I kept meaning to share these links earlier this summer but then … eh … forgot. I created two new resources for the National Writing Project’s Digital Is site around gaming and learning and design. The two resources stem from a summer camp program that I ran with a co-teacher for middle school students, and as I was planning the camp, I was videoblogging my experiences. The second resource is about running a game design camp.
These are on my mind right now because I am considering one of two options: I might bring the idea of gaming into the sixth grade writing curriculum OR I might offer an after-school game development club for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. Or, I suppose, I could do both, right? I’m not sure yet.
Anyway, if you are interested in looking at the resources that I created and posted:
- More Than a Game: One Teacher’s Journey into Video Games (in which I dive into some unknown terrain to make sense of the possibilities as I designed the summer program. I wanted our kids not to just play games, but to learn about the design principals and mechanics of game design)
- Bringing Young Gamers Together: A Digital Writing Camp (in which I document the week’s activities and visitors and game design activities)
Feedback at the site or here is welcome. How have you used gaming? And I am most interested in the idea of how we can get our students to create games (active users), not just play games (passive users). This is the crucial shift that we need to make if we want to frame gaming as a learning possibility. I’m not convinced that all of the “gamification” of content area now flooding the Internet makes a lot of difference in how students learn. Oh, I am sure there are great games out there, and I am sure some of them are very engaging. But I want my kids to make things.
You?
Peace (in the games),
Kevin