Academia, Games Research

Draft 2 of Games Simulations and Virtual Worlds for Learning course

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Prob could use more on simulations and VWs…

Also, haven’t added everything, yet… After that’s done, I’ll have to cut a bunch of stuff since it seems like a lot to cover in 12 weeks. Much thanks to Alex Thayer… I grabbed a bunch of refs from his course that I was a guest lecturer in about 2 weeks ago. 🙂 Which reminds me; I still need to scour the web for other people’s syllabi and see if I can incorporate even more stuff that I may have missed.

Week 1: Why Games for Learning

Content vs. systems, computational thinking, projected identity, theory of fun

Readings:

Activities:

  • Set up Guild Wars 2 account and guild.
  • Set up Minecraft account and join server.
  • Create a Steam account.
  • Browse the Hot List on Board Game Geek. Read reviews.
  • Introduce yourself and gaming history in the forums.
  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Think of a tabletop game idea that addresses an area of interest for you and write a one-paragraph pitch.

Week 2: Genres and Mechanics and Survey of Games and Learning

Readings:

  • Check out the ways to categorize games on Board Game Geek using Adv. Search
  • Barab et al. Narratizing disciplines and disciplinizing narratives.
  • CERG. Civic potential of video games.
  • Duncan & Berland. Uncovering play through collaboration and computation in tabletop gaming.
  • Richards et al. Games for a digital age
  • Kirriermuir & McFarlane. Lit review of games and learning.
  • MIT Ed Arcade. Moving learning games forward.
  • Nolan & Weiss. Learning cyberspace.

Activities:

  • Meet up with someone else in Guild Wars 2 and get to level 10.
  • Play some Minecraft.
  • Explore Steam’s library.
  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Form into groups of 4 or 5 to work on one of the tabletop game ideas for the rest of the course. Scope out theme, genre, mechanics, number of players, details, etc. for a 2-page document.

Week 3: Game design process

Readings:

  • Costikyan & Davidson. Analog. Part 1: Designing tabletop games.
  • Kobold guide to board game design.
  • Kuittinen & Holopainen. Nature of game design.
  • Rogers. Level up! esp. Level 4 (pp. 57-82).
  • Tiltfactor. Pox.

Activities:

  • Work on tabletop game.
  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Play games. Try crafting in GW2.

Week 4: Game design process, cont.

Readings:

  • Aldrich. Using serious games and simulations.
  • Crawford. On game design.
  • Kultima. IDE cards.
  • Schell. Deck of lenses.

Activities:

  • Work on tabletop game.
  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Play games. Try PvP in GW2. More Minecraft.

Week 5: Mods, theorycrafting, gamers

Readings:

  • Rock Paper Shotgun
  • Killscreen
  • Elitist Jerks
  • Steam Workshop and Skyrim Nexus

Activities:

  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Prototype tabletop game due. Publish prototypes to class site and do a write-up.
  • Brainstorm a one-paragraph pitch for a game mod or digital game.
  • GW2, Minecraft, or other games.

Week 6: UX, flow, and engagement

Readings:

Activities:

  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Playtest tabletop games. Provide feedback.
  • Form teams to work on one of the mod or digital game ideas for rest of course.

Week 7: GLS

Activities:

  • Group notes for GLS.
  • Playtest tabletop games and scope out work to finish them.
  • Concretize vision for mod or digital game.

Week 8: Assessment, Gamification, and Connected Learning, Oh My!

Readings:

Activities:

  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Finish up tabletop game.
  • Work on game mod or digital game.
  • Play stuff!

Week 9: Innovative Games and Learning Projects

Readings:

  • Steinkuehler & Duncan. Scientific habits of mind in VWs.
  • Kim et al. Storytelling in new media.
  • Quest 2 Learn. Q design pack.
  • Gillispie. WoW in Schools. http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/
  • MinecraftEdu http://minecraftedu.com/
  • Valve. Teach with Portals and Steam for Schools.
  • McGonigal’s TED Talk and games.

Activities:

  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Prototype mod or digital game mockup due. Again, post files to class site and do a little write-up.
  • Play stuff!

Week 10: Intro to Game Studies and New Games Journalism

Readings:

  • always_black. Bow nigger.
  • Flood. Playing Assassin’s Creed 3 on the Pine Ridge Rez,
  • Murray. The last word on ludology vs. narratology in game studies.
  • Rodriguez. The playful and the serious.
  • Simons. Narrative games and theory.
  • Sutton-Smith. The ambiguity of play. Intro.
  • Farmer & Morningstar. The lessons of Lucasfilm’s Habitat.

Activities:

  • Half the class writes reviews or synopses of readings and/or games. The other half responds.
  • Playtest mods and digital games. Provide feedback.

Week 11: Gaming Culture and Research

Readings:

  • Chen. Leet noobs
  • Boellstorff. Coming of age in Second Life.
  • Boellstorff et al. Ethnography and virtual worlds.

Activities:

  • Work on mod or digital game.
  • Play stuff!

Week 12: Outstanding Issues

Readings:

Activities:

  • Post final games and mods. Play them. Provide feedback.

One thought on “Draft 2 of Games Simulations and Virtual Worlds for Learning course”

  1. Looks fairly comprehensive, lots of great readings to accompany all the right topics. Maybe include a section in one of the weeks (Week 8 or maybe 10) on failed games and why (i.e., poor design, misperception of audience, flawed rollout/implementation, external factors [DRM rage, etc..])?

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