I just read a great article about engaging K-12 students via game creation. The key word here is engage. Game creation does necessarily engage students, and game development involves cross-disciplinary teamwork - you have programming, art, video design, sound and music, etc. Yet another example on the power of games for education!
Reading through the article led me to a great video on USC's Institute for Multimedia Literacy. These folks get it. At PSU we may never have a specific degree in Multimedia Literacy, but a certificate program is a possibility. USC has that, and it's working. By taking students from any discipline and working with them over a four-year period, the students obtain skill sets that will give them a leg up in the workforce.
Holly Willis, Director of the IML, has great vision and I'd love to hear her in person describe the development of the IML. For example, instead of using Second Life to replicate the real world, she's investigating how we can build unique learning environments in SL that truly utilize the affordances of the environment. Imagine a living syllabus, where each week you enter it to experience that week's content and interactivity. Wow. That's one thing IML is working on. Maybe we can invite her to PSU in the future.
Another thought that came from my explorations here is how the PSU Digital Media Commons would be a big part of any multimedia certification program. If we were to take the knowledge Chris Millet and others from the DC have gathered over the years, combine that with our efforts in our Teaching With Technology Certificate, we could really build a great certificate program in multimedia literacy.
Is this possible? Certainly! I'd love to engage in dialog on this topic.
Reading through the article led me to a great video on USC's Institute for Multimedia Literacy. These folks get it. At PSU we may never have a specific degree in Multimedia Literacy, but a certificate program is a possibility. USC has that, and it's working. By taking students from any discipline and working with them over a four-year period, the students obtain skill sets that will give them a leg up in the workforce.
Holly Willis, Director of the IML, has great vision and I'd love to hear her in person describe the development of the IML. For example, instead of using Second Life to replicate the real world, she's investigating how we can build unique learning environments in SL that truly utilize the affordances of the environment. Imagine a living syllabus, where each week you enter it to experience that week's content and interactivity. Wow. That's one thing IML is working on. Maybe we can invite her to PSU in the future.
Another thought that came from my explorations here is how the PSU Digital Media Commons would be a big part of any multimedia certification program. If we were to take the knowledge Chris Millet and others from the DC have gathered over the years, combine that with our efforts in our Teaching With Technology Certificate, we could really build a great certificate program in multimedia literacy.
Is this possible? Certainly! I'd love to engage in dialog on this topic.
