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GAME BASED LEARNING PREVIEW
LEARNING THE
LINE-UP
subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) as well as arts, design and creative writing. Video games, by their nature, encourage the development of these skills. Many games require a significant amount of abstract problem solving and establish context for collaborative learning, such as working in teams. The current generation of students are the first who have been mainly influenced by non-linear interactive media – video games, social media, the web and so on – whereas earlier generations were typically influenced by broadcast media, such as TV, radio and magazines. This not only has a significant impact on their expectations when they enter the formal education system but also what career they may wish to follow. A career in the digital economy from games to web will require a grounding in STEM, arts and creative subjects. Linking these subjects to an area of interest and relevance is likely to motivate students. The ever-expanding game and digital industries need an abundance of talent if they are to succeed and compete in the 21st century. Consequently the industry must work closely with the
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education sector to ensure that their skills requirements are met. What differentiates Game Based Learning from edutainment? If you sugar coat broccoli you can still taste the broccoli – kids will always spot the phoney. Educational software that is designed to look like a game but with a fraction of the budget will always come across like ‘Dad dancing.’
build their learning around a point of interest rather than expecting a piece of software to do it for them. We have schools teaching strategy with Call of Duty, a group of Nuns in Milan teaching religious studies with GTA IV and so on.
What is your long-term aim for the Game Based Learning conference? We want to establish the conference as the global number one annual gathering for We have Nuns in Milan professionals from the teaching religious studies with entertainment, education and technology industries. GTA IV and schools teaching We want to encourage strategy with Call of Duty. games to be taken Graham Brown-Martin, GBL seriously across education and government. We want Game Based Learning takes a game becoming a games designer to be seen that may have cost millions to develop – and nurtured as a valuable career option purely for entertainment – and is used and that the government invests in the by an imaginative teacher as a contextual gaming industry. hub for rich, satisfying learning. A teacher But we’d also like to make sure that will take aspects of a game and then the games industry takes the education build a learning framework around that. sector seriously, and works with Games that cost millions to make are educators to develop the key skills the available to schools and individuals for industry needs to compete. negligible amounts, in comparison to so Game Based Learning 2010 takes called educational software. place at The Brewery in London, and It’s like teaching physics via runs from Monday, March 29th to skateboarding – a good teacher will Tuesday, March 30th.
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Game Based Learning 2010 boasts an impressive line-up of leading MPs and influential personnel from both the games and education sector. Big names from the worlds of digital media and teaching can be seen from the very opening session on Monday, March 29th – which features Labour MP Tom Watson, shadow minister for culture and the creative industries Ed Vaizey, Siobhan Reddy and Kareem Ettouney from LittleBigPlanet developer Media Molecule, and Channel 4’s education commissioning editor Alice Taylor. Other sessions will feature top names from video games, including TIGA CEO Richard Wilson and Bethesda MD Sean Brennan, while industry veteran Seamus Blackley will close the two-day event with a keynote speech. Blackley, who has previously worked for Microsoft and Dreamworks Interactive, will deliver an overview of the games industry and its relationship with the education sector. Meanwhile, leading authors, head teachers, professors and lecturers will also be conducting and taking part in sessions of their own. For more information on what you can expect from Game Based Learning 2010, plus a full programme for the two days, check out the website at: www.gamebasedlearning2010.com