Blog Juice for Educational Technology

Learning how to use the Internet can be daunting for some recent immigrants to the United States. So Bellevue Community College near Seattle has joined with a digital gaming company and the Seattle Public Library to develop software that guides immigrants in the basics of e-mailing, navigating Web sites, and using search engines. The software includes a video that uses storytelling and photographs of America’s scenic sites to inspire people to take advantage of the Web.

In the video, a friendly woman named Alma, who calls herself an “adventure coordinator,” asks the viewer to choose to join either the “grizzly team” or the “tiger team.” Each team comprises three people, recently arrived in America, who are eager to visit the country’s national parks.

In a demonstration, a member of the grizzly team is asked to help Ravi Patel, a recent immigrant from India who now lives in Fresno, Calif., to use Google to identify the location of the Half Dome, a mountain. (The answer: Yosemite National Park.) Viewers who respond correctly are rewarded with an enthusiastic e-mail message from Mr. Patel: “Thank you for your help. I could not have done it without you. You’re a fine Grizzly.” Bruce Wolcott, a faculty member in digital media arts at Bellevue, said students there helped design the software.