By KRWG News
Las Cruces – New Mexico State University Communications and Marketing Services units received honors at the Association of Communication Excellence Awards in St. Louis, Mo., in June.
Amy Smith Muise and Frank Sholedice, of the Marketing Services unit, won the Silver Award in the editing division of the Publishing Category for their work on the book "Cruising the Camino Real."
Muise edited and Sholedice proofread the book, written by Larry Torres, which documents the persistence of ancient Hispanic religious and agrarian practices to the present day. It is geared toward those who are unfamiliar with New Mexico's traditions and history.
The Media Productions team of Jeanne Gleason, Barbara Chamberlin, Pamela Martinez and James McVann won the Gold Award for Best Innovative Use of Technology. The team also was the sweepstakes winner in the overall Information Technology category.
The team won the awards for the Pearl Diver game for iPhone. The game also is available for the iPad. Made possible by funding from a U.S. Department of Education grant, Pearl Diver was developed by NMSU's Learning Games Lab in conjunction with Karin Wiburg, College of Education Associate Dean for Research.
Pearl Diver gives players a visual way to learn fractions and the number line, showing, for example, that 1/2 is the same as 8/16.
"The game targets the basic concepts educators say students are missing in the classroom and on achievement tests," Gleason said.
The free game application can be found at http://www.apple.com/itunes.