I received yesterday from Amber Oliver of the World Wide Workshop Foundation a very interesting "grant" call for proposals, offering their new education platform that teaches young people how to create computer games to educators and youth leaders around the world. Sounds like a great opportunity for an educational organization looking to expand their interactive media / Web2.0 offerings to the young people they work with. There are fairly high technical, staffing and community requirements, so read the grant specs carefully before applying.
The complete message follows.
Dear Friends –
Wide Workshop Foundation, a NY-based 501c3, dedicated to youth empowerment using
technology (founded by Dr. Idit Harel Caperton). One of my first tasks is to
invite you to partner with us to bring our newest program, “Globaloria”, to
young people around the world.
members of this community are actually part of our team) that in the past eight
months we developed “My Global Life” (www.myglife.org), a global social network
designed for young people to become game developers by playing simple casual
games, manipulating simulations and making their own educational games using
Flash and other Web 2.0 applications. In the process, participants also learn to
effectively use wiki media and blogging to explore the benefits of social
networking for social purposes, and to hone their collaborative communication
and online design skills.
In this first pilot year, the World Wide Workshop
Foundation is looking for visionaries and leaders (and their communities) who
are ready to engage in open source development and some hard fun to help us
implement, improve and grow our new platform. Partners who meet our requirements
will receive an in-kind grant that includes a set of tools and a great deal of
free support.
Components of Grant:
- Access to an open-source platform with a set of simple
educational games, tutorials & simulations for young people to play, modify
and critique while learning basic game-design skills. - A customizable wiki where community members create,
showcase, discuss and collaborate while following a 6-month curriculum using a
set of personal and team assignments tailored to the learning goals of any
specific community or game-dev club. - A dynamic blog for participants to log their
experiences, dialogue, and support one another. - An extensive administrator’s interface and tools that
enable ongoing personalization and ownership of the platform (website and wiki)
for any learning needs and objectives. - Continued 24/7 virtual support from the Globaloria
team of experts. - A flexible interface to publish games and tutorials
created by the community.
Globaloria Partnership
Requirements:
Interest and passion for running a community, club,
after-school program for young game designers.
Internet & hardware:
High Speed Internet Connectivity
Multimedia PCs/Laptops for all Participants (students,
instructors, corporate observers); that are reasonably up-to-date, pentium4,
512K ram, HD 20GB free space, batteries and electricity supply when
needed;
Software on PCs:
Browsers: IE v6 or FF latest version browsers;
Flash: v8, pre-install Flash plug-in on browsers;
Photoshop: CS or CS2;
Text editor for coding;
PPT application;
– Audio:
Earphones / Speakers;
– Instructors/Teachers/Coordinators:
Interested in speaking/reading/writing in English;
Have some “technology 101” skills; previous experience
in game design – a plus;
Are passionate about hands-on learning themselves and
getting into a more advanced level as technology
developers;
Are committed and available at least 10 hours a week for
6 – 8 months;
Access to a PC+Internet (that meets necessary technical
specs) 3-5 times a week, preferably 1-2 hours
daily.
– Students:
Ages 13 and older from any
country;
Some basic “technology 101”
knowledge;
Intermediate English
Language;
Access to a PC (that meets necessary technical specs)
3-5 times a week, preferably 1-2 hours daily.
To become a partner and grant recipient, please fill out
the below questionnaire by 1 March 2007 and submit to info@worldwideworkshop.org telling
us a little about your community and why you think Globaloria would be a great
program for you.
you.
Amber Oliver
Manager of Partnerships &
Operations
The World Wide Workshop
Foundation
The
110 Greene Street, Suite
708
New York
City NY
email: amber@worldwideworkshop.org
GLOBALORIA GRANT
QUESTIONNAIRE
Submitted to the World Wide Workshop
Foundation
DATE:
General Information
First Name:
Last Name:
Occupation:
- Teacher
- Game Developer
- Scientist
- <Youth facilitator
- Other
Title:
Organization:
Type of organization (check all that
apply)
- NGO
- International organization
501c3- Government-affiliated
organization - Secondary school
- University
- Non-forma educational
institution - Training academy
- Other
Address:
Tel no:
Fax no:
Email:
Website:
A little about your organization / project /
community
Mission:
Country(ies) of operation:
Years in operation:
Target population(s) (click all that
apply):
- Teenagers (13-18)
- Young adult (19 -24)
- In-school
- Out-of-school
- Urban
- Rural
- Other
Interest &
Implementation
Why are you excited about implementing Globaloria in
your community / institution?
Can you tell us about any relevant projects / programs
that would support Globaloria’s platform?
How do you plan to implement Globaloria? Can you please
outline your strategy?
What additional support would you need from the
Globaloria team to achieve success?