Big News for STEM Education Funding | Six Reasons to Get Excited

Posted on May 21, 2013 by kristiel

US Commits $3.1 Billion for STEM Education Funding

Obama Administration Commits $3.1 Billion to STEM Education FundingWhat does this commitment to STEM Education funding mean for students? If you’re an educator or a well informed citizen, you’ve probably heard the news about the Obama Administration committing a significant amount of money…$3.1 billion dollars in fact… to improving STEM education.

If you are interested in acquiring education grants, check out this free Grant Proposal Resource that walks you through the process of writing and submitting a grant proposal with specific information on STEM education.

Here are six reasons to get excited about this announcement:

#1 Discussion about STEM at the highest levels

Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, it would be difficult to argue that the current administration, or our government as a whole, have not given STEM education the attention it deserves. Far from it, this announcement can be taken as a rededication to this cause. This reinforces the fact that STEM education is an area of vital importance to our national interests for a number of reasons. One reason is economic: A large percentage of the high growth, high paying jobs available today, and for the foreseeable future, are STEM focused, and require a STEM literate workforce. Further, our economic success as a country is tied intimately to our level of technological innovation.  Everyone should know the answer to the question "What is STEM?". Of course there are many other reasons, but the bottom line is that there seems to be a deep seated understanding that STEM isn’t about ‘special interests’ –it’s about our collective interests and all students should be exposed to the possiblities a STEM focused education presents.

#2 The Creation of STEM Innovation Networks

$150 million is being directed specifically to establishing partnerships between school districts and universities/businesses/museums and others involved in high demand Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering fields.

#3 100,000 STEM Teachers in 10 years

The stated goal of preparing 100,000 STEM educators with strong teaching skills and deep content knowledge over next 10 years was originally addressed in the President’s 2011 State of the Union address. Since then, the private sector has begun providing support, and this new budget will specifically allocate $80 million in the coming year to preparing such teachers for take their place in school districts of high need.

#4 Creation of STEM Master Teachers Corp

This funding for STEM education will also fund a pilot program designed to gather the cream of America’s science and math teachers who have demonstrated to be the most effective at  improving education in their own districts, and share their practices so they can be replicated in other classrooms across the country.

#5 to Redesign of High Schools to Focus on STEM Learning

From these funds, $300 million will be put towards a competition whose goal is to revise and re-think the way high school education is approached. This includes placing an emphasis on real-world learning, project based learning and aiming to provide challenging and engaging experiences that properly prepare students for pursuing STEM fields of study in college and related career paths.

#6 Emphasis on Increasing Informal STEM Education

A portion of funds from this budget are also being directed to the Smithsonian Institution, who will work in conjunction with other science and technology based governmental agencies, such as NASA and the Department of Agriculture to create materials, curricula and online resources that will specifically support the STEM concepts being addressed in classrooms. Another $48 million will be provided to the National Science Foundation (NSF) with the explicit goal of finding the most effective and innovative methods for engaging students in STEM focused pursuits outside of the classroom.

To be fair, some have criticized this $3.1 billion commitment for the fact that it gathers it’s funding for many of these programs by slicing the funding for others, but that is of course the way things must work when limited economic resources are available. It also consolidates, restructures, and eliminates a large number of STEM programs previously being conducted by a wide range of agencies, and instead puts the governments STEM efforts essentially under the control of the Department of Education, and the National Science Foundation.  For example, the redirection of funds to the Department of Education will involve the consolidation of 114 individual STEM programs across 11 agencies. Meanwhile, the Departments of Defense, Energy, the EPA and the National Regulatory Commission will see a greater reduction of their STEM budget, as 226 agency programs are restructured down to 112. The result is that the Department of Education will now be in charge of federally funded STEM programs aimed at elementary and secondary students, and the NSF will focus on undergraduate and graduate STEM programs. 

Read the April 10, 2013 news announcement from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

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What is 3D Printing & How Does It Work?

Posted on May 17, 2013 by kristiel

3D Printing with the CubeSimply defined 3D printing is the process of creating a three dimensional solid object from a digital model. Basically, its the same concept of printing as when you print word documents off your computer. The difference is that instead of paper you are using building materials like PLA or ABS plastics. Instead of getting a piece of paper you are getting an object based on your design.

The Process of 3D Printing

Printing 3D is a very interesting process and it can democratize production but how does it work? You start with the model of your object that you create using 3D modeling software such as Autodesk Entertainment Creation Suite and ZBrush. Then you simply send this model to the 3D printer. The first layer of information is read and the first level of material, let's say plastic is printed. What happens is a fine layer of plastic filament is melted. Then layer after layer is put on until you have your finished product.

Applications for Printing in 3D

The possibilities for printing in 3D are virtually limitless. Many people see 3D printing as a true democratization of the production process. You can pretty much print whatever you design – jewelry, shoes, toys, household items, etc. The most common business applications are for prototyping and distributed manufacturing. Many different fields utilize 3D printers like architecture, construction, industrial design, automotive, dental, medical and aerospace to name a few. Three dimensional bioprinters have be created to make 3D tissue structures. As an individual, you could use your 3D printer as your own factory to make your creations.

Popular 3D Printers

Some of the top brand names for 3D printers are 3D Systems, MakerBot and FormLabs. For schools and businesses, there is the affordable, professional CubeX 3D printer which can print objects up to the size of a basketball. If you are looking for something smaller for your home (and more budget friendly), the Cube 3D printer might be right for you.

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Taking Virtual Reality Gaming to the Next Level: Oculus

Posted on May 14, 2013 by kristiel

Virtual Reality Gaming HeadsetThe Rise of Virtual Reality Gaming

Virtual reality gaming if it lives up to what is planned will be playing your game, scratch that, IMMERSING yourself in the realistic simulation of the games reality.  As Palmer Lucky, Founder of Oculus, describes it would be "like plugging yourself in to the Matrix".

We've just witnessed the mobile development explosion. Games for Android, Windows and IOS have been churning and burning over the last 10 years. So what’s next you ask? Virtual reality gaming is next and it is going to be epic. Reference the 90s, when virtual reality became the rage but failed to reach its potentional. You are probably saying "What? Virtual Reality has been around for a long time". Remember that movie Lawnmower Man? Well the issue with “Virtual Reality” was that technology could not produce that quick, low-latency response that is required for the gaming market. At least they could not until now. 

Enter the Oculus Rift 

Currently available to developers. The Oculus Rift Headset is the world’s first low latency consumer VR Headset designed specifically for virtual reality gaming. The experience the oculas rift VR headset offers is truly immersive for 3D gaming. The Verge quoted "The immersion levely here is really something to behold.". MSNBC has raved that "There are a lot of cool gadget out there, but I promise you have never seen anything like this." This is an exciting product has support  for both Unity Technologies and Unreal Development.  Valve has even confirmed that they will create a mode for their hit free to play Team Fortress 2 to work with the Rift. Doom3 is on deck to be the first Oculus-ready game.

With great promise and backing. Occulus is sure to be a hit with consumers. Occulus VR Has announced on  March 29th that they have begun shipping of their development kits. You can order a dev kit from this link for $300 US which is unbelievable in itself.

If you are a student or an educator and would like to develop virtual reality gaming, you can get started in game design with educational discounts on the popular Unity 4 Pro or GameSalad Creator at Studica.com

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What is Gamification?

Posted on May 9, 2013 by kristiel

Gamification design, as loosely defined by Wikipedia, is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context in order to engage users and solve problems. In a nutshell, it is the application of game design methodology in disciplines outside of entertainment software. The Entertainment Software Industry has become a dominating force in Media and Entertainment. As an industry, it is now pulling in Hollywood-style revenue in the billions of dollars. While this all sounds like great news, some still consider Interactive Design (Game Design) a niche discipline, one that only caters to a very specific industry. However, this is no longer the case due to “Gamification of Business”.

Why Use Gamification?

Foldit Gamification ExampleThe applications for gamification are tremendous. One of the best examples of gamification to date is the experimental research project “Foldit”. Foldit was developed by University of Washington as a joint project between the folks at UW’s Center for Game Science and Department of Biochemistry. Although Foldit is a game, many consider it one of the gamification examples due to the fact that it is actually a tool that is being used for Biochemistry research rather than just entertainment purposes. The game has users fold proteins into the most efficient shape possible. They are given a score based on how efficient their protein is folded. The goal is to encourage the several hundred thousand players of Foldit to break grounds and discover new proteins. One protein that was linked to a strain of HIV that had eluded scientists for several decades was discovered by the users of Foldit. This ended up making front page news in many publications and it was proof that the digital Game Design methodology could go beyond Entertainment software.

Companies That Use Gamification

Business Gamification Example Green GiantAnother good example can be found by looking at the Vegetable Distributor, Green Giant. They conducted a marketing campaign where if somebody bought Green Giant vegetables, they would be given a code that could be used in the popular Facebook game FarmVille to cash in on in-game points. The points could be used to purchase certain items in FarmVille. This marketing campaign ended up being very beneficial for Green Giant. They ended up selling more products and raising their brand awareness. This can be considered gamefication because Green Giant utilized an in-game currency for a 3rd party game to encourage people to buy their product. This is not a traditional marketing tactic. However, in game design, everybody knows that to keep players hooked, you need to have incentives to work towards. By giving away FarmVille points to customers, Green Giant essentially utilized Gamification mechanics in their marketing by giving consumers an incentive to purchase their product and be rewarded for it beyond the basic necessity of having to eat food.

Gamification for Business

Yet another place that gamification is making a splash is in the CAD industry. Surprisingly enough, gamification in CAD is becoming rather widespread. I’ve seen more and more firms utilizing the Unity 3D Game Engine to create interactive walkthroughs of their CAD models. Engines like Unity 3D allow users to add first-person controllers into a 3D Scene, which allows for user input. One of the best examples I’ve seen of gamified CAD is from the Toda Group. You can check out their interactive walkthrough. As you can see, Unity 3D has given the firm much more versatility for their architectural walkthroughs. Software like Autodesk’s Revit have built-in walkthrough features, but they can only go so far. Unity allows you to actually add functionality to your walkthrough rather than just a simple camera motion. In the Toda Group gameification article example I listed above, you are able to select different materials for certain items in the model, such as pillow cases, outdoor and indoor walls, etc. Toda Group was able to script this functionality into their interactive walkthrough using Unity. This gives architects a huge level of control over their walkthroughs. So much so that they could theoretically give a client an interactive walkthrough and the client could customize the entire building as much as they want. This is an excellent use of business gamification elements and in the last several years, we have seen more and more firms, as well as educational institutions, adopt software like Unity 3D for their CAD needs.

I have only scratched the surface of gamification game mechanics. Realistically, gamification design can have a very positive and far-reaching influence on numerous industries across multiple sectors. With the development of low-cost, easy to use game engines like Unity 3D, and the ever-increasing number of institutions that are offering interactive design education, game designers have never been in a better position to have a major impact on the world. 

Author: Mark Philipp

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Improve Your Video Editing with Magic Bullet Looks

Posted on May 3, 2013 by kristiel

You work hard to create your story. Yet, sometimes you need a little extra to take your project to the next level. Your video editing software can do a lot but sometimes there are coloring or other issues that it just can't handle. This is where the Magic Bullet Looks Suite comes in and becomes your filmmaking dream team. With an variety of tools such as Looks 2, Colorista II, Mojo, PhotoLooks, Instant HD, Grinder, Frames, DeNoiser and others, this powerful editing plug in can take your video editing to the next level. The nice thing about the suite is that you get all these items that would be over a thousand dollars at a small fraction of the price. If you add that with student discounts its super afforable. What this suite can do for your visual projects is really amazing but its probably better to see examples rather than read about it. Take a moment to check out this short film.

Plot Device, An example of Magic Bullet in Action

Short Film, Plot Device from Red Giant Software

This sort film directed Seth Worley illustrates the special fx capabilities the Magic Bullet Suite can provide. The entire film was created on a budget of less than $9,000. In order to make this modest budget work they decided to use the affordable VFX from Red Giant software. These simple tools can provide giant results. You can see examples of color treatment to change the feeling and moods of your scenes. You can see how authenically you can jump from film genre to genre. Its a really fun film and you can see how Plot Device was made here.  Magic Bullet enhances several different applications ranging from Avid Media Composer, Sony Vegas Pro, Apple Final Cut Pro & Express, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere Pro.

Benefits for Video Editing

There are several great things the Magic Bullet Suite can help you do to make the best use of your film editing software. You will be amazed on what you can achieve with your films and projects.

Magic Bullet Looks 2 Here are some of the key benefits:

  • Skin corrections and beauty. Say you don't have a lot of money for hair and make-up on your project. No problem because this suite allows you to correct skin blemishes and more. If you happened to shoot your film not quite with the lighting expected, they've got you covered.
  • Colorizing. Use color treatment and correction to help convey the atmosphere of your scene or specific genre of your film.
  • Adjustable Tools and Presets. If this is all new to you, you can take advantage ove over 130 existing looks. If you are more advanced, take these looks and modify them to make them your own.
  • Transcoding Inputs. You can now use your DSLR cameras for filmmaking and easily transcode to HDSLR footage. Doesn't seem like a big deal but DSLR is taking filmmaking by storm but many softwares can't except that as input.

Student Discounts on Magic Bullet

Red Giant Software offers special pricing for students. You can choose the Magic Bullet Suite referenced above which offers you a great variety of Red Giant Products. Or you can choose much simpler offerings such as Magic Bullet Looks or Quick Looks. 

 

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Empowering STEM Teaching for Inspiration & Success

Posted on April 30, 2013 by kristiel

Improving STEM Teaching

If we want to succeed in our efforts to create a more competitive workforce, STEM teaching is a pillar of our success. Google has recently announced its support for the national STEM Teacher Corps. With the rise in importance of STEM Education and the incentives given to students who excel in these studies, it only seems natural to thank the teachers and provide them guidance. For the teachers who make that extra effort and inspire students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math there should be recognition. Developing a strong STEM Education program is difficult. This is the purpose of the national STEM Teachers Corps is to reward and support these teachers that go above and beyond. These teachers are helping our students achieve great things in the fields of science. The corps allows these teachers to serve as leader and provide ideas to other teachers taking on this collasal challenge.

Empowering STEM TeachingEmpowering Teachers

The idea to create a community of the best teachers in STEM disciplines that will serve as leaders among teachers. They will provide ideas and examples to help improve STEM teaching to reach students. Google, Math for America and Broad Institute have just publised a white paper that supports this initiative,  A Path Toward a STEM Teacher Corps. This document includes recommendations on how to assist teachers in this challenge. Recommendations range from recognition incentives, empowerment to make improvements in the STEM education system and more. This support is fundamental to make educating our students successfully for the future. 

Project Based Learning Enhances STEM Education

The task of teaching STEM is a challenging one. To be successful, you must integrate and apply content from several subjects. Integrating this cross-curricular content provides students with an understanding to the relationship between all the different disciplines they study. We need students to understand why they need to use something and that they will use it in the future. The benefits of project-based learning curriculum to achieve this are empowering for students. There are many STEM Education curriculum programs designed to assist teachers in this daunting task. There is also education funding available from a variety of sources. Knowing how to write a grant proposal is a key step in helping your school access these funds.
 

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Inside the Virtual Robotics Challenge OTSC 2013

Posted on April 26, 2013 by kristiel

Engaging Students in Robotics via Competition
Excitement is quickly building for the upcoming Fourth Annual Virtual Robotics Challenge sponsored by Studica. This event will be held at the 2013 Ontario Technological Skills Competition in Waterloo, Ontario. It takes place Monday, May 7th – 8th.
robo-tx-mazebot-virtual-robotics-challenge-2013

How the OTSC Virtual Robotics Competition Works


This year's competition will feature the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4 combined with the fischertechnik Robo TX Explorer Kit using the Mazebot design by Bob Tone. The competing teams will be given the challenge to write their control program using the VPL environment of the MS RDS 4. MVPL, or the Microsoft Visual Programming Language, is a high-level intuitive graphical interface for programming which abstracts the hardware services programming into graphical objects requiring minimal knowledge of conventional programming languages, as all the objects available are placed in the graphical environment where you interconnect the object or blocks related to each activity or service in a virtual environment. Each object has attributes and functions available which can be acted upon by other objects by simply connecting them with wires.

MSRDS-4-VPL-Interactive-Programming-Environment

There is also a visual simulation environment, VSE, in which the program interacts with the simulated objects that are given dynamic physical attributes like mass and velocity along with gravity, so you can actually see what happens if your run your robot into a wall or off a table. The virtual robotics challenge given to students this year will involve multi-step activities that they must complete and be graded on each. One of the activities will be the line-follower.

Judging Criteria and Preparation

One of the judges' main criteria will be looking for the team that can program the fastest most accurate algorithm for the robot to complete the course in both the simulated environment as well as using the ROBO TX hardware itself.  To prepare for the challenge teams are encouraged to download the free Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 4 available from Microsoft. Fischertechnik Software, tutorials and support files for MS-RDS support are available here. Good luck to all the participating teams.

Teachers looking for Robotics curriculum tied to a STEM education program, you may want to consider the new fischertechnik STEM Lab program that includes complete curriculum to fill up to six months of class time written by Tom White. This is a standards-based program that focuses on project based learning.

How to Prepare for OTSC and other Robotics Competitions

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How to Secure Grants for Education

Posted on April 24, 2013 by kristiel

Grant Proposal Resource

The Educator’s Dilemma: Securing

Grants for Education to Get Funding for your Students

As you well know, we are currently in a period of major

education

changes. Teachers and administrators are deeply concerned with finding ways to address the new ,

Common Core Standards

which are being put into place across the US but with limited funding securing grants for education becomes a major task. The old teaching methods of standardized testing with fill-in-the-blank answers are being phased out, in favor of hands-on, project based education solutions that fully engage students.

We are at that point that we recognize that to survive and thrive as a nation, we must find ways to get our students involved as early as possible in

STEM education

(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related fields of study, so that they have the tools and background needed to succeed in both higher education and the workforce of tomorrow. Finding the tools to help address these concerns—tools such as the fischertechnik STEM Lab Program, which combines hands-on,

project based learning

with complete, standards focused curriculum –is often just part of the answer. For most school districts, the other dilemma is finding ways to actually fund these solutions.

Happily, despite all the grim economic talk you may hear, there are in fact many, many avenues available to help schools get the money they need…if one is willing to do a little research and preparation.Because the need for

STEM education

to create savvy citizens and globally competitive workers is so widely recognized, this funding is available from a variety of sources. This includes

educational grants

from foundations and public sources, such as Carl D. Perkins Funds, and Title II Funds, and also from numerous corporate sponsors such as Westinghouse, Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Verizon. Performing a few careful web searches, using select keywords and terms such as “

Grants

”, “

STEM Grants

”, “

STEM Funding

”, “

Education Grants

” and so on (as well as searching for grants specific to your state or region), will yield a wealth of results. Skim the sites and listings to see which sources on first glance seem like your school may qualify to receive them.

Once you have determined a few that you believe you have the best chance of qualifying for, the next step is to put together a

grant proposal

. (Tips for

Writing a Grant Proposal

) While this will initially require a bit of time and research, with a few tweaks, you should be able to use much of this information to apply for numerous grants.
Because the whole grant proposal process can seem a bit confusing if you haven’t been through it before, Studica has put together a special “

Grant Proposal Resource

” PDF. This document provides a step-by-step guide to preparing your grants for education proposal—from research to actual writing. We’ve also put together a helpful list of sources of potential

STEM education funding

, as well as a list of STEM focused organizations. The Studica “Grant Proposal Resource” is available free of charge or obligation. To register for your free copy, simply visit our

grant proposal resource

page.

STEM Education Solutions Webinar

I would also like to remind you about our upcoming webinar presentation on Thursday May 2nd, in which we will discuss the importance of

STEM literacy

, the changes occurring in education today, and how the new

fischertechnik STEM Lab Program

can help you to meet the needs of your students. You’ll learn how this cutting-edge

STEM education solution

integrates science, math, reading and writing, and provides students with an engaging, hands-on learning experience that supports the new Common Core Standards, while promoting the skills required for success in our technology based world. Space is limited, Register for free STEM Education Solutions webinar now.

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Tips to Save Money Before You Graduate

Posted on April 18, 2013 by kristiel

Class of 2013,

 there are lots of ways you can save money – before and after you graduate. Some of these you've heard before but there things you should do before you graduate to maximize you savings.

 

Before You

Graduate

, Take Advantage of Student Only Savings:

  • Update your wardrobe for your new career. Take advantage of

    student discounts. Many retailers offer discounts just to students like J. Crew*, Apple*, Ann Taylor*, The Limited*, Urban Outfitters* and many others. (* double check your local store as offerings may vary by location and many are not offered online.)

  • Enjoy, take advantage of food and entertainment discounts for students while you still can. Not all companies offer these discounts but many of them do so be sure to ask.

  • Purchase software you want before you

    graduate

    . Many top software brands offer

    academic discounts

    on their software because they want you to know their product when they enter the workforce. But you need to hurry these are

    student software discounts

    so after you graduate you are no longer qualified for these lower prices that can save you up to 80% off the normal retail price. Shop Last Chance Grad Sale to make use of your student status. Brands that offer student savings include Avid, Autodesk, Wacom, Unity, GameSalad and many more software brands. For more information on how academic discounts on student software work see below.

Tips to Save Money before you graduateOther

Tips to Save Money

:

  • Eat out less
  • Make your coffee instead of hitting the coffee shop
  • Create a real budget and prioritize
  • Visit your library or use Red Box
  • Go out for lunch instead of dinner
  • Find fun free activities
  • Have a clothing exchange party with friends, get rid of clothes you are tired of and get new ones free
  • Shop clearance items
  • Walk or ride a bike when possible

More about

Educational Discounts

on Software:
Here's an example, the commercial price for

Avid Pro Tools

is around $699.95 USD but students can purchase this software for less than $250 USD. Plus when you buy Pro Tools 10 you automatically get a free upgrade to Pro Tools 11. Keep in mind though, that Avid requires proof of your student status so you definitely have to purchase this software before you

graduate

if you want the 65% savings.

 

Be aware – some student software does include watermarks on the product or restricts commercial use. For instance Unity 4 Pro can be purchased by students for under $100 USD but this is watermarked, not upgradeable and cannot be used for commercial projects. Unity does offer its full, non-watermarked version for commercial use at special rates, so if you do want to use this amazing game development software to make money you can purchase the Unity 4 Pro commercial version at a special student price.

Some companies, like Autodesk, offer student suites that are non-watermarked and can be upgraded. You just need to be careful to review the description for each product before purchasing.

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Top 50 Game Design Schools

Posted on April 15, 2013 by kristiel

Video Game Design is a major, rapidly growing industry.

Game Design SchoolsThe game design industry actually exceeds Hollywood and the film industry in terms of job openings and revenue. As of 2009, the entertainment software industry employed over 250,000 people. That is only counting the video game industry. Many other industries are starting to utilize Game thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context in order to engage users and solve problems. This concept is known as “Gamification” and it has opened the door to a world of possibilities for people looking to find work with a Game Design background.  Gamification has been used to recruit  employees, to train employees and much more. It has been used to create more compelling classroom environments and to assist the healthcare industry. "In the health care arena, there's a lot of discussion around patient activation, meaning getting people going [with games] and looking at the change in their engagement levels." ~Bonnie Henry is CEO of GameMetrix Solutions. It seems like this concept has a lot of potential across various industries.

Best Game Design Schools

As a result of all this, video game designing is a sought after skill set that is reeling in a lot of money. Businesses who provide these services are expanding and so are the career opportunities. So how do you get in on it? Educating yourself is a good start.  To help you on your educational journey, we have compiled a list of the top 50 game designer schools for game design as rated by the Princeton Review, which can be viewed here.

Game Development Software

If you prefer to learn on your own, there are still a number of ways to explore education. A number of great video game and interactive design software companies offer edu software to students and faculty who are interested in learning their software. Unity Technologies for instance offers educational discounts on Unity 4 Pro and student discount on Unity commercial products. The Unity community also offers free tutorials and documentation to help you learn and discover cool shortcuts and optimizations. Unity requires minimal programming knowledge.

If you are seeking a "no coding required" video game design solution to get your feet wet, GameSalad Creator might be a better platform for you to consider. With GameSalad anyone can become a game designer and bring their ideas to life.

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