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Research into the cognitive and learning processes that occur during video game play is growing in prominence. Digital literacy and media literacy advocates and practitioners have long emphasized the importance of media production experiences in building learners ' awareness of media influences, modes of production and ownership. Further, Constructionist-learning researchers have long emphasized the epistemological value of programming games for learning and cognition. This study explores the abilities that emerge among high school and community college students who participated in a year-long program of game design and Web 2.0 activity in the Globaloria-West Virginia project of the World Wide Workshop Foundation. Findings suggest that students at “TTC ” HS and “CMMC ” community college were able to successfully create functioning web games throughout their semester- and year-long participation, and that in both groups, participation in the program overall contributes to the development of 6 contemporary learning abilities in cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions. We propose that game design activity contributes to the growing discourse on "gaming literacy " and “digital media and learning ” (DML), and that Constructionist design and construction of games in online wiki and lab-based workshop settings can engender contemporary abilities necessary to be successful in today’s knowledge-based economy and professional work cultures