High-tech learning helps flatten Appalachia’s world

In a small classroom near the Ohio River, students are getting ready to take on the world outside Appalachia.

"I’ve been playing a lot of Korean games lately. I can do better than any games I see online," said Benjamin Walsh, 20, who is learning how to create and develop video games for a future career. "If they want to compete with us, let ’em."

Some 100 students at Shawnee State University are on their way to earning degrees, focused on either engineering or graphics, that will qualify them to join the burgeoning game and simulation industry that goes far beyond entertainment to include "serious" games for military, aviation, medical and other educational and training uses.

The high-tech skills students here are learning, with potential to jump from college into high-paying, high-demand jobs, is one of the brightest signs of significant, if slow, progress in what nearly everyone agrees is the key to Appalachia’s future – improving education.

By DAN SEWELL

Full Story: http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14347710.htm