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GOOGLE HANGOUT WITH BRAINPOP (OCT. 2)
We are pleased to present the following article from BrainPOP as the third installment in our Industry Circle series. We hope you enjoy the following piece from Allisyn Levy, VP of GameUp at BrainPOP and that we will see you at G4C’s Google Hangout with BrainPOP on October 2 at 2 p.m. ET. During this live Q&A, BrainPOP and the Learning Games Lab at New Mexico State University will have a chat on GameUp’s impact on their research. RSVP here.
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GameUp: Providing teachers with quality online learning games
By Allisyn Levy, VP of GameUp at BrainPOP
From our inception more than 15 years ago, BrainPOP has always been about helping teachers convey complex topics — and helping kids make sense of them. We were founded by Avraham Kadar, MD, a physician specializing in pediatric asthma, allergies, and other immunological issues. Dr. Kadar recognized that many of the kids he saw were frightened by what was happening to their bodies. He believed that they would fare much better if they understood much better. BrainPOP grew directly out of that belief, and since then, we’ve never stopped coming up with new ways to support students and their teachers.
One of the “new ways” that we’re most proud of is GameUp, a curated collection of online learning games from leading educational game publishers. As educators ourselves, we loved the idea of using digital games in class. We saw a ton of great games out there, we knew how engaging they could be, and we knew that engaging kids meant motivating them. But as we spoke to teachers about games for learning, we found that many of them — although enthusiastic and not entirely new to the concept — weren’t always sure how to effectively bring games into their classroom.
GameUp was born out of our desire to help teachers expand their use of online games, showcase some of the games we saw, and give kids a new way to learn. We sought to build a portal to quality games that teachers could trust — pre-vetted by us and bundled with implementation strategies, lesson ideas, assessment tools, and an array of other resources. To best accomplish that, we partnered with a range of leading educational game publishers including non-profit organizations, independent game developers, museums, and universities.
Four years after its launch, GameUp is home to more than 120 learning games on 400+ topics, from dozens of game publishers. We’ve hosted more than 8 million hours of gameplay — 4 million in the last year alone — and we look forward to evolving to meet the needs of our users. BrainPOP remains committed to supporting teachers as they explore new pedagogies, and to making the classroom a playful, meaningful environment in which all students can learn.
For more about the unique relationship between GameUp and the game providers we partner with, join us on October 2 for a special G4C Industry Circle Google Hangout. We’ll welcome the team from Learning Games Lab at New Mexico State University for a chat about the impact GameUp has had on their reach and research. Send us Q&A questions in advance by commenting on the Google Hangout page, posting questions during the Google Hangout, or tweeting them with #G4CIndustry!
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