Game Design Across the Curriculum: Students as Designers (Part 1)

In “Game Design Across the Curriculum: Students as Designers,” the state of games in education begins the discussion. Larry Cocco, co-founder of the Games4Ed initiative, covers its inception and purpose, as well as the Games for Learning Summit. Cocco, Matthew Farber, and Steve Isaacs attended the event in New York City in April.

Students as game designers is the focal point of this webinar series. To this end, game jams is the focus of this first discussion. Like hackathons, game jams task designers with creating games in a short time period based on a challenge or a theme. In October 2014, the White House hosted its first game jam, inviting designers from around the country. Kevin Miklasz initiated the Moveable Game Jam, which brings the concept to students. He talks about challenges, the guide he published, and the Quest to Learn Game Jam. Matthew Farber discusses his use of tabletop game jams in his middle school social studies classes, as well as his digital game jams in the after school club he advises, and Steve Isaacs talks about his use of game jams in his middle school video game design class.

Part 2, Interactive Fiction-ing, was held on May 18, 2015.

Guests for this webinar included:

• Matthew Farber, Teacher, Valleyview Middle School
• Larry Cocco, Director of Ed Tech at New Jersey Department of Education, Games4Ed co-founder
• Steve Isaacs, Video Game Design and Development at William Annin Middle School in Basking Ridge, NJ
• Kevin Miklasz, BrainPOP Assessment Specialist, lead on the Moveable Game Jam

Resources from this webinar:

• Gamify Your Classroom: A Field Guide to Game-Based Learning
• Games4Ed
• Games Jams in the Classroom
• Toward a Better Culture of Games
• Games for Learning Summit
• [Video] Games for Learning Summit
• Parable of the Polygons
• The Game Jam Guide
• Bergen MakerSpace
• The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game

Download the Chat Archive (PDF)