A computer science teacher at Oregon Charter Academy (ORCA) — a tuition-free online school serving K-12 students, many of whom live in Portland — is one of 20 US teachers chosen for the Fulbright Distinguished Awards in Teaching . The federal program sends educators to participating countries to support STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) teaching.
Shawn Patrick Higgins, a coding and game-making teacher at ORCA for grades 6-12, will travel to the Philippines in January where he’ll train teachers on how to incorporate gamification into their classrooms. (Read: Gamification is the addition of game elements like point scoring and competition to non-game activities.) Basically, he’ll be showing fellow educators how to make learning more fun.
“As someone who came from adversity, I find it empowering to provide a classroom, whether it’s virtual or not, that introduces skills that can completely change the trajectory of students’ lives,” said Higgins.