Last month, I attended a seminar about games for education. I expected that we'd hear and discuss the many uses, challenges and advancements in games that teach. I was also excited to visit my hometown, Pittsburgh, and see family, friends and design colleagues. After two days of listening, wonderment and sparks of discussion at the ETC, I returned to Boston thinking in much grander terms.
Keynotes on Twitter
Billy Cain, self professed Geek / Catalyst did an outstanding job Twittering the two keynote addresses and I will not attempt to recreate his efforts. I encourage others to review Billy's rapid-fire tweet coverage of the presentations given by Don Marinelli, Executive Producer and Cofounder of the Entertainment Technology Center and Richard Hilleman, Chief Creative Director Worldwide of Electronic Arts.
Billy's reporting accuracy matches my own notes.
Do a Twitter search for "#GES BillyCain" to find his good stuff.
Background: my Game Design Game
A few years ago, I gave a couple presentations to first year ETC graduate students about game design and that is where I met Don Marinelli. I created a game about the process used to create games based on my experiences as a senior game designer at Parker Brothers and Hasbro Games in the 90's. The attendees played the game; I facilitated. It was a huge success.
Don Marinelli
Don exploded into his keynote with a booming greeting and a brief description of the ETC. And statistics. Some highlights from his talk:
• Our schools are still based on 18th century modes of thinking, so that children could spend the summer home with their families to help with the summer farm work!
• "Preaching to the choir?" Don asked, "Or a call to arms? We need a plan of attack. It is close to the time when kindergarten kids go on strike. Marching with little signs, 'Hell no, we won't go!'"
• In 1963, television was heralded as the technology that would transform teaching. As a young child, Don remembers marching into the gym to watch a beautiful woman on a single TV instructing everyone to listen and repeat phrases in Spanish. "This is a sham!" Don soon realized. "She said, 'Muy bien!' regardless of what you said or did. It was a technological solution that failed."
• Don is convinced that videogame technology will transform teaching.
• Games are games. The word itself has done us in. Hide or disguise the term. All attacks on games are focused on the extremes, he said. "The media loves a clear cut villain!"
• Education should be the essence of change. How can we make teaching and learning relevant to a changing world? "We could now get along fine without knowing Latin!" Don effused, much to the chagrin of the classical language academics in the room! LOL
• Angrily: "When Jurassic Park cleared 325 Million in sales, the movie was on the cover of Time magazine. That same year, a hedgehog named Sonic cleared 400 Million in sales. "There was no mention," Don growled. "Who is writing the news?"
• "When the home provides more cutting edge technology than what school can offer, things are bass ackwards!" So true.
• "Lawyers run companies and governments. Why not videogame students? Andrew Ender Wiggins, anyone?!" Great point, Don! (Referring to the oft-quoted science fiction story,
Ender's Game. Read it, if you haven't...)
• The secret of the ETC? Don said simply, "Let students teach each other."
• Share the fun, Don exudes!
• H.G. Wells began his writing career as a social class author. One of Don's favorite books by H.G. Wells is called Star Begotten. It is about a race of people waiting for The Enlightened Ones to return from the stars. Eventually, the people stop waiting and realize that they themselves are the Enlightened Ones!
More to Come...
Watch for additional short reports on my experiences at the following talks at the Games in Education Summit.
1. Games Across Media, a talk by Drew Davidson. He runs "the mothership" of the ETC in Pittsburgh, PA.
2. Building Northeaster University's Game Design Curriculum From Scratch, a presentation by Terrance Masson, Director of Creative Industries, Northeastern University + Siggraph 2010 Chair.
3. Should Game Writing Be a Part of the Curriculum? A panel discussion with Sande Chen, writer, Lee Sheldon, writer/producer in Hollywood, and Elisabeth Nonas, teacher of screen writing.
4. Creativity, Constraints and Compromises, a project discussion with Sande Chen, writer and Dr. Ricardo Rademacher, physics teacher and creator of Futur-e-scape, a fantasy MMORPG that teaches physics.
5. Making Serious Games Seriously Fun, a look at games by Aaron Vanderbeek, Long Distance: a board game and Todd Waits, VP of Product Development at Skill Life, an online game that aims to teach financial literacy.
6. Buddhist Death in Second Life, a fascinating and immersive experience created by Beth Davies-Stofka, teacher of religion and philosophy in Denver, CO. This was so amazing --- and was an "Aha moment" for me regarding the positive power of online worlds.
7. Physical Gaming: Beyond Mini-Games, a thought provoking and fun look at 6 games by Andrew Hieronymi's (SCAD) and his "deconstruction of a game." Brilliant stuff.
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