Meet the leaders in Game Education from European Universities and Game Education Schools at the inaugural Game Education Summit Europe.

Ken S. McAllister, University of Arizona
Judd Ethan Ruggill, Arizona State University
Co-Directors, The Learning Games Initiative

I think a lot of ‘im. He thinks a lot of me. And..uh..there ain’t a thing that he wouldn’t do for me. There’s not a thing I wouldn’t do for him. That’s the way we go through life, doing nothin’ for each other.

—Ralph Stanley, Live at McCabe’s Guitar Shop

Photo courtesy of thegoldguys.blogspot.com

Game educators are an unruly (albeit fun and interesting) bunch. They hail from diverse disciplines, deploy disparate pedagogies, and prize different parts of the medium with which they work. Get a room full of them together and ask how and what they teach and you’ll be capsized by a wave of unique answers (a heterogeneity that mirrors the complexity and adaptability of the game medium itself).

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GES 2009 Keynote Stream – Click Here

by Drew Davidson

Director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh

In the late summer of 2008, ETC Press went live with a public beta, launching with 2 titles and the goal to release around 4 or so a year. As of this writing, there are around 6 projects in process for publication in 2009 and 2010. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the story and process of how and why ETC Press was started. I helped get it going, and am currently serving as the editor, so I’m going to share my perspective on the inspirations and ideas that have led to ETC Press.

ETC Press is a publishing imprint with a twist. We publish books, but we’re also interested in the participatory future of content creation across multiple media. It is an academic, open source, multimedia, publishing imprint affiliated with the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and in partnership with Lulu.com. Read the rest of this entry »

Tricia Berry

Director, Women in Engineering Program
University of Texas at Austin

Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers are fun, creative, innovative…and pay pretty well too.  How do we get that message to pre-college students so they consider careers in STEM?  How do we excite students, girls in particular, to explore how they can change the world and make it a better place through a STEM career?  Through messaging, engaging experiences, role models and education, we can make a difference.

Messaging

The National Academy of Engineering’s recent study, “Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving the Public Understanding of Engineering”, provides great insights into what motivates and interests pre-college students about technical fields.  The research found that youth today have little understanding of what engineering is all about – engineers help people, but not directly, and are disconnected from people.  The good news is that less than 15 percent of the youth surveyed described engineers as nerdy or boring.  Youth want well-paying jobs that make a difference and they believe engineering is a good career choice…just not for them.

We must change the language we use to describe our STEM professions.   We must stop reinforcing the images of “nerdy and boring” when defining STEM careers if we want to recruit more students and especially more diverse students.  We need to stop focusing on math and science as the required inputs – students know they must do well in math and science and we don’t need to emphasize it like we tend to do – and focus on the outputs, career opportunities and how STEM professionals make a difference in the world.  As engineers (and other STEM professionals), we create, innovate, imagine, discover, design, innovate and contribute.  We are creative problem solvers, essential to the health, happiness and safety of our world’s citizens.  We shape the future.

We must also change the images we use to describe our STEM professions.  Girls are drawn to images of people, not things.  We must stop creating images of the things of our professions – gears, gadgets, bridges, computers, cell phones, cars, etc.  We must create the images of our profession using people – people communicating or collaborating using computers or cell phones or gadgets, people impacting the world using technology, people creating and innovating.

Engaging Experiences and Role Models

Engaging, hands-on STEM experiences where students can successfully design and create provide students the opportunity to gain confidence in their skills and allow them to consider the possibilities of pursuing STEM careers.  Providing students opportunities to design and create and succeed – with role models, mentors close to their age and of the same gender, and experiences connected to real-world issues with an impact on society – can encourage both male and female students to consider STEM careers.

“Successful” engaging experiences are critical.  Research has shown that how girls classify their success and failures is important in their career choice.  Girls are more likely to attribute their successes to hard work (”I worked hard to successfully write that computer program.”) while they attribute their failures to their personal lack of ability (”My program didn’t work.  I am no good at engineering.”).  Boys, on the other hand, attribute their successes to ability (”My computer program worked.  I am good at writing programs.”) while attributing failures to external forces or lack of effort (”My program didn’t work.  The professor didn’t give us good instructions.”).  For girls in particular, providing role models who can share their experiences, show their career path, counter the “lack of ability” internal argument and generate excitement about their contribution to our world will open the eyes of our youth into the possibilities of a career in STEM.

Successful engaging experiences can take many forms and best practices abound in the research and published proceedings of the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).  Team-based experiences, one-time short activities, long-term involved designs, faculty-led experiences, student-led activities – all are successful if they engage the student in the design and creation experience, provide a challenge, integrate the effective messaging, relate to real-world and societal impact, and allow for success in some form.

Education

As a profession, we must continue to educate the community about careers in STEM and the impact STEM has on our everyday lives and the health, happiness and security of our world.  We must educate our teachers and counselors on the requirements for our profession and the benefits our profession provides to us as individuals and to our society.  We must educate our coworkers and peers on the effective messaging research and encourage a changing of our language.  And we must continually educate ourselves on the issues that impact the career choices of girls and the research and best practices in STEM field recruitment.

Start your education today:

• National Academy of Engineering “Changing the Conversation: Messages for Improving the Public Understanding of Engineering”: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12187
• National Center for Women & Information Technology “Talking Points” for Effective Messaging about Information Technology: http://www.ncwit.org/resources.res.outreach.talking2.html
• Assessing Women and Men in Engineering Project “Applying Research to Practice” Research-based Literature Overviews on Women in STEM Recruitment and Retention Issues: http://www.engr.psu.edu/awe/secured/director/assessment/overviews.aspx (note: must complete free registration in order to access overviews)
• Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) Conference Papers and Proceedings: http://dpubs.libraries.psu.edu/DPubS?Service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&handle=psu.wepan
• American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Conference Papers and Proceedings: http://asee.org/conferences/paper-search-form.cfm

Tricia Berry

Director, Women in Engineering Program
University of Texas at Austin

We know what works!  Retention of women in engineering and other fields such as gaming where women are underrepresented centers on building community, providing connections to each other and resources, addressing self-confidence and creating a welcoming and supportive climate across the institution.  So why is retention of women in engineering not at 100%?  It’s the “across the institution” piece that is often missing.

The Women’s Experiences in College Engineering (WECE) Project collected data from over 20,000 undergraduate women from 53 post-secondary institutions to assess the climate within the institutions and the reasons women stay or leave their engineering.  Students typically leave engineering within the first two years of undergraduate study and those who leave often reported the workload, unwelcoming faculty and competition as the reasons for their departure.   Mentoring programs, residential programs and community building programs that connect students to resources and each other for academic success all contribute to the successful retention of women in engineering.  Self confidence also proved a major factor in the persistence of women in engineering.  The study observed “a student’s self-confidence increases when she feels that someone believes in her engineering abilities, cares about her, and wants her to be part of a community.”

More closely related to the gaming industry and gaming education is the study at Carnegie Mellon detailed in the book “Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing” by social scientist Jane Margolis and computer scientist and educator Allan Fisher.  The authors investigated the computing gender gap at Carnegie Mellon, examining social, educational and familial experiences of students, and describe in the book the institutional transformation at Carnegie Mellon that resulted in an increase of women entering the School of Computer Science from 7 percent to 42 percent. One of the key findings was that there was an unspoken understanding that studying and working in computer science eliminates the opportunity of a balanced life.  In addition, it was discovered that more women head into computer science with a desire to use their learned skills to benefit society while more men enjoy the technology for the sake of technology.  Understanding these differences and addressing them directly in the institutional environment can positively impact retention. Read the rest of this entry »

Tricia Berry

Director, Women in Engineering Program
University of Texas at Austin

Unfortunately, retention is not simple.  Retention of women in the gaming industry, engineering, math and science is complicated with many factors playing into the decisions for women to leave the field of study.  There is no silver bullet or one course of action that will ensure that all who enter will stay.  We do know that real world connections, encouragement from faculty and peers, positive and relevant role models, a sense of belonging and an understanding of how they may make the world a better place will increase our retention of women in the field.  We are challenged to stay connected with the women pursuing a gaming education – continue to learn about their interests, keep the curriculum relevant, and provide the services that address their needs.  With a comprehensive retention approach, our aim is to provide our female students with a simple choice – graduate with this degree because with it, you can make this world a better place.

A woman may have chosen to enter into the gaming industry because of an experience in high school, the job opportunities, or the opportunity to combine creativity with math and science. But the reasons she leaves the field of study likely parallel those reasons experienced within engineering education as the number of women in both areas is low.  Women typically leave because dissatisfaction with their educational program, discouragement from faculty and/or peers, or lack of support within the institution (The Women’s Experiences in College Engineering (WECE) Project, April 2002).  Positive educational experiences, encouragement, and institutional support during the first two years of study are critical to retention in fields where women are underrepresented. Read the rest of this entry »

by Drew Davidson, Director of the Entertainment Technology Center
at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh

From: Beyond Fun: Serious Games and Media http://etc.cmu.edu/etcpress

How would you like to major in videogames? As the Director of the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, I meet a lot of students who are eager to do just that. In fact, it’s seems that degrees with any focus on games are some of the most popular degrees around the world. This trend extends across higher education in several ways that I wish to explore here. Currently, I see three major ways that game degrees are being offered: one, in institutions that were started with a strong focus on degrees in game design and development; two, as degrees offered by career-focused, for-profit institutions; and three, as degrees being offered at more traditional universities. Let’s take a look at how this is playing out.

Before I begin though, I should clarify that the focus of this article is on programs of study, majors and specific degrees. I am aware there are various schools, departments, centers and individual professors who offer courses or concentrations of study that focus on games, but I want to explore specifically how institutions are capitalizing on student and industry demand by offering officially accredited degrees in the study of games. For more information along those lines, you should read Kurt Squire’s two-part article on “Gaming in Higher Education” (link in References). Also, this is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of all degrees and programs currently being offered (for that, see the Gamasutra, IGDA and Education Online Search links below in References). Instead, I am focusing on several inter-related areas and providing a variety of examples across the board. And lastly, this article is not going to fully explore the different foci of all of the various programs. In general, all of the programs offer a mix of courses on a continuum ranging from a vocational teaching of skills to help students get a job in the game industry to an interdisciplinary teaching of concepts and exploring games as an object of study. That said, it should be noted that there is pedagogical debate when considering the merits of vocational and interdisciplinary teaching philosophies. Read the rest of this entry »

by Elena Bertozzi, Ph.D, University of Wisconsin, Whitewater

I moved to Wisconsin three years ago to start a game and interactive media design program. The last year and a half have been extremely busy, as I have written grants, designed curricula and spread the word through various media and the PlayExpo (www.playexpo.org). The Growth Agenda Proposal, which includes the program, has been approved by the regents of the State of Wisconsin and is now waiting for approval from the governor and the legislature.

I believe that the success of the proposal is related to the fact that it explicitly discusses the need for increasing the number of females and minority populations in the pool of students that we wish to attract and educate. Our success in doing so is demonstrated by the kinds of projects that students choose to take on and produce. The Keep Johnny out of Juvie Jail (http://facstaff.uww.edu/bertozze/gamesuww/juvie/index.html) game, for example, that was developed last semester by the advanced class, was led by a woman. This summer our team of 3 females and one male, funded by an Undergraduate Research grant, produced a game to introduce Wisconsin High School students to local frogs (“I am Lonely” – the Solitary Frog’s Lament (http://facstaff.uww.edu/bertozze/newFrogs/). As female students see other females creating good work (and hopefully winning prizes for it in competitive events like the PlayExpo), I have high hopes that we will see more and stronger female enrollments and that this in turn will strengthen our GAIM (Games And Interactive Media) program. Read the rest of this entry »