Solutions
Virtual Democracy
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Civics Education
In Development
WisdomTools is currently working with the Center on Congress at Indiana University to develop Virtual Democracy, an online learning environment designed to help students in 7th through 12th grade understand how Congress and democracy as a whole work in the United States.
Virtual Democracy will initially be available as a series of role-playing game (RPG) modules that allow the student players to assume a role within the Virtual Democracy and learn how about civics from the inside.
Within this new learning environment, students from across the country will hold the 535 House and Senate seats in Virtual Congress. Virtual Congress will function much like the real Congress, with committees, floor action, amendments, back-and-forth discussions, input from constituents, and random events that influence the legislative agenda. Students will introduce bills and work online with others to try to move their proposals through the various stages of the legislative process. Student-legislators will receive opinions and requests from every direction, including constituents, colleagues, and members of the press.
Students in Virtual Democracy will learn the mechanics of the legislative process, and they will also learn that successful legislating requires listening to different opinions and working out acceptable compromises among multiple valid viewpoints. It is our hope that in the process, students will become engaged in the political process and inspired to some day run for Congress in real life.
To guide the Center on Congress in helping students meet the stated learning objectives, WisdomTools is conferring with experts in social studies education to develop curriculum integration plans, outreach to under-served populations, standards-based assessment methods, and formative evaluation.
Major collaborators with the Center on Congress for this project are online designers from the Indiana University Department of Telecommunications; video producers from WTIU; and education experts from the Indiana University School of Education. Major funding for Virtual Democracy is provided by foundations and corporate sponsors.
First-year design and prototype work is complete, and two years of development work is now underway. It is expected that the first set of modules will be available in late 2010. Eventually, it is hoped that Virtual Democracy will be available as a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMPORG.
Client: Center on Congress at Indiana University