Yearly Archives: 2017

AnnMaria typing on laptop — Are you heading to the TIES 2017 Education Technology Conference in Minneapolis next week? If so, let’s meet up. We’re going to be part of the event’s StartUp Showcase in the expo hall. Come by and say “hi” for a special gift. Stumbled upon this by chance on the internet […]

TIES: Let’s Meet Up in Minneapolis

December 5, 2017 in 7GenGames / Events by Maria Burns Ortiz

I know what you’re thinking, “Giving Tuesday was last week.” I know, but who says that giving has to be restricted to just the Tuesday after Thanksgiving? Giving is a practice that should be done throughout the year, especially during the holiday season. That is why at 7 Generation Games […]

Holiday Giving: Any Day is a Great Day to GIVE

December 5, 2017 in 7GenGames / Educational Games tagged 7GenGames / Educational Games by Diana Sanchez

cards with prompts — Whether it is teaching statistics, software design or writing, I think you need to remember that everything is easier once you’ve done it a bunch of times. I was talking to a couple of teachers I know about the software design project we are doing with a couple of local […]

Teaching Software Design with Writing Prompts

December 5, 2017 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Educational Resources / New earth by AnnMaria De Mars

By Abby Jones Ugh, my wrists! We’ve all been there, right? The start of a new school year, a new project—a new something!—that needs labels. If you are using our games you may decide to assign each student a username and password But that isn’t the bad part; you’ve got […]

Teacher Tip: Labels with Excel and Word

December 5, 2017 in Educational Resources / Tech Tips by AnnMaria De Mars

Maria Burns Ortiz of 7 Generation Games was only U.S.-based company to win category round. Hyderabad, India – Maria Burns Ortiz of 7 Generation Games was one of four global entrepreneurs to advance to the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST) Catalyst pitch final at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit […]

7 Generation Games Finishes in Top Four at Global Entrepreneurship ...

December 3, 2017 in 7GenGames by Maria Burns Ortiz

Girl about to set off on path — As you know, if you’ve been paying attention, I’ve been meeting the past few weeks with high school students helping to improve the design of our games. Today, I asked students to submit cards with answers to prompts. They played Crossroads, a decision-making game that is still in prototype, Fish […]

Student design team results, continued

December 2, 2017 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / New earth by AnnMaria De Mars

Angie, from Forgotten Trail — Part of making a good game is having believable characters, whether it is Mario, Zelda or the dwarf-hunter in World of Warcraft. If you had watched our Characters Behind the Characters video, you’d know that the voice of Angie is my daughter, Julia De Mars, and the “look” is a […]

Meet Angie: Character development in Forgotten Trail

November 28, 2017 in AnnMaria / Education: Innovation and STEM / Educational Games / Game Progress by AnnMaria De Mars

When I installed the most recent Windows 10 update, I was disheartened that it broke my current installation, sending me into a panic as I tried to think about what I was going to do for grad school. After a few minutes, I remembered that I had three certifications on […]

The Office 365 Diaries, Part One

November 27, 2017 in 7GenGames / Educational Resources / Start-up Diaries by AnnMaria De Mars

This morning – after a 16.5 hour flight, a four-hour layover and another 4 hour flight – I touched down in Hyderabad, India, where I’m attending (and pitching at) the Global Entrepreneurship Summit. If you had told me a few months ago that I’d be going to India this year, […]

When Your Startup Takes You Places You Never Expected

November 27, 2017 in Start-up Diaries by Maria Burns Ortiz

If you follow this blog somewhat regularly, you may know that we started a software design project with a couple of alternative schools. How is that going? Thanks for asking. It’s going pretty well. The students have come up with a lot of specific suggestions, not just for improving game […]

Game Suggestions from Student Design Teams

November 27, 2017 in AnnMaria / Educational Games / New earth by AnnMaria De Mars

I am sure that I should be writing a post to tell you all to buy our games, that it is Black Friday , Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday or whatever and your grandma doesn’t need another half-dozen coffee cups. For God’s sake , the woman has been on this […]