Spencer Striker
Spencer Striker | |
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| Born | 1978 (age 45–46) |
| Nationality | American |
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| Website | spencerstriker |
Spencer Striker (born 1978) is a Qatar-based American award-winning digital media designer, professor, and podcast host. He currently serves as the Associate Professor of Digital Media Design at Northwestern University in Qatar and host at QatarPodcasts.com.[1] He is best known for his award-winning project, History Adventures, World of Characters, which is a fully interactive digital learning series that takes a fresh look at history education by integrating mobile entertainment technology with the power of narrative design.[2]
During his diverse career, Striker has contributed to the field of digital learning, launching multiple advanced projects such as Galxyz, a learning games startup, where he served as Founding Creative Director, and Dr. Sara: Disease Detective, a visual novel mobile game about epidemiology, nominated for Best Educational App at the 2021 Reimagine Education Awards.[3] He has also gained recognition for his podcasts, including Digital Doha Podcast, Qandid Qatar, Qatar in Quotes, the Dubai Wave Podcast, and the Digital Dubai Podcast.[4][5]
Striker is a recognized pioneer in the education technology industry who has over 15 years of experience in digital design and has produced a range of works that include apps, games, motion comics, virtual reality, podcasts, and original web series.[6] He is also a celebrated keynote speaker who has addressed several national and international talks & conferences and also published other industry-related articles apart from his digital learning products.[7]
Early life and education
Striker was born and brought up in New England between Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. He spent most of his teenage years in Southern California and Europe, before completing his high school education in Chicago.
After acquiring his bachelor’s degrees in History (BA) and Radio-TV-Film (BS) from the University of Texas in Austin, Striker enrolled in Indiana University in 2006 to pursue a master’s degree in New Media Production and Design. In 2009, Striker went to the University of Wisconsin at Madison to acquire his Ph.D. in Digital Media.
Career
Striker started his career in 2006 when he founded a game media studio, GameZombie TV, that eventually became a four-time Webby Award winner.[8] Two years later, he expanded the studio at Indiana University, where he became a full-time Lecturer. This student-run game media studio produced content in a $2.5m HDTV studio on Indiana University campus. Between 2007-2013, over 500 students worked on the GameZombie TV project at Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin. As of 2021, the Media Arts & Game Development Program has become a premier game development program in the University of Wisconsin system.[9]
In 2009, Striker co-founded the Media Arts & Game Development Program at the University of Wisconsin, where he served for over three years while pursuing his Ph.D. The MAGD program has since become a premier game development program in the midwest. In 2013, Striker joined Kno, an education software company in Santa Clara, as a product manager and producer.[10]
Next Striker served as Founding Creative Director for Galxyz, a mobile digital learning company, launched in 2014, with $4 million in funding from Relay Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and the Emerson Collective.[11]
In 2015, Striker became an Assistant Professor at the American University in Dubai, and launched the Digital Dubai Podcast, with the goal of providing listeners with educational interviews with local professionals about the latest news and trends in the MENA digital media and technology landscape.[12] He also started another podcast in the same year, the Dubai Wave Podcast. This podcast covered a 360-degree viewpoint of happenings in Dubai with a focus on a diverse range of topics like fitness, music, the food scene, and social media.[13]
In 2017, Striker founded History Adventures, a cross-platform digital learning series. This interactive, multimodal learning experience combines mobile entertainment technology with the power of narrative design. History Adventures foregrounds the power of story, narrativizing the experiences of people who lived in past centuries. The goal of the product is multifold: to prepare students for success in high school history courses; more broadly, to ignite a lifelong fascination for interest-driven learning about history.[14]
Striker, in 2019 became an Associate Professor of Digital Media Design at Northwestern University in Qatar. A year later, he founded QatarPodcasts.com, a platform for developing Qatar-based podcast series, including Qandid Qatar, Qatar in Quotes, and the Digital Doha Podcast.[15] In 2021, Striker released Dr. Sara: Disease Detective, an action-adventure, visual novel mobile game to teach students about epidemiology, supported by a competitive grant from the HBKU Innovation Center.[16]
Digital Books
- History Adventures: World of Characters, Empires & Interconnections (1450-1750) on Apple Books
- History Adventures: World of Characters, Revolutions & Industrialization (1750-1900) on Apple Books
- Chromebooks Web App: Revolutions & Industrialization (1750-1900)
- Revolutions on iOS
- Revolutions on Google Play
- Revolutions on Kindle Interactive
Awards and nominations
Winner
- 2021 Tech Edvocate Award - Best Augmented Reality App
- 2021 w3 Silver Award - Best Mobile App for Education
- 2020 Horizon Interactive Awards, Gold, Mobile Apps - Education Empires & Interconnections, 1450-1750
- 2019 Horizon Interactive Awards, Gold, Mobile Apps - Education Revolutions & Industrialization, 1750-1900
- 2019 Tokyo Slush, Startup Showcase, (official selection)
- 2018 Step Conference, Startup Showcase, (official selection)
- 2017 Web Summit ALPHA Programme, (official selection)
- 2010 Webby Award - Online Film & Video
- 2010 People’s Voice Webby Award - Online Film & Video
- 2010 Davey Silver Award – Online Film & Video
- 2009 Webby Honoree Award - Online Film & Video
- 2008 Webby Honoree Award - Online Film & Video
Nominated
- 2021 Best Educational App, Reimagine Edu Awards - Dr. Sara: Disease Detective
- 2021 Best New Mobile App, Mobile App Awards - Dr. Sara: Disease Detective
- 2020 Best Educational App, Reimagine Education Awards - History Adventures
- 2017 Dubai Smartpreneur 2.0 Competition - Big History Adventures
- 2012 Digital Media & Learning Competition - GameZombie TV
- 2010 Mashable Award – Best Web Video
In the media
References
- ↑ Bowerman, Jeanne Veillette (5 April 2020). "Scriptchat: #Scriptchat Transcript: Spencer Striker @spencerstriker Creator of History Adventures, Discussing Igniting a Curiosity for History". Scriptchat. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "In his own words: Digitally dusting off the pages of history". www.qf.org.qa. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ Franklin, Daisy (21 April 2020). "Here's how 'History Adventures' makes history of the world fun". FilmCraft. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "NU-Q professor produces new digital book on world history". Gulf-Times (in العربية). 23 October 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "east-and-west". albayan.ae. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ Nash, Susan Smith (21 April 2020). "E-Learning Corgi : Interview with Spencer Striker, History Adventures. Innovators in Education Series". E-Learning Corgi. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ Newspaper, The Peninsula (24 October 2020). "NU Q professor produces world history digital book". thepeninsulaqatar.com. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "Casting Elite Monthly News - April 2020". us13.campaign-archive.com. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "REVIEW: History Adventures, World of Characters (1750-1900)". SKAVANSIEUR. 26 September 2021. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "Northwestern University awards research grants to NU-Q faculty". www.qatar.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "What Are the Best Apps for People With a Keen Interest in History? - appPicker". www.apppicker.com. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "dubai-chamber-announces-winners-of-dubai-smartpreneur-competition". dubaichamber. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "The British Colonization of Botany Bay: A Brutal Encounter". History is Now Magazine, Podcasts, Blog and Books | Modern International and American history. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "History Adventures - A new way to learn history for free!". Duffy The Writer. 17 May 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ "Digital media experts offer innovative courses at NU-Q". Gulf-Times (in العربية). 21 October 2019. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
- ↑ Magazine, Script. "INTERVIEW: Spencer Striker, PhD, on Turning History Into Entertainment". Script Magazine. Retrieved 3 January 2022.