What’s going on at triad

Firefighter Training for Oregon National Guard

firefighter Training Triad Interactive Media

Triad recently finished up a project to train Oregon National Guard soldiers and airmen on Type II firefighter training. For this project, we were thrilled to be working with our colleagues over at National Firefighter Training & Carding Association who have some brilliant firefighter instructors.

This training was mostly targeted at training soldiers who respond during the “mop up” phase of wildland fires–that is, they go in after a fire is controlled or extinguished and remove burning material and assist with other related clean up tasks.

We look forward to working with NFTCA again in the near future!

A Game-Based Tool to Combat Dating Violence

Triad is proud to be working on a game-based initiative to help curb teen dating violence. This game-based program will target youth and will be made available for use with cohorts of users in schools and as a stand-alone tool for teens and young adults. Game-based learning is an effective medium for engaging students in serious topics, and we are eager to leverage its utility for this project.

In essence, this game-based program will provide youth with knowledge and strategies for recognizing positive and negative behavior in forming relationships. Ideally this will empower them to build healthy relationships, not perpetrate violence, and disengage from relationships where they are victimized. 

We are working with globally recognized researchers for this project, including Dr. Dorothy Espelage of the University of Florida. As we release additional details, we’ll update with new blog posts related to this project.

Triad at Serious Play 2018

Triad Interactive Media Attends Serious Play Conference

This July, Triad headed out to Manasas, VA for the yearly Serious Play Conference where Triad Interactive and Hats & Ladders co-founder Dr. Scott Brewster and world renowned EdTech business guru Mitch Weisburgh chatted about the importance of piloting when developing training or learning tools. A big topic of conversation was ESSA’s Levels of Evidence, which was designed to offer frameworks for piloting new training or education interventions. Although we used a PowerPoint to guide us, we encouraged those in the room to interject and ask questions as they arose. [Always making things interactive, of course.] Topics included: The importance of pilots, planning and implementing pilots, and how to have a successful pilot. The conversation included a mix of topics, but was mostly centered around serious games and digital interventions developed either for corporations, higher education, or K-12. If interested, hit us up for a copy of the presentation.

 

Triad Develops a Radon Awareness Game

Rusty Vs. Radon - Triad Interactive Media Radon Awareness Game

Triad just finished up creating the first levels of a game to combat the dangerous home toxin radon. The game was developed with curriculum leads and  researchers at the University of North Dakota and was, in part, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The tool will eventually become part of a national campaign to reduce the number of radon deaths each year.

Dangerous levels of radon is present in 1 out if 15 homes and should be mitigated. It is the number 2 cause of lung cancer after smoking and is the most dangerous of all indoor toxins.

To empower players to gain awareness of radon and its dangers, we have built an addictive diesel-punk theme game, which is appropriate for ages 12 and up. Both youth and adults will enjoy following our hero Rusty to combat radon!

Triad Makes Onboarding Game for HR Training

Triad Interactive Media Produces Board Game for Human Resources Training

Triad recently created an engaging, robust board game for one of the largest banking agencies in the nation. Why a board game for banking? Well, this particular solution was developed as a Human Resources tool for new employee onboarding. New hires play with management in small groups with a company facilitator to learn more about how the banking industry works so that even those who work in data entry or revive customers when they walk in the door better understand how the entire system works.

If you haven’t yet heard how games are impacting the area of Human Resources, check out this article.

Triad Attends the NSF Summer Conference

Triad Co-Founder Robert Brown showing off Far-Plane

Triad showed of its collaboration with the Center for Creative Leadership at this year’s NSF SBIR Phase II conference. The project, Far-Plane, is a game-based leadership program designed to teach CCL’s Boundary Spanning Leadership model.

Far-Plane is a unique role-playing game that teaches essential leadership skills through exciting challenges and quests. Set on a resource-starved planet torn among warring factions, players navigate complex political environments, unite diverse peoples, & build strategic alliances to save the world. Far-Plane empowers players to evaluate situations and make decisions using critical thinking, build alliances, analyze character and motivation, and form lasting relationships with diverse individuals. These important skills in Boundary-Spanning Leadership enhance real-world leadership and relationship-building skills, making smarter, more thoughtful individuals who are better equipped for success in a rapidly changing global society.

A science video game for elementary preservice teachers

Van Eck, R., Guy, M., Young, T., Winger, A., & Brewster, S. (2015). Project NEO: A science video game for elementary preservice teachers. Proceedings of the 13th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Education. Honolulu, HI: Hawaii International Conference on Education.

ThinkZone (Triad’s Partner Company) Visits the White House

Last week, part of the Triad crew travelled to the White House with http://www.thinkzonegames.com, one of our partner companies, present on our new career education app, Hats & Ladders. We were lucky enough to attend because our app was one of the finalists in the Reach Higher Career App Challenge, a challenge calling upon mobile app developers to submit mobile solutions to improve student access to information about careers. During the day-long meeting, we were able to demo our app, talk to government and industry folks about how our app can help students with career exploration, and see demos of some of the other apps being developed as part of the challenge. We are hopeful to win the challenge, with an announcement for a grand prize winner expected in a few weeks. We’ll be sure to post again when the announcement is made.

Triad Now on Instagram

Triad Interactive Media is now on Instagram! Add us and see us engage with the design and development process… and post about our latest projects!! Our handle on Instagram is @triadinteractivemedia.