Articles Posted in the Education Category
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Education for the Win
Everywhere we turn these days, someone is posting a semi-celebratory comment about the meaning behind the games industry’s victory in the case of Brown v. EMA. The Supreme Court has decided that games are protected under the First Amendment as art. Unfortunately, when it comes to censorship, this may be an example of winning the [...]
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The Missing Piece of Game Education
By Mary Kurek Don’t let the surfer-dude looks of Rob Smith fool you. This young developer, who cut his teeth on games like Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and DJ Hero, is serious about business. Smith obtained his bachelor’s degree in game art and design from The Art Institute of California in San Francisco. Before [...]
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Teaching Problem Solving to Encourage Game Innovation
By Clara Fernández-Vara There is a widespread myth that games education should be focused around hard skills. This belief is held by both educators and students, who believe game development is just a matter of knowing the tools. The industry is also guilty of perpetuating this myth, since recruiters tend to sift through applications by [...]
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Game Prototyping Curriculum
By Jeremy Gibson Play-centric design is the core design philosophy of our classes at the University of Southern California’s Interactive Media Division. From their first design class, students are making and playing games utilizing an iterative design process. Students start by making paper games — everything from board games to card games to role-playing games [...]
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Exploring Greater Meaning in Play
By Brian Winn The International Conference on Meaningful Play 2008 explored the potential of games to entertain, inform, educate and persuade in meaningful ways. “Designing and Studying Games That Matter” was the slogan for the inaugural biannual conference, which encompasses both the practical and theoretical exploration of game design and research. The 225 attendees, from [...]
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Successful Curriculum for Youth Workshops
By Magy Seif El-Nasr According to the Entertainment Software Association, “U.S. computer and video game software sales grew 22.9 percent in 2008 to $11.7 billion — more than quadrupling industry software sales since 1996.” The computer and video game industry employs more than 80,000 people in 31 states in the United States alone. It is [...]
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Industry’s Role in the Success of Game Education
By Monica McGill Undergraduate game degree programs are, in many respects, strange newcomers to the academic field. Despite being met with skepticism in and out of the university system, programs in the United Kingdom and the United States are venturing into new territory, creating curricula, recruiting students, establishing industry ties and exploring viable research. Even [...]
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SIG Spotlight: Game Education
Interview With Susan Gold What is the focus of the Game Education SIG? In a nutshell, the focus of the SIG is to help educators become better at what they do through discussion, networking and experience. Since the IGDA is a professional organization, it wasn’t our job to become an academic SIG stepping on the [...]
