Who is Dr. Spencer Striker?

Spencer Striker, PhD, is Professor of Digital Media Design at Northwestern University in Qatar (promoted to Full Professor in 2025; Associate Professor 2019–2025). He is a creator, producer, and design director whose career spans studio production, venture-backed Silicon Valley startups (Founding Creative Director of Galxyz Inc. and Producer/PM at Kno Inc.), and higher education. He has secured more than $1 million in competitive funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), National Science Foundation (NSF I-Corps), Doha Film Institute (DFI), Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), QRDI, Buffett Institute, IAS Global South, HBKU Innovation Center, and the Gates Foundation, and won Webby, Anthem, QS Reimagine Education Gold, Davey Gold, Horizon Interactive Best of Category, and w3 awards.

What is Al-Khwarizmi: Father of Algebra & the Algorithm (2026)?

Al-Khwarizmi: Father of Algebra & the Algorithm (2026; originally developed as Legacy of Light: The House of Wisdom) is an AI-animated historical docudrama series (30 short episodes and a 45-minute cinematic edition released free on YouTube) created, written, produced, and directed by Dr. Spencer Striker. Supported by a $30,000 Doha Film Institute (DFI) Web Series Grant, it was selected for the Qumra 2026 Series Lab (covered by Deadline) and nominated for the 2026 QS Reimagine Education Awards in Immersive Experiential Learning. It traces 9th-century scholar Al-Khwarizmi from Central Asia to Baghdad's House of Wisdom and connects the Islamic Golden Age to modern computing and artificial intelligence.

What is Chaos Corp: Troll Farm Simulator and what awards has it won?

Chaos Corp: Troll Farm Simulator (2025) is a free iOS and Android satirical media-literacy strategy game created, produced, and directed by Dr. Spencer Striker. Funded by the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South ($25,000) and the Northwestern Provost's Office, it launched at Web Summit Qatar 2025. Players run a disinformation agency manipulating a fictional Philippine election using deepfakes, bot campaigns, and astroturfing to expose the machinery of digital deception. It won the 2025 QS Reimagine Education Gold Award (Nurturing Values and Ethics), the 2025 Anthem Silver Medal (Responsible Technology: Education or Literacy Platform), and the 2025 w3 Silver Award (Best Mobile Games). A sequel, Chaos Corp 2: Serpent of House Sung, is in development with support from the Buffett Institute and AIM-LAB.

What is Rendered by Robots: AI & the Future of Design Education?

Rendered by Robots: AI & the Future of Design Education (2025–2026) is an eight-part video and podcast interview series created and hosted by Dr. Spencer Striker, funded by Northwestern University's Alumnae Award for Curriculum Innovation ($12,500) and AIM-LAB. Across more than eight hours of conversations with leading thinkers—including MIT Media Lab's Nataliya Kosmyna ('Your Brain on ChatGPT'), NYU's Clay Shirky, New York Magazine's James Walsh, The Atlantic's Lila Shroff, Northwestern Medill's Jeremy Gilbert, Marc Watkins, Olivio Sarikas, and John Gibbs—the series examines how generative AI is transforming creative education, authorship, learning, and assessment.

What is History Adventures: World of Characters and Global Pandemics?

History Adventures: World of Characters (2017–present) is a cross-platform interactive history series created by Dr. Spencer Striker and developed in partnership with Northwestern's Center for Talent Development. It includes Empires & Interconnections (1450–1750) (2024 Anthem Award Winner for Best Literacy Platform, 2023 Viddy Gold, Horizon Interactive Gold), Revolutions & Industrialization (1750–1900) (Horizon Interactive Gold), Generation Revolution (2024; funded by a $30,000 NEH Digital Projects for the Public Discovery grant), and the Global Pandemics series: Plague of Athens VR (Meta Quest, Steam VR, Pico; funded by $80,000 in QNRF/UREP grants; 2024 Reimagine Education Bronze and 2024 Davey Gold), Black Death Interactive ('Forty Days'; 2024 Horizon Interactive Best of Category), and Plague of Athens Chromebook (2022 Reimagine Education Middle East Gold, 2023 Anthem Bronze).

What STEM and AI-literacy learning games has Dr. Spencer Striker created?

Dr. Spencer Striker's STEM and AI-literacy learning games include Dr. Sara: Disease Detective (2021; iOS and Android epidemiology visual novel funded by a $27,000 HBKU Rapid Response Grant, with over 50,000 organic global downloads and Google Play Teacher Approved recognition), Blue Apprentice at Galxyz Inc. (where he served as Founding Creative Director from 2013–2015, supported by a $4M Series A from Relay Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, and Laurene Powell Jobs' Emerson Collective), and four funded games in development (2026–present): CLIP (bilingual English/Arabic AI-literacy game) and 50% P(DOOM) (screenlife AI-literacy game) supported by a shared $41,000 QRDI LiLEC grant, Chaos Corp 2: Serpent of House Sung ($5,000 Buffett Institute grant + $8,000 AIM-LAB support), and Dr. Sara 2: Zero-G Protocol ($5,000 NU-Q Dean's Merit-Based Faculty Supplementary Support Fund).

Spencer Striker, PhD 11/6/26 Spencer Striker, PhD 11/6/26

Five Rules for Building Learning Games That Students Choose to Play

From Authority Magazine: why learning games must stand on their own as paper prototypes, give players meaningful historical choices, grow challenge inside Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, and never outsource taste.

Inside the AI Animation Pipeline Behind Al-Khwarizmi: Building a 30-Episode Historical Docudrama

How a lean studio uses a six-stage generative AI pipeline, from Midjourney and Google Veo 3 to ElevenLabs Voice-to-Voice and Premiere Pro, to build a 30-episode docudrama on ninth-century polymath Al-Khwarizmi.

Creativity Craves Constraints: The Paradox of AI-Powered Design

Consider how generative AI’s limitless potential sparks 'content inflation,' devaluing creativity with an overload of 'AI slop.' Discover why constraints fuel innovation, how false scarcity transforms AI into a collaborator, and why timeless design principles matter more than ever in this abundant, disruptive era.

Five Rules for Building Learning Games That Students Choose to Play

Inside the AI Animation Pipeline Behind Al-Khwarizmi: Building a 30-Episode Historical Docudrama

Creativity Craves Constraints: The Paradox of AI-Powered Design

Spencer Striker Digital Learning creates award-winning games, interactive stories, VR experiences, and podcasts that make learning immersive, relevant, and alive. Every product is grant-funded and free for anyone to use, in any setting.

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