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August 2nd, 2011 by: Elise
iD Tech Camp Steers Youths Nationwide into the Demanding World of Computer Technology
By Nikki Chan
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Despite the ever-increasing dependency of youth on computer technologies (encouraged by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, etc.), public schools lack education programs for computer gaming and programming. That’s where iD Tech Camps comes in. The youth camps offer what instructor Kristine Spitznagel called a “supplement” to what kids learn and aren’t able to learn in school by providing a hands-on learning experience for students with beginning to advanced skills, aged seven to 17.
Click here to read the full article.
August 2nd, 2011
Posted in: iD In The News, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA
August 2nd, 2011 by: Elise
UCSB Computer Camp Challenges Kids
iD Tech Camp Steers Youths Nationwide into the Demanding World of Computer Technology
By Nikki Chan
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Despite the ever-increasing dependency of youth on computer technologies (encouraged by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, etc.), public schools lack education programs for computer gaming and programming. That’s where iD Tech Camps comes in. The youth camps offer what instructor Kristine Spitznagel called a “supplement” to what kids learn and aren’t able to learn in school by providing a hands-on learning experience for students with beginning to advanced skills, aged seven to 17.
iD Tech Camps was founded in 1998 and operates annually at 60 top national universities. This year the camp launched a local program; UCSB has joined the likes of Harvard University, Stanford University, and UCLA as a host location for the camp, which runs until August 4. Registration is on an ongoing basis.
The UCSB program currently instructs 30 students — each student works on his or her own individual project through the week-long session. Students use programs like Multimedia Fusion, C++, and Java.
The session is broken up in to daily classes, with six to eight campers per instructor, to ensure that each camper feels the sense of a one-on-one learning experience. The wide range of available classes — which includes 3D design and web design — aims to match the wide range of campers’ interests.
Campers’ long work hours — from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday — are interrupted by various video, snack, and activity breaks, allowing time for video game planning and robotics competitions. Instructor Spitznagel added that campers are also welcome to use the nearby campus pool and dorms for sleepovers, which fosters a “camp culture.”
Sticking with their mission to avoid making the camp feel like school, Spitznagel explained and pointed out the green question mark banners on the sides of computers. When they have questions, students raise the question marks instead of raising their hands.
Although campers spend most of each day on computers, Spitznagel said they manage to retain concentration. Instructors work with campers to brainstorm ideas for creating their programs. They might suggest using premade characters to start with should campers become frustrated.
“They think it’s fun,” Spitznagel said. “The work is challenging, but it’s also rewarding — they created it.”
All of the students that entered iD Tech Camps have a strong interest in computer technology, and their levels of experience vary. 12-year-old Rafael, who will enter middle school next year, plans to major in the field. Spitznagel, who is currently in her fourth year of instructing with iD Tech Camps, said many students use the camp as a “beginning point” before delving into computer science-related majors in college.
Lead instructor Antonio Aillio — who is in his second year instructing with iD Tech Camps-works with older campers on 3D software used in the video game industry. Aillio teaches his students the “bare essentials and basics” to creating their own video games. The campers produce levels to be used in their game’s “environments,” and at the end of the week they share and play each other’s games.
At the end of each week’s session, all of the campers’ games are published on the iD Tech Camps website (internaldrive.com), allowing campers to share their projects with friends. So 10-year-old Lachlan Rose, who aspired to create a multi-user video game to play with her friends, can do so.
iD Tech Camps also place emphasis on the strengthening of students’ self-confidence, using skills learned at camp. This was evidenced by both Rafael’s and Lachlan Rose’s clear explanations of their projects and goals for the week.
According to Spitznagel, iD Tech Camps is the only camp of its kind offered locally, and it starts this year. “We’re really excited and we’re hoping to get more kids involved,” Spitznagel said.
View this article about our California summer camps in the Santa Barbara Independent Newspaper.
August 2nd, 2011
Posted in: Cal Lutheran University, iD In The News, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA
July 21st, 2011 by: Elise
July 21, 2011
By Karen Kucher
Sitting at his computer, Thomas Nielsen was immersed in a video game, an imaginary world where a tiny purple squid named Inky battled the King Tomato, the Strawberry Queen and evil turnips.
But Thomas wasn’t playing the game — he was creating it. More specifically, he was making a sequel to the game he designed the previous summer.
“It was only like four levels last time. I’m trying to go for eight, at least eight,” he said.
Thomas is 10. And about to enter the fifth grade.
Click here to read full article.
July 21st, 2011
Posted in: iD In The News, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara
July 8th, 2011 by: Elise
Aliens invade 11-year-old’s iPhone- and he doesn’t mind
By Britney Barnes
IRVINE — Pulling out his black iPhone, Luke Stanback called up an app for “Alien Invasion” and started blasting space invaders from a ship. The game is pretty challenging, but Luke knows all the “cheats.” That’s because the 11-year-old created the game over the last four days. “It’s pretty cool,” said Luke, “especially since it’s on my iPhone.” Luke was just one of many kids working diligently on computers Thursday morning at the weeklong iD Tech Camp in UC Irvine’s Mesa Court Community Center.
Click here to read full article about our Irvine summer camps
July 8th, 2011
Posted in: Cal Lutheran University, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA
July 24th, 2010 by: Ryan
Tech is Tops at Summer Camp
By George Ma
Ray gun-wielding aliens from a distant planet unleash a barrage of blaster fire on gargantuan, varicolored jellyfish on a two-dimensional cosmic battlefield – all driven by a series of rapid mouse clicks and spacebar taps.
From his seat in front of a 19-inch computer monitor, a young boy turns, a look of glee painted clearly across his face. He motions his instructor over to witness the success of his new video game, which he had programmed just hours before.
At iD Tech Camps, kids ages 7 to 17 study gaming, film, and graphic design. Weeklong sessions at UC Irvine began June 27 and run through Aug. 20.
During the course, students use cutting edge equipment and software to create 2D and 3D video games, design websites with Flash, edit digital movies, write computer coding with C++ and Java, and turn their creative ideas into iPhone apps. The curriculum is hands-on and project-based.
“This camp is too good to be true,” said Kanishka Vatsa, 9. “I get to make my own game.”
Vatsa’s games, “Link the Hero of Dreams” and “World of Wonder,” feature a hero who battles through fiery, lava-filled landscapes while jumping over obstacles and other things that a 9-year-old would find exciting.
“We try not to walk them through every step, but to let them create things on their own,” director Greg Hulet said.
Each student works on his or her own computer and an average of six students are assigned to each instructor. iD Tech Camps also expose students to university life, as courses are held on campus and meals are served in the cafeteria. Those who are overnight campers sleep in on-campus dorms.
Most of the students hail from Orange County. Some, however, flew in from as far as Shanghai. Students Linde Wang and Yue Yue “Sapphire” Hou, both 15, came from China to attend iD Tech Camp.
“We came to learn how to use Photoshop and improve our English,” Hou said.
No matter where a student is from, attending iD Tech Camp keeps the mind mentally engaged – a concern that many parents have for their kids during the summer months.
“We’ll teach you how to make a box, then how to program that box to do other things,” Hulet said. “You can come in knowing nothing and still produce something good by the end of the week.”
Pasha Dastmalchi, 11, will be camping with iD Tech for five straight weeks.
“I’m taking different courses each week. This week, I’m doing graphic design. I’m doing Java and C++ next, then game editing, and probably iPhone app development as well,” Dastmalchi said.
iD Tech Camps is in its 12th season at UCI. The camp is part of a nationwide summer camp program that has hosted more than 100,000 students and one of many different types of summer camps offered in Orange County.
For more information visit www.internalDrive.com.
Contact the writer: gma@ocregister.com
Original CA summer camps article can be found here: ocregister.com
July 24th, 2010
Posted in: iD In The News, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara
August 21st, 2008 by: Ryan
This tech camps is no Flash in the pan
By Terria Smith
Kids and computers fill a room in California Lutheran University’s Nygreen Hall, creating digital army tanks, animals and landscapes for the computer games the students are making at iD Tech Camp.
“This is very fun. It’s what I live for every year,” said James Sutton, 12, who attends Santa Rosa Technology Magnet in Camarillo and is in his fifth summer at the camp. “We get to learn a skill that not a lot of people get to learn.”
The iD (internal Drive) Tech Camp runs from the end of June to the beginning of August. Each session is 2 1/2 weeks long. Students 7 to 17 take classes to learn how to create video games, design Web sites, produce digital movies and learn programming.
The program started 10 years ago and is held at 50 universities in 23 states. Some programs offer overnight camps. The program at Cal Lutheran is day only and costs $749 per session.
Charlie Freund, local program director, said this is the seventh summer that CLU has hosted the program.
He said most students come into the program with an interest in computers and can be successful if that is all the background they have.
“They can pretty much come in without much knowledge,” he said.
Ken Gorman, in his third year as a camp instructor, said the program tries to get new students into core classes so they can learn and build on that knowledge.
“It’s a great environment to teach in because they’re so eager to learn more,” Gorman said.
Freund said the students learn Web design using Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Flash software programs. He said they make two- and three-dimensional video games using Multimedia Fusion 2.
Gorman added that the staff tries to keep the games as nonviolent as possible.
“There’s a lot more to developing a computer game than making one thing shoot at another,” he said. “We want them to get a whole design with a story line, plot, beginning and end.”
This is 11-year-old Nicholas Berardis’ second year in the program. The student from Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village said he was designing a game that wasn’t a maze but was still challenging for a player to try to find his way out. He said his favorite types of games to make are 2-D games.
“Most games that are 2-D are from old times,” Nicholas said. “I didn’t know anything about making video games before I came here.”
Gorman said he hopes that the campers leave the program with a desire to be more creative and learn more.
“Most students come back with a willingness to be open-minded,” Gorman said.
- For information on iD Tech Camps, visit http://www.internalDrive.com.
August 21st, 2008
Posted in: Cal Lutheran University, iD In The News, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UCLA
August 21st, 2008 by: Ryan
June 2008
By Becky Brock
Believe it or not, summer camps are not limited to hiking and horseback riding anymore. Instead, camps are catering to a variety of children’s interests. To keep up with the fast paced lifestyle of the 21st century, iD Tech Camp offers an exciting summer camp with beginner to advanced level courses, for ages 7 to 17, on the newest technology, programming and film strategies and systems.
Family owned and operated, iD Tech Camp has more than 50 camp locations at prestigious universities in 23 states and features a study-abroad program in Spain. With almost a dozen camp locations scattered across California, there is one right here in Orange County at UC Irvine.
iD tech Camp, which prides itself on being America’s number one tech camp, gives students opportunities to work with the latest technology and educated staff members.
“Tech camp sounds like an ideal opportunity for children to experiment with software that may be inaccessible to them,” says Claire Rubman, associate professor at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, New York. “They can also work with experts in the field that may not be available in the regular school year and dedicate time to hone a new skill.”
Students also work closely with staff members because of the 6:1 ratio. With only five to six students in each course, staff members are better able to help students complete their projects and understand the computer, gaming, or film systems. And, to make iD Tech Camp a memorable summer camp, each staff member is at least an upper-level undergraduate, or graduate studying related fields where the iD Tech Camps are held. The instructors not only serve as mentors, but they are also trained and closely evaluated.
Whether or not your child stays for day camp or the overnight camp, students are motivated to learn because each course is project based, to give students a hands-on experience. At the end of the week, students submit a project using the new skills they have learned, like digital video editing or making their own web page.
But the camp isn’t all work and no play. Each day, students are given free time to play Frisbee, board games and more. Some camps, like the one at the UC San Diego campus, is used for a Surf and Tech Camp for kids ages 11 to 17. Half the day is spent learning video game creation or web design and the other half is surf instruction.
Karen Thurm Safran, vice president of marketing, points out that when students complete the projects they have worked on all week, it gives them a sense of accomplishment and helps boost many students’ self esteem. Also, the iD Tech Camp locations are a part of the goal to help kids embrace the learning process.
“Because it’s at a university, the child may decide to apply there,” Thurm Safran says. “It encourages them to continue on with their education.”
Julian Finnegan of San Francisco enrolled in an iD Tech Camp video game creation course when he was 10 years old. Not long after, he started creating his own video games and selling them to his friends.
It has been four years since Julian started his own video-gaming business. He has acquired most of his electronic literacy by attending the id Tech Camp and Gaming Academy.
“It’s his favorite camp,” says his mother Ellen.
The skills Julian learned at camp have helped him at school and home. In addition to creating his own video games, he helps his teachers install software, prepare lighting for school plays and has designed a Web site for his father.
iD Tech Camp also encourages green activity, including carpooling, lowering energy consumption and recycling. Staff members say they know the importance of teaching kids technological advancements and how to stay green, to improve the future. For more information about iD Tech Camp, visit www.internaldrive.com. -Becky Brock
This article originally appeared in Parenting OC Magazine’s June, 2008 issue.
August 21st, 2008
Posted in: iD In The News, UC Irvine
March 14th, 2008 by: Ryan
Stimulating imaginations and learning
March 14, 2008
Producing digital movies and learning languages like C++, Java or HTML might sound intimidating to those of us who grew up using a typewriter and listening to records. Not so, though, for Willis Danielson and others from Los Angeles and throughout the country. At a young age, Willis is learning tech skills in school that we might hesitate to tackle even as adults. Though we may feel overwhelmed by technology, for the new generation of “digital kids,” this is the stuff of dreams.
This new generation of digital kids is leaving many not-as-computer-savvy parents struggling to find new ways to encourage their children’s interest and development in technology. One answer may be found in supplemental programs such as iD Tech Camps (www.internalDrive.com), a weeklong technology summer program for ages seven to 17 located at over 50 prestigious universities in twenty-three states, including UCLA, Cal Lutheran University, Pepperdine University, UC Irvine, UCSD and Stanford University.
“We struggled to find a program that would fit Brent’s interests,” said parent Lara Ward. “iD Tech Camps helped foster and develop those interests. It opened up a whole new world for him.”
iD Tech Camps’ innovative teaching approach includes using college-age students, recent college graduates and technology professionals as instructors who teach cutting edge technology. The subject matter ranges from digital movie production and video game creation to college preparatory programming. Each student completes a finished project by the end of the week. No matter what course students take, the focus is always on fun and experimentation with new technology while articulating oneself in new and creative ways.
iD Tech Camps and other programs like it expose students to technology in a hands-on environment, encouraging them to develop the technology skills that most interest them. The students study in a university setting, giving them a change to experience college life. iD Tech Camps has also partnered with technology companies including Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Microsoft, Canon, Symantec, Wacom, Planetwide Media and others, allowing the camp to offer the latest in technology. As a result of this exposure, the students are motivated to use their new skills in the real world – with amazing results. There’s even a Surf & Tech program at UC San Diego where half the day students learn to surf and the other half they create a website or videogame.
With so many opportunities for growth, we can expect to see some amazing innovations from this generation of digital kids. For more information, please visit www.internalDrive.com or call 1-888-709-TECH (8324).
March 14th, 2008
Posted in: iD In The News, UC Irvine, UCLA
April 18th, 2006 by: Nancy
Digital kids byte into being entrepreneurs
April 2006
Today’s youth is inundated with technology. From Xboxes, TiVos, iPods and cell phones, Generation Z will be the most “connected” generation of Digital Kids to ever to walk the planet.
After watching his twelve-year old son surf the net, text message friends, and immerse himself in technology, sales consultant and business owner Peter Hanson from the Philadelphia area had an idea. Why not harness his twelve year old’s thirst for technology and redirect it towards a skill that would help him compete in the 21st century?
Although his company was doing well, his website didn’t adequately portray his firm. If his son Kyle learned how to build websites, he could then hire him to redesign and update his company’s site. Luckily, while surfing the web, his wife had come across a technology camp where they could send their son Kyle to learn these new skills.
So while most young boys are busy playing sports during the summer, Kyle attended iD Tech Camps and learned how to make websites pivot, jump and bounce with Flash Animation.
iD Tech Camps provides weeklong, beginner to advanced, hands-on summer technology courses for ages 7-17 at prestigious universities in 19 states. These 40 locations include UC Irvine, the Tiger Woods Learning Center, UCLA, Pepperdine University, Cal Lutheran University and Stanford University. During the week, students take courses in web design, digital video production, 2D and 3D video game creation, and programming & robotics. With small class sizes averaging only six students per instructor, students are given the attention they need to excel. At Pepperdine University there’s even a unique Surf & Tech program where students spend half the time learning to surf and the other half making a website or video game.
Students use industry products from tech leaders like Adobe, Macromedia, Apple, Canon, RadioShack, Wacom and AutoDesk. Besides a week of fun, these Digital Kids leave with a completed project using products which professionals use, increased tech-confidence, and a competitive edge.
“I was really proud that I created a really cool website within one week that made my instructor’s jaw drop when he watched my Flash Animation morph from different shapes into a logo,” said Kyle.
With the Flash Animation Shape Tween tool, Kyle made his animation come alive. He used different colored shapes that finally morphed into his “Kyle Henson Productions” logo.
“At first it was hard, but my instructor showed me how to morph objects. I think making animations for my site was not only super fun, but really rewarding knowing that I was using the same software that professional web designers use.”
Today’s challenge for parents is helping their kids learn technology that they themselves do not use or understand. They depend on school to achieve this goal, but unfortunately schools today still lag in integrating technology into the curriculum. Thomas K. Glennan and Arthur Melmed address this critical issue in their article Fostering the Use of Educational Technology: Elements of a National Strategy. “The nation’s most important educational goal must be to produce learners adequately prepared for life and work in the 21st century. In 1994, U.S. schools spent about $3 billion on computer- and network-based technology. Despite all this activity, however, examples of school-wide use of technology are comparatively rare and isolated.”
iD Tech Camps addresses this pressing need and uses tech savvy role models for instructors. As role models, these college students and recent grads make learning fun and share first-hand how technology is making a positive impact.
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April 18th, 2006 | Tags: UC Irvine Computer News Articles
Posted in: UC Irvine
