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When she hosts 8th Grade night at Marina High School, Marilyn Cunnen makes sure that she has her Video Game Design posters up for all the kids and parents to see. “All of our classes are full,” she says, “Any student that signs up to take Video Game Design ends up wanting to take every class we offer.”

Marilyn teaches Video Game Design, a curriculum designed and created by I Support Learning, as part of an entire Video Game Career Pathway at her California area high school. The students more from Video Game Design, and continue on with two other courses from I Support Learning: Cartoon Animation and Web Game Design. These additional courses are part of the school’s approach to innovative career and technical education, and serve not only to highlight designing games, but to put focus on the design process, marketing, ethics in the workplace, and even building an entire project to meet the needs of a specific customer.

“I use the posters in the hallways too,” Cunnen explains. “It really drives a lot of interest in the program, which is great, since the elective courses are extremely competitive.” Even the video game club, meeting after school a few days a week, is full to the brim. Analyzing games and going on field trips to gaming meccas, such as Blizzard’s headquarters, the students get to see what the industry looks like from an insider’s point of view, and they even get a few freebies along the way. Plus, they get to have one-on-one conversations with real developers, feeling confident from their experience with their “virtual internships” in their class.

“My kids love the online version of the curriculum (from I Support Learning)” she attests, “They don’t have to print out anything or turn in any papers, it’s all right there.” Marilyn recently switched to the online version from her older, desktop version. She had first heard about ISL from a brochure she received in the mail. “It said I could teach video game designing without having to know anything about it, so that really grabbed my attention,” Cunnen says, “Now the programs so popular that we’ve added more classes, and there’s no danger of running out of students.”
Besides having the interest of her students, and the growing video game industry to make her class that much more important to them, Cunnen has come across some unexpected benefits as well.

When the local community college heard about her program, and had recently introduced a Video Game Design degree of their own, they extended an entrance exam waiver for any student of Cunnen’s that had taken her Video Game Design course and decided to pursue a degree at their college.

Perhaps more significantly, are the types of students that take her course. Most of her students are your typical high school students, but she also has a surprising demographic thriving in her courses. In her high school, the autistic and special education students have a campus all to themselves where they can work and study in an environment suited to them and for them.

However, when they select their elective courses, a very large percent of them choose Marilyn’s courses. “They do very well in the (video game design) course. They have fun and connect with the other students over their similar interests. They can’t get enough of it.” It’s there, just as with the rest of her students, they find positive and engaging interaction, and they thrive because of it.

“I couldn’t be happier with the program,” Cunnen adds, “I can’t wait to see what (ISL) has next.”

I Support Learning, Inc.│edmagineer is an educational curriculum designer specializing in career simulations that fulfill national Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) standards, with products in over 700 schools, colleges and vocational schools across the United States.
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Corey Jackson
Creative Development
I Support Learning, Inc.© │ edmagineer©
(877) 828.1216

IB SCHOOL MAKES A GAME OF SUCCESS

Olathe, KS – March 24, 2010 – I Support Learning, Inc.│edmagineer (ISL) announced great success in an International Baccalaureate in the Minneapolis, MN area.

Karen Griebenow teaches technology at Robbinsdale Cooper High School, an International Baccalaureate school, minutes away from downtown Minneapolis, MN. She knows her students, they know her. And she’s been nominated for Teacher of the Year for the past two years running.

Karen attributes it to her relationships with the students. “I get the chance to work with each of them personally, and we work through whatever it is they need help with.” Her Middle Year Programme, aimed instruction in of technology in a rounded, full manner, is full to the brim. She teaches four classes that can’t fit another student in.

In her class, she teaches Video Game Design, a curriculum built by I Support Learning, where students find themselves in an interactive, instructional environment. Karen calls it, “self-directed, self-paced software with an innovative, fun, real-world environment.” Students follow the story-based learning, ultimately designing and creating a video game to meet a customer’s need. As the students simply put it: “It’s a video game that teaches us how to make video games.”

Karen heard about I Support Learning and their Video Game Design program a couple of years ago, looking for a program to fit the IB Programme. Hearing about them from another teacher in the area, she decided to research the program.

“It fits the MYP framework perfectly,” Karen mentions. “It’s completely aligned with all the aims and objectives of the IB mission, like incorporating the Design Process, so it was easy to get it implemented.”

From there, her classes grew quickly in size, and now she’s running at maximum capacity as her school is now moving to make MYP school-wide and year-round. Karen couldn’t be happier. Her principal is ecstatic with the success he has seen in her classes.

She teaches because of her students, and the relationships she forms with them. “It’s exciting to learn from them. The MYP framework encourages critical thinking and global citizenship, and the Video Game Design program brings out all of that.”

“The students’ favorite thing is to play each other’s games. They always go around, trying out the games and giving recommendations. Right now I have students that are going and doing outside research to figure out how to do more advanced things with their games. They’re going above and beyond what’s required in the class, just because they’re interested and want to make the best game possible.”

“I Support Learning has always had great support,” Karen mentions, “Any time we’ve ever had an issue, we’ve always been able to get someone on the phone. Even my students, when they want to ask a technical question, have picked up the phone and gotten an answer.

What Karen enjoys most is the freedom it gives her to teach and help students learn. “This program facilitates the teacher’s ability to talk to each student, without the rest of the class waiting while you address a single student’s question. Since the students are engaged and working at their own pace the whole time, you can help students learn, one at a time, and build that relationship that will encourage that student’s growth.”

I Support Learning, Inc.│edmagineer is an educational curriculum designer specializing in career simulations that fulfill national Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) standards, with products in over 700 schools, colleges and vocational schools across the United States.

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