Not only can you submit a proposal for the GLS Conference, the GLS Educator Symposium is also accepting proposals for workshops.  These workshops are targeted at K-12 teachers, administrators, library media specialists, and post-secondary educators.  Previous GLS Educator Symposium workshop topics have featured rapid game prototyping, mobile game development, early literacy learning, civic engagement and gaming, and digital storytelling and media. The full call for proposals for the GLS Educator Symposium is online and as a PDF. The deadline is February 7, 2012.

I’m excited to share the latest news about the second annual Games+Learning+Society Educator Symposium, which will be held on Saturday, June 12th.  Not only does this day-long event only cost $10, but we’re also offering one University of Wisconsin – Madison graduate credit for an additional $100.

The GLS Educator Symposium features panel presentations and roundtables from noted scholars in videogames and digital media as well as hands-on workshops in game design, mobile media learning, digital storytelling, and educational videogames. It follows the fabulous Games+Learning+Society conference, which you should definitely check out!

The Symposium runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Memorial Union in Madison, Wisconsin.   All participants must register online by May 30th. If you’re interested in the graduate credit, please see the course registration form and the syllabus. Space is limited, so register early.

In the meantime, you’re also welcome to join us on the GLS Educators Network. Questions? Get in touch with me.  See you in June!

Photo Credit: Matt Gaydos from the GLS Photostream.  This was taken during last year’s rapid game prototyping workshop at the GLS Educator Symposium.

The call for papers is now out for the Games+Learning+Society 6.0 Conference, which will be held June 9-11, 2010, in Madison, Wisconsin.  The three conference themes this year are formal and informal science literacy, media production and identity, and game design and learning.  All proposals for papers and posters are due by February 1, 2010.

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.

I’m happy to say that the inaugural Games+Learning+Society Educator Symposium on June 13th was a success! (Of course, so was the main GLS conference that took place the preceding three days!)  We had over 50 educators, librarians, technology coordinators, administrators, industry experts, and higher education faculty attend the GLS Educator Symposium – which we offered for free and on a Saturday to allow for more local educators to attend.

We received so much positive feedback from participants and our committee (including myself, Moses Wolfenstein, and Damiana Gibbons) are working to make next year’s GLS Educator Symposium even better. In the meantime, please join us on the GLS Educators Network.  Here’s a run down of the 2009 schedule:

Games+Learning+Society Educator Symposium
Memorial Union
Madison, Wisconsin
Saturday June 13, 2009

9:30-10:00
Registration and continental breakfast

10:00-11:00
Panel Discussion: Games, Media, and Learning in the 21st Century Classroom with GLS faculty members Erica Halverson, Rich Halverson, and Kurt Squire with Shannon Sullivan from Worldwide Workshop and Hank Duderstadt, a game design teacher in California’s Alameda Unified School District.

How are youth using games and media in in-school and out-of-school settings? This panel discussion will cover cutting-edge research and development in this area, and note highlights from the GLS conference. Panelists include internationally known GLS faculty members whose work has helped to shape the field of media and games, and they will discuss their ongoing research in online spaces, after school environments, and school settings. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in critical discussion with panelists on these issues.

11:15–12:15
Panel Discussion: 21st Century Standards Meets 21st Century Teaching and Learning with Emilie Amundson, DPI English Language Arts Consultant; Erin Schwane, English Teacher at New Berlin High School; and Brian Sniff, Mathematics Program Coordinator for the Madison Metropolitan School District.

What does a 21st century classroom look, feel and sound like? How does the definition of “literacy” change to meet the demands of our fast-paced, 21st century world? How can technology become an embedded piece of all that we do, rather than a list of skills we teach in isolation? These are just a few of the questions the English Language Arts and Mathematics Standards design teams have asked while working to update the Wisconsin Model Academic Standards. Come and get a sneak peak at the direction of the updated standards documents, and hear from educators from the writing teams about the possible applications for classroom level teaching and learning.

12:15-1:30
Lunch

1:30-3:30
Rapid Game Prototyping with University of Wisconsin graduate students Kevin Harris, Matt Gaydos, and Ryan Martinez.

Video games are just one way to integrate games into curriculum. Used within the video game industry, paper prototyping helps individuals explore content, think systemically, and iteratively develop game concepts – all using everyday supplies, such as dice, cards, pens and paper. In this workshop, participants will analyze a game in order to better understand how they work. Then, participants will develop playable games in small groups; afterwards, we will play the games created. The last portion of the session will be an open discussion between participants and the facilitators for feedback on how games and game design might be integrated into curriculum. Playful dispositions are a must, but no previous game design experience is required.

iPoetry in the Classroom with University of Wisconsin graduate students Jen Scott Curwood and Damiana Gibbons with Lora Cowell, Library Media Specialist at Hartford Union High School.

In this workshop, participants will create their own digital poems. The presenters will begin by examining the role that digital poetry can play in helping to foster identity development, critical thinking, and content area learning for students. They will cover the basics of how to create iPoetry; then, each participant will make their own digital poem by integrating visual images, music, and narration through the use of film editing software. The presenters will also touch on relevant issues of copyright, multimodal literacy, pedagogy, and engagement.

Demystifying Second Life for Education with Peggy Sheehy, Instructional Technology Facilitator and Media Specialist at Suffern Middle School in Rockland County, New York.

What is Second Life, and how does it support learning? In 2006, Peggy Sheehy established the first middle school campus in Second Life and will share what schools are already doing in this virtual world, what’s involved in establishing a virtual campus in Teen Second Life, and how increasing social interactions in an immersive 3-D platform can support learning. This workshop will address basic Second Life skills and provide an introduction to the educational possibilities. Sheehy will cover professional development opportunities, pedagogical uses and each participant will gain a sufficient level of skill to continue to explore independently. She will discuss support strategies, teacher and administrator buy-in, and policy issues. Participants will create their own avatars, alter appearance, and communicate via chat, IM, and voice; they will also learn how to navigate within Second Life, control the camera, manage inventory, and connect with like-minded professionals.

Games and Digital Tools for the Classroom with University of Wisconsin graduate students Moses Wolfenstein, Ben DeVane, and Suzanne Rhodes as well as Spencer Evans from Filament Games.

This workshop will offer educators hands on access to a selection of games and other digital tools for schools and classrooms. In addition to offering suggestions for how to deploy off the shelf games like Civilization and DDR, this session will also offer educators access to software designed by GLS researchers. Featured software will include: KidGrid, an application for collecting formative student data on the iPhone, and Game Star Mechanic, a web based game for learning game design. Innovative games for classroom learning from local developers Filament Games will also be available, including Resilient Planet, Coaster Creator, and Guardian of Law.

3:30-4:00
Debrief and discuss the day’s events

A week ago, my son Cole and I went to a Game Jam, sponsored by the Games+Learning+Society research group.  We had spent that morning working with his Odyssey of the Mind team, so we were ready to get down to business.

First, we had to suggest ideas for a theme… mine was “learning to read” and Cole’s was “Revolutionary War militiamen” (guess what he’s been studying in school?)  Others suggested “science” or “nature” – but the one that was randomly chosen was “deep sea vents.”  (That’s what happens when Brendan watches the Discovery Channel!)

So, we broke into groups, with the goal of making a playable game within the hour.  Cole’s almost ten, and he decided that he didn’t want to work in my group – so off he went with Brendan and Kevin.

Meanwhile, Ryan, Ben, and I got to work.  After a lot of deep thought (which you can see happening here), we used the available materials and some creativity to develop a board game called Battle of the Vents.

The rules for all of the games are posted on the Mad Designers website, but here they are:

Goal:
To eliminate the opposing sides bacteria, hence rendering their deep sea vent inoperable.

Equipment:
1 game board (we had it arranged as a rolling hill, but you may want to make it look like the symbol of infinity)
3 sets of 8 different colored tokens for your attackers/defenders
5 regular paper cups, 3 with their bottoms torn out
3 sets of 4 similar looking tokens (these will act as each player’s bacteria)
1 4-sided die
2 6-sided die
1 8-sided die
1 10-sided die
3 tokens to act as your movable character on the game board

Setup:
Need three players to play Battle of the Vents!

The three hollowed out cups will act as the respective bases for the players who will either be eels, octopi, or snails.  You may place them anywhere along the board that is not a playable game space.  Place your 8 fighter/defender tokens and 4 bacteria tokens around the cups.  The other two cups will be called “Fighter Purgatory” and “Bacteria Depository”.  They will be placed off the board entirely and will be used to hold the fighter/defenders and bacteria that are lost during gameplay.

Create the game board and make game spaces.  Place the following notations on the spaces.  Make sure to randomize them throughout the board.

+1 A – +1 attack (for one round)
-1 A – -1 attack (for one round)
+1 D – +1 defend (for one round)
-1 D – -1 defend (for one around
+1 B – Gain 1 bacteria
-1 B – Lose 1 bacteria
LT – Lose turn
+1 F – Gain one fighter
-1 F – Lose one fighter
Gain all fighters (place this VERY sparingly along the board as this allows that player to gain all of their fighters back)

Gameplay:
Each player rolls the 6 sided die to determine who goes first.  Game play starts when player rolls dice to move around the board.  The player is able to move to the end of the board and back again, there is no end spot.  The attribute on the game tile determines what the player receives.  Once this is finished, the player then decides whether to attack anyone on the board.  Player can only attack one group.  Player must have attackers in multiples of two, but can defend with just one.  The defender must also decide how many attackers to use to defend their vent.  The attackers/defenders of that turn determine what type of die the player may roll:
2 attackers – 4 sided
4 – 6 sided
6 – 8 sided
8 – 10 sided

If the player has a +1 or -1 A or D tile, they have to add or subtract from their die roll.  The player with the highest total takes that person’s tokens and places them in their vent where they are unplayable unless the player lands on a spot that gives them back fighters.

Once the player has attacked or defended the turn ends.  It is important to note that the attackers remain out of play until the next round of turns.  So if the player sends off 4 attackers to another vent, they only have 4 defenders for their own vent.

Once the player has lost all of their attackers/defenders, other players may then attack their bacteria to “finish them off”.  Each bacteria gets to roll one less die than the attacker.  So if the attacker goes at one person with a 8-sided die, the other player gets to roll a 6.  You can only attack one bacteria at one time.  During the time, the player can still roll to try to get attackers/defenders.  Each person moves around until there is only one vent remaining.

Later on, we played a game in which we were either tubeworms or nutrients.  Here, John, Ryan, Cole, and I are nutrients, about to be eaten.

I missed last weekend’s Valentine’s Day Game Jam, but Sean and John both blogged about it.  (I mean, how can you not enjoy something described as “Apple-to-Apples-styled fabulously-named “Temptation Island” game, a chess-like game of strategy that pit the Queen of Hearts and her court of assassins against St. Valentine and his Cupidian army”?)

Games+Learning+Society 5.0: Learning Through Interaction
June 10-12, 2009 Madison, WI

CALL FOR PAPERS

Back by demand and now expanded to accommodate last year’s waiting list, the GLS conference this year will feature substantive discussion and collaboration among academics, designers, and educators interested in how videogames –- commercial games and otherwise -– can enhance learning, culture, and education. This year’s theme of “Learning through Interaction” highlights the expansive nature of our definition of games and game culture to include research and design in areas including popular culture and fandom, interactive design more generally, and digital/visual cultures. This three-day conference will be held at the UW’s historic Memorial Union, overlooking downtown Madison’s beautiful Lake Mendota.

Conference highlights also include keynotes by leaders in both academics and industry, interactive workshops on game design and games research, both individual and symposia presentation sessions, “chat n’ frags” in the arcade for hands-on gameplay, an evening poster session over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, an evening machinima festival in the playhouse theatre, and fireside chats that enable thorough, cozy conversations among speakers and attendees. We encourage the submission of traditional paper sessions as well as innovative talk formats which focus on game design, game culture, and games’ potential for learning and society more broadly.

Confirmed Speakers include: James Paul Gee, Idit Caperton, Alex Chisholm, Doug Church, Mia Consalvo, Elonka Dunin, Drew Davidson, Lisa Nakamura, Bonnie Nardi, Kurt Squire, Constance Steinkuehler, Steve Thorne, Eric Zimmerman.

Submissions are due online by February 16, 2009. Complete submission guidelines can be found on the submissions site at glsconference.org.

The Games+Learning+Society (GLS) is sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Academic ADL Co-Lab. For information on how to sponsor this event, contact the conference coordinator at gls(at)seanmichaeldargan(dot)com.