2009 Speakers

Opening Remarks

Dr. Margaret Geehan, Dean of the Liberal Arts and Science Division at HVCC

Gladys Cruz, PhD, Assistant Superintendent for School Improvement, Questar III

 

Keynote Speaker

 

Makeda Mays Green, Director of Education and Research, Digital Media, Sesame Workshop
Makeda Mays Green is the Director of Education and Research for Digital Media at Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit children educational organization behind Sesame Street. Green is responsible for researching and developing content for various interactive platforms including online, mobile devices, and video game consoles. She supports Sesame Workshop’s mission by focusing and examining the potential of current and emerging digital media platforms to deliver quality educational material to children and families.

Most recently, Green was instrumental in the development and launch of Sesame Workshop’s re-designed website (www.sesamestreet.org). She has created content for Sesame Street Games, an interactive game service available on Cablevision, Panwapa, a website and outreach initiative to help increase children’s awareness of the wider world, and numerous games including the Parent’s Choice award-winning V.Smile title Bert & Ernie’s Imagination Adventure. Green also co-authored the study The Use of Mobile Phones to Support Children’s Literacy Learning.

Previously, Green was a Senior Curriculum Specialist, who oversaw the development of content for various Outreach initiatives, including Talk, Read, Write; Happy Healthy Ready for School and You Can Ask. She also served as a Curriculum Specialist for Program Research and developed content for Workshop programs such as, Sagwa, The Chinese Siamese Cat and Dragon Tales.

Green holds a B.A from Wesleyan University and a M.A. and Ed.M in Counseling Psychology, from Columbia University. She currently resides in Stamford, C.T.

 

Panelists and Workshop Presenters

 

Brock R. Dubbels, PhD, Educator at the Minneapolis Public Schools and Research Associate, Center for Cognitive Sciences, University of Minnesota
Brock has been with Games in Education since 2007 and is back again this year to offer his insights into using games in the classroom

Brock has worked since 1999 as a professional in education and instructional design. His specialties include reading comprehension, embodied cognition, digital literacies, game design , and play. From these perspectives, he designs face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid learning environments, exploring new technologies for assessment, delivering content, creating engagement with learners, and investigating ways people approach learning. He has worked as a Fulbright Scholar at the Norwegian Institute of Science and Technology; at Xerox PARC loving the people, those sunsets, rolling hills, and oaks; and as a ski bum at Alta and later as a raft guide for the Yellowstone Raft Company. He is currently a research associate at the Center for Cognitive Science at the University of Minnesota, where he works with educators in reading, teaches gaming course work, and learns research through game design for the Minneapolis Public Schools and the University of Minnesota. He is also the founder and principal learning architect at www.vgalt.com.

 

Peggy Sheehy, Instructional Technology Facilitator and Media Specialist, Suffern Middle School, and Founder, MetaVersEd Consulting Ltd
Very active in her district’s teacher technology training program, Peggy is a passionate enthusiast for the meaningful infusion of technology in education. In 2006, Peggy established Ramapo Central’s educational presence in Teen Second Life: “Ramapo Islands,” and put Suffern Middle School on the map as the first middle school to use the virtual world for education. After great success with the first group of 400 8th grade students, Ramapo Islands now hosts nearly 1000 students and their teachers and supports all curriculum areas.

Peggy has presented her work with students in Teen Second Life at the Tech Expo, NYSCATE, NECC, EdNet, and the Tech Forum NY 2007. She attended the Virtual Worlds Conference in San Jose where she made a strong case for the blending of the technology industry and education. As a true pioneer in teaching in virtual worlds, she is sought out for advice, curriculum direction and professional development for those that would follow in the footsteps of Ramapo Central. Her vision encompasses a globally collaborative 3-D virtual world campus where learning is student-centered, product-based, playful, and creative.

 

Bill Shribman, Executive Producer, Kids’ Projects, WGBH
Bill Shribman is the Executive Producer of WGBH’s Interactive Kids Group. He oversees all WGBH kids projects, including those in development, for Web and new platforms. He has produced the internationally recognized sites for Curious George, ZOOM, PEEP and the Big Wide World, Time Warp Trio, and Between the Lions. Shribman is also a content producer and game designer for the Fetch, Martha Speaks, Arthur, and Postcards from Buster sites. Traffic to these sites amounts to more than 11 million visitors every month. He is also the creator of WGBH’s acclaimed broadband animated series, The GREENS. His writing for the Between the Lions television series was EMMY-nominated in 2006. The WGBH Interactive Kids group led by Shribman has received numerous accolades, including New Media INVISION Awards (Gold and Silver), three Webby nominations, MIMC Gold, four Parents Choice Gold awards, the Flagstaff Arizona Worldfest Silver, the Eddie Award, two NAPPA Gold awards, Japan Prize Silver, MITX Best of Show, and the first Prix Jeunesse awarded to a Web site.

 

Carla Engelbrecht-Fisher, Children’s Technology Developer & Doctoral Candidate, Teachers College, Columbia University
Carla works as a children’s technology developer, game designer, educational researcher, and author. She is also a doctoral candidate at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she studies technology and its relationship with human cognition and development, particularly as it applies to children and games. Through the course of her career, she has worked for Highlights for Children, PBS KIDS Interactive, Sesame Workshop, and a host of other children’s media groups to produce and consult on interactive content that includes a wide variety of games and educational Web sites. Carla also holds a master’s degree in media studies from the New School University and has, on occasion, been known to make balloon animals and hats.

 

Silvia Lovato, Director, PBS Kids Go! Interactive
Silvia Lovato is the director of the PBS KIDS GO! Web site, PBS’s Web destination for elementary school kids, where she works with children’s media producers in the creation of fun, interactive, educational content for children. She started out in online news and has been a Web producer for over 12 years. Silvia came to PBS in 2000, after completing an MA program in Communication, Culture and Technology at Georgetown University. Silvia is originally from Brazil and is interested in how public media ideas and educational resources can be shared across borders.

 

Scot Osterweil, Creative Director, Education Arcade
Scot is the creative director of The Education Arcade and currently directs a number of games about math, literacy, science, history, and language learning, including Labyrinth and iCue. Before coming to MIT, Scot was the Senior Designer at TERC, where he designed Zoombinis Island Odyssey, winner of the 2003 Bologna New Media Prize, and the latest game in the Zoombinis line of products (Riverdeep/TLC). Scot is the creator of the Zoombinis, and with Chris Hancock he co-designed the multi-award winning Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, and its first sequel, Zoombinis Mountain Rescue. Scot is the also the designer of the TERCworks games Switchback, and Yoiks!, the latter also with Chris Hancock. Other software design work includes InspireData (Inspriration Software), its predecessors Tabletop and Tabletop Jr., and The Nature of Science. At TERC he participated in research projects on the role of computer games in learning, and the use of video in data collection. Previously, Scot worked in television production and theater.

 

Lucas Gillispie, Instructional Technology Coordinator, Pender County Schools, North Carolina, and Author of the Edurealms.com Blog
Lucas has been an educator for over ten years in the state of North Carolina, having taught high school Biology before taking his current position as his district’s instructional technology coordinator two years ago. There he works with teachers to assist them with incorporating new technologies into the classroom and promotes online professional development through social networking and virtual worlds like Second Life. Recently, he earned a Master of Science in Instructional Technology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, completing his thesis work on the effects of a 3D video game on middle school students’ achievement and attitude in mathematics. He has been a gamer as long as he can recall, but was introduced to MMORPG’s by a student in 1999. Since then, he has been the leader of the Harbingers of Light guild, a guild consisting primarily of students, teachers, and other individuals from around the world.

Lucas is passionate about sharing his experiences with gaming and students in the online world. His presentations at GLS 2008, NCTIES and for the NCDLA on video games and education have been well-received as he seeks to inform educators about today’s student-gamer and the games they play. Lucas is a proponent of MMORPG’s and the potential of the genre for education. His current work includes a project to use World of Warcraft in an after-school program with at-risk students in his district

 

Andrea Lauer Rice, CEO & Founder, Lauer Learning
“Creating my own company that specializes in multimedia learning that comes alive for kids is such a natural progression of my work and life. Lauer Learning was the logical next step and brings all of my areas of expertise and interest together to do something I love and create something I truly believe in.”

Prior to launching Lauer Learning, Andrea worked in market intelligence and market management at IBM. During that time, she worked in Learning Services for several years and authored a white paper entitled, “The Evolution of e-learning to Include Gaming and Simulations” which enabled her to observe the educational gaming market over the course of several years. She also collaborated with colleagues to define “the ideal interactive e-business experience of the future” for the next generation which allowed her to research in-depth as the digital habits of Generation Y emerged.

 

Seann Dikkers, Doctoral Student in Curriculum & Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Seann Dikkers is a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Curriculum and Instruction Department. He holds an MA in Educational Leadership from Bethel University and has served as both a classroom teacher and building principal for fourteen years prior to working as a researcher and designer for projects exploring an interactive history curriculum, mobile media applications for learning, and the use of WoW for skill building with youth, in addition to his dissertation work mapping after-school program designs.

 

Elizabeth King, Doctoral Candidate in Curriculum & Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Elizabeth (Beth) is a doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Curriculum and Instruction majoring in educational communications and technology under advisor, Dr. Constance Steinkuehler. She currently works with The After School Online Gaming Lab For Guys studying the literacies involved in the gaming practices of adolescent boys. Previously, she worked with the Tech Savvy Girls project studying the trajectory of middle school girls’ IT skills development while playing computer games.

Beth has nearly 20 years of experience in adult and youth education focusing broadly on business education, career development and workplace learning and holds BA degrees in both social studies and secondary education, as well as an MA degree in business education. In addition to working in continuing and outreach education, she’s worked as a high school business education/computer teacher, career and technical education coordinator, district technology coordinator, and has experience teaching in both rural and inner–city settings. Her current research interests span secondary and post–secondary education and include the 21st century workplace, business practices around entrepreneurship and innovation, school reform initiatives (especially concerning alternative and charter schools), play and informal learning and more broadly, middle class and blue collar/working class issues.

 

Mark R. Petersen, Instructional Designer, Center for Distance and Online Learning, Hudson Valley Community College
Mark works with Hudson Valley Community College as both an Instructional Designer in the Center for Distance and Online Learning, and as Adjunct Instructor in the HPSS and FTB departments. Until 2007, Mark worked with SUNY Potsdam as a Graduate Instructor in Instructional Design and Technology. Mark holds a PhD in Architectural History and Theory from the University of Virginia, an MS in Information and Communication Technology from SUNY Potsdam, and an MA and BS in Art History.

 

Lorraine Emerick, PhD Candidate in Instructional Technology, SUNY Potsdam
Lorraine is currently working on her PhD in Instructional Technology at SUNY Potsdam. She is an avid user of Second Life and is focusing her doctoral research on instructional and training applications of Second Life. Lorraine also works as an insurance agent with HVCC.

 

Rik Panganiban, Assistant Director, Online Leadership Program, Global Kids
Rik is the assistant director of the Online Leadership Program at Global Kids, a New York City-based nonprofit that helps thousands of at-risk youth in New York and beyond to learn about global issues and act to make their community a better place. Rik has helped expand Global Kids’ work to the virtual world, launching a range of innovative educational projects from a virtual fossil dig to an online conversation with a Ugandan teen about AIDS in Africa. Rik is spearheading a new program to help nonprofits explore virtual worlds and think strategically about how they can integrate these cutting edge social media tools into their missions.

 

Marianne Malmstrom, Technology Educator, The Elisabeth Morrow School
Marianne Malmstrom has been an educator for over 25 years. Her fascination with using emerging technologies in the classroom led to her current position as a middle school technology teacher at The Elisabeth Morrow School in Englewood, NJ. With her colleague, Sarah Rolle, she has developed a program rich in the use of multimedia. Her school has received two JPMorgan Chase awards for “Excellence in the Use of Multimedia” as part of WLIW’s Teaching & Learning Celebration.

In Second Life, Marianne is known as Knowclue Kidd. She has volunteered as an ISTE docent since May 2007 and has been responsible for organizing several projects such as the SLEDcc 2008 Machinia Festival. As an early adopter of machinima (video created using 3D virtual worlds), Marianne has been keenly interested in how this new medium can be used for education. Her machinima work includes “ISTE in Second Life”. and “No Future Left Behind”. Working with her 8th grade tech club, she is currently exploring the use of machinima in the classroom. http://www.knowclue.com

 

Victoria Van Voorhis, CEO, Second Avenue Software
Victoria has over 15 years of experience in education and technology development. She began her career with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences where she conducted research with a variety of scholars from MIT, Harvard, and Brown University. The culmination of these projects resulted in the quarterly The Journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Daedalus. During her tenure with the Xerox Corporation, Ms. Van Voorhis conducted research on emerging markets and oversaw the development of market requirements for new technologies. She has teaching experience at both the high school and college levels. In 2006, Ms. Van Voorhis established Second Avenue Software, Inc., a provider of software development, managed services, and content authoring for the educational market. Ms. Van Voorhis has provided consulting and guidance on the development of new media applications in education for a wide variety of clients including Cengage Learning, Pearson Education, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, and W. W. Norton.

 

Susan P. Byrd, Business Development Consultant, Second Avenue Software
Susan Byrd has extensive experience in a variety of corporate roles, including general management, strategy, marketing, executive sales, customer research, alliances and business development at Xerox Corporation in Stamford, Ct. and Rochester, NY. Prior to Xerox, Ms. Byrd worked for a merchant bank in New York, which specialized in foreign trade and corporate development. She is currently consulting with Second Ave Software on business development opportunities. Ms. Byrd has a BA in Economics from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from the Wharton School. She is active in the non-profit community, where she resides, in Rochester, NY.

 

Michael Tomaino, Game Design Teacher at Mildred Elley College and Project Lead of Kids Software Platinum Arts Sandbox Free 3D Game Maker
Michael Tomaino has been working with various game engines for over ten years and has a BA in Psychology with an emphasis in Child Psychology from Siena College. He was the project lead of the multiple award winning Doom 3 Coop Mod Last Man Standing and received the best Doom 3 Mod Of The Year Award at the GDC held IGF awards ceremony.

During his breaks working on the Mod, Michael found that he really enjoyed playing with the neighborhood kids and that something was missing in his life. This lead him into the field of Childcare as a site director of a before and afterschoool program at Lincoln Elementary School in Scotia. He recieved the Percentage Growth Award for over doubling the enrollment, reaching maximum program capacity. To help the kids explore their imaginations and create stories, he used his game design experience to create a program for them that would allow them to easily manipulate 3D worlds. This was the birth of Platinum Arts Sandbox, a free 3D Game Maker and World creation program available at http://Sandboxgamemaker.com The software is now being used in many schools and colleges throughout the world. In addition to continously developing Sandbox, Michael Tomaino now teaches Game Design at Mildred Elley College, founded and teaches Game Design at the After School Program at Catholic High in Troy, and teaches at summer kids camps for game design including at Mildred Elley and Ballston Spa. Through these opportunties he has been able to witness the incredible excitement and joy of his students enjoying Sandbox. In addition, he greatly enjoys babysitting for local families and their little friends.

 

Matthew Jager, PhD Dandidate, College of Computing and Information, UAlbany
Matthew is an Information Science PhD Candidate in the College of Computing and Information at the University at Albany. He has also earned an MBA from the School of Business at the University at Albany. He has taught Information Science at the University at Albany, and teaches business at the College of Saint Rose. His research concerns understanding knowledge in organizations, and improving on techniques for managing it.

 

Lenore Horowitz, PhD Dandidate, College of Computing and Information, UAlbany
Lenore is an Information Science PhD student in the College of Computing and Information at the University at Albany. She also has an MS degree in Computer Engineering and a BA degree in Mathematics. Lenore works full time as a professor at Schenectady Community College teaching computer science and information systems courses. Her research interests include faculty contributors’ motivations for generating Open Educational Resources.