2012/03/29

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – An international team entitled: “Robotics and STEM Badges Using NASA Content” was selected as a winner in the Badges for Lifelong Learning Competition. The winning pitch from the joint team – comprised of Khal Shariff of Project Whitecard Inc., with content focused on the official NASA Massively Multiplayer Game; Pug Pharm Productions Inc., a Canadian leader in gamification and social engagement; Dr. Meri Cummings of the Center for Educational Technologies; and Dr. Robert Starr of NASA – was delivered at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, California. 

The content was designed to find and inspire the most innovative uses of a “Digital Badges” in support of connected learning and was held in collaboration with Mozilla. It is part of the 4th Digital Media and Learning Competition supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and administered by HASTAC.

“We are pleased to be working with Pug Pharm and excited that our joint project, ‘Robotics and STEM Badges Using NASA Content,’ was chosen a winner in this highly competitive pool. Our project will support CET and draw upon NASA and the NASA MMO team to deliver information focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) content,” said Khal Shariff, CEO of Project Whitecard.

“This is a great validation of Pug Pharm’s innovative technology platform Picnic™, which will support Project Whitecard’s design by managing badge award criteria, achievement measurement and assessment, mission performance tracking, social matchmaking, and user-management” said Steve Bocska, CEO of Pug Pharm.