oactive leadership in developing a shared vision for educational technology among all education stakeholders, including teachers and support staff, school and district administrators, teacher educators, students, parents, and the community Empowered Leaders  Stakeholders at every level empowered to be leaders in effecting change Implementation Planning A systemic plan aligned with a shared vision for school effectiveness and student learning through the infusion of information and communication technology (ICT) and digital learning resources   Consistent and Adequate Funding Ongoing funding to support technology infrastructure, personnel, digital resources, and staff development Equitable Access Robust and reliable access to current and emerging technologies and digital resources, with connectivity for all students, teachers, staff, and school leaders Skilled Personnel Educators, support staff, and other leaders skilled in the selection and effective use of appropriate ICT resources Ongoing Professional Learning Technology-related professional learning plans and opportunities with dedicated time to practice and share ideas Technical Support  Consistent and reliable assistance for maintaining,  renewing, and using ICT and digital learning resources  Curriculum Framework Content standards and related digital curriculum  resources that are aligned with and support digital age  learning and work  Student-Centered Learning  Planning, teaching, and assessment centered around  the needs and abilities of students  Assessment and Evaluation  Continuous assessment of teaching, learning, and  leadership, and evaluation of the use of ICT and digital  resources  Engaged Communities  Partnerships and collaboration within communities to  support and fund the use of ICT and digital learning  resources  Support Policies  Policies, financial plans, accountability measures,  and incentive structures to support the use of ICT  and other digital resources for learning and in district  school operations  Supportive External Context  Policies and initiatives at the national, regional, and  local levels to support schools and teacher preparation  programs in the effective implementation of technology  for achieving curriculum and learning technology (ICT)  standards

Proactive leadership in developing a shared vision for educational technology among all education stakeholders, including teachers and support staff, school and district administrators, teacher educators, students, parents, and the community

Game designer Marc LeBlanc has defined eight types of fun: sense-pleasure, make-believe, drama, obstacle, social framework, discovery, self-discovery and expression, and surrender. Paul Ekman, a researcher on emotions and facial expressions, has identified literally dozens of different emotions - it’s interesting to see how many of them only exist in one language but not in others. Nicole Lazzaro did some studies watching people play games, and she arrived at four clusters of emotion represented by the facial expressions of the players: hard fun, easy fun, altered states, and the people factor.

Games are not stories. It is interesting to make the comparison, though: Games tend to be experiential teaching. Stories teach vicariously. Games are good at objectification. Stories are good at empathy. Games tend to quantize, reduce, and classify. Stories tend to blur, deepen, and make subtle distinctions. Games are external - they are about people’s actions. Stories (good ones, anyway) are internal - they are about people’s emotions and thoughts. In both cases, when they are good, you can come back to them repeatedly and keep learning something new. But we never speak of fully mastering a good story.

In this website some key assumptions are made about assessment and feedback.  In particular, the primary purpose of these processes is conceptualised as being to enable students to develop as self-regulated learners, able to monitor, evaluate and regulate their own learning. This does not mean a focus on individual learning. Rather, student self-regulation is more likely to be developed through collaboration amongst students rather than by individualistic approaches to learning.

Table 1: Principles of good formative assessment and feedback. Help clarify what good performance is (goals, criteria, standards). To what extent do students in your course have opportunities to engage actively with goals, criteria and standards, before, during and after an assessment task? Encourage ‘time and effort’ on challenging learning tasks. To what extent do your assessment tasks encourage regular study in and out of class and deep rather than surface learning? Deliver high quality feedback information that helps learners self-correct. What kind of teacher feedback do you provide – in what ways does it help students self-assess and self-correct? Provide opportunities to act on feedback (to close any gap between current and desired performance) To what extent is feedback attended to and acted upon by students in your course, and if so, in what ways? Ensure that summative assessment has a positive impact on learning? To what extent are your summative and formative assessments aligned and support the development of valued qualities, skills and understanding. Encourage interaction and dialogue around learning (peer and teacher-student. What opportunities are there for feedback dialogue (peer and/or tutor-student) around assessment tasks in your course? Facilitate the development of self-assessment and reflection in learning. To what extent are there formal opportunities for reflection, self-assessment or peer assessment in your course? Give choice in the topic, method, criteria, weighting or timing of assessments. To what extent do students have choice in the topics, methods, criteria, weighting and/or timing of learning and assessment tasks in your course? Involve students in decision-making about assessment policy and practice. To what extent are your students in your course kept informed or engaged in consultations regarding assessment decisions? Support the development of learning communities To what extent do your assessments and feedback processes help support the development of learning communities? Encourage positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem. To what extent do your assessments and feedback processes activate your students’ motivation to learn and be successful? Provide information to teachers that can be used to help shape the teaching To what extent do your assessments and feedback processes inform and shape your teaching?

encourage desired study practices.

All students are entitled to the following:

Games make us happy because they are hard work that we choose for ourselves, and it turns out that almost nothing makes us happier than good, hard work

The tools and ethos of the Maker revolution offer insight and hope for schools. The breadth of options and the “can-do” attitude espoused by the movement is exactly what students need, especially girls who tend to opt out of science and math in middle and high school. However, hands-on Making is not just a good idea for young women. All students need challenge and “hard fun” that inspires them to dig deeper and construct big ideas. Making science hands-on and interesting is not pandering to young sensibilities; it honors the learning drive and spirit that is all too often crushed by endless worksheets and vocabulary drills. Making is a way of bringing engineering to young learners. Such concrete experiences provide a meaningful context for understanding the abstract science and math concepts traditionally taught by schools while expanding the world of knowledge now accessible to students for the first time.

The site is interactive, annimated, and allows users to create works based on the tools that they've learned about.