Software Helps Students’ Language Skills While Having Fun

ASU, EyePower Games collaboration brings new program to local schools

SCOTTSDALE (August 26, 2008) –Arizona State University’s SkySong is partnering with a Singaporean company to bring innovative language software to Arizona schools. NewsMaker software is widely used in English classrooms throughout Singapore. By locating at SkySong, EyePower Games connected with ASU’s Applied Learning Technologies Institute to give the application its first field test with students in the U.S. Following a successful pilot in the summer Conexiones program, SkySong facilitated a relationship with the Scottsdale Unified School District, where the NewsMaker will be used with English-Language Learner (ELL) students at Navajo Elementary School, and potentially, district-wide. Several other school districts in Arizona have since begun to use NewsMaker.

NewsMaker gives students the opportunity to improve their language skills by planning, writing, and publishing a video news report. They write their own news story within the software, which then allows the computer monitor to serve as a teleprompter. As “news anchor,” students read back the story they’ve written as a web cam records their image. Cutting-edge face-tracking technology built into NewsMaker makes it easy for students to enhance their video clip with impressive visual effects. The student publishes the newscast as a single video file to be shared with classmates and teachers, and can even email it to family or friends.

Scottsdale’s Navajo Elementary School principal, Shaun Holmes, says his students have enjoyed using the program. “Students are learning how to use the NewsMaker software to create broadcasts. This is beneficial to both English-Language Learners, for which it was designed in Singapore, and native English speakers. It assists in the development of writing and public speaking skills, as well as journalism and editing,” said Holmes.

Middle school students who used the software in the Conexiones program on ASU’s West and Polytechnic campuses found that it was not only fun, but helped them overcome their fears of speaking publicly.

NewsMaker software is produced by EyePower Games, a company new to the U.S. that is located at SkySong in Scottsdale. To learn more about NewsMaker, visit http://www.aboutnewsmaker.com.

For more details on the SkySong project, visit the Web site http://skysong.asu.edu

###

Media contact:
Alison Bendler, ASU-SkySong
480-884-1654
602-741-0866 cell
alison.bendler@asu.edu