InterpTech2017

Discovery Agents: Getting Youth Active Outdoors in a Digital Age

Kids today spend increasingly less time outdoors, are not getting nearly enough physical exercise, and are glued to their screens. Discovery Agents has found a revolutionary way to utilize the technology that kids can’t get away from and turned in into a tool for outdoor recreation and education. Discovery Agents is a place-based mobile game that motivates kids to get outside and actively learn about the world around them. Discovery Agents works with forest rangers, park interpreters, and environmental educators to enable them to create engaging gamified "Missions" that kids can only play by moving and exploring their public lands. This hands-on session will allow participants to try out the program for themselves and develop their own very own Pokemon GO style mobile game. Bring your laptop and mobile device and create, publish, and play Discovery Agents and explore the power of gamification in outdoor recreation and education!

• Learning Outcome #1: Participants will play the Discovery Agents game on their mobile devices and understand how the technology works
• Learning Outcome #2: Participants will practice using the “Mission Builder” web-based platform to create and publish their own mobile games, thereby witnessing the adaptability of the program and understanding how it could be used at their own location.
• Learning Outcome #3: Participants will gain new insights about the educational and recreational power of technology from various organizations that are currently employing the Discovery Agents game to engage kids at their location.

This Immersive Multi-Dimensional Experience provides a virtual tour of National Monuments and Memorials such as the World War II Memorial and guides visitors through experiences of people impacted by the war. It engages and informs all age groups through narrative, games, video, audio, stories and images in seven languages and accommodates a broad range of disabilities.

Mobile is pervasive and resides in nearly everyone's pockets. A smartphone is the most indispensable tool for people as they navigate their world. And it is vital that all recreational and outdoor organizations seize that opportunity to meet visitors in their world and give them access to information through their devices. So, how do you leverage mobile tech to engage and connect with visitors? In this session we'll review:

• Benefits of implementing mobile apps as a tool for two-way communication
• Delivering essential information offline
• The latest technologies available to interpretive planners to share their site's story
• Learn how you can easily build an app for your organization
• Learn about the U.S. Forest Service's new mobile program aimed to launch an app for every forest destination

Jen Kawaratani, who launched and manages the USFS Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit mobile app will be joining us. She'll share her experience with developing an app and her thoughts on how to easily create content and keep it fresh.

We'll then head out to tour Asilomar with a *hands-free* mobile experience using OnCell's GPS Audio Auto Play. Bring your devices! We'll have some earbuds on hand if you haven't packed yours.

PORTS has been delivering live videoconference programs into K-12 classrooms for over a decade.  Experience first hand a PORTS demonstration, hear about lessons learned along the way and engage with PORTS staff as they help explain why PORTS has continuously remained a viable K-12 resource for thousands of classrooms.

Welcome to the global classroom! More than 500,000 teachers already use Skype in their classes for educational purposes for classroom to classroom connections, virtual field trips and bringing in expert guest speakers. We can expand your distance learning program or help you get started with a new one through Skype in the Classroom, which is part of the Microsoft Educator Community, an entirely free community for educators worldwide.

In this session, we'll explore what Skype in the Classroom is all about, how are we working with virtual field trip partners today and how you can get started.   We'll look at some best practices and impact stories from partners, and learn about the ways that Microsoft's educational channels can help get your content in front of more teachers. 

www.skypeintheclassroom.com

Almost 15% of the United States population is over the age of 65 years old.  This is projected to increase to 20% by 2029.  The demand for interpretive educational programming, beyond school aged children, is increasing dramatically each year.

Distance Learning is a fantastic tool that interpreters can use to reach this new audience, of both Senior Citizens, and people isolated at home due to illness or disability.  Distance learning allows you to expand your interpretive reach way beyond the borders of your park, museum or aquarium. Imagine taking a senior community on an interpretive hike, that otherwise wouldn't be accessible to them due to trail conditions, stairs, slope, etc.  Think of the value of engaging with people from across the country, and the world, that simply don't have the luxury of leaving their home, due to their physical condition.

This presentation will introduce you to Virtual Photo Walks (VPW), a worldwide online community of people isolated with illness or disability, that are unable to "visit" in person, but who benefit dramatically from the opportuntiy to visit places virtually.  Hear from the founder of VPW, John Butterill, about why these programs are so meaningful, and how you can "walk the walk for those that can't" at your park setting, by becoming a presenter.  Find out what these programs are like from the presenter's standpoint, and how they differ from a normal interpretive presentation, by talking with Erin Gates, CA State Parks, who has been working with VPW since 2016.