GBL for STEM Summer Camp in WIT (results)

Following the workshop on Video Games, students were asked to fill-out a feedback form to indicate whether they enjoyed the workshop, identify how it motivated them to embrace a scientific career (e.g., IT), and evaluate how it could be improved.

The respondents consisted of 8 boys and 6 girls. Most respondents were aged between 13. and 14.

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Most of the attendees found the workshop was fun (93%), and would like to carry-on creating games in the future (57%).

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After this workshop, most attendees felt more confident about programing (65%) and using computers (71%); 35% found that the workshop had motivated them to create video games, 21% did not share this opinion, and 42% neither agreed or disagreed.

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When asked about the aspect of the workshop that they preferred, attendees essentially found creating a game (29%), learning something new(21%) and playing the game they have created (21%) the most enjoyable parts of the workshop.

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The majority of the students felt that they would like to know more about computing or programing after this workshop (78%).

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Some comments about the workshop include:

"It was the best workshop we did all week"

"it was great fun and i cant wait to brag to my friends how i made my own computer game. I was really great fun and i would love to do it again!!"

"I really enjoyed the workshop and it was great fun making and playing your own game I would have liked it to be longer so we could have done more. And learned about how to do other types of games."

GBL for STEM Summer Camp in WIT

On Thursday 16^th June 2011, I ran a workshop on creating video games as part of a STEM summer camp organized in Waterford Institute of Technology by CALMAST (Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science and Technology). The group included 14 secondary schools students with no or little background in Computer Science. The workshop consisted of an introduction to GameMaker, a free 2D game engine, followed by a project whereby they had to construct their own game. The workshop lasted for 8 hours, with breaks in the morning, afternoon and for lunch. The workshop was organized around the them of pac-man. Students were introduced to GameMaker, including: graphical interface, designing a level, creating sprites, objects and rooms, moving objects, collecting objects, displaying score and lives, creating variables, modifying variables, conditional statements, etc. This experience was extremely inspiring:

1. Students were extremely engaged in the creation process. They were willing to learn new concepts in order to improve their game. During the breaks, the majority of students insisted on staying in the classroom in order to work on their project.
   
2. The majority of them had little or no computing background, but concretely applied some simple programing concepts without realizing it.
3. Most students took their project at home in the view to improve it and possibly publish it on the yoyogames website.
4. Collaborative patterns appeared after few hours. Some students had become "experts" and where helping their peers. Students were also evaluating each-others' project, providing feedback.
5. Many students developed their ICT skills by creating/editing sprites for their games using GameMaker build in editor.

Next events may include a second day where students can create a game that teaches/illustrates a specific science topic (e.g., chemistry or physics). My congratulations to the CALMAST team for organizing such a relevant and useful event.

A survey was conducted to evaluate the workshop and the results are now available.

If you are interested in using Game-Maker, the following resources may be interesting:

- Resources to create games with GameMaker

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/

- Resources for teachers

http://wiki.yoyogames.com/index.php/Information_For_Teachers

Patrick

METS11: Video on GBL

A new video was posted on the mets11 website. METS (Maynooth Educational Technology Showcase 2011) is a technology showcase developed for student teachers and their lecturer. The first video from METS11 is now available, and includes interviews of teachers on the topic of Game-Based Learning. It particularly relates to the use of Scratch a powerful, yet simple tool to introduce programing concepts, mathematical and computational ideas, in a fun and enjoyable way, notably through stories, animations, games, music, and art . For more information on Scratch in Ireland, see http://www.scratch.ie/about

Keynote address by Michael Hallissy

Keynote address by Michael Hallissy, a photo by iGBL2011 on Flickr.

iGBL2011

Untitled, a photo by iGBL2011 on Flickr.

iGBL2011: Where do we go from here...

Last week, the Irish Symposium on Game-Based Learning (iGBL) was held at Waterford Institute of Technology. It featured over 16 presentations on Game-Based learning and provided attendees with a deeper understanding of the different challenges and opportunities for GBL in Ireland.

The morning started with an opening note from Dr Paul Barry (Head of school of science at WIT) and a keynote from Michael Hallissy (Digital Hub). The conference then split into two streams in the morning and afternoon, followed by a roundtable to identify the future of GBL in Ireland.

The feedback has been very positive so far, and participants seem to have appreciated a friendly atmosphere, interesting discussions, and thought-provoking presentations.

The roundtable organised at the end of the conference was particularly conducive to constructive and innovative ideas and the overall feeling from this rountable was that we need more connections between all GBL stakeholders in Ireland, including teachers, lecturers, researchers, and companies. It was felt that we need to create more links, notably by using social networks and create forums where all interested in GBL can discuss and share best practice. There is also a need to identify and develop specific streams (e.g., industry, primary and secondary education or second chance education ).

The following ideas were brought forward at the roundtable:
Promoting GBL:

• Identify and contact all stakeholders involved in designing/evaluating/using GBL in Ireland
  
• Create a Facebook group
  
• Identify and use successful case studies on GBL
  
• Need for guidelines on how to use GBL
  
• Some teachers may require training on GBL
  
• It would be great to involve book publishers in the group
  
• Create local, and county-wide groups of teachers interested in GBL, organize meetings and share best-practice (i.e., social network of best practice)
  
• Organize workshops on GBL
  

Creating GBL solutions

• Develop customizable GBL solutions that allow teachers to focus on specific part of the curriculum within time constraints
• Some existing educational games, may, due to their poor design, have put off teachers initially interested in GBL.
• GBL solutions should be easy integrate
• Teachers should take part in the design of educational video games
• Connect developers and teachers
• Using coding day for education or game jams to create links between developers and teachers and produce GBL solutions
• Create a database of gaming courses in Ireland
• Liaise between teachers and developers to verbalize/explain/define requirements for GBL application

Prepare for iGBL2012

• For next year, it would be great to include more attendees and presentations from primary and secondary schools teachers
• Identify issues (and corresponding solutions) faced by teachers who would like to use GBL
• Second day with workshops on how to employ GBL in classrooms
• Showcase of GBL software where instructors can understand and test the potential of GBL for their teaching
• Game-Jam with where game development/design students can create an educational game based on a specific theme
• Any idea is welcome!

So what's next....

Judging from the iGBL2011, there is a significant interest in GBL in Ireland but we may need to create more opportunities for all GBL stakeholders in Ireland to network and discuss.

What can you do to help?

• Join our Linkedin Group and share ideas on GBL
  
• If you know anyone interested in GBL or involved in GBL, let them know of our tweeter hash tag #igbl and Linkeding group (Game-Based Learning Ireland)
  
• Share your experience of using GBL
• Share resources on GBL
• if you think you can help with any of the tasks/ideas/suggestions listed above, please let us know

Thanks again to all of you who attended iGBL2011, and looking forward to talk to you on Tweeter, Linkedin, or this blog...

Patrick