SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Roblox, the most popular entertainment platform for play amongst kids and teens, today announced the debut of Roblox Education, an initiative aimed at inspiring imagination, creativity, and learning through access to entertaining, educational tools. The initiative launches today with the first of many programs, including free curriculum for educators, international summer coding camps, and a free online “Creator Challenge” in partnership with Universal Brand Development. More than 60 million kids come to Roblox every month to play with friends in millions of user-created virtual worlds. The platform has established itself as an ideal teaching ground for kids to learn technical and entrepreneurial skills as they build, publish, and market their own creations.
Roblox Educational Curriculum for Teachers
Roblox Educational Curriculum is free, configurable courseware that enables educators to teach first-time programmers coding fundamentals by building a Roblox virtual world. With the Roblox Educational Curriculum, teachers will have access to everything they need to customize and teach the fundamentals of coding. This includes:
- Step-by-step tutorials (approximately 12 hours worth of tutorials)
- Handouts, technical setup guides, and additional resources
- Outlines and lesson guides detailing how to use the modules to support a variety of teaching formats, such as classroom instruction, after-school programs, and summer camps
The curriculum is free for any educator to use and modify in their own programs. Available today, it will be shared under a Creative Commons license with plans to roll out additional subjects, such as Physics and Design, in the future. More information can be found at https://corp.roblox.com/education/.
Summer with Roblox Studio
This summer, Roblox Studio, the building tool used to create Roblox virtual worlds, will be used in more than 500 coding camps and online programs in the U.S., U.K., Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, Spain, Brazil, and Portugal to teach young creators coding fundamentals, game design, digital citizenship, and entrepreneurial skills. Within Roblox Studio, creators with skill levels ranging from novice to advanced have the chance to learn how to build, publish, and market their own titles. Roblox Studio is free to download, and Roblox offers free hosting for games built on the platform, making it an easily accessible tool for individual developers and schools alike. Each summer camp will have a customized course catering to a variety of different subject matter and skills, such as iD Tech’s Roblox Entrepreneur, a course that leverages the learnings from Roblox developers who have created runaway titles on the platform. The full list of camps that Roblox will have available can be found at https://corp.roblox.com/education/.
“Roblox’s mission is to power and fuel imagination while inspiring a new generation of creators,” said Grace Francisco, Vice President of Developer Relations at Roblox. “We are thrilled to be launching our education initiative to give young people of all ages and backgrounds the chance to develop the crucial skills needed to be tomorrow’s entrepreneurs and creators.”
Roblox will also be hosting 45 developers at the Roblox HQ to participate in the 4th annual Roblox Summer Accelerator internship program. The program lasts 12 weeks and gives young adults exploring a career in game development the opportunity to work alongside the Roblox product engineering and developer relations teams to create their own virtual world on Roblox. Breakaway hits such as MeepCity and Lumber Tycoon were created by developers who have participated in the Roblox Accelerator program in years past.
The company will also be inviting its top developers back to the annual Roblox Developer Conference, taking place in San Francisco July 13-15, 2018, and in Amsterdam August 17-19, 2018. Roblox is doubling the number of developer attendees at both of its events this summer.
Roblox Creator Challenge
In partnership with Universal Brand Development, Roblox will be hosting its first-ever Creator Challenge, where fans can learn how to create their own games inspired by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Available for free to kids all over the world from June 12, 2018-September 12, 2018, the self-paced program is designed for first-time developers who have not had previous coding experience. It will demystify programming by enabling kids to customize and build their own virtual Jurassic World-inspired creations. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom arrives in U.S. theaters on June 22, 2018.
During the challenge, creators will embark on a quest to rescue Blue – the fan-favorite Velociraptor from the Jurassic World series – from an erupting volcano. Creators will follow a series of fun, guided lessons to help lead Blue to safety, including how to modify the topography of the landscape and how to add various game mechanics to enhance gameplay using Roblox Studio. Each lesson is also accompanied by a quiz that participants must pass to show mastery of the skills they learned. Upon completion, they’ll earn an exclusive Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom virtual item (such as a Jurassic World hat, shirt, backpack, etc.) for their Roblox avatar. From there, creators have the opportunity to keep adding more advanced gameplay mechanics and share their game with friends or the entire Roblox community. The best creations will be shared via Roblox’s Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Instagram pages. Details can be found at www.roblox.com/jwcreatorchallenge.
The rollout of Roblox Education advances the company’s efforts to inspire imagination and usher in the next generation of entertainment through play. Today marks the start of this ongoing initiative with plans to continue identifying new ways Roblox can support parents, teachers, and young creators.
ABOUT ROBLOX
Roblox’s Imagination Platform is ushering in the next generation of entertainment, enabling kids of all ages to imagine, create, and play together in immersive 3D worlds. comScore ranks Roblox as one of the top online entertainment platforms for audiences under the age of 18 based on average monthly visits and time spent. In addition, Roblox has been named one of America’s Fastest-Growing Private Companies on the Inc. 5000 for the past two consecutive years. Roblox is freely available on all modern smartphones, tablets, computers, Xbox One, Oculus Rift, and HTC Vive. For more information, please visit https://corp.roblox.com.
ABOUT JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM
It’s been three years since theme park and luxury resort Jurassic World was destroyed by dinosaurs out of containment. Isla Nublar now sits abandoned by humans while the surviving dinosaurs fend for themselves in the jungles.
When the island’s dormant volcano begins roaring to life, Owen (Chris Pratt) and Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) mount a campaign to rescue the remaining dinosaurs from this extinction-level event. Owen is driven to find Blue, his lead raptor who’s still missing in the wild, and Claire has grown a respect for these creatures she now makes her mission. Arriving on the unstable island as lava begins raining down, their expedition uncovers a conspiracy that could return our entire planet to a perilous order not seen since prehistoric times.
With all of the wonder, adventure and thrills synonymous with one of the most popular and successful series in cinema history, this all-new motion-picture event sees the return of favorite characters and dinosaurs—along with new breeds more awe-inspiring and terrifying than ever before. Welcome to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
Stars Pratt and Howard return alongside executive producers Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. They are joined by co-stars James Cromwell, Ted Levine, Justice Smith, Geraldine Chaplin, Daniella Pineda, Toby Jones, Rafe Spall, and Isabella Sermon, while BD Wong and Jeff Goldblum reprise their roles.
Directed by J.A. Bayona (The Impossible), the epic action-adventure is written by Jurassic World’s director, Trevorrow, and its co-writer, Derek Connolly. Producers Frank Marshall and Pat Crowley once again partner with Spielberg and Trevorrow in leading the filmmakers for this stunning installment. Belén Atienza joins the team as a producer. www.jurassicworld.com
