Hive Digital Media Learning Fund RFP5 Cohort Hangout November 20, 2013

Traditional portfolios favor skill-based visual exercises but very few primary and secondary level students have access to that type learning experience. Who gets left behind in this model?

Design  Team:  7  DreamYard  educators  across  different  disciplines  are  learning  from  Parsons  faculty  about  how  to  implement  Learning  Por<olios  in  a  classroom.      

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Unforeseen  Challenge:  Some  educators  need  more  @me  developing  a  technical  understanding  of  blogging  in  order  to  feel  comfortable  teaching  it  to  their  students.  

Solu5on:  We  encouraged  more  technically  savvy  educators  to  pair  up  with  beginning-­‐level  educators  for  planning.  

We  learned:  Co-­‐planning  helps  teachers  plan  more  efficiently.  

Unforeseen  Challenge:  We  made  the  assump@on  that  kids  would  have  basic  digital  compu@ng  skills  and  feel  immediately  comfortable  with  the  prac@ce  of  blogging.  

Solu5on:  We  must  integrate  basic  typing,  file  naming  and  spell  checking  tools  in  the  learning  por<olio  curriculum.      

We  learned:  Students  help  each  other  when  there  are  different  levels  of  technical  skills  represented  in  the  classroom.    

Unforeseen  Challenge:  Teachers  have  very  liJle  @me  for  addi@onal  projects  in  their  classrooms.    

Solu5on:  We  built  in  more  planning  @me  within  our  monthly  mee@ngs.    

We  learned:  We  refined  the  expecta@ons  for  our  research  outcomes  to  be  more  about  quality  and  less  about  quan@ty.  

New  Tools:  

Small  Idea:  

Two  different  forms  of  blogs  have  taken  shape:      1.  Class  blog  made  by  teacher  2.  Learning  Por<olios  made  by  students    We  underes@mated  how  long  it  would  take  to  set  up  the  class  blog.    

We  are  a  community  art  center,  a  public  high  school  and  a  private  college  who  have  very  different  popula@ons  and  contexts  but  we  share  a  similar  goal  to  increase  access  to  por<olio  development  in  and  beyond  the  arts.  The  challenges  that  our  students  face  mainly  due  to  access  and  @me  are  mirrored  in  the  challenges  we  are  tackling  with  this  pilot.    

Big  Idea:  

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Goals

Create content tied to the Museum of the Moving Image and incorporate its collection.Introduce game design to students from underserved communities. Define a way to partner with institutions to promote and extend Gamekit.

Narrative

Game: ZorkTell stories through an interactive system.Reveal plot, background, and world building through exploration and locations.Reveal secrets to advancement through narrative.

Challenge 1: Map as StoryA game’s story is often tied to the space the game is played in: as players explore the space, they reveal the game’s plot. From classic games like Adventureland to modern games like the Grand Theft Auto series, you understand the world and story you are in by moving through it.

Activity

Write stories out.Break story up on to index cards.Revealed as information about individual rooms visited.

Feedback

“Exploring the Museum”“Creating the Story”“Playing everyone else’s game”“The limited amount of time was frustrating.”“More time”“Stories were very linear”

Game Feel

Games: Asteroids, Defender & Space Invaders

Modify example game by adding/removing pre-built behaviors. Add own behaviors and art.

Challenge 2: Space is Space

How you define the space of your game directly impacts how it feels to play the game. Nowhere is this more obvious than video games about space. Space Invaders constrains the space leaving players feeling boxed in, even cramped. Defender uses a scrolling space to encourage a feeling of exploration. Asteroids uses wrap-around borders to make space feel never ending.

Activity

How do 2D space games provide different experiences of Space?Have kids experiment with digital games.

FeedbackKids created different types of space games.Liked experimenting with the example to create alternative solutions.Very engaged.Liked playtesting.Kids wanted deeper understand of Stencyl than could be provided in a short workshop.

Understanding Rules

Games: Frogger & Ms. Pacman

Games are systems of interacting rules, as are software programs.

Challenge 3: Rules are the ProgramBoard games come with a set of rules that explains to you how you play the game, where to place the pieces, how they move, and how you win. Video games also have sets of rules, but rather than being given to you to read and follow, they are programmed into the computer. The ghosts in Ms. Pacman turn when they hit a wall, the cars in Frogger have different speeds, directions and exit one side only to reappear on the other side. You win a level of Pacman by eating all the dots, you win a level of Frogger by getting five frogs safely to the other side. The rules of the game actually form the foundation for the code of the game. Learning to write rules is one of the first steps to learning to program.

Activity

Recreate digital games by building a physical version of the board.Write rules to give to people, that make them act like players, enemies, and obstacles.

Feedback

Kids loved remaking Frogger and Ms. Pacman as physical games.Successfully built fun games, close to original.Started modding games.

Translate real-world to the web

Web Development

Develop channels to contextualize challenges.Develop more robust submission tools.Give users a stronger sense of identity.

Content

Give clear compelling challenges for kids working alone.

Changemakers Creating 21st century movement makers &

agents of change

Make the Road New York

•  Make the Road New York (MRNY)* builds the power of Latino and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice through organizing, policy innovation, transformative education, and survival services.

•  Make the Road New York promotes equal rights and economic and

political opportunity for immigrant New Yorkers through Community/Electoral Organizing, Leadership Development, Adult Education, Youth Development, Legal and Support Services and Strategic Policy Advocacy.

The Academy at Urban Arts Partnership

•  Urban Arts Partnership advances the intellectual, social and artistic development of underserved public school students through arts-integrated education programs to close the achievement gap.

•  UAP is the largest arts-education organization in NYC serving over 100 schools, 9,000 students and 450 teachers.

•  The Academy is a state-of-the-art facility that instills artistic, leadership, and academic excellence within high schoolers, positioning them as agents of change in their communities and preparing them for their next step in life, be it college or career.

LatinoJustice, PRLDEF •  LatinoJustice PRLDEF champions an equitable society. Using the power

of the law together with education and advocacy, LatinoJustice PRLDEF protects opportunities for all Latinos to succeed in work and school, fulfill their dreams, and sustain their families and communities. LatinoJustice PRLDEF’s work encompasses three guiding principles – protecting civil rights, cultivating Latino leaders and increasing civic participation – that conveys our work, and showcases our exceptional role within the Latino rights community.

•  The Youth Leadership Network is year long program that teaches young

people to become effective new media strategists. Students learn how to utilize social media and engage their artistic talents to become creative agents of change in their communities.

Changemaker Project: More Than A Quota

•  Utilizing the power of advocacy, creativity, grassroots organizing and online activism, we aimed to change how students interact and organize around social issues in their communities.

•  Our goal was to discover how students could

utilize new media to build political and social movements utilizing the social media platforms they already use and master on an everyday basis.

•  The creative students from UAP provided essential

digital and artistic talents to new media students from LatinoJustice PRLDEF and grassroots youth organizers from MRNY. Together, our young people developed an effective social media campaign to elevate the issue and examine the impact of discriminatory policing practices in youth communities.

Survey, Website, and Social Media

•  Youth Pack the Courts •  Visibility, engagement &

participation of youth •  Youth are being asked to be

at the table •  Twitter Town Halls •  Digital Communication Guide •  Meme creation

What new tools, ideas or practices have evolved as a result of this work?

How does it set your project apart? •  Media makers & producers •  Going viral •  Controlling the message •  Creating the message •  Political participation &

Representation

Going Viral!

Multimedia Digital Popup Showcase December 3rd 5-9pm SOHO ARTHOUSE 138 Sullivan St.

You’re Invited!