Digital Learning Day – where education meets the digital age

What is Digital Learning Day?
Digital Learning Day (DLD) is a day dedicated to school reform by engaging students and empowering educators through the effective use of digital tools. I know what you may be thinking – “Is this talking about a class run by computers?” – and the answer is no. The great part about DLD is that there is no limit to what is considered a digital tool and it is up to you to find the best fit for your needs! Don’t you think that discovering new and creative ways to engage students is worth celebrating? DLD was started as a way to actively spread innovative practices and ensure that all youth have access to high-quality digital learning opportunities no matter where they live. Learning how to use 3D printers, sharing student work with mobile QR codes, and engaging in research projects are just a few of the many ways that educators celebrated and shared their DLD activities this past year. If you want more examples, you can see last year’s DLD highlights here.

So what is “digital learning” anyway?
Digital learning is any educational method that utilizes technology to enhance a student’s learning experience. It encompasses many different facets, tools, and applications to support and empower teachers and students. Cool, right? Let’s think beyond the usual Microsoft PowerPoint and see how teachers can feel empowered through designing creative activities that push students beyond their comfort zone. From student-run blogs to filmmaking to game design, the options are limitless!

Why should I celebrate Digital Learning Day?
Good question! The world is changing and it seems like schools have a hard time keeping up. Traditional methods of books and worksheets are often not challenging and could be limiting a student’s potential to learn. Fortunately, Digital Learning Day highlights great teaching practices and showcases innovative teachers, leaders, and instructional technology programs that are improving student outcomes. For example, Educurious created a pop culture challenge for students asking, “How can we avoid the path to Panem, the post-apocalyptic world of The Hunger Games?” This loaded question explores issues of social class, trust, and the media’s role in forming public opinion and political systems. Sure beats a textbook, huh? Ultimately, DLD’s goal is to promote the effective use of modern day tools to improve the learning experience in K-12 public schools. 

When is Digital Learning Day?
Save the date! Digital Learning Day is on March 13, 2015.  To stay connected, follow @OfficialDLDay on Twitter and use the hash tag #DLDay. Don’t be shy to share your ideas and stay inspired by seeing what others are doing. 

Okay, I’m in! Where do I start?
The best way to kick off your planning is to think about how you would like to support high-quality digital learning for the youth or your own community. To give you some inspiration, the Alliance For Excellent Education has compiled a collection of interactive lesson plans, digital tools, and resources here. However, do not feel limited to this list because this is your chance to get creative and think outside the box. The next step is to get involved! Here are some things you can do. First, go to the DLD Planning Guide to see where you want to start. After you decide what is a good fit for you, add your celebration plans here and also Tweet them! Let’s all think about how to extend Digital Learning Day to be a long-term commitment and improve the quality of education for everybody! 

March FableFriday: Didi Hatcher, Lead Animator

Spending her childhood summers in a small village in Bulgaria, Didi Hatcher was a member of the maker movement before it was even called the maker movement.  

While today’s technology educates and engages children’s imaginations one way, children have always used their imaginations to explore and learn more about the world. Didi, FableVision’s Lead Animator, discovered this first-hand in her grandparents’ technology-free Bulgarian village.

“Without TV, video games, smart phones, or even a lot of toys or other kids to play with, my sister and I made up games and built things out of raw materials, creating our own fun,” she said. “We had the perfect free-range childhood there, riding bikes, playing with animals, exploring the hills, and coming inside only to eat and sleep.” 

This creativity followed Didi as she discovered her love for animation, which she still uses today at the Studio. Read on to discover more about Didi’s animation experience at FableVision – and learn how she harnessed her love of making stories move into her life as an animator.

When did your interest in animation start?
I distinctly remember the moment that sparked my animation flame. It was the summer before I left for college, and I was watching a behind-the-scenes special on how some 3D animated film was made. They were showing an animated elephant walk cycle, and it looked all wrong. Elephants didn’t move like that, not even cartoon elephants! Animals have always been a passion of mine, so it really bugged me. If only I had the skills, I could make this animation truly shine! I’d never been fully happy in any one medium before,  but animation just clicked. I signed up as soon as I got to college, and absolutely fell in love. Animation is my calling in life.

How does the animation in Bulgaria differ from the animation in the states?
Animation in Bulgaria is mostly in the form of artsy shorts, rather than commercial feature films. Even the largest animation studio, Boyana Film in Sofia, doesn’t have the capacity to produce a feature film. The height of Bulgarian animation was in the 1960-80s, and it looked strikingly similar in style to other European and even American animation.

Nowadays, there’s a really annoying trend, which I was unaware of until people started routinely misunderstanding what I do for a living and asking me if I get to hang out at resorts a lot. It turns out that the word for “animator” has been hijacked, and has acquired a second meaning - “entertainer,” as in, the guy in the giant Mickey Mouse suit at Disneyland or the clown at a kids’ birthday party. Such “animators” are very popular at the seacoast resorts. So all this time people had thought I was a clown. Now whenever I’m asked what I do for a living, I make a point to stress that I’m a REAL animator!

What’s your background in animation?
I studied animation for four years at Harvard. That was my major, with a focus on stop-motion animation. Unfortunately, stop-motion work is hard to find and unsustainable these days, so after graduation I focused on 2D. FableVision was my first job out of college. It’s hard to believe that back when I first started, over seven years ago, I barely knew Flash, and now I know it inside and out so well that I feel like I have experienced every bug imaginable that it has to offer, and some unimaginable ones, too!

Everyone has one, what’s your journey to FableVision story?
It was a pretty convoluted journey. I was looking for work after I graduated from college, and mentioned it one night when I was having dinner with my college roommate and friend Becca and her family. Her dad worked at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) at the time, and said he could put me in contact with somebody who did instructional animations in the medical field. So I went to MGH, but the job wasn’t a good fit. The guy put me in contact with the girl who had done it previously, in case she had any leads or recommendations. She couldn’t help me, but said she had a friend at a company that might do animation. Her friend’s name was Naomi Greenfield. Naomi said that I should talk to Karen Bresnahan, and Karen said come to FableVision for an interview. The interview was on the very last day of my Visa, and I already had a plane ticket to Bulgaria for the next day. It was all or nothing – either FableVision hires me, or I leave the U.S., potentially for good! I didn’t tell anybody until after the fact, but they hired me, and changed my life forever! That was one of the best things that has ever happened to me, and it allowed me to have the amazing life I have now!

Walk us through your animation process. How do you start?
I start from the storyboard and character designs, which have been provided by the board and design artists. I go over the script and description of the project, to get a feel for the style and tone. And of course I have to keep in mind the schedule and budget. For quick, low-budget projects I have a “biggest bang for the buck” type of strategy, focusing on a couple of “money shots” and doing the rest more minimally. For larger, more demanding projects, I do more elaborate animation, with less reuse and more unique drawings. And for interactive games, often it’s a collaboration with the developer, where I do some of the animation and they do the rest.

What’s one learning experience you’ve had at FableVision?
The “jack of all trades” experience. In addition to animation, I’ve had to do all kinds of other stuff – design, post-production, audio editing, project management, even recording scratch voice over. Flexibility is important in a small company, so switching gears has definitely been a good learning experience. I love variety and trying different things though, so the challenge has been more than welcome!

What’s one of your favorite FableVision projects you’ve worked on?
This would be a somewhat masochistic pick, but I’d say it’s the Scholastic iRead Direct Instructions project. It was huge, it was difficult, and often very frustrating, but it challenged me in new ways and gave me a new kind of power. I didn’t do much actual animation, but I had the chance to lead and manage the production process of a very complex and complicated large-scale project. It was the first time I had a team. Overcoming the many obstacles we had was thrilling and very satisfying to my problem-solver self.

Can you tell us about your role on the relaunch of Zoombinis?
I’m playing my usual dual role – doing some animation, and overseeing the art production and animation process. I’m also working with the developers to make sure the art and tech sides mesh well. This project has a unique mix of art and tech, in that we’re using new software, so the two sides have to really play well together.

What’s one “cool” moment you’ve had on the Zoombinis project?
Reading people’s comments on Facebook and YouTube and discovering the huge fan base that the Zoombinis have! We don’t usually get to see the life of our projects beyond the studio. They are just things we work on and then send off into the world. But every once in a while, we see a project in context, whether it’s a glimpse of it on TV, or at a museum exhibit, and it all comes together. With the Zoombinis, it was that, plus the bonus of feeling almost like a celebrity, for being The People who are working on The Revival of The Zoombinis!

What’s your favorite place to visit while in Bulgaria?
I love visiting Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. It’s lined with sandy beaches and diverse resorts, from flashy Vegas-style monstrosities to quaint little fishing villages. Unlike the ocean, which is always some variation of cold, the small Black Sea actually warms up in the summer quite a bit. It’s a lot less salty than the ocean, too, and it doesn’t have any sharks. It’s the perfect place for a beach vacation!

You and your husband are incredible dancers! Where did you two learn to bust a move like that?
We met on the Harvard Ballroom Dance Team. For both of us, it was our first experience with partner dancing, though we didn’t actually dance together until after we’d both quit the team, in our senior year. We had one dance together at a salsa party, and decided it was too much fun to stop. So we joined the salsa team as partners and just kept dancing...

---

Fun questions:
Favorite animated movie: The Lion King (I have a soft spot for African animals, and for old-school, realistic 2D Disney animation)
Favorite TV show: House (I feel like we’d get along well)
Favorite snack: Hazelnuts from grandma’s tree. She mails them to me.
Favorite vacation spot: Anywhere away from civilization.
Favorite game to play with your baby: Speed games: can I smooch her fat rolls before she yanks my eyeball out.
Favorite book: Born Free by Joy Adamson
Favorite hobby: Gardening.

FableVision helps Zoombinis’ game return journey

You know what’s hard? Keeping a good secret. It’s been a rough several months trying to keep everyone quiet at the Studio, but the wait is finally over. We can finally share the big news: Zoombinis is coming back! 

The FableVision team of artists, animators, and developers has been working hard to relaunch the beloved ’90s math and logic game for today’s generation. So what does this really mean? Released as a CD-ROM in 1996, the Logical Journey of the Zoombinis wasn’t built for tablets or today’s CD-free computers. But it is still an awesome learning/adventure game with a ton of fans. So, FableVision, TERC, and the Learning Games Network (LGN) decided to join forces and rebuild the game.

The FableVision team has been hard at work updating the backgrounds, reanimating Arno and Zoombinis alike, working with the LGN development team on the puzzles, and then plugging all the pieces into Unity in preparation for the game’s release this summer. We could go on and on about the behind the scenes of the Zoombinis but, instead, we’ve decided to show you!

Over the next few months, the entire Zoombinis team will be sharing developer diaries – little peeks behind the scenes – covering art and animation, design and development, and overall production. Check out the first one shown above. As the videos are posted, we’ll make sure to post them on the blog, but keep an eye on the Zoombinis’ Facebook,  Twitter, and YouTube pages .

If you can’t tell we are pretty excited! Because, hey, who doesn’t love the little blue Zoombinis? Did you play Zoombinis when it first came out? Share your favorite memory!

FableVision hops on a buggy with NCFL in new financial literacy app

Buckle up and put the pedal to the shopping-cart metal! The only license required to play Renegade Buggies is a fast and furious desire to understand the power of budgeting and responsible purchase-making.

Working with the National Center for Families Learning (NCFL) and the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, FableVision developed a 3D mobile app that aims to foster financial and mathematical literacy for players of all ages. Newly released and developed in Unity, this endless runner game combines fast-paced gaming with basic budgeting to encourage financial responsibility.

Renegade Buggies has four levels that focus on a particular consumer skill: comparing unit prices, buying in bulk, calculating coupons, and utilizing promos. By advancing levels, you become a smarter consumer – all while increasing your Overall Money Saved and having fun!

How do you play? It’s easy! Hop on the back of a shopping cart, or buggy, and drive down a street collecting money and items, taking care to avoid cones, rolling tires, and puddles in your path. Then, with your items collected and cash stashed, cross the finish line and enter the checkout phase of the game, where you'll choose the most budget-friendly items out of the stock you grabbed.

Any saved money is your reward, letting you purchase power-ups and accessories for your buggy in the Virtual Auto Body Shop.  Being budget-conscious definitely has its perks – why wouldn’t you want to trick out your buggy with some epic glow lights or don your avatar with a flashy stunt suit?? 

Renegade Buggies is now available for free on Google Play and the iTunes app store. Check out the microsite FableVision developed too. What are you waiting for? Start your engines and save, save, save!

Creative Work Spaces

"Home is a self portrait."

I’d encourage you to watch TINY on Netflix, a documentary about a couple’s journey building a Tiny House. The film explores themes and questions surrounding the notion of home – what is home, how do we find it, and what do the material things we surround ourselves with say about us?

There are lots of articles out there about dwellings and work spaces – creative, functional, and some combination of the two. Generally, there seem to be two approaches to work spaces:

1. Fill them with items that inspire and/or comfort you with personal meaning.
2. Establish a minimal design that will neither impact nor distract you from your work.

FableVision Studios is filled with creative thinkers, so we were curious about how our work spaces, both at home and at work, reflected us as individuals and our own process. So take a peek into our homes, and share your own creative spaces! What do you choose to surround yourself with? How does your home and work space function as a self portrait? 

Renee Kurilla, Lead Artist
Renee's half of her home studio is neat and tidy. She explains, "I can't get any work done if something is out of place!"  And who's that? Wave hi to her home studio cat, Timmy. 

Cecilia Lenk, Creative Strategist
Tomtes are the "soul" of the home and clean up sometimes, or not. 

Sarah Ditkoff, Communications and Development Strategist
"Here are my two favorite tchotchkes that I keep in my work space, a hand-carved Viking that my grandpa made. He always sits with my 'grump,' a small, hard, clay stone that Grandpa gave me in my stocking one year at Christmas." 

Keith Zulawnik, Lead Artist
"If you thought my desk at FableVision was crammed, my studio at home is filled to the gills with books, creatures, and all sorts of fun stuff. Here is a tiny snippet of it."

Andrea Calvin, Brand and Development Strategist
"Creativity is a cup of tea served in my Grandma's tea cup. My creative inspiration item is Coco Monkey. Coconut Monkey is the mascot for PC Gamer magazine and back in 1999 when I started dating my now husband, Mike,  was taking a ceramics class in high school. My teenage self thought Coconut Monkey was adorable, so he made one for me. I still have it 16 years later."

Alyssa Graca, Marketing Intern
"While my current workspace is my dorm desk at school, I have certainly tried to spruce it up as much as I can – and what that means to me? By making it a half-cluttered/half-organized smattering of all things that have inspired or interested me over the years! From animated series and books, to horror movies and artwork, my workspace is an embodiment of the many things I love – making it a fun and colorful place to work in an otherwise typically-dorm-like room!"

Tone Thyne, Vice President of Creative
"Here's where the magic happens!"

Leigh Hallisey, Creative Director
"Here’s my desk in my home office that I share with my cube/life mate Pete. There are a lot of toys on my desk and most of them are reminiscent of my childhood. In the left corner you can see my original General Lee Matchbox car from the Dukes of Hazard and part of my original Matchbox police motorcycle from Chips—these two shows pretty much defined ages 5-8 and began my long term love affair with TV. There are lots of pictures of my daughter Lila (my most inspired creation), and the bookshelf to the left is overflowing with everything from Marshal McLuhan, Andy Warhol, and Susan J. Douglas’ Where the Girls Are (one of the most influential books in my academic life) to books about Melrose Place, the Kardashians, and some good old fashioned literature—Salinger, Fitzgerald, and Dr. Seuss."