By Chris Magnuson

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is a nonprofit organization that supports and trains educators to integrate technology into the classroom and inspires educators to become leaders in educational technology (EdTech).  The ISTE Conference and Expo is an amazing event that welcomes close to 18,000 educators, administrators, EdTech visionaries, and industry leaders to share and learn from each other. This year the conference will be held in San Antonio, Texas from June 25^th – 28^th.

We are proud to be among the select few individuals and organizations who will be presenting at this year’s conference.  Our session kicks off the conference early Monday morning with a hands-on workshop entitled Become a Game-Based Learning Guru.  We will share important information to justify using games in the classroom, a useful Game-Based Learning (GBL) rubric, and an opportunity to design a game that fits the curriculum that you currently teach. The rubric helps to evaluate the effectiveness of educational games. We will be using games from the Dig-It! Games library to illustrate our points as well as educating attendees on trends in GBL. It will prove to be a fun and engaging workshop.  Register today!

As we prepare for our own workshop, we also need to keep an eye on the many social events and sessions that we would like to attend.  Time is tight so a good plan will help us make the most of the conference and expo.  Here are the sessions that we have earmarked for attending:

Social Events:

Start networking a little early on Sunday night and learn about implementing ISTE standards in your products and classroom at the  ISTE Standards-Aligned Resources Networking Mixer.

Monday night join Dig-It! Games at the ISTE Game Night to play games!  We will be hosting a table with our games and offering game giveaways.  This will be a great opportunity to meet the GBL community attending ISTE as well as play some fun games!

Tuesday night will be an opportunity to see how students and teachers are using games in the classroom by watching creatively narrated video game sequences in the EduMachinima Fest 2017.

Keep an eye out for impromptu breakfasts, coffee meet-ups and some late evening talks at local bars and hotels.  Be sure to sign up for all relevant ISTE communications when you register to learn about the myriad social opportunities while at ISTE.

GBL Sessions:

There are so many great GBL sessions at ISTE this year but here are a few that we think are definitely worth attending:

Put Augmented Reality in your STEM – Learn about augmented reality and how it can be used to engage learners.

Simple, Curricular-Aligned Games in the Wild  Legends of Learning presents a published controlled study showing that building games off of the curriculum teachers use and offering a variety of games for each learning objective increases lesson retention and student engagement.

Certified BrainPOP Educator Showcase – Certified BrainPOP Educators will share the ways they’re putting GBL content and features to use. You’ll hear real-life anecdotes about everything from assessment to PD to game-based learning, from a diverse range of educators.

Invite Students to be Players in the Game of Learning – Collaborate and experience gamified learning. Find out how gamification can create students who are persistent problem-solvers. You’ll leave with tools to gamify your own curriculum.

Helping Teachers Use Game Play Data for Formative Assessment and Differentiation:

Findings from a pilot study with six middle school science teachers who used a video game about argumentation for 1-2 weeks in class will be presented. The discussion will focus on how teachers interpreted game play data to make inferences about student learning and make changes to instruction.

Beyond Pokemon: Virtual and Augmentative Reality for STEM

Virtual or augmentative reality is here to stay! Now, how do we use it for meaningful instruction? This session will focus on VR and AR to develop social competence in the STEM classroom. Yes, skills to problem solve, learn cooperatively and work in teams.

Virtual Environments and Games & Simulations Networks Playground: Escape the Ordinary

The Games & Simulations and Virtual Environments networks will provide a scaffolded experience using augmented reality, virtual reality, games and simulations. This will take a project-, problem- and challenge-based focus allowing participants to play along with an escape room challenge theme.

Game Design as a Catalyst for Learning

Find out how to use game design to let students explore their interests, passions and curiosities as they become creative and innovative and practice thinking outside of the box. Learn to create transdisciplinary learning opportunities that give students voice.

iDigFossils: STEAM Integration through 3D Scanning, 3D Printing, and Paleontology

So you have a 3D printer…now what do you do with it? iDigFossils is a collaborative project between educators and the University of Florida that provides open-sourced, NGSS-aligned K-12 curriculum using 3D printed fossils. By leveraging 3D technology, these lessons allow students to become scientists.

Game On: Breakout EDU and the Changing Landscape of Learning

This session starts with a look back at where we have come from in games – especially through the lens of educational technology – and then looks at Breakout EDU as a path forward to a more intrinsic and student-focused education.

Digital Content and Games: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

This panel unpacks customer needs and industry innovation surrounding digital content and education games through dialogue anchored by publications by the Center for Digital Education. This engaging conversation includes voices from district leaders in the field as well as thought leaders and content providers.

It’s hard to believe that the list above is not comprehensive!  There are many other GBL posters, panels, workshops and connections happening and we hope you will be able to make it!

If you are coming to ISTE, please let us know and we would love to connect with you and share what Dig-It! Games is developing for SY 2017-2018.  We are looking forward to building partnerships with schools and teachers for input on our games as well as opportunities to share our GBL learning practices and playtest some of our games!

Jes and I are looking forward to presenting at ISTE and preparing for a very successful conference filled with new connections, insightful EdTech conversations and strengthening existing partnerships.

Drop us a line and we will see you in San Antonio!

Chris Magnuson – chrism@dig-itgames.com  – Twitter = @cromagnuson , @DigItGames

Jes Mylniec – jesm@dig-itgames.com – Twitter = @jmlyie

Could you save the world this summer?  Discover a new civilization? Or even explore the universe first hand?

We know you can!

Summer is here and it is time to keep the learning going! Summer reading lists are being circulated now with carefully chosen books to support reading gains over the concluding school year and a stepping stone for opening discussions at the beginning of school in the fall.  There can be a significant amount of down time in the summer for children which is the main reason why summer reading lists have become a part of our summers today.  We encourage students to read all summer long but also, don’t neglect to curate your own summer gaming list too!

Picture this: A child seated by himself reading a book under a tree’s shade on a hot summer day.  A hundred feet away, under the shade of another tree, is another child seated by herself playing a video game on a tablet.  In Everything Bad is Good for You, Steven Johnson argues that there is an inherent bias in promoting the reader’s activity as enrichment while deriding the gamer’s activity as wasting time.

They are both seated by themselves engrossed in other worlds.  But one is more acceptable than the other.  Johnson argues that we need to be open to changing the bias against video games.

A good reader will be actively reading by predicting what comes next, recognizing foreshadowing, but they will always be responding to a fixed narrative.  Whereas the video game player is making decisions that impact the outcome of the game, accomplishing short term and long term goals, and depending on the game, may very well be interacting with other players in creating and reimagining the world in which they inhabit.  Johnson argues that this may potentially be more intellectually rigorous…but it all depends on the content and the structure of the game.

This summer, read through that reading list, enjoy those summer evenings of staying up late and reading by flashlight and exploring new worlds.  We also encourage you to grab a video game that is educational and enriching and one that will engage your mind on multiple levels.  Who knows you very well may discover a new home for humanity, discover a new civilization or explore planets you never knew existed!

We here at Dig-It Games are proud of our library of educational games that we encourage you to add some or our games to your summer gaming list! Looking for more games?  Check out the library of games hosted by Games for Change.

Finally, if you are looking for another book to add to your reading this summer, why not pick up Everything Bad Is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter.  We bet it will start some interesting conversations as well!

As a former teacher, I know very well the excitement that June brings for most educators out there. Some of you are already done (Congratulations!) and some are so close you can taste it (hang in there)! I still have that sense of anticipation even though this will be my first non-teacher summer ever! While I hope most of you can sit back and relax a bit, I also know that a lot of you will be working at some point this summer. The summer was a great time for me to reflect on the past year as a whole and start formulating my approach for the fall on my own time. I am no expert by any means, but I wanted to offer some of my advice for getting the most out of your summer planning:

• If you kept a journal throughout the year, go back and read it. If not, think through your year. Make a list of your greatest lessons and also the ones that completely failed (we all have those). Analyze these to see what you can keep, get rid of, or change. I always had student feedback that I referenced while doing this too.

• Keep up with your peers on Twitter. It’s the best free PD you can find! Use the hashtag for your content area and find chats that interest you – full schedule can be found here. It worked wonders for me for the past 5 years to just keep up with trends in schools and what teachers from all over the world were doing.

• Do you use Kahoot, ClassDojo, or Dig-iT! Games? Check out my blog post about connecting with EdTech companies. They (we) want to hear from you! Do you have questions or concerns about something? Do you have a feature you’d like to see added? Don’t be afraid to reach out.

• Learn something new! This is the perfect time to learn about technology tools, game based learning, or anything that will make your life easier in the fall. Check out these programs from the Institute of Play. Then put your new knowledge into practice by using one of our games! You can see them all here.

• Lastly, relax and enjoy yourself as much as possible. If you have kids or  extra summer jobs, try to carve out some time for yourself to recharge. It’s just as important!

We are just as excited about summer here at the studio. We have our education team heading to ISTE in San Antonio. If you’ll be there, reach out and meet up! You can find the blog post here to explain more. We are also working on curriculum and lesson plans to make implementing our games in the classroom much easier!

On Fridays our incredibly talented artists show off their skills live on Twitch and will answer any questions you may have about how they create characters and objects for our games. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook and sign up for our newsletter! You’ll get first access to our new games and the news coming out of the studio.  We’d love to hear from you! Enjoy your summer!

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By Chris Magnuson (@cromagnuson)

Tuesday, May 9^th is National Teacher Appreciation Day and we here at Dig-It! Games have a host of teachers to thank!  We not only have to thank teachers who use our games in their classes but also every teacher who has taken the time to fill out one of our surveys, has play-tested our games individually or with students and every teacher who now stays up to date on game-based learning by following us on social media.  We are an educational video game company and we would not exist without you!

We recognize that there are many things piled on the proverbial plate of teachers from the state, the district, parents, students and your own personal drive to ignite learning in your students.  That is why we also recognize that the teachers who are seeking out video games to incorporate into the daily routine deserve recognition and appreciation.

Here is why we say thank you to all game-based learning teachers:

• We know that the choice to seek out a game that fits your class is motivated by seeking to facilitate an engaging experience for your students. You want to ignite a spark of creativity, wonder, excitement or even an emotional experience.  In short you want to create a class that impacts your students.  We say thank you for your drive to make your class the best it can be.
• Choosing a game takes time. You must find a game that connects to your curriculum and play it long enough to determine if it hits the learning objectives you have mapped out for your class.  We know that time is in short supply and we thank you for playing our games!
• Once you have chosen a game that fits your class, there will need to be some customization of your lessons to connect it to your curriculum. We offer curriculum materials for many of our games but we also know that you will always customize them to fit your students’ needs.  We thank you for building the bridge between our games and your students.
• Teaching is all about logistics! We know that choosing the game and scaffolding the lesson is only a part of a successful incorporation of a game into a course.  You may also have to secure the laptop cart, reserve the computer lab or at a minimum make sure all your devices are fully charged and student accounts established.  These steps can sometimes be time-consuming and tedious but absolutely necessary.  We thank you for making sure that students can access our games in your class!
• During game playing you may also have to troubleshoot. Thank you!
• When the laptops are closed and students have left your classroom, your work is not done. You will look at data reports on how students did while playing the games or devise assessments that incorporate game-play to show what students have learned and also to help justify your decision to use games in the classroom.  We thank you for taking this extra step!

These steps demonstrate that incorporating games into the classroom is not a simple process but we know that you do it because you want to create an experience for students they will never forget.  We say thank you!

Now for the free stuff!

In the spirit of Teacher Appreciation Day, we would also like to say thank you by offering you one of our games of your choosing for free and a chance at becoming a character in a video game!

1. Use code TEACH2017 at our game store.
2. Fill out this form and we will randomly pick 3 entries to have our amazing art team draw you (or a friend) as a video game character that you can use to put on social media, letterhead, posters around your room, you name it!
3. Don’t forget about our free materials on TeachersPayTeachers!
4. Reach out to us on Twitter @dig-itgames!

Take a moment now to fill out an entry form today!  If you are chosen to become a video game character we will contact you for a personal photo for reference.  Good Luck!

By Chris Magnuson

On Monday, April 24, Dig-It! Games launched the 5^th Grade Challenge App to commemorate the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) Educational Foundation’s 5^th annual production of an innovative fundraiser. But more importantly, we were joined in the lobby of the AFI Silver Theater by a host of 8^th graders who were showcasing their versions of the app and websites.

“Are You Up to the 5^th Grade Challenge?” is an engaging game show that welcomes community leaders to test their wits against the challenging 5^th grade curriculum of MCPS in order to raise money for programing in the district’s elementary schools.  The unique spin of this format is that there are about twenty 5^th graders representing a number of MCPS elementary schools on stage to help steer the contestant to the right answer. Yolanda Pruitt, Executive Director of the MCPSEF, wanted to commemorate the 5^th year of this unique event and she had a vision for students and families to take this game-show home via a mobile app.

Pruitt secured the funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute but her next step was to find a local game developer to make it happen.  That is where Dig-It! Games came in!  But she had one additional request and which was to include students in the building of the game.  We were up to the challenge!

Dig-It! Games teamed up with Argyle Middle School for Digital Design and Development to engage 8^th graders in this project.  We have always interfaced with students through studio visits, playtesting and career day conversations but this was the first opportunity our studio has had in making a game with students! Argyle is a unique magnet program that was the perfect fit.  Eighth graders study Game Design, Web Design, Digital Coding, Digital Art and Video Production and we have managed to incorporate each class in the creation of this project!

Our education team took the lead in coordinating the project but everyone in the studio has been involved.   Our developers visited with Game Design classes to engage students with the design specifications and run through a paper prototypes.  Our artists visited Digital Art classes to coach students through the design and production of art for the many of the questions in the app.  Video Production students filmed every time Dig-It! visited classes and they are producing a recap video of the whole project.  Finally, Web Design students made websites to host the app and tell the story of how the app was made.  We have engaged students in all aspects of the mobile game’s development but the most fun has been sitting down with students to actually play the game and see their eyes light up when they see their own artwork and ideas present in the game-play!

Building this mobile game was a challenge but with some help of innovative 8^th graders at Argyle we were up to it!

Download the app today! http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/argylems/5thGradeChallenge/

April is a busy time of the year, and it also signifies that the school year will soon end. The end of the school year means one thing in the education field, review of all content material cover in the curriculum to help students prepare for their end-of-year projects and assessments. What is the best way to prepare students? Some teachers use review packets and drill practice worksheets. However, the best way to review the content and prepare for testing is to have students play games! 

At Dig-It! Games, we have numerous games that help students review standards in the intermediate and middle school grade levels.

Loot Pursuit: Early America is a great game for 4th, 5th, and 6th-grade students to practice math computation and U.S. History standards on Jamestown. 

Exotrex Episode 1 allows students to review concepts taught in Physical Science and Earth Science standards. 

Excavate is a series of ancient civilization games on the social, cultural and economic standards of the cultures of Maya, Egypt, and Mesopotamia through ancient artifacts.

Games allow students multiple attempts where a state assessment/end-of-year test only gives the student one chance with the material. Games enable students to play with concepts and materials taught during the year in a quick, safe and easy way to help students practice and cement the information they are reviewing. For all students no matter the grade, there is a lot of curriculum covered in a school year, and a subject specific game can allow students to fail at concepts while practicing over and over again until the student and the teacher feel that they have mastered the concepts needed to pass the yearly assessments.

As the end of the school year nears to a close and those state tests draw closer, make sure your students are ready! Check out our games as well as others to help your students prepare for their final assessments!

Looking for resources to teach your Ancient Civilization course? We are happy to present the newest game of our Excavate Series; Excavate! Mesopotamia. This game will engage learners with a simulation of an archaeological dig. Kids and adults will have fun exploring the sites of Ancient Mesopotamia and examining artifacts left behind by the people who lived there.

Develop map skills and learn about locations:

Mesopotamia means “the land between rivers” and this interactive game takes players through five different sites in Mesopotamia: Ur, Nineveh, Persepolis, Babylon, and Nimrud. Students discover the important historical figures, technological advances, and the important buildings from each of the locations. All information is found in the student’s journal which can be accessed at any point in the game.

Explore archaeological tools and information about dig sites:

Players choose the correct tool such as a sieve, pick, brush, or trowel. Each tool is explained, but be careful! If you use the wrong tool you might break or lose the artifact! Click or drag the tool around the pit to uncover an artifact from the area. Fun facts about archaeology can be found while you are digging. Students can learn more about stratigraphy, tools, and soil while they are playing.

Use deductive reasoning:

Students analyze each artifact by answering a series of multiple choice questions about the material, location, and function. If they are successful in completing all of the artifacts, the next location will unlock. Students are able to access all of the information about the artifacts by returning to their journal and reading about them. Example of artifacts included in the game are: The Royal Game of Ur, Stele of Hammurabi, the Tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh, and a statue of Penelope from Persepolis.

How to use in class:

This is the perfect game to introduce basic archaeology and artifact analysis. It’s great to play individually or as a class to discuss culturally relevant objects from these ancient lands. Students are able to explore and take ownership of their own learning because they can also play at home and bring back information for class.

Comparing civilizations:

Use this game along with Excavate! Maya and Egypt to let students compare and contrast each civilization and their artifacts. This could be a great lesson when discussing where people settled and the tools they used and why. Look out for more locations to come!

Let us hear your thoughts!

Find the game here. Have an idea for an ancient civilization that you can’t find enough resources about? We’d love to hear what you’d like to see in a game! Send us an email or contact us on Twitter or Facebook to let us know what you think! Check out the full press release here.

Oregon Trail and Games Photo Credit: SomedayTrips.com

Gather a group of folks of a certain age and mention the word “dysentery” and an interesting thing happens: eyes light up and people talk animatedly about wagons overturning in the river, sacks of beans and bad choices that led to everyone starving. An odd response for such a horrible disease, but of course it’s the reference to the game Oregon Trail that evokes such a deep seated, emotional response. What is it about Oregon Trail that had such a profound impact on so many of us that we clearly remember the experience years later?

Oregon Trail stemmed from the realization that kids learn more when they are learning about real people doing real things. Although we as teachers all know that deeper learning happens when students see and experience life and culture, time and curriculum constraints often limit social studies classes to focusing on major events, dates and important people. With the recent focus on STEM (and STEAM), social studies has taken a back seat, further limiting teaching resources. At Dig-iT! Games, we believe this is a dangerous oversight: STEM is absolutely vital to our kids’ success, but kids desperately need the tools that social studies courses provide. Our students need to learn to analyze, categorize, process and communicate, and evaluate the motivation behind an action. These skills have become even more critical in our current environment, where opinions are often mistaken for facts.

Captured at High Desert Museum Bend Oregon Photo Credit: Somedaytrips.com

It’s All About Experiences

Part of what made Oregon Trail such an effective teaching tool was that it was structured as a game. Playing wasn’t about passing a test, it was about finding a way to get little Mary and her family to the end without a catastrophe. Embedded in that experience was a variety of important information: certain foods are more nutritious or more durable than others; wagons are complicated machines that needed as
much upkeep as a car does today; diseases were far more deadly in the past than they are now due to a lack of effective medication, etc. Learning was seamlessly blended with gameplay. Certainly, students learned about the dates the Oregon Trail was used, its geography and its significance, but they also had a first-hand look into the very real hardships of the people who used it. That emotional connection to historic events is extremely powerful, as evidenced by the number of people who remember what they learned from a short game they played as children decades ago.

The evidence shows that when one makes an implicit connection between information and themself, it is more likely the information is remembered later. Immersive games like Oregon Trail ask players, “What would you have done in that situation?” This is more powerful than just physically reading a textbook and absorbing the facts because of its emotional connection and cumulative learning effect. It forces students to draw on what they know and requires them to think differently about the information they’re receiving. They are able to see history as a story made up of patterns and repeating trends, not just a list of facts to memorize. That helps make the topic relevant to students and encourages them to apply those analytical skills to the world around them. When history becomes immediate instead of theoretical, it turns into an adventure instead of a chore. History taught in an immersive way helps students become engaged, excited and eager to learn more.

Why Use Digital Games?

As Oregon Trail illustrates, the value of a game is in what we take away from it, not in the game itself. It is in that individual engagement where electronic games win out over traditional games in a classroom setting. Digital games combine graphics, audio and movement into a coherent whole. These games are interactive and immersive, forcing the player to be truly invested in the outcome. Players are encouraged to strengthen weaker skills, while simultaneously taking advantage of their proficiencies. Electronic games level the playing field, allowing all learners to engage deeply and internalize ideas in the way that suits them best. So regardless of how a student best processes information, she/he will be able to learn the same thing as someone who operates differently.

Our educational system is, unfortunately, not designed for individualized teaching. The cycle of lectures, mass-produced textbooks and standardized tests emphasizes consistency and conformity. Digital gaming can change that.

Digital games provide an environment where kids can learn at their own pace and in their own way. It’s much easier to admit strengths and weaknesses when no one is watching. Games are inherently flexible; they encourage experimentation, trial and error and failure. In no other learning environment are kids encouraged to fail and learn from their mistakes, even though every teacher knows the best way to learn something is by doing it (and failing a few times). The immediate feedback in games lets players determine for themselves what they need to do differently, allowing them to internalize the lesson. Students can practice skills they feel uncertain about, or move ahead to new things while the teacher focuses on students who are struggling with a topic. When students are put in an environment in which they can learn their way without fear of judgment or penalty, they become what every teacher strives for: independent learners.

What to Look For in a Game

Effective educational games bear certain hallmarks that should be known and considered. Here are a few key elements to look for in a solid learning game experience:

Purpose-aligned learning. Learning games that clearly show a student that they can use what they learn for a future purpose instill a level of confidence and willingness in that student that makes teaching and learning look effortless. Such games are carefully developed; look for those clearly aligned to a future purpose for the student and never again hear ‘But when am I ever going to need to know this?’

Content area knowledge. The gaming industry is crowded with games of every variety. While zombies and guns are popular, what you are looking for are those games that actually help a student along an academic course in science, social studies, music, art, etc., because ‘Zombie Hunter’ is not a real job listing. Scientist, educator, project manager, curator, artist are all real-world possibilities and while standards are a great guideline, more importantly, the future is what we make it.

Opportunities to explore. In educating a child, their self-determinism, the opportunity for them to look in wonder and to make a choice, one that they feel may be correct or interesting or one that merely satisfies their curiosity, is precious. Games provide a unique opportunity for children to explore and investigate things that are specifically of interest to them. There is a certain pleasure in learning new things, and even in going over the familiar, especially when one is in control of that learning. Look for games that provide the student situations in which they can choose a path forward and in which they control the level and pace of exposure to new information.

Multiple cognitive skills to problem solve. Even simple games engage multiple skills. Shooting zombies involves coordination, strategic thinking, and often collaboration with other players. Those skills are important, but literacy, mathematical knowledge, and comprehensive understanding of particular content are more useful in the long run. Good games are cross-curricular; they combine two or more curriculum areas into an engaging whole. These games put students in situations where they must draw on information and skills learned in multiple classes, an ability that will serve them well in college and the job market.

We Need Your Help!

Oregon Trail was groundbreaking when it was first introduced and continues to be the gold standard against which all history games are measured, but digital games have improved dramatically since its first introduction in the 80s. Certainly, graphics are much better quality now, but the biggest shifts have come on the data side: games track progress and some games allow teachers to see the student’s progress so they can tailor lessons or extra work to specific needs. Games are also easier to make and to distribute, both a positive and negative change: more games does not inherently mean better quality games and it is still a challenge to find games that align to a specific curriculum. We need your help to continue improving the quality and variety of games.

First, we want to know what you are teaching and where the gaps are. Do you have particular content areas you wish you had more resources for? For example, we know there is a lot of coverage for the Revolutionary War, but not so many resources for teaching Mesopotamia or ancient irrigation. We want to make high-quality games that help you engage your students better and follow your curriculum. If you have ideas for games or would like to be part of a discussion about key areas of curriculum you think games would be useful for, please email our Education Team (elisab@dig-itgames.com).

Secondly, we know Game-Based Learning (GBL) can be useful in the classroom but measuring the success is often challenging. Some games provide no learning outcomes and those that do are typically in proprietary systems requiring educators to log-into and learn separate learning management systems. Learning outcomes from one vendor cannot be easily compared with other games as there is no core standard. We believe that there is a need for a unified dashboard that standardizes the collection, reporting and analysis of learning outcomes across the GBL industry. We have received a grant from The National Science Foundation to develop this standard and build a unified dashboard. We want to know how data collection in games (or lack thereof) affects your thinking about GBL and your purchasing decisions. Additionally, we need your help developing a universal dashboard that reports data from multiple products in a useful way for your needs. If you would like to be part of this exciting project, please contact us (info@dig-itgames.com).

We hope you will participate in one or both of these initiatives. With your help we can move the game industry forward and create better products that match with your curricula and meet your data reporting needs.

A former archaeologist and middle school teacher, Suzi Wilczynski is the founder and CEO of Dig-iT! Games®, an independent developer of interactive educational games for kids. Through a seamless blend of fun and learning, Dig-iT! Games seeks to foster the joy of intellectual discovery and inspire kids to think differently about learning.

Being nerdy with Google Glass in 2015

As a full time teacher, you have way too much to do at one time. Too often educational technology tools are either suggested to or pushed on teachers as one more thing to figure out. This is incredibly frustrating and it doesn’t have to be. My name is Elisa and I am an education specialist at DIG-IT! Games.  I was (and still am) a huge advocate for educational technology. My prior roles in my education were as a high school Spanish teacher and technology integrator who ran some professional development opportunities for my colleagues. I was always interested in tools to make my class and teaching not only more fun, but also more effective. One of the most frustrating parts of this, though, was signing up for a new tool and then spending hours to figure out how it works only to find out that it just won’t work for you. I always thought to myself, “Well if they just changed this it would be PERFECT” or “It’s too bad it doesn’t do that” and then I would write the tool off and go about my business. From my Twitter feed, I can tell that this is the frustration of many teachers out there. Since leaving the classroom, here is what I’ve figured out:

Edtech companies only work FOR TEACHERS. Without teachers, they will cease to exist. If some teachers somewhere aren’t using their product, the company will fail. This puts teachers and administrators in an amazing position. They have the opportunity to give feedback and have a hand in making products that are perfect and that they want to use. I know I never really gave this much thought while I was teaching (possibly because we have so much else to do, that writing an email to a company wasn’t a priority) and now that I’m trying to elicit reaction from teachers, I realize how important this process is.

The age of social media has made it so easy to facilitate customer service between clients and companies. Twitter especially has become a way to get instant help, feedback, or advice between teachers and companies. Since I am one of the people monitoring our Twitter account here at Dig-It!, I can honestly say that I’m so excited when teachers engage, ask questions, or just give feedback.

So here’s my ask to current teachers. Stop being silent. If you like a product, tell them why. If you hate a product, tell them why. If you have an idea for an improvement or a feature, tell them. Follow companies on social media and interact with them. You’d be surprised at the reactions you might get like early access to features or some other incentives. This is the only way that you are going to get the product you want and need. If you are trying to use a product and need help, reach out on social media. I know I’d be so excited to answer those questions.

Today signals the beginning of a long-awaited break for many teachers. I am less than a year removed from the classroom and I can still feel the excitement of having a few days off and coming back for what will be the home-stretch of the school year. I know that some of you will not touch anything related to teaching during this break and I know that some of you will be doing lesson plans at some point.

I challenge you to follow at least 1 company whose product(s) you use and try to interact with them. I will be on our handle (@digitgames) if anyone wants to chat about using educational games in the classroom. Also, I am doing some feedback and research on our game, Excavate, so if you’d be interested in helping me out, I’d appreciate it! We are also presenting at the ISTE 2017 conference and would love hear from you there.  Reach out on twitter, comment below, or email me to set up a time to talk about games in the classroom with one of our speakers.

Have a happy and safe weekend and if you are on break, enjoy it!