Wednesday, October 5, 2005
Chris Digiano and Alex Repenning
Playing a Game: The Ecology of Designing,
Building and Testing Games as Educational Activities
Abstract
Abstract: The design and implementation of
educational games can be highly motivational to undergraduate students. In many
cases it allows them to build the kind of computational artifacts that they envisioned
building when they entered a computer science program. Additionally, the design
and implementation of games is demanding, as it requires to master a variety
of skills and to combine them in a context that typically includes collaborative
and interdisciplinary work stiles. Initially, computer science programs did not
welcome the notion of game design, as they perceived games as a non-serious application
of computer science principles. With the game industry growing at an enormous
rate and the complexity of the games clearly reaching a level of complexity approaching,
and in many cases exceeding, the level of most “serious” computer
science applications the evidence has reached critical mass indicating that games
have become computer science showcases. At the same time there is also increasing
evidence that games can have high educational potential. Rich simulations, for
instance, promise to engage learners in activities in ways not previously possible
with traditional media such as books and even electronic media such as movies.
Our goal was to combine these two directions by offering courses on game design
for education. The main point of this paper is to share our experience over three
iterations of this course.
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