I’m honored to welcome you to Defrag q1.07. I wish to thank Dan Carl of the Northeast Ohio Videogame Initiative, David Moss, Director of FUTURE: the Center for Design and Technology Transfer at the Cleveland Instititute of Art, I-Open, and everyone who contributed to making the first Defrag conference in December a big success. The creativity, passion and enthusiasm that everyone displayed for the future of rich media in Ohio was inspirational!

 

You are probably thinking “What’s with the chemistry lab picture?” The answer is that I am a chemist and teacher by trade, not a rich media expert. The seismic displacement that is about to occur in education is similar to the revolution that is taking place in the production and consumption of energy in this country. Many scientists are rightly concerned about the effect that unbridled fossil-fuel oxidation is having on our planet. In addition, there is much hand-wringing about the alarming reports of dwindling oil reserves. When discussing these developments with my chemistry classes, I like to tell my students that this has opened up enormous opportunity for them. If you think the computer and internet boom was something, just imagine the opportunity that will unfold when the entire energy enterprise is replaced.

 

In a similar fashion, many of us are rightly concerned about the process of education in this country. An alarm bell was sounded with the publication of “A Nation at Risk”, alerting us to facts of which many of us were well aware. Something is terribly wrong with the process of education in this country. Hand-wringing abounds. Once again, with the identification of fault lines in education, there is an opportunity to bring creative, intelligent and much overdue change to the essentially 19th century process of education. The Henry Fords and Andrew Carnegies of the 21st century are sitting in our classrooms! WE NEED TO COMMUNICATE WITH THEM.

 

Why not try and communicate with them in their language? Those of us with children in school are quick to recognize video game time as an effective carrot for homework motivation. If money is employed as a motivational tool, it is frequently used to buy a video game!!! The fact that individual learners have different styles has long been recognized by educators. The one size fits all role of the authoritative lecturer as the fundamental mode of delivery has been rightly criticized. Learner centered, interactive approaches to education are much more effective. Serious, immersive, interactive computer games can readily provide a superior educational experience.

 

The huge success of the Entertainment Games sector has provided resources that have led to ever more powerful game engines that are, thankfully, comprehensible to mere mortals. The technological tools needed to reach students are accessible and available. And much more than this, if we can focus some of the human resources mentioned in the first paragraph, together with those of us in education that see these developments as opportunity to communicate with our students more effectively, there is a bright future ahead for education in our region! That is what’s so exciting about Defrag q1.07. We can bring the essentially eclectic bunch together to bring about the creative and exciting changes to education that will mean so much to our children’s and their children’s lives. The times, they have achanged!

 

Dr. Terrance P. Green

Conference Chair & Host

Chemistry Department

Lorain County Community College