Designing Learning Games That Matter:

How to approach the design of learning games in a rapidly changing environment. 
By Scot Osterweil, MIT Education Arcade

Content:

In this workshop we will:

• explore what makes a learning game succeed both as entertainment and education;
• discuss the evolution of the game business and how learning games might find new market niches; and
• work as teams in design exercises that replicate the game creation process

This workshop is open to any interested participants, and will be most beneficial to those interested in game design, computer-based learning and/or children’s digital media. This workshop does not require prior technical experience.

Biography : Scot Osterweil is the project manager for the Education Arcade and currently directs "Learning Games to Go," a federally funded project designed to develop mobile games that teach math and literacy to underserved youth. Before coming to MIT, Scot was the Senior Designer at TERC, an educational R&D firm. He designed Zoombinis Island Odyssey, winner of the 2003 Bologna New Media Prize, and the latest game in the Zoombinis line of products (Riverdeep/TLC). Scot is the creator of the Zoombinis, and with Chris Hancock he co-designed the multi-award winning Logical Journey of the Zoombinis, and its first sequel, Zoombinis Mountain Rescue. Scot is the also the designer of the TERCworks games Switchback, and Yoiks!, the latter also with Chris Hancock. Scot's other software designs include work on the educational products Tabletop II, Tabletop and Tabletop Jr., and IBM's The Nature of Science. At TERC he participated in research projects on the role of computer games in learning, and on the use of video in data collection and representation. Previously, he worked in television, on the production of Public Television's Frontline, Evening at Pops, and American Playhouse, and as an animator on a wide range of programs. He is a graduate of Yale College with a degree in Theater Studies.

Date: 6 December 2006 (Wednesday)

Venue: CGIE 2006 Conference Venue (Esplanade Hotel Fremantle)

Time: 1:30pm to 4:30pm

Registration Fees:

Registration Form

Alternate Reality Games and Cross-Media Entertainment: Low-tech, high-impact immersive experiences 
By Christy Dena, University of Sydney, AFTRS

This workshop is sponsored by

Content:

Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are cross-media games that require players to collaborate in helping characters by finding websites, hacking intranets and email servers and deciphering puzzles. They have been commissioned by corporations such as Microsoft, Dreamworks, Bungie Entertainment and Audi to create unique forms of branded entertainment. Web-based games that augment TV shows, console games and films, such as The Lost Experience, AOL’s Goldrush and BBCi’s Jamie Kane are the latest strategy by producers to provide immersive play experiences that are accessible to a wide-range of audiences. The employment of low-tech, real world media, has made them increasingly popular in education as a pedagogical device for teaching new media literacies too.

This session will:

• Provide an overview of the current state of this genre;
• Outline the business strategies behind employing such games to extend a property;
• Provide guidelines for the design of these games for application in large-scale, small-scale and education environments; and
• Work as teams to apply these principles in a rapid-prototyping scenario.

 This workshop will be of interest to designers of locative arts projects; film, TV and web producers; educators and ludologists, but is open to all. This workshop does not require prior technical experience.

Biography : Christy Dena is a cross-media consultant, researcher and writer. She has mentored for the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and presented on cross-media and ARGs for the Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Center for Screen Business, ACT Filmmakers Network and AFTRS. She has co-authored the International Game Developer’s Association whitepaper on Alternate Reality Games. She is on the Board of dLux Media Arts and writes on new media arts for RealTime magazine and on virtual world arts in SlateNight magazine. Her PhD research, at the University of Sydney, is on cross-media entertainment and focuses on the design principles of ARGs

Date: 6 December 2006 (Wednesday)

Venue: CGIE 2006 Conference Venue (Esplanade Hotel Fremantle)

Time: 1:30pm to 3:30pm

Registration Fees:

Registration Form

 http://www.cgie2006.murdoch.edu.au/ email: k.wong@murdoch.edu.au