January 12, 2009
Crittenton Students Learn Through New Technology
Above: Crittenton Services’ Case manager Megan McGee (right) helps a student access the Globaloria web site so that she can learn flash animation and a variety of other Web-based applications, as a part of a digital literacy program offered through the school.
Students at Crittenton Service’s school in Elm Grove are learning more than just reading, writing and arithmetic – they are learning new technology skills through an innovative computer-based program offered in this country only at select West Virginia schools.
Globaloria is an online social network program designed to help students gain a deeper understanding of science, mathematics and health, while teaching them to develop a 21st Century digital literacy by mastering social media technology. This is accomplished by using a collaborative wiki-style educational platform to engage students in tasks such as web-game design, all with an educational objective.
“The game-building activities give learning a great element of fun,” noted Crittenton Services Vice President of Residential Services Tracee Chambers. “Our students are eager to embrace new technology, and it stimulates their interest in subjects they may have not enjoyed before.”
The collaborative nature of the wiki platform allows students to contribute to and comment upon each other’s work, regardless of where they are geographically. Wiki technology enables anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. It is used in business to provide intranet and knowledge management systems. The online encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis.
According to the West Virginia Department of Education, the Globaloria activities help students sharpen their communication and critical-thinking skills for leadership online and offline, bringing them closer to the participatory and collaborative nature of work in the 21st century.
Invented by the World Wide Workshop Foundation in the spring of 2006, the Globaloria Program seeks to create technology-based educational opportunities through a flexible set of virtual learning networks for students in developing nations, and economically disadvantaged and technologically-underserved communities. Through the efforts of Idit Harel Caperton, wife of former Governor Gaston Caperton, the foundation implemented the program in West Virginia in 2007.
To stimulate economic and social development, foster job creation, and position the state as a leader in 21st Century education, support for the program has come from the state, the Benedum Foundation and Verizon West Virginia. Over 250 students and educators from Crittenton and other learning institutions throughout the state are using the Globaloria-WV Program’s My Global Life network for learning to design educational web-games.
Crittenton students are enthusiastic about this learning method and the new skills they are developing. Referring to an animation program she was learning, one student exclaimed, “Flash was fun. I am looking forward to the other things we get to do soon.”
“They are so excited about learning this way,” commented one teacher. “They blog and are able to upload and post projects with very little help.”
Crittenton Services, Inc. is a local nonprofit service operating behavioral health, maternity and childcare services to families in West Virginia and the tri-state area. The Crittenton Residential Program is the only gender-specific residential program in the state dedicated to young women aged 12-18 who are parenting or who have other extraordinary life challenges. Crittenton also offers an intensive educational and outpatient treatment program for adolescent females who are not in residence. Wellspring Family Services, also offered by Crittenton, specializes in outpatient counseling for families, including home-based services. Crittenton’s Cradles to Crayons childcare centers are the area’s only COA-accredited daycare facilities.
More information and samples of the Crittenton students’ work may be found at http://www.myglife.org/.
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Contact: Butch Maxwell
(304) 242-7060, ext. 133