Who should attend?
This interactive workshop is intended for researchers in the Learning Sciences community interested in learning about theory-based game design, but in particular we invite researchers who are in the process of developing a game or who have ideas about games they would like to develop and/or refine in the near future. Participants will be asked to submit a brief summary outlining their game or game idea and their work in theory-based game design more generally by May 10, 2008.
Click here to submit.
Theoretical Framework for ICLS workshop
The workshop uses work on epistemic games as an example’”with both points to emulate and lessons to be learned from mistakes made’”of the issues, practices, and theories of theory-based game design. In particular, epistemic games exemplify the tensions, challenges, pitfalls, and benefits of linking pedagogy, instructional design, and assessment through learning science theory’”and thus provide a useful starting point for a discussion of educational game design from a learning sciences perspective.
Workshop Structure
David Williamson Shaffer will begin the half-day workshop with a short overview presentation introducing the concept of epistemic games, briefly describing the games we have already developed and the different components that go into creating games based on a particular theory of learning.
Participants will then form small groups (based in part on the pre-workshop submissions) and rotate through five different stations, each targeting a specific component involved in the design, implementation, and assessment of theory-based games.
After everyone has rotated through the five stations, each small group will compile their ideas from the day and report their experiences to the larger group. These reports will be posted on an online discussion forum for those interested in continuing the conversations started during the session. Continue reading »
Literacy skills
‘Our system is, more than anything, an artifact of our Colonial past. For the religious dissenters who came to the New World, literacy was essential to religious freedom, enabling them to teach their own beliefs.’
I came across the above quote in a recent article by Matt Miller in The Atlantic. While volunteering in a 6th grade classroom, I got a close look at what passes for ‘essential’ literacy in schools these days.
The students were asked to read pages 79-84 in their Social Studies textbooks and answer questions 3, 4, and 5 at the end of the section. Sound familiar? Here’s the literacy strategy most of the students followed:
David Williamson Shaffer featured on Wisconsin Public Television
In the October 24 episode of University Place, David Williamson Shaffer explains how he believes children can learn important and necessary life skills through playing computer games. Follow this link to view his lecture.
