{"69278":{"#nid":"69278","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Teens \u201cPaid To Play\u201d Video Games Impact Computer Science Education Research","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe GLITCH Game Testers, a group of African American teen video game players, completed a 3rd summer of quality assurance (QA) work for clients in the game industry. GLITCH is an outreach program run by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse College and also serves as a platform to conduct research on computer science education. Research findings indicate notable success in increasing interest in computer science.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe generous support from The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation was critical to GLITCH\u2019s Summer 2011 successes. With the $25,000 Pathways to Success Grant, 15 high school students were paid as full time testers and took part in computer science workshops this summer.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOur research findings indicate that paying these young men may be a critical component in leading them to value the contributions they can make in the world of technology. While many of them start the program excited to be \u201cpaid to play\u201d video games, the rigors of quality assurance work and computer science workshops soon lead them to see video games in a new way.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents now talk about games as software that they can control and manipulate rather than just media they consume. This change in attitude is also reflected in other choices. Over the course of the program GLITCH had 33 participants. Of the 16 who have left (graduated?) high school, 15 have or intend to start this fall in college with 13 pursuing computing related majors. Before the program, only three participants intended to pursue further education in computing.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology\u2019s (Atlanta, GA) College of Computing is one of the topped\u003Cbr \/\u003Eranked public schools for computing and a leader in developing contextualized computing\u003Cbr \/\u003Eeducation. Morehouse College (Atlanta, GA) is a pre-eminent historically black college for men\u003Cbr \/\u003Ewith a legacy of outreach in the Atlanta area. Glitch is the dissertation work of Betsy DiSalvo\u003Cbr \/\u003Eunder the advisement of Dr. Amy Bruckman in the Georgia Tech Electronic Learning\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunities lab. Other investigators include Dr. Ken Perry and Dr. Charles Meadows of\u003Cbr \/\u003EMorehouse and Dr. Mark Guzdial of Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"An outreach program run by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse College, GLITCH, serves as a platform to conduct research on computer science education."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAn outreach program run by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse College, GLITCH, serves as a platform to conduct research on computer science education. Research findings indicate that paying these young men may be a critical component in leading them to value the contributions they can make in the world of technology. \u003Cem\u003ESource: Office of Communications\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"An outreach program run by the Georgia Institute of Technology and Morehouse College, GLITCH, serves as a platform to conduct research on computer science education."}],"uid":"27166","created_gmt":"2011-08-11 11:53:14","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:55","author":"Juliet Helms","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-08-11T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-08-11T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"11355","name":"computer science education"},{"id":"3402","name":"glitch"},{"id":"9556","name":"Morehouse College"},{"id":"365","name":"Research"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBetsy DiSalvo\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["bdisalvo@cc.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}