CEP 812: 1 min bio and funny story about technology

Cep812bio

View more webinars from MrCovington

CEP 810 : Personal Learning Reflection

Some of the things that I have learned about effective teaching is that you need understand the students understanding of technology and their possible limits if there are some.  Interating the internet has helped by learning of the technologies that require the use of the internet like Wordle and a Webquest. Because it is the internet that means that it will be helpful to find other technologies, stay up to date, or even be aware of the changes of older technologies.  Even at the end of the this course, I still feel that the Visual PLN is the assignment exemplifies good teaching with technology. I say this because it exemplifies creativity and made easy for students to identify with but still gives the broadness to be simple or as intricate as the student’s desire.  

Hmmm, how I have met my goals, well, from doing the SIG presentation and being in the course period, I have increased my understanding of new technologies that can be used. I do plan to implement the use of Wordle in all my teachings, as a introduction to getting to know the students.  Technologies like Jing and Camtasia that will allow advanced creativity with projects. My new goals, well the never-ending goal is to always obtain more knowledge about technology that can be used for educational purposes.  As I continue to play with my Xbox Kinect system, I am realizing that overwhelming potential to create interactive games for education and enhanced learning. So with that said, the goal is to write a paper and have it published about potentialities of this commercial system having a major educational influence.

USC retains top spot among video game design programs: Finally Answers!!

Saw this today on one of the ppl I follow @USATODAYTECH

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2011/02/usc-retains-top-spot-among-video-game-design-programs/1


For the second straight year, the University of Southern California is home to the top video game design program in the country.
USC boasts the top graduate and undergraduate programs, according to The Princeton Review's list of "Top Schools for Video Game Design Study for 2011."
"We're just very excited about where the program is going," said Elizabeth Daley, the dean of USC's School of Cinematic Arts.
The schools were selected based on a survey of administrators at 150 schools offering video game design programs or degrees.
The survey focuses on four key categories: academic, faculty, infrastructure and career opportunities.
The University of Utah and the DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Wash., round out the top three undergraduate programs. The full top 10, including honorable mentions:

1. University of Southern California (Los Angeles)
2. University of Utah (Salt Lake City)
3. DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, Wash.)
4. The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada)
5. Michigan State University (East Lansing, Mich.)
6. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, Mass.)
7. Drexel University (Philadelphia)
8. Champlain College (Burlington, Vt.)
9. Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, N.Y.)
10. Becker College (Worcester, Mass.)
Honorable mentions: Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta), North Carolina State University (Raleigh), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, N.Y.), Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, Ga.) and Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, Ohio).

This marks the first year The Princeton Review ranked the top graduate programs for video game design. The top 10, with honorable mentions:

1. University of Southern California (Los Angeles)
2. University of Central Florida (Orlando)
3. Southern Methodist University (Plano, Texas)
4. Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, N.Y.)
5. Drexel University (Philadelphia)
6. University of Utah (Salt Lake City)
7. University of California-Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, Calif.)
8. Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah)
9. Parsons The New School for Design (New York)
10. University of Texas-Dallas (Dallas)
Honorable mentions: Academy of Art University (San Francisco), DePaul University (Chicago), DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, Wash.), Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, Mass.)

Daley credits the success of USC's programs to their teaching philosophy. "What we really try to do is to look constantly at the user experience with games -- how do you design games so that, like films and like television, people want to engage with them," Daley says.
The Princeton Review -- in conjunction with GamePro magazine -- started ranking video game design programs last year after recognizing a surge in the number of options available at schools.
"As there is more notoriety around the list and the idea that game design is a viable option for going to school -- not as a major but as a career afterwards -- it's adding a lot of credibility to the field," says David Soto of The Princeton Review.

The list will be featured in the April issue of GamePro.

CEP 810: Learning Activity

My two categories are:
Creativity and Innovation 
Communication and Collaboration  

The activity I would give my students would be called “Next Top Game Model”, and what this activity would do is force creativity to go beyond what is already known or seen. This would make the students, not be able to call upon, previous games, game models, or stories with a twist, but create some original. In the final product, students would have to create a digital storyboard pitch. The way this will work is by the students being placed into teams or “mini companies” to come up with this new idea and pitch. After they come up with the idea, they teams will create a visual presentation by their choice of technology, and present to the class. The two categories that this activity falls under is Creativity and Innovation, and Communication and Collaboration. Under the Creativity and Innovation category, this activity focuses on students demonstrating creative thinking to develop an innovative product. Under Communication and Collaboration, this lets the students work collaboratively, to better their communication skills. It lets individuals think on their and explore on their own, to be able to come back to the team, and fit their ideas for the betterment of the product.