About the creator, Dr. Derek Skaggs.

Dr. Derek Skaggs (aka Dr. Khan) is originally from Louisville, Kentucky. He currently lives near Beaufort, South Carolina with his family. His goal is to create a strong connection between our school and our families so we can assure that our children are able to achieve their highest potentials. Every child matters and every child can achieve…no matter what!

Dr. Skaggs has spent nearly 20 years in 3 different states (KY, SC, GA) serving our most needy populations. Dr. Skaggs has a Ph.D. in  Educational Leadership with an emphasis on Special Education. He has a Masters of Art in Special Education Teaching and Bachelors of Science in Computer Information Systems with a minor in Criminal Justice. Dr. Skaggs has presented at multiple state and national conferences, including the national at risk you conference and the southeastern behavioral health conference.  He is also currently Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) certified, a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT), and also certified to teach special education and practice school administration in multiple states.

He has served as a special education teacher,  a Special Services Coordinator,  a Special Education Director, an Assistant Principal and is currently serving as The Principal at a school for students with disabilities that have had a history of behavioral issues. This school mainly supports students with Emotional Behavior Disorders and Autism. His passion lies in helping students who have emotional and behavioral struggles. His educational background and experience with therapeutic supports, skill building, education, leadership and online gaming can help any Child that enjoys gaming a chance to build crucial skills.

When Dr. Skaggs was in Middle School, he himself made some bad choices that leaded to incarceration (summer of 7th grade).  When he got out of a juvenile facility, he spent a lot of time at home.  It was 1995 and the internet was still a pretty new concept.  His parents bought him a computer and he was soon hooked up to his 14.4k modem, playing online games, including beta testing the first major Massively multiplayer online game, Ultima Online.  Dr. Skaggs chose his gamer name, Khan (hence Dr. Khan) during this period and joined one of the first online gaming communities ever established.  This gaming community has played nearly every major MMO since then. Dr. Skaggs has played with and eventually helped lead one of the most successful and long lasting gaming communities in the MMORPG world.  The community is now almost 24 years old and still going strong and is made up of hundreds members from all over the world!

Gaming has been an integral part of the Dr. Skaggs’ life (Khan) and he has learned life-long lessons that have helped to create the man he is today.  It not only helped him through a rough decision making time in his own life, but has helped him learn valuable skills while making real life connections that have lasted ever since. Through online game facilitation, Dr. Skaggs will help children develop life long skills that will have real world application. These same children will also be developing lifelong relationships and give them a real sense of belonging!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve you and your family.  I look forward to our continued partnership!

Game-based learning has the potential to drastically improve the way children are taught.

Games have peculiar qualities that let them engage hard-to-reach students in a way lessons cannot. Researchers have begun to explore the intrinsic qualities of games that make them promising learning tools, and anecdotal evidence is available everywhere.

I personally know a student who struggled in history until Assassin’s Creed sparked his interest in the French revolution; he is now an honors history student. I know many students who spend hours playing Minecraft and many hours more learning new skills and techniques on YouTube, which they then apply to Minecraft. Clearly, a good game is a powerful motivator for learning. It engages the mind and the passions simultaneously, with obvious results. But why, and how, does this work, and how can we harness?

Why Games?

According to Educause’s article, 7 Things you Should Know About Game Based Learning, gaming can create a dynamic that can inspire learners to develop skills and competencies as they focus on the activities of the game.

They can:

• function as individual learning activities
• a powerful content delivery mechanism over several sessions
• last for the duration of the course.

In order to deliver content as a game, faculty members tend to divide the syllabus into levels through which the students must progress, with students getting feedback rather than grades.

In order for it to be effective, the game:

• must align with learning outcomes
• should not be competitive in the conventional sense

​Sometimes, in fact, the game might require students to work collaboratively in order to solve problems, while in other contexts, game mechanics might make students compete against one another in order to reach a personal best.

Why use games?

According to the UMass-Amherst, Centre for Teaching and Faculty Development “The Pedagogy of Games,” FAQ, goals, rules, challenge, and interaction can be used to engage students and increase learning outcomes. It can help:

• build an emotional connection to learning and subject matter
• provides opportunity for feedback and practice
• can be customized to individualized teaching

Collaborative Problem solving blurb….

Skill Building blurb