Blips: Learning Games

Source: Teacher's Lounge: Insider Views on Games Education
Author: James Brightman
Site: Games Industry International

I've been writing and researching games education a bit more than usual, so when I came across this educator roundtable over at Games Industry International, discussing the current state of game studies at the collegiate level, I had to share. Though the discussion moves quickly, what's here is a pretty great broad overview of what's happening in higher education game studies from 5 of the most prominent programs out there right now.

If there's any general consensus, it's that now is a great time to be interested in learning about games. There are more programs out there than there used to be, and those programs have achieved more stabilized status within their institutions. Game studies programs may be growing, but they're not ubiquitous yet, which actually could provide certain benefits. For one, it means the community is a little smaller (compared to, say, the studio art or creative writing MFA fields), which could lead to a more collaborative educational/post-graduation environment. There also seemed to be some agreement on focusing curricula around student-driven design process, which is very similar in concept to an interdisciplinary arts program, but for games. It's worth a read.

:image via Polygon:

Blips: Shhh! We're Playing Video Games

Source: At Libraries Across America, It's Game On
Author: Sami Yenigun
Site: NPR

In many libraries across the US, you can play video games as part of regular library services. In some, you can check out games to play in the library on public systems, but others allow you to old-school rent games (for free, of course) as if they were books or DVDs. This is a fascinating development and one that I hope continues to gain momentum. Video games are at a sort of crisis point as far as preservation and access to previous generations go. Having public repositories for games is a great first step. It helps to give games a historical physicality, though, from the NPR report I'm citing, libraries are mainly focusing on current hardware.

Some may object to libraries adopting games, claiming that they're just using them as a tool to bring young people to the library in hopes that they look at some books while they're there too, discounting the potential educational value of games. I don't think this is the case though, and have no problem with using games as a entry point to visiting the library. If anything, having both games and books available within the same facility then offers a more well-rounded curriculum for learning, particularly with multiplayer games or games that are played in a social context, something that the solo experience of reading rarely offers.

When I worked at the Hirshhorn Museum, this was a major goal of incorporating games into the teen center curriculum. I picked games for our collection that showed unique artistry, but also knew that just having 360 and PS3 setups on huge gorgeous screens was going to be a powerful attraction tool. The end goal was never to just get teens in the door, playing games though; that was just step one, a vital and recurring part of the process, and not simply a stepping stone. Still, we had a ton of other digital media tools that teens who would come for the games could then check out between matches and potentially, in a best case scenario, discover a passion that they never knew they had (also maybe visit the art museum proper). Our approach was to cultivate all-around new media literacy, and these forward-thinking libraries are definitely on the right track.

Blips: Teaching With Games

Source: ChicagoQuest: Teaching with games in Chicago's Cabrini-Green
Author: Charlie Hall
Site: Polygon

Can games be a useful learning tool in formal education environments? Schools like ChicagoQuest certainly think so. In Charlie Hall's piece or Polygon (with accompanying video above), he shows how ChicagoQuest integrates games into their curriculum in ways that still make good on common core standards and don't abandon more traditional tools for learning either. It's all in the service of educating kids in systems thinking, so they can be critical observers of the world around them and potentially come up with feasible improvements or solutions.

It's great that ChicagoQuest was able to build so much of their institution from relative scratch because often it seems like digital media-integrated pedagogical models are tough sells in long-standing, set-in-their-ways schools. Sometimes it's a matter of funding, sometimes it's a matter of tech-savviness, and sometimes it's a matter of acceptance, but an of those factors can lead to dismissal or aversion to games integration. I'm not here to sell you on games in schools, but I would suggest giving this piece on ChicagoQuest a read and seeing what you think.