IGDA Education SIG

Call for Research Projects

2009-08-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

The IGDA's Global Game Jam 2010 opens the Call for Research Projects
(http://globalgamejam.org)

Call for Research Projects

In the framework of the Global Game Jam 2010, we are inviting all interested applicants to submit a research project.

Last year’s Global Game Jam gathered professionals, students and hobbyists from over 54 locations worldwide with the goal of developing games over a weekend. The result was 1650 people making 370 games. This year’s GGJ promises to include an even larger number of sites around the globe. The organizers believe this presents a unique opportunity for researchers interested in questions such as, but not limited to:

Global trends in game development, as exemplified by GGJ games
Cross-cultural communication in game jam game development
Team creation and management in game jam game development
Project management in game jam game development
Iterative design and rapid prototyping in the context of a game jam event.
Time-constrained innovation and experimentation: game jams as development event.
Global business perspectives of the Global Game Jam.
We hereby invite scholars in any field who wish to address research questions through the Global Game Jam event to submit a research project application.

There is no specific topic, methodology or approach that is favored, so long as the question can be well addressed through observation of or post-analysis of the GGJ event and outcomes. Some questions that will guide the reviewing process include:

Is the proposal for a project that will add to the total body of knowledge, increase understanding, or improve game design, collaboration, or other academic disciplines?
Why is the project needed?
What long-term intellectual and/or economic benefits can be derived from it?
How does the project relate to research that has already been done in the area?
What will it accomplish?
Will the results interest a meaningful audience or serve a particular group of users?
Have project goals been well conceptualized and well presented?
Is the outcome of the study clear?
Are project objectives realistic and clearly defined? Will the methodology achieve the desired outcomes? Does the design permit the evaluation of achievement of project goals?
Is the methodology practical and logical? Have the correct questions been asked?
Has the applicant proved familiarity with the field; has the appropriate background research been done?
Have all the procedures been fully described?
Are the concepts original and innovative?
How will the results be disseminated to reach appropriate audiences?

We encourage research projects that can have potential industry outcomes or applications, and we welcome projects that add to understanding of and further development of the cultural and social importance of the Global Game Jam.

Accepted projects will be integrated into the development and arrangement of the Global Game Jam 2010. Selected research projects will be featured as a part of the Global Game Jam (GGJ) 2010 event. Accepted projects will also have the opportunity of using the global network of sites from the early stages of the Global Game Jam organization. The Global Game Jam will also provide letters of support to aid researchers in seeking funding to support the research, and will assist in the distribution and collection of informed consent forms. (Note that acceptance does not include research funding: researchers are required to fund their projects).

Application Requirements

Submissions should consist of:

A 3000 word maximum project description, including:

Goals and objectives,
Review of the relevant literature,
Expected outcomes,
Relevance for the game industry,
A comprehensive timeline.

A short CV for each of the applicants

Brief history of current and past support

Application Deadline

Applications must be submitted no later than October 1st, at 12:00 CET. Email applications to cfp@globalgamejam.org

Announcement of Results

After review by the Global Game Jam research committee, applicants will get an answer by October 20th, 2009.

The IGDA Global Game Jam Research Proposal Committee

Dr. Marinka Copier – New Media and Digital Culture at Utrecht University & School of Art and Technology at Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU); Utrecht, the Netherlands
Dr. Katherine Isbister – Digital Media and Computer Science & Engineering at Polytechnic Institute of New York University; Brooklyn, USA
Dr. Magy Seif El Nasr – School of Interactive Arts & Technology at Simon Fraser University; Vancouver, Canada

The Global Game Jam is an IGDA event being held January 29-31, 2010 at various locations around the world.

Photos From GDC

2009-04-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Game Design Improv

2009-04-08T11:43:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone has a chance to go through these slides from one of our great workshops from GDC.

GDC 2009 Game Design Improv

View more presentations from Susan Gold.

Game Design Improv

View more documents from Susan Gold.

Now you should have all four of the workshop materials, if you have any questions, please contact us.

Susan

BoingBoing & Jane McGonigal

2009-03-31T13:15:00.000-07:00

I subscribe to BoingBoing and when I woke up this morning there was a new video they had done at GDC. Imagine my surprise to see our GDC Keynote Jane McGonigal interviewed about her talk that she gave at OUR summit. How cool is that? Xeni & Jane actually indulge in a little Katamari/Slumdog Millionaire "top secret dance off" at the end of the interview. You ladies rock!

MDA Framework

2009-03-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Yet another stellar workshop from GDC. The MDA Framework is important for all students to understand games and innovation.

Thank you Malcolm, Robin, Ethan, Ben

Putting the pieces together: The MDA Framework

View more presentations from malcolmr.

SlideShare

2009-03-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

You have to love this tool - post your slides and embed - what could be difficult? Oh.. getting the slides from the speakers. As I get the slides, I promise to post them. Here are the slides from Jesse Schell's fantastic keynote:

Agd Talk Speed Run

View more presentations from goldfile.

From the book: The Art of Game Design by Jesse Schell

IGDA Education Summit

2009-03-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

So far GDC has been incredibly exciting and full of new ideas and old friends. Our summit was well attended, we got great feedback about the workshops and raves about our keynotes. Here is Monday's slides from Jane McGonigal's keynote:

Learning to Make Your Own Reality - IGDA Education Keynote 2009

View more presentations from avantgame.

More soon.

Susan
Chair, IGDA Education SIG

GDC is just a few weeks away...

2009-03-10T21:00:00.000-07:00

Am I the worst blogger in the world? I spend more time doing the things than writing about them, my apologies. The Global Game Jam has taken up most of my spare time. Ramping up to GGJ was exhausting, but I was so proud of how much we accomplished. The SIG really wants to focus on outreach around the globe. It is our hope to continue expanding our community and hopefully get many more involved. I was so happy to see that through GGJ the IGDA was able to start working on developing new chapters in Costa Rica and Turkey. I have also heard that a few of the teams at various locations have hooked up with publishers. What an incredible opportunity for all those that participated in GGJ. If you didn’t make it this year, I hope you manage to be a part of GGJ next year.

I am gearing up for GDC. This year we have created a series of workshops and post-mortems in our 2 day Education Summit: Essential Tools for Game Education Success. We have four workshops, Game Design Improv, Mini Games Using C++, The Blender Game Engine, Putting the Pieces Together: The MDA Framework. Everyone involved has put in hours of work to present these to our community. I am super excited to hear both Jane & Jesse’s keynotes. We are also presenting the GGJ Blasts & IGF Student Post Mortem. Not only are we presenting sessions at GDC this year, but we are doing panels and workshops at a bunch of other venues as well, yes, international conferences. If you are at GDC please come to the SIG Roundtable – of course it is opposite the Game Studies Download, so I’ll understand if you miss it.

Please note, we are going to have a drawing at GDC – we will have some of the most interesting games from GGJ at 3 booths in the expo – play at least one game at each booth, collect 3 different color stickers and you can be put in the drawing for a GGJ Survival Pack. You must be present to win. We have a few extra t-shirts and pins from GGJ that we will be giving away at the IGDA Booth (West Hall Lobby). I’m looking forward to another great GDC, see you there. For those of you not attending, I’ll try to be a better blogger.

Susan Gold
Chair, IGDA Education SIG

IGDA Education SIG Spawns First Global Game Jam

2008-11-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

42 Sites In 15 Different Countries Already Signed On And The List Is Growing

Toronto November 4, 2008 – From 5:00pm Friday January 30th through 5:00 pm Sunday, February 2 thousands of college students, faculty and industry members and the general public will join together for a round the clock video game building experience often referred to as a Game Jam. Participants will be given the details of the game design theme and the constraints and mechanics allowed when the clock hits 5:00 in their local time zone. As the time zones change, so will those constraints, to mitigate any advantage global location might give one team over the other.

Global Game Jam (GGJ) was the brainstorm of Susan Gold, faculty and international development manager for the Master’s of Digital Media Program in Vancouver and chair of the Education Special Interest Group of the International Game Developers Association.

“I wanted to find a project that explored the incredible creative collaborative nature of video games,” says Gold. "I thought a global experience would really show the strength of the game development community by having a project that crossed all cultural boundaries and everyone could participate simultaneously.”

Inexperienced in the ways of the game jams in general, Gold got in touch with the team that runs the successful annual Nordic Game Jam. "The Nordic Game Jam is proud to be a part of the Global Game Jam", says Gorm Lai, founding member of the Nordic Game Jam. "Game jams are all about coming together to develop creative new game ideas in an environment of cooperation. It is great to see that idea elevated to a global level, and into a tool that brings us all closer together."

The GGJ is being sponsored by Mekensleep Studios and Take 2 Interactive.

For more information on participating in the Global Game Jam, visit
http://www.globalgamejam.org

Photos from GDC

2008-02-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos from the IGDA Education SIG Summit at GDC:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goldfile/

It was great seeing so many of you this year, save the date for next year March 23-27, 2009

New Curriculum Framework Posted

2008-02-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

We have made available the new IGDA Curriculum Framework, version 3.2 beta! You can download it right here.

Welcome back to school....

2007-08-21T11:37:00.000-07:00

This is a repost of my most recent listserv update:

A new semester is upon us and the SIG is busy, very busy…

But before I lose your attention with my extremely long note, we are looking for a database development person to help us put our internship program on the website. If you are interested, please contact Stephen Jacobs (sxjics@rit.edu).

Before I tell you about my and the SIG’s summer, what did you do with yours? I think it would be great if we hear about your summer games or projects... so if you feel it is appropriate, post and discuss on the list.

Summer 2007

Well for one, I moved from beautiful Tahoe to wonderful Eugene, OR. Yes, I have left the ivory tower and have gone to work in the game industry. I hope I am more than cultural anthropologist and become a real contributor. Thankfully what I am doing directly involves education, but in addition to my academic oriented work, they have already thrown me into a product group deciding what the next new technology the company develops. I sit in there with artist and programmers and engineers asking myself, how do I fit in? What I have found is that it is all about collaboration and working as a part of a team. It wouldn’t matter if I was a pastry chef, they would find a way to take that expertise and utilize it create something new. Everyone is equal on the team, each brining their own expertise and passion for games to the table. It is an amazing process and I can only stress that putting your students into team environments is going to be key for them succeeding in this industry. Do it early in your programs, because we should have had them doing this since the students started school at 5 years old. But since we only get to influence them at age 18, we have to break a lot of bad habits they have developed, (like doing everything on their own). Put them in teams and make them work together.

A lot of work regarding the curriculum framework has been accomplished over the sumemer. I want to thank Dr. Yusuf Pisan and Dr. Magy Seif El Nasr for their great work and continuing effort. We did get some great syllabi and we are analyzing what everyone has done with the framework over the past four years. It is really great to see so many educators using the framework as the instrument it was designed to be (which is a reference, not a bible).

Speaking of the framework, Tracy Fullerton, Magy Seif El Nasr and I presented at this years SIGGRAPH in San Diego. The name of the session: So you want to start a game program… we had 80 people attend (and for the last session on the last day, we felt that was a great attendance). We discussed the key points of the curriculum framework and emphasized the soft skills. I think our session was well received, there were a ton of questions, etc… everything from what type of math do students need to what game engine should we use? I know that there are a lot of people that need our help and experience in putting their new programs together, I hope many have joined the listserv.

I have asked to have a link to the SIGGRAPH slides (they are a rather hefty 16MB); I will share the URL with everyone as soon as I know it.

As for the rest of the summer, I am going to Asia to speak and meet with industry and educators about the framework. First stop is Shanghai for GDC China, I am doing a talk called Finding a Job and Carving your Niche in a Quickly Globalizing Video Game Industry. Then I get to go to Beijing and speak to several universities about their growing programs and helping them develop their curriculums (hopefully in sync with our framework). Then this globetrotter is off to Singapore where I hope to meet with more educators developing game programs. In addition, I will be attending and speaking at GC Asia, again the talk will be about getting a job in the industry. To round out this Asian tour, myself, Tracy Fullerton and Magy Seif El Nasr and I are going to attend DiGRA in Tokyo and we will be presenting a game design workshop. I am rather thankful that I won’t be talking about getting a job again and get to teach basic design principles. All of these talks and workshops are given to represent the work we have done with curriculums, class ideas and case blats we have shared with those of you that are already members of the SIG.

I know I will miss being a professor, so any time you want me to come visit, give a workshop, teach a class, talk about anything (other than getting a job), email me. No really, I do know a lot about getting students prepared for entering the workforce, so if that is what you need, I would be happy to help you prepare your lectures or give you my slides, or even deliver the info in person. I hope to be traveling around the US this fall meeting as many educators as possible. I would love to visit Boston again and work with them to develop a consortium. There are over 90 educators in the Boston area in some game related work. To me that is amazing and exciting, we should expect to see some great things coming out of the Northeast. I have been asked by some schools in New York State to do something similar with their academics in games (early November). The SIG’s focus with this outreach work is to get everyone talking with one another and hopefully collaborating on projects and/or research together.

I want to wish everyone a great and successful year. I hope your classes are full of students that are excited to learn, creative and hard working. I hope you plan on attending GDC in 2008, remember it is the week of February 18th. I know that Derric Clark is hard at work making sure that our program has something for everyone, be it those starting programs or those experienced game educators that are looking for professional development. We will be having two tracks and our own site outside of GDC, so we don’t have to close registration before the early bird discount is over this year. We also plan to make the two-day workshop affordable, no breaking travel budgets on my watch. You will only need to get a classic pass, not a gigapass and a seperate pass for our workshop. We will be posting news related to that as soon as arrangements and the website are up and ready to go. I have blocked reasonable priced hotel rooms ($100-150 a night) to also help reduce the cost of attendance.

I want to thank everyone who has been a part of the listserv and our community as well as any of the SIG’s activities, thanks for helping and volunteering.

Sincerely,

Susan

--

Susan Gold

Chair, IGDA Education SIG

"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us." -Marcel Proust

MacArthur Grant Awarded to Institute of Play

2007-06-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Exciting news! Katie Salen, who is on the advisory board for the Education SIG, just received a MacArthur grant of $1.1 million for the Gamelab Institute of Play. The project is going to create a new school for 6-12 grade with a pedagogy based around the idea of gaming literacy ("the play, analysis, and creation of games"). The plan is to open the school in 2009. Go check out their website for more info: it's a very interesting project.

Darius Kazemi
Technology Co-Officer

Boston

2007-04-22T17:57:00.000-07:00

One of my biggest passions is trying to bring people together in our community. I think by deepening and broadening a collaborative community within local, national and global educators is fundamental to the success of our growing genre. Not only is it nice to know that we are not alone in our academic goals, but in most issues that arise we go through the same ups and downs… be it funding, being taken seriously or just general challenges. It is the reason why I turned to the IGDA when I started teaching in games in 2001.

A few weeks ago I was asked to participate in the city of Boston Mayor’s office one-day conference to develop strategies that support the growth of Boston’s Game Industry. Since I was on my way to Boston I thought I would try to meet with local educators working in games, so I did a little investigating. Mind you, Boston is thick with colleges and universities, but I managed to find close to 90 educators working in some aspect of games. They have enough people to start their own special interest group. I called the meeting to see if they were interested in developing some sort of consortium, or sandbox to work within. A place where they could possibly create an environment for low-risk experimentation or just work collaboratively. After pulling together this list, I emailed everyone and invited them to a meeting. Although the invite went out with short notice, I got 30 people to the table. I was so exciting to see the growing interest in game education. What amazed me was that most everyone in the room did not know each other… yet. I was so pleased to find out that so many of those around the table were here just so that they could meet one another.

Keeping that in mind, I very much want to ask all those willing to call, email their neighboring institutions. Start to build a few bridges to your neighbor schools. We are not inventing the cure for cancer here, games are only made as a product of collaboration. I would like to see our community build friendship and alliances before the summer break comes. I know this is a lot to ask for the end of the semester, but is there anything you can do to build upon what you have in your college? Could a collaboration expand and help one another? Art schools, contact the technical schools and vice versa.

As Dr. Alice Robison of MIT’s Comparative Media Studies program said of this past Friday's meeting, “The fact that all of us were committed enough to gather for this meeting is a testament to our willingness to collaborate.” I think each of us sees the potential benefits in creating these bridges. So please, be like one professor at one institution said to another educator, I have always been interested in talking to someone from your school; “I should walk across the street.”

Susan Gold
IGDA Education SIG Chairperson

GDC07: Game Studies

2007-03-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

Kurt Squire , UW-Madison, discussed video game studies as an increasingly accepted field of study. For working groups, he posed questions such as: What are the best practices for studying games? What effective pedagogical models are emerging? How do teachers balance the needs for understanding the technical aspects of the medium with the demands of scholarship?

---
Beth A. Dillon

GDC07: Curriculum Framework 2

2007-03-06T14:43:00.000-08:00

In working lunch II, participants discussed various ways to design a program using the current curriculum framework, focused on typical university constraints within disciplines.

Each group discussed:
Discipline structure: how to offer courses within disciplines and across disciplines
Bridging the gap between disciplines
Problems for one discipline to talk to another, resistance from different sides
Should game programs be in different disciplines or form their own interdisciplinary unit, if so how?
How do you see the courses in the framework distributed across disciplines or within what form of interdisciplinary structure do you see them fit best?

---
Beth A. Dillon

GDC07: Teaching Methods

2007-03-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

Tracy Fullerton introduced the topic of teaching methods (powerpoint) for a working session challenged to "develop brand new curriculum for an emerging field of study in a learning environment which is already overtaxed and arguably ineffective" and "blaze through some interesting out-of-the box thinking."

Reports from each working group are included as Comments and Powerpoint:

Community building
Collaborative projects
Managing the scope of student game projects
Building interdisciplinary student teams
Assigning games as “texts” for game studies courses
Issues in building & maintaining game libraries
Models for inter-institutional collaboration
Balancing theory and practice
Competitions and festivals as learning objectives

---
Beth A. Dillon

GDC07: Design Workshop

2007-03-05T14:34:00.000-08:00

Nick Fortugno from gameLab held a workshop (powerpoint) to bring fundamental game design into the context of designing educational games. Somewhere at the heart of design, Fortugno asserts, are people considering the system: the players and how players interact with variables. “Games are systems,” commented Fortugno, “built out of rules. Out of that comes play.”

Fortugno points out that players introduce themselves to a set of rules they negotiate with. Games have a relationship with aspects such as competition, goals, accomplishment, cooperation, collaboration, and mapping between pleasure and frustration.

In a learning game, Fortugno argues, the player response to content is focused on learning as opposed to emotional feedback. However, when designing educational games, key questions need to be faced: How does that response work? What’s the potential for it? What do we do to achieve it?

In his own classes, Fortugno often has his students play the 20 questions game. During the workshop, groups kicked off the interactive hands-on portion of the session by playing Dungeon Attack, a non-digital prototype, where much laughter was had!

Who killed the card monsters?

---
Beth A. Dillon

GDC07: Curriculum Framework Roundtables

2007-03-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

In working lunch I, guided by Magy Seif El-Nasr, participants were divided into groups led by SIG representatives to discuss and revise the current framework. The goal is to recommend revisions to the 2003 Curriculum Framework looking for problems: holes, insufficient detail, ambiguity and repetition.

Reports from each group are included as Comments:

Critical Game Studies, led by Tim Langdell
Game Production: Programming, led by Tom Carbone
Game Production: Design, led by Tim Roden
Game Production: Visual/Audio Design, led by Joseph Arnayosi
Game Production: Management/Development Process, led by Christopher Erhardt
Business of Gaming, led by Kevin O'Gorman
Game Production: Writing and Interactive Storytelling, led by Ron Weaver
Game Production: Technical Art, led by Laurie Torelli

---
Beth A. Dillon

GDC Excitement

2007-03-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

Well it seems that I am not a really ardent blogger, but I am trying. I am getting so excited about the upcoming SIG’s Curriculum Workshop at GDC as well as the rest of the conference. There is so much that is going to be going on that week, I hope my head does not spin off. The actualization of our community, everyone working together towards common goals at the workshop is going to be very inspiring. Also, meeting people that I have only corresponded with, or getting introduced to people that I’ve read about… is also really exciting for me.

I think the one thing that I want to make sure happens is that everyone knows that the SIG’s goals are really simple… providing resources to educators, be it in the form of curriculum guidance, discussion forums, book opportunities or professional development. Essentially, I want the SIG to be the one stop shop for Educators and their needs.

I am looking forward to seeing everyone at the conference… until next week…

Susan
---
Prof. Susan Gold
Chair, IGDA Education SIG

Certificates

2007-02-07T07:10:00.001-08:00

My institution has just approved an undergraduate minor called Digital Media and Game Design. Because we are the only public university in central/northern New Hampshire, our mission includes providing educational opportunities for the regional community, primarily adult learners. Our community education office just asked my department whether we would be willing to package our minor into a certificate program. In other words, people from the regional community who are not matriculated as students would be able to come to the University, take the 16 credits that comprise the minor and leave with a certificate in Digital Media and Game Design. There are lots of logistical questions to be answered before we agree to offer this certification and I personally feel a bit mixed about it. But I was wondering whether others have experience with such programs or have opinions about the value of such programs. What kinds of questions should we be asking ourselves as we determine whether to offer the certification?

I forgot to sign this--Cathie LeBlanc, Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH

Sold out.

2007-02-02T16:09:00.000-08:00

The GDC 2007 Education Workshops sold out just as the early bird registration deadline hit. On the one hand, of course I'm happy to see we're sold out. On the other, I know it's in part due to venue constraints.

I've been running into this "sold out" issue a lot lately. The game day for the First Nations Technology Conference happening on February 22 in Vancouver, BC is overbooked as well. But there's still more interest and we have to turn people away!

And why? Venues.

I feel like, in the event management world, I'm the indie, and the venues are the retailers. And while venues do exist to support events, I had a much better time putting together the Northwest Games Festival at the Native American Student and Community Center in Portland, Oregon with the help of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society than currently in Vancouver, BC with a hotel.

I'd like to find ways to use more institutions as venues for game education events, to allow for lower costs and higher attendance flexibility. Because spending upwards of $1000 per table with a cloth on it for an expo makes you realize why conference registration fees are so high and also makes you a bit annoyed about being limited in how many people can register.

Beth A. Dillon
Communications Director

Workshop and other Lists

2007-01-28T12:58:00.000-08:00

I just wrote a really nice letter to GAMESNETWORK list as they had a very long rant on the cost of attending conferences. I truly understand what they are saying, the cost of attending GDC is very expensive, there are no academic discounts (and trust me, I asked them to give us a price break, even pleaded). Personally, I do not feel that we are ready for our own conference, we are still but a few volunteers. In truth, I really feel it would be better to have regional conferences that will also target students as well as educators - it will help on keeping down the cost of travel as well as providing opportunities for making inroads to educators that are hiding out there, (have no budget or a really tight budget).

There are a few options out there for those that unable to purchase a GIGA or VIP pass to GDC. One, there is the tutorials only option, good for Monday & Tuesday's IGDA Education Curriculum Workshop for $600 (less if you are an IGDA member). Two, there will also be online support, GDC broadcasts a lot of their sessions as well as the possibility of us using a software like Breeze to provide online interactivity (still working on this).

Bottom line, it is getting really close to the early bird discount deadline of January 31, 2007 to get the best price if you are attending the conference. I hope that the readership will be enticed to attend. Besides our big push to work on our curriculum framework, there are so many other things that the SIG wants to do, but we need you there to help us get these ideas off the ground. I hope that there will be attendees that want to discuss the possibility of our own journal as well as many other ideas we have on the back burner (accreditation, sabbatical programs, etc...).

GDC is going to be an exciting time for the SIG, we hope you will be there.

Susan Gold
IGDA Education SIG Chair

Teaching "Creating Games"

2007-01-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

Looking up at the dark, nighttime New Hampshire sky, a friend once told me that learning the names of the constellations would take away the “magic” of that sky.

Two students in my first year student seminar called “Why Do People Believe Weird Things?” told me that they were glad that they had learned how to evaluate arguments but they hadn’t expected the class to be so “serious”.

These two conversations come to mind as I prepare to teach a general education class called “Creating Games”. The class will be “serious” in the sense that the students will have to reflect on their experiences with games to try to figure out what makes a game work. I think this reflection will add to the “magic” of games but I know that a lot of people will disagree. One of my main goals in this class will be to get students to see that thoughtful examination of a game and its mechanics can enhance our enjoyment of that game. The last thing I want to do is make students feel as though we are taking the fun out of playing games.

I wonder what other folks do to ensure that the process of education adds to the enjoyment of gaming.

Cathie LeBlanc

IGDA Education SIG

Call for Research Projects

Photos From GDC

Game Design Improv

More Slides

BoingBoing & Jane McGonigal

MDA Framework

SlideShare

IGDA Education Summit

GDC is just a few weeks away...

IGDA Education SIG Spawns First Global Game Jam

Photos from GDC

New Curriculum Framework Posted

Welcome back to school....

MacArthur Grant Awarded to Institute of Play

Boston

GDC07: Game Studies

GDC07: Curriculum Framework 2

GDC07: Teaching Methods

GDC07: Design Workshop

GDC07: Curriculum Framework Roundtables

GDC Excitement

Certificates

Sold out.

Workshop and other Lists

Teaching "Creating Games"