explore > discover > learn tim price-walker missionmaker project manager immersive education...

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Tim Price-WalkerMissionMaker Project ManagerImmersive Education Ltd

Computer Games in EducationRSC London - JISC

Education and Games?

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Immersive Education – who are we?

• Founded in 1998• Developer and publisher of educational software • Oxford-IntelEducation initiative• Roots in the UK games industry

“Immersive is the product of a most creative collaboration between Intel and the Department of Education at Oxford University and the results are staggering…”

Bethan Marshall, The Guardian

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Product platforms

• Kar2ouche 3D storyboard ‘role play’ tool• Krucible virtual real-time science simulations • MediaStage 3D virtual production studio • MissionMaker game authoring software

Education software usingthe production values of games technology

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Award winning software

• UK BETT Award 2004, 2005 & 2006• British Computer Society Award 2002• EDDIE Award 2002• BAFTA Award Nominee 2002 & 2003• BESA Best Educational Award 2001

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What is ?

• Game authoring software for educational and creative use

• A collaboration between The Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media (Institute of Education, University of London) and Immersive EducationIOE project leaders: David Buckingham, Andrew Burn

Immersive Education: Jeff Woyda, Donna Burton-Wilcock

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What? Software to enable children to create their own computer games.

Why? Enable children to become producers, not just consumers of games.

Who? KS3 (11-14); particularly girls and children with literacy difficulties.

Research Outline

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Outcomes

Software: 3D game-authoring tool, allowing children to design their own action-adventure games

Theory: a model of ‘game-literacy’, defining gaming and game design as a form of ‘reading’ and ‘writing’

Teaching: ways of teaching ‘game literacy’, both formally (in schools) and informally (in clubs and homes)

Participatory design: a model for industrial design, incorporating user input and feedback

Still in progress…

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Parkside Community College, Cambridge

•Focus on narrative and representation: Media

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Charles Edward Brooke Girls School, London

• Lunchtime club for game playing, after-school club for game design

• Focus on game-making as a design practice

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Apex Summer School – Bath (G&T)

•Technology immersion•High adult-child ratio

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Aspects of Games

•High quality graphics

•Multi-modal

•Navigation

•High levels of Interactivity

Technological Game play Narrative

Shared with games they already play

Skill development Supports literacy

•Implicit storylines

•Curiosity led plot development

•Complexity offering choice and originality

•Different genres

•Visualisation

•Interpretation

•Reasoning

•Enquiry

•Memory

•Mathematical skills

•Logic

•Reflection

•Creative thinking

•Challenge

•Problem Solving

•Synthesis

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What indicates motivation?

• independent work • self-directed problem posing • persistence • pleasure in learning• repeated experience

What generates motivation?

• active participation • intrinsic and prompt feedback • challenging but achievable goals • open-endedness

What can motivation usefully support?

• collaborative interaction • peer scaffolding of learning • creative competition or co-

operation • equal opportunities • persistence with challenging

tasks• Reflection and evaluation

What does sustained motivation rely on?

• a version of reality • relevance to the user • recognisable & desirable roles

Games are Motivating

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Anticipated Issues

• Curriculum links• Support materials• Research findings• Time available – curriculum structure• Hardware • Teacher uncertainty and suspicion• Training

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Website and email contact

Organisations:• www.childrenyouthandmediacentre.co.uk • www.londonknowledgelab.ac.uk• www.immersive.co.uk

Project Managers:• ray@imed.co.uk• tim@imed.co.uk• donna@imed.co.uk