Building Bridges using game-making - Cathie Howe

Game-Making in the 21st century

• why games?
  
• Marc Prensky - the digital native/digital immigrant paradigm created by Marc Prensky in 2001 is becoming less relevant http://tinyurl.com/avpm57
• Digital Game-based learning http://tinyurl.com/ch76wc

Why Kahootz? http://www.kahootz.com/kz/

• Australian software package developed by Australian Childrens Television Foundation
• caters for all ages K-12
• highly engaging
• site license approx. $1100 AUD
• fabulous set of resources available
• easily scaffolded for teachers
  

Technology Leaders Project:

• an opportunity to be involved in engaging, designing, creating, animating, interacting, evaluating, immersing in multidisciplinary applications
• designing a quest game
• understanding the skills of movement, character building, storyboarding, identifying the goals of the quest, setting challenges
• peer assessment (at least 2 peers, cross-gender)
• collaboration, shared and cooperative learning, sustained negotiation and discussion,

Points to consider:

How important is it to scaffold the teaching resources for the teacher? the teacher does not need to know all about the project.

scaffold the demonstration of outcomes? HOT rubrics? for peer reviewing? assessment? anecdotal observations are possible because of the student-centred nature of the lessons. Teachers are not controlling the learning but facilitating and managing.

How long does it take to finish the project? approx. 10 weeks @ 1 hour / week. It is highly recommended to introduce the project with a visit to the Centre for the first day. It consolidates the skill sets more quickly so that students can move on to game making at school early in the project and the impetus is maintained.

What about the schools not close to the centre?? It is possible to deliver after school VC training / train/teach..train/teach...on a weekly basis perhaps (but negotiable).

We hope to develop some chat/forum facilities on MACICT website at the Kahootz link. This would give students some 24/7 support where access to problems and their solutions for gamers are available, where they can mentor each other just-in-time and whenever, wherever.

It allows for cross-faculty, multidisciplinary opportunities for high schools to work across faculties as well as providing mentoring opportunities between HS and PS (middle years approach). Could even be a transition to HS project.

Does the teacher need to know the finer details of how to use Kahootz? Teachers will probably never be as adept at gaming and playing/manoevering around the screen as quickly and easily as the students but this is no excuse to stop students from having the opportunity to learn this way. It's fun, even if it's hard!!