Incorporating Coding into Game Design and Everything Else in the “Classroom”
Let’s teach computer science ACROSS the curriculum. It’s winter break, and I am dipping my feet into Unity. I was told by my professors that that is the next monster to take on. I was a bit apprehensive as I found Blender 3D a bit difficult to master. I am not a digital artist though […]
Assessment within Play- How can we embed learning and assessment within games?
Do you love geography and technology? I do. As educators, we often forget the finesse that assessment CAN take. Test, test….test they tell us. But assessment is a beautiful thing that should frame our teaching and longer-term help students learn BETTER. I love this video because it talks about how students do not have to […]
Reflections of a Game Designer-
What have I learned? I have dived off the deep end for the last 16 weeks, every week has presented a challenge–something intriguing, other times just hard. What I have found most insightful is the variation of games that can be created in an educational context and learning ways I can create my own solutions […]
It’s a Balancing Act–Examining Gameplay and Learning Mechanics
A couple of days ago I had my very first introduction to the world of virtual reality gaming. I was invited over to play Mission: ISS on Steam VR. It took me a minute to grasp my bearings (I have issues with motion sickness), and how to use the controls but eventually I got it. […]
FUNdamentally Fundamental: Success begins with the basics of literacy
Whether it is in teaching or designing, sometimes we find ourselves wanting to do ALL the things. But that is not the business of the day. And this is true also when teaching and learning literacy is at play. It is fundamental to keep it to the basics because those building blocks are rudimentary to building […]
Ludwig Re-envisioned: Using an established game to redesign a new game with similar game mechanics to become familiar with the ins and outs of instructional game design AND Blender
Game design is HARD, but it’s even harder if done from scratch. There is this idea that we do not have to reinvent the wheel of something that is already proven true. The same is true in game design. If you want to design a game, look at something that already exists and use […]
Reflections on the Narrative Creation Process- collaboration and inclusion in a new age of African storytelling
In my last post I described the game we are wanting to create. But I didn’t tell you the why. MEQOQO is a Sotho term that means conversations and it is how people of color traditionally tell who they are from generation to generation. An elder shares insight to the younger generation and it […]
Inclusion of Traditional African Storytelling- How can we share tradition in a modern digital age?
The last two weeks we explored the nature and variety of gamestorming (is a form of brainstorming that leverages the use of games). I had something already in mind as we headed into this assignment. Over the past two years, we (my students and myself) have researched and completed some really …innovative ways…of presenting Black […]
First Impressions of Ludwig- what elements are crucial for good game design?
LUD-WIG I am unimpressed! It took me forever to sign up for the game, because who wants to pay for a game, they have never heard of …especially with a $9.99 price tag. Not I… but I signed up after settling with the fact that I was unsuccessful finding a demo version. The game […]
Let’s Spring Into Gaming- using technology and African languages in gaming to improve literacy
As a child, I was very fond of my Super Nintendo, well it wasn’t all mine…I shared it with my younger sister. But together we were unstoppable and beat levels and conquered the game. What excited me the most was the sense of accomplishment of beating these challenges (I’m definitely an achiever as categorized by […]
