From August 2008 to May 2009, I worked as a producer at Community Knowledgebase to create Legislative Aide, an epistemic game. This project is funded by a Small Business Innovation Research grant from the Department of Education, and it’s a joint venture between Lewis Friedland at CKB, David Williamson Shaffer at EFGames, and Peter Levine at the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
Legislative Aide is a computer based game that integrates service learning and computer gaming with Youth Map’s social networking capabilities. Legislative Aide is designed to help students in exploring their community, its resources, and their role in civic life. With Legislative Aide, students work in small groups to play legislative aides to a simulated elected official. As a part of the game, players conduct one-on-one interviews with real-life members of their community. Then, within the context of Legislative Aide, players use Youth Map in order to see how resources and information are linked within the community.
As part of my role, I worked closely with the team at EFGames, contributed to the game narrative, and once they created the game outline, I wrote the full content for Legislative Aide. Working together, others at CKB, EFGames, and CIRCLE then piloted Legislative Aide in Tampa-area schools throughout spring 2009; data analysis is currently under way, too. After finishing the content, I then changed gears to create the Community Knowledgebase website and write/produce the Legislative Aide video. It was an incredible experience to work on an educational video game, and I find it fascinating to think through the design process that allows for games to be integrated into K-12 schools in a way that is meaningful to students and teachers alike.
Legislative Aide from Jen Scott Curwood on Vimeo.
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