Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience:The primary target audience is communities with a high proportion of Native American students in the population. Due to the location of American Indian reservations in rural communities, this population is far more likely to reside in rural areas than the national average. This primary target audience is also predominantly socio-economically disadvantaged. Secondary audiences are: researchers and policy makers providing services for Native Americans, and other rural and non-rural school districts, particularly those serving students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or limited in English proficiency. Changes/Problems:Many of the problems identified in the prior year have been solved in the current year. These technical problems centered primarily around browser incompatibility and network accessibility. Shipping an integrated browser using Coherent UI eliminated the problem of browser incompatibility with our first two games. Making the games available on flash drive for school computer lab installation eliminated the long download time experienced in rural schools with low bandwidth but download remained the only cost-effective option for individual users. Switching to a service provider that makes greater use of intermediary caching proxies has resulted in fewer dropped connections for our users in rural and remote communities. By caching most of the game on the client once downloaded, game play graphics are limited only by the local computer processor and not affected by network connections. A simple modification made to store the game state and answers in local storage greatly reduced problems caused by dropped connections. With this change, the player only need to connect to the Internet to start the game, since the student's game level is recorded on our servers. If the connection drops during play, this will not be evident to the student, who can continue playing, while the program repeatedly attempts to reconnect to the server in the background and sends all of the data collected during game play once a connection is made. The third game, to be released this week, is an attempt at solving the access problem in a different way. The game runs within Firefox, Safari or Internet Explorer (although is not compatible with Chrome due to incompatibility of Chrome and the Unity Plugin). To minimize problems with Internet access, each level of the game is loaded separately, resolution and size of graphic and video components are optimized to provide the best possible quality without assuming high-speed access. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In the 2014-15 academic year, training sessions for teachers using the games in their classrooms were held on the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation, on two sites on the Turtle Mountain Reservation and at Warwick Public School, all in North Dakota. In April, in Dallas, Texas,the project staff exhibited and provided individual and small group demonstrations of games at the Online Learning Consortium national meetingas one of nine companies selected for the Launch Pad program, showcasing emerging technologies. In May, 2015, staff training was held on the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota, attended by staff members from human services. A presentation was made on the project design and evaluation at Minnesota Ed Camp in October, 2015. A presentation for teachers and studen teachers is scheduled for November, 2015 as part of Native American Week at Minot State University. The project also provided research and development opportunities for two undergraduateinterns. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The project staff have presented papers, given workshops or demonstrations at 11 separate events, including 7 conferences and 4 professional development workshops.This is in addition to20 separate events in the first grant year. To reach the target audience, the staff have disseminated results through conferences focused on Native Americans on both the local level (teacher and staffworkshops) and regional level (Native American week). These local andregional conferences are an opportunity to reach out to an audience in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities that is oftenunable to attend national conferences. Given that a secondary audience is researchers and policymakers in education, the project staff have also presented the methods and results of this research at conferences focused on education (Online Learning Consortium, Ed Camp MSP) and data analysis (Western Users of SAS Software conference, SAS Global Forum). Results have also been disseminated on our websites, which receive over 151,000 visitors each month. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Two games were created in the previous yar that integrated Dakota/ Ojibwe culture and instruction in number operations and geometry standards. In the present year, a third game was completed that addressed statistics standards. In response to feedack received from rural schools that participated in the year one beta test, rather than create a fourth game, the decision was made to perform a comprehensive update of the two earlier games to add levels, increase mathematics and cultural content. Objective 2: Help screens were created for all games, subjected to usability testing and revised based on user feedback. Over 120 in-game educational resources were created. Of these, 24 are currently available on a teacher resource website, with more added monthy. A second website, with 60 activities designed for summer enrichment to supplement game play was piloted in summer 2015 and is currently under revision for the summer of 2016. Objective 3: A separate database was created for each game. Tables within each database contain demographics, student responses to math challenges, time, date and frequency of game use. Analyses of Phase II data for year one were presented at three conferences. Analysis of data for year two of phase II will be presented in November, 2015 and submitted for publication. Objective 4: Comprehensive data have been collected over two years at four schools on two American Indian reservations and are currently being analyzed in preparation for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: De Mars, A. (2015). Yes, PROC FREQ can do that. Proceedings of the Western Users of SAS Software. http://www.lexjansen.com/wuss/2015/58_Final_Paper_PDF.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: De Mars, A. (2014). Paperwork without Tears: Completing your reporting requirements in 10 easy steps. Proceedings of the Western Users of SAS Software. http://www.lexjansen.com/wuss/2014/118_Final_Paper_PDF.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: De Mars, A. (2015). Preparing Students for the Real World with SAS� Studio. Proceedings of the SAS Global Forum. http://support.sas.com/resources/papers/proceedings15/2103-2015.pdf

Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audience The primary target audience is communities with a high proportion of Native American students in the population. Due to the location of American Indian reservations in rural communities, this population is far more likely to reside in rural areas than the national average. This primary target audience is also predominantly socio-economically disadvantaged. Secondary audiences are: researchers and policy makers providing services for Native Americans, and other rural and non-rural school districts, particularly those serving students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged or limited in English proficiency. Efforts Throughout the year, efforts occurred in two areas; research and development and dissemination. In the first area, the project developed teaching resources to accompany the educational games. These were made available to beta testers via our website, currently password protected as we are in the beta stage with these resources. Two educational games were also developed during the fiscal year, design for a third game was completed and design is in process for fourth. A computerized assessment of knowledge of fractions, aligned with Common Core Standards was developed and tested. Additional data were collected to validate an assessment measure of knowledge of number operations, developed in Phase I. Pre-test and post-test data were collected and analyzed for two games. Based on quantitative and qualitative data analysis, major revisions were made in game design. As dissemination efforts, project staff provided hands-on instruction on the games’ usage at eight events. In addition, papers were presented at nine conferences. Project results and efforts are disseminated to the public both through the main corporate blog site and a project specific site created in February. The number of monthly visits to these sites has increased from 105,360 in August, 2013 to in 179,638 in June, 2014. The project also offered three summer internships for students interested in game design and development. These internships were funded through matching funds provided by The Julia Group. Changes/Problems: Given the success in Phase I of increasing mathematics scores, the schools were eager to increase the number of minutes per week students played the games. When students played the game 25 minutes per session, they had shown significant improvement. Consequently, it was reasoned, having students play the game in 45 - 60 minute blocks in an after-school session would increase their achievement even further. It did not. Playing the game for an extended period of time is contrary to how people use electronic media and these students were no exception. In year two, students will play the game in 25-30 minute blocks, which appears to be the optimal time for students to receive "just enough" math instruction to show improvement and not so much time on the same task as to get bored or fatigued. A major problem encountered this year as we expanded the number of districts was the fact that the variation in school computer labs caused frequent incompatibilities with the game. Firewalls might block sending the student's game state and responses to our server. Slow download speeds required hours to download game files for installation, in contrast to the minutes required in areas with high speed internet. Although we had developed the games to be completely compatible with two browsers- Chrome and Firefox - some of the schools used either Internet Explorer or Safari. While not all of these problems were solved, many of them were met by a complete game redesign using Coherent UI to include the web browser as part of the game. This eliminated all problems due to browser incompatibility without requiring schools to make any changes in their system preferences. The download problem was overcome by providing schools flash drives to use to install the game. While did not provide the immediate feedback of a download, schools generally purchase site-licensed software through an approval process that includes purchase orders, invoicing, not simply a point-click-purchase. The download option remains for individual consumers and schools that would prefer to use it. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In addition to the conference papers listed under products, there were eight conferences at which staff members presented demonstrations or workshops. These were: United Tribes Summit (Bismarck, ND), National Indian Education Association (Rapid City, SD), EdCampMSP (Minneapolis, MN), EdCampMagnet (Minneapolis,MN), EdCampLosAltos (Los Altos, CA), CoLab (San Francisco, CA), Stanford Education Forum (Stanford, CA), California Association of Bilingual Education, Regional Conference (Riverside,CA). The project also provided research and development opportunities for three summer interns, funded by matching funds from The Julia Group. In addition, four teacher workshops in four different rural schools were provided for professional development. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? The project staff have presented papers, given workshops or demonstrations at 20 separate events, including 16 conferences and four professional development workshops. To reach the target audience, the staff have disseminated results through conferences focused on Native Americans on both the national level (NIEA) and regional level (MILS, Turtle Mountain Disability Conference, United Tribes Summit, Spirit Lake Disability Conference). These regional conferences are an opportunity to reach out to an audience in socioeconomically disadvantaged communities that is generaly unable to attend prestigious national conferences. Given that a secondary audience is researchers and policymakers in education, the project staff have also presented the methods and results of this research at conference focused on game design (Serious Play conference) and data analysis (Western Users of SAS Software conference, Oregon SAS Users). Results have also been disseminated on our websites, which receive over 148,000 visitors each month. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Under Goal #1: Create 4 web-based games that integrate instruction in Dakota/Ojibwe culture and instruction in number operations, measurement and geometry standards for grades two through six.--- Two new games will be completed during the next reporting period. Under Goal #2: Create supplemental materials including a companion website for instructors and instructions, help screens and manual for students. Over 60 new instructor resources will be developed. Because finding the right resource is a problem often expressed in teacher interviews, by the end of the fiscal year, all resources will be collected in a teacher support site, categorized and tagged to enable easy search based on game in which the concept is taught, mathematics standard or cultural content. Under Goal #3: Collect and analyze on-line data on students' usage of DLP resources. The third and fourth waves of data collection will occur in the next reporting year, doubling the number of students on whom data are available. Under Goal #4: Conduct a multi-year, multi-site analysis of impact on student performance and engagement. Two new assessment instruments will be developed that address common core standards for Geometry and Measurement and Data. Data from all four waves will be combined for analysis of efficacy in improving mathematics scores. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be used to correlate gain scores with engagement.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Two games were created that integrated instruction in number operations and geometry standards with Dakota/ Ojibwe culture. Design and development were begun on two additional games that address measurement and data and geometry standards. Goal 2: A total of 45 major supplemental resources were created, including presentations, accessible for classroom use as Powerpoint or pdf. A teacher resource site was created and is in the process of revision. Goal 3: A separate database was created for each game. Tables within each database contain data on demographics, student responses to math challenges, time, date and frequency of game use. Analyses of data from Phase I have been presented at several conferences, reference in Products section. Analyses of Phase II data for year one have been conducted and will be presented at two conferences in the upcoming fiscal year. Goal 4: The first wave of data collection has been completed, with the participation of five schools on or adjacent to two American Indian reservations in North Dakota. Both qualitative and quantitative data have been collected. A new assessment instrument was developed that addresses Common Core Standards for fractions.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: De Mars, A. (2013). Telling Stories with your Data -Graphs, Tables and Basic, Basic Statistics with SAS Enterprise Guide� . Proceedings of the Western Users of SAS Software. http://www.lexjansen.com/wuss/2013/133_Paper.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Longie, E.S. & Burns-Ortiz, M. (2013). Using Digital Gaming to Incorporate Culture into the Classroom. Paper presented at the Minnesota Indigenous Language Symposium, Prior Lake, MN.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: De Mars, A. (2013). Telling stories with your data - graphs, tables and basic, basic statistics with SAS Enterprise Guide. Proceedings of the SAS Users of Oregon conference, Salem, OR. http://www.sascommunity.org/wiki/Telling_stories_with_your_data_-_graphs,_tables_and_basic,_basic_statistics_with_SAS_Enterprise_Guide
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: De Mars, A. , Venegas, Y. & Castillo-Schultz, M. (2014). Are They Really Learning? How Educational Are Educational Games? Paper presented at the regional meeting of the California Association of Bilingual Education, Riverside, CA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: De Mars, A. & Longie, E.S. (2013). I'm from the Internet and I'm Here to Help. Presentation at 1st Annual Tribal Disabilities Conference, Belcourt, ND.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: De Mars, A. (2014). Technology tools for empowerment of people with disabilities. Presentation at the 2nd Annual Tribal Disabilities Conference, Belcourt, ND.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: De Mars, A. (2014). Self-employment, disability and technology. Presentation at the Spirit Lake Tribal Disability Awareness Conference, St. Michael, ND.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Gutierrez, N., Roca-Castro, A., Diaz- Asper, J., De Mars, A. & Cervallos, M. (2014). Economic Empowerment in a Wireless World. Presentation at the National Council of La Raza annual meeting, Los Angeles, CA.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2014 Citation: De Mars, A. (2014). Educational Games That Add Up. Presentation at the Serious Play Conference, Los Angeles, CA.