, guided by an infectious disease specialist.  

Future of Gaming Report SlideShare, from PSFK

PSFK"s Future of Gaming Report [Preview]

View text version                                      View more presentations from PSFK

RELATEDPSFK WebsiteGaming for Good - Piers Fawkes,  PSFK. 3/10/12

Immersive Learning for Math using DimensionU Games - new "Play, Learn and Earn" with an allowance component

Take a look at the latest development to DimensionU's interactive math games! Parents can track their children's progress and translate it into an allowance. Students who play the 3D multi-player games show significant improvement in their math skills.


Take a look at the videos below, and check out the website.


DimensionU's National Scholarship Tournament:


RELATED
DimensionU YouTube Channel
DimensionU Website
DimensionU for educators

MindHabits Online Demo: Useful Serious Game for Social Skills Group Activities

I'd like to share the on-line demo of MindHabit's suite of serious games that I've found useful in my work with teens and young adults who need support in the area of social-emotional skills. 


What I like about the online demo is that it adjusts to the player's responses. This feature made it fun to use during the last few social skills groups I facilitated at work, since it could be played by students with a range of cognitive abilities. I had students take turns playing the game using a SMARTboard, and found that all of the students paid attention to what was going on. In my opinion, using the interactive whiteboard supported "off-the-shoulder" learning among the students who were not at the board. 


MindGames is available for Windows and Macs, and the full version is just $19.99 and provides 100 game levels.  The full version tracks progress and includes four games.


Here's some information from the company's website:  
"Based on social intelligence research conducted at McGill University, these stress busting, confidence boosting games use simple, fun-to-play exercises designed to help players develop and maintain a more positive state of mind." 
 "Based on the principles of social intelligence: Inhibition - uses game mechanics to promote positive habits; Association - connects personal info to positive feedback; Activation - uses personal references"

You are playing the MindHabits Trainer online demo. Your progress will not be logged beyond this session. Copyright © 2008 MindHabits inc. All rights Reserved.

Upcoming: 

• Interview with Guillaume Largillier about Stantum's multi-touch tablet.
• Collaboration with Stevens Institute of Technology, focusing on a serious game project to support learning of "on-the-job" social skills for teens and young adults with autism spectrum disorders and related challenges.
• More news about large interactive displays, multi-touch, and gesture applications/installations.
• Cross-platform/device interactive "TV".
• Cathy Davidson's new book:  Now You See It: How The Brain Science of Attention Will Transform The Way We Live, Work, and Learn (Viking)

Today I hooked up a Wii to the IWB in the school's therapy room. Next - a Kinect?! (Angels are welcome to help us expand the school's "games" programs for students with special needs)

Today, I hooked up our school's Wii to the newly-installed IWB in the therapy room for the first time, and used it during a session for for a social-skills activity with two students who have autism spectrum disorders.  The students helped each other to create their own "Mii" avatars.  I had them play the bowling game, and was impressed how this activity elicited social conversation between the students, with minimal effort on my part.

Most of students in the program at Wolfe are in grades 6-12. They have cognitive, language, and motor delays.  A good number of the students also have autism spectrum disorders. Some have multiple special needs.

We have found that when our students are provided with interactive activities displayed on the large screen of an IWB, they tend to increase their level of attention to their peers and also communicate more with one-another, as well as with the teachers and staff.

By using an IWB for games at school, we are extending the reach of how this technology can be used with students who have more complex special needs.   By providing a means  for our students to learn to play positive games, we help them develop important physical, social, and leisure skills that they can use outside the school setting with non-disabled peers and siblings.  My hunch is that the games will also help promote cognitive/problem solving skills, too.

NOTE:
The funds to purchase the Wii were donated to our school, but did not cover additional games or accessories. We'd like to purchase Rock Band and Wii Fit. We'd also like to expand our program and purchase an Xbox with a Kinect.   An iPad or two would be OK, too : )

If there are any angels out there who'd like to donate funds for our "games" program at Wolfe, please contact me through my Google profile. I will connect you with the appropriate person.

Game designer/developers/researchers/students:
If you are interested in volunteering your efforts to work on a basic cooperative, pro-social game for the Kinect, SMARTTable, or interactive whiteboard, please contact me.

Serious Games in the K-16 Classroom: Google Tech Talks Video, via Jonathan Brill

In the following video, Victoria Van Voorhis discusses educational software and the Serious Games in Education movement:




Thanks to Jonathan Brill for the link!


SOMEWHAT RELATED
Below is a presentation I gave at the 2008 Games for Health conference:

Descriptions, stories, and links related to the screen shots of the first slide of the above presentation: (Some of the links may need to be updated.)

The science screen is an interactive 'gizmo' from Explore Learning. Something like this could be incorporated into an educational game. http://www.explorelearning.com


I’m pretty sure that the picture of the ancient building was from the VAST project, described in the article 'Reviving the past: Cultural Heritage meets Virtual Reality' by Anthanasios Gaitatzes, Dimitrious Cristopoulos, and Maria Roussou. (2002, ACM) The Foundation of the Hellenic World was involved with this project. http://www.fhw.gr/fhw/


Maria Roussou has been involved with a variety of interesting immersive projects: http://www.makebelieve.gr/mb/www/profile/index.html


The people from the Institute for Advanced Technologies in the Humanities at the University of Virginia are doing similar work through the Rome Reborn project:
http://www.romereborn.virginia.edu/




Note: I thought that it would be cool to have a game for health that integrated with history, so that students could learn about how people from the past handled health and diseases, and learn how scientists from the past came up with solutions that help us today.


The picture of the dragons on the space station was from a game called 'Relax to Win', created by Phil (gary?) McDarby and the MindGames team when he was at MediaLab Europe, which disbanded in 2005. Here is an article about Relax to Win, from 2002:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1972571.stm
McDarby now works as the creative officer of Vyro Games, which focus on stress management.
Rationale: Stress management games are good for health!
McDarby: http://www.vyro-games.com/company/phil_bio.php
Media Lab Europe and MindGames: http://medialabeurope.org/
Vyro Games: http://ww.vyro-games.com/


The cool geometric image was from a project from the Interactive Media Group, Vienna University of Technology: Educating Spatial Intelligence with Augmented Reality http://www.ims.tuwien.ac.at/research/spatial_abilities/
The project targeted high school geometry students, with a goal of increasing spatial ability and improving transfer of learning. The program is consistent with Universal Design for Learning principles.
I think that some of the applications involved in this application could be useful in games designed for cognitive rehabilitation or habilitation. Related to this project:  'An Application and Framework for Using Augmented Reality in Mathematics and Geometry Education': http://www.ims.tuwien.ac.at/research/construct3d/ and Hannes Kaufmann’s Dissertation: Geometry Education with Augmented Reality: http://www.ims.tuwien.ac.at/media/documents/publications/...


The remainder of the pictures:
The Cloud Game: http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/


The picture with the two people is from Kar2ouche, from Immersive Education. Kar2ouche is a creative role-play, picture making, story-boarding and animation software. It is enabled for use on interactive whiteboards: http://www.immersiveeducation.com/kar2ouche/


Hazmat HotZone is a multi-player simulation game used to train first responder teams: http://www.etc.cmu.edu/projects/hazmat_2005/


The underwater scene is from FreeDive, from FreeDive, that is used as a pain distractor. I also think it could be used for stress reduction for children.
http://www.breakawaygames.com/serious-games/solutions/hea...
The game pad is a DanceDance Revolution pad, used as an 'exergame' in many schools to combat the increase in numbers of students who are overweight or obese.


'Dance Dance Revolution: Healthy for Kids'
http://news.digitaltrends.com/news-article/12201/


The classroom scene is is from a virtual reality application:
Rizzo, A., Bowerly, T., Buckwalter, J., Klimchuk, D., Mitura, R., Parsons, T.D. (2006). A Virtual Reality Scenario for All Seasons: The Virtual Classroom. CNS Spectrums, 11, 1, 35-44. http://vrpsych.ict.usc.edu/

Virtual Reality Effectively Treats PTSD and Related Disorders: Skip Rizzo's TEDx Talk about promising interdisciplinary work at the Institute for Creative Technologies

-Skip Rizzo, Co-Director of the VRPSYCH Lab at the USC Institute of Creative Technologies (ICT)

Note: Skip's talk begins about 4 minutes into the presentation.


In this TEDx Talk video, Marilyn Flynn, Dean of the University of Southern California's School of Social Work, introduces Skip Rizzo, a research scientist and Co-Director of the VRPSYCH Lab at the USC  Institute of Creative Technologies (ICT).  Skip's research has focused on the use of virtual realty and related technologies for treatment and training purposes.

In this talk,  Skip provides an overview of the interdisciplinary research taking place at the Institute of Creative Technologies (ICT). Skip goes on to explain the urgency of ICT's current work, focusing on the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and other problems experienced by people who have sacrificed so much to serve our country in places of wars and conflicts such as Iraq and Afganistan.  Neary one-third of our military personnel are significantly at-risk for developing PTSD or other debilitating conditions that will negatively affect their functioning upon returning home.

Skip goes on to show how the latest VR (Virtual Reality) related technologies and applications combine with with evidence-based intervention and treatment strategies to successfully treat PTSD.  Recent research indicates that 75% of clients treated through 10 sessions of exposure therapy no longer exhibit clinical symptoms of the disorder. Given the numbers of people suffering from PTSD and related disorders, the potential for this treatment method holds promise.

Skip points out that one problem many veterans or their loved ones experience is that they are not aware that effective treatment is available.  Additionally, there are few therapists who are trained in the use of VR as a therapeutic tool.  By working with USC's School of Social Work, this may no longer be the case in the future.  Therapist can learn ways to provide effective evidence-based treatment through interacting with a "virtual human" application that uses an "intelligent" character that simulates the conversational exchanges that are likely to occur during treatment sessions. Additionally, the research behind this effort has resulted in the creation of an on-line system that includes virtual guides that can provide support and guidance to people suffering from PSTD in order to get them to engage in the treatment they require.


Here is information from the Institute of Creative Technologies regarding Skip Rizzo's TEDx USC Talk:
Skip Rizzo's TEDx USC Talk Now Online
"ICT’s Skip Rizzo spoke at this year’s TEDx USC conference and was introduced by Dean Marilyn Flynn of the USC School of Social Work. Video of their talk is now available for viewing on the TEDx Talk’s Channel on YouTube...Of the more than 1.6 million men and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly one-third are expected to return with disabling combat stress disorders that may affect some for a lifetime if left untreated.

Through and unlikely marriage of social work and cutting edge technology, the USC Institute for Creative Technologies and the USC School of Social Work are revolutionizing the training methods for a new generation of mental health professionals, shifting the way clinicians learn to interact with their patients."
  
Introduction: Marilyn Flynn, Dean, USC School of Social Work
Virtual Reality Demonstration: Albert “Skip” Rizzo, Research Scientist, USC Institute for Creative Technologies 

RELATED
USC Institute for Creative Technologies
"The USC Institute for Creative Technologies brings together high-tech tools + classic storytelling to pioneer new ways to teach + to train."
Virtual Reality & Convergence with Game Technology IMT blogpost, 7/2006
Convergence:  Video Games and Virtual Reality for Special Needs: Autism, ADD, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Social Skills TechPsych blogpost, 8/2006
(I will revisit this and related topics in future posts.)

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.

Video Games are Good: A Wii Lab for Walter Bickett Elementary School! (Union County, N.C.)

My last post:   Recess is Good...

This post:  Video Games are Good

I went to check my work email today and noticed this article about the Wii on my school district's website. Here is the cut & paste, with additional information and links about games for health below:

Walter Bickett Elementary gifted Wii lab from Tate Realtors 

Written by: Deb Coates Bledsoe, UCPS Communications Coordinator Posted February 4, 2010 by Deb Coates Bledsoe

Walter Bickett Elementary School held a ribbon cutting of its Wii Lab recently officially opening it to students. Pictured, from left, are Walter Bickett physical education teacher Jeff Sauser, PTA vice president Michelle Anderson, PTA president Carrie Beckham, Ron Sumrow and Danielle Spuler both of Allen Tate Realtors and Walter Bickett Elementary principal Theresa Benson.

Thanks to the generosity of Allen Tate Realtors, Walter Bickett Elementary students have the opportunity to be not only smarter, but also a little healthier. 
   
Funds donated to the school last year by Allen Tate helped purchase a Wii Lab, which was unveiled recently with a ribbon cutting ceremony. The lab consists of five stations, each containing a 26-inch flat-panel TV on a cart with locking cabinet. It also has the Wii gaming console and the Wii Fit Plus and Balance Board.
   
“Allen Tate Realtors have been community partners to Walter Bickett Elementary for many years,” said school principal Theresa Benson. “I am proud and honored to continue our partnership and friendship."
   
Allen Tate’s contribution of more than $3,000 last year made the purchase of the Wii Lab possible, while the TV’s were purchased with funds from the school’s parent teacher association.
   
The monetary help comes from an annual event held each year by Allen Tate Realtors called a “FUNDay.” This is a fee-based event where Realtors and employees pay to play golf and other activities. All proceeds benefit public education.
   
The day also includes silent and live auctions to raise additional funds. More than 800 individuals historically participate in the annual event, usually held at The Point Lake and Golf Club on Lake Norman. This year’s contribution to the Walter Bickett Elementary School is $4,166.
   
The Wii labs supplement the school’s Promethium boards, document cameras, data projectors, Wi-fi lab and iPod Rock Stars, which already serve students. These help students become globally aware and technology savvy, Benson said.
   
Another lab with an additional five stations is in the plans with money that was awarded to the school in a PEP (physical education program) grant.

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(Edutopia Video)

Two topics: Visualizing Unemployment by County over Time; Kurt Squire's Recent Work on ( Video) Game-Based Learning

Below is a screen shot of a web page that shows the increase in the number of unemployed people, by county, in the U.S. from January 2007 until November 2009. According to information from the web site, the data is from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

From what I can tell from the URL, this visualization was a multimedia final project of Latoya Egwuekwe. Here is the link to the webpage: Unemployment Rates by County, January 2007 through November 2009

Here is the YouTube version:



Thanks to Kurt Squire for the link!

About Kurt Squire:
Kurt is an assistant professor of educational communications and technology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is associated with the Academic ADL Co-lab.   He previously was the research manager of the Games-to-Teach Project at MIT and co-director of the Education Arcade.  He also was a Montessori and primary school teacher.

I encourage you to take a look at Kurt Squire's recent research and work.  I reviewed some of his earlier work for a paper I wrote back in 2004, when he was  It is exciting to see how far his research in the area of game-based learning environments has come since then.

Here are links to a few of Kurt Squire's publications:
Video game-based learning: An emerging paradigm for Instruction
Open-Ended Video Games: A Model for Developing Learning for the Interactive Age
From Information to Experience: Place-Based Augmented Reality Games as a Model for Learning in a Globally Networked Society
Video Games and Education: Designing learning systems for an interactive age
Video-Game Literacy: A Literacy of Expertise (To appear in J. Coiro, M. Knobel, D. Leu, & C. Lankshear, Handbook of research on new media literacies. New York: MacMillan.)


More about the Academic ADL Co-Lab:
Local Games Lab
"Many kinds of games can be made about local environments. At the moment we are most engaged with augmented reality (AR) games in which players use digital technologies to enhance their immediate experience of walking around in real-life locations. We are also interested, among other possibilities, in classroom simulations, board games, virtual tours, and desktop video games."


CivWorld!

"This is a site for people interested in using Sid Meier's Civilization for learning academic content, including history, geography, or even game design. We have custom-designed game scenarios, curricula, case studies, and experts on using Civ for learning. Our goal is to help players, students, parents, and even teachers use the game at home, in after school centers and maybe even classrooms."