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One of the projects that we work on over at CASLS is Ecopod, which focuses on creating game experiences that require students to use both language and content expertise to solve problems as they progress. The most recent iteration is called Ecopod: Quake Response, which is the result of a joint collaboration between CASLS and the University of Oregon Geography department. The game simulates the aftermath of an earthquake on a college campus and has the students obtain useful information as it arrives on their mobile devices in the form of Twitter and Instagram posts. From there, students will determine where emergencies are taking place by using an online mapping platform to display the information they have gathered.

This game was first implemented at the University of Oregon, but it is now being used on two other campuses: University of Miami and Aquinas College in Michigan. These universities are using the game as part of an online Geography course, collecting spatial data generated by the game to practice Geographic Information Services, or GIS for short. This is a very exciting development in the fields of both Linguistics and Geography, and hopefully this will lead to even more exciting cross-curricular projects in the future. For more information on Ecopod and other projects, click here to visit the CASLS homepage. You can also write to us at info@uoregon.edu, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, or like us on Facebook.