Atom Feed
Welcome back to school....
This is a repost of my most recent listserv update:
A new semester is upon us and the SIG is busy, very busy…
But before I lose your attention with my extremely long note, we are looking for a database development person to help us put our internship program on the website. If you are interested, please contact Stephen Jacobs (sxjics@rit.edu).
Before I tell you about my and the SIG’s summer, what did you do with yours? I think it would be great if we hear about your summer games or projects... so if you feel it is appropriate, post and discuss on the list.
Summer 2007
Well for one, I moved from beautiful Tahoe to wonderful Eugene, OR. Yes, I have left the ivory tower and have gone to work in the game industry. I hope I am more than cultural anthropologist and become a real contributor. Thankfully what I am doing directly involves education, but in addition to my academic oriented work, they have already thrown me into a product group deciding what the next new technology the company develops. I sit in there with artist and programmers and engineers asking myself, how do I fit in? What I have found is that it is all about collaboration and working as a part of a team. It wouldn’t matter if I was a pastry chef, they would find a way to take that expertise and utilize it create something new. Everyone is equal on the team, each brining their own expertise and passion for games to the table. It is an amazing process and I can only stress that putting your students into team environments is going to be key for them succeeding in this industry. Do it early in your programs, because we should have had them doing this since the students started school at 5 years old. But since we only get to influence them at age 18, we have to break a lot of bad habits they have developed, (like doing everything on their own). Put them in teams and make them work together.
A lot of work regarding the curriculum framework has been accomplished over the sumemer. I want to thank Dr. Yusuf Pisan and Dr. Magy Seif El Nasr for their great work and continuing effort. We did get some great syllabi and we are analyzing what everyone has done with the framework over the past four years. It is really great to see so many educators using the framework as the instrument it was designed to be (which is a reference, not a bible).
Speaking of the framework, Tracy Fullerton, Magy Seif El Nasr and I presented at this years SIGGRAPH in San Diego. The name of the session: So you want to start a game program… we had 80 people attend (and for the last session on the last day, we felt that was a great attendance). We discussed the key points of the curriculum framework and emphasized the soft skills. I think our session was well received, there were a ton of questions, etc… everything from what type of math do students need to what game engine should we use? I know that there are a lot of people that need our help and experience in putting their new programs together, I hope many have joined the listserv.
I have asked to have a link to the SIGGRAPH slides (they are a rather hefty 16MB); I will share the URL with everyone as soon as I know it.
As for the rest of the summer, I am going to Asia to speak and meet with industry and educators about the framework. First stop is Shanghai for GDC China, I am doing a talk called Finding a Job and Carving your Niche in a Quickly Globalizing Video Game Industry. Then I get to go to Beijing and speak to several universities about their growing programs and helping them develop their curriculums (hopefully in sync with our framework). Then this globetrotter is off to Singapore where I hope to meet with more educators developing game programs. In addition, I will be attending and speaking at GC Asia, again the talk will be about getting a job in the industry. To round out this Asian tour, myself, Tracy Fullerton and Magy Seif El Nasr and I are going to attend DiGRA in Tokyo and we will be presenting a game design workshop. I am rather thankful that I won’t be talking about getting a job again and get to teach basic design principles. All of these talks and workshops are given to represent the work we have done with curriculums, class ideas and case blats we have shared with those of you that are already members of the SIG.
I know I will miss being a professor, so any time you want me to come visit, give a workshop, teach a class, talk about anything (other than getting a job), email me. No really, I do know a lot about getting students prepared for entering the workforce, so if that is what you need, I would be happy to help you prepare your lectures or give you my slides, or even deliver the info in person. I hope to be traveling around the US this fall meeting as many educators as possible. I would love to visit Boston again and work with them to develop a consortium. There are over 90 educators in the Boston area in some game related work. To me that is amazing and exciting, we should expect to see some great things coming out of the Northeast. I have been asked by some schools in New York State to do something similar with their academics in games (early November). The SIG’s focus with this outreach work is to get everyone talking with one another and hopefully collaborating on projects and/or research together.
I want to wish everyone a great and successful year. I hope your classes are full of students that are excited to learn, creative and hard working. I hope you plan on attending GDC in 2008, remember it is the week of February 18th. I know that Derric Clark is hard at work making sure that our program has something for everyone, be it those starting programs or those experienced game educators that are looking for professional development. We will be having two tracks and our own site outside of GDC, so we don’t have to close registration before the early bird discount is over this year. We also plan to make the two-day workshop affordable, no breaking travel budgets on my watch. You will only need to get a classic pass, not a gigapass and a seperate pass for our workshop. We will be posting news related to that as soon as arrangements and the website are up and ready to go. I have blocked reasonable priced hotel rooms ($100-150 a night) to also help reduce the cost of attendance.
I want to thank everyone who has been a part of the listserv and our community as well as any of the SIG’s activities, thanks for helping and volunteering.
Sincerely,
Susan
--
Susan Gold
Chair, IGDA Education SIG
"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us." -Marcel Proust
A new semester is upon us and the SIG is busy, very busy…
But before I lose your attention with my extremely long note, we are looking for a database development person to help us put our internship program on the website. If you are interested, please contact Stephen Jacobs (sxjics@rit.edu).
Before I tell you about my and the SIG’s summer, what did you do with yours? I think it would be great if we hear about your summer games or projects... so if you feel it is appropriate, post and discuss on the list.
Summer 2007
Well for one, I moved from beautiful Tahoe to wonderful Eugene, OR. Yes, I have left the ivory tower and have gone to work in the game industry. I hope I am more than cultural anthropologist and become a real contributor. Thankfully what I am doing directly involves education, but in addition to my academic oriented work, they have already thrown me into a product group deciding what the next new technology the company develops. I sit in there with artist and programmers and engineers asking myself, how do I fit in? What I have found is that it is all about collaboration and working as a part of a team. It wouldn’t matter if I was a pastry chef, they would find a way to take that expertise and utilize it create something new. Everyone is equal on the team, each brining their own expertise and passion for games to the table. It is an amazing process and I can only stress that putting your students into team environments is going to be key for them succeeding in this industry. Do it early in your programs, because we should have had them doing this since the students started school at 5 years old. But since we only get to influence them at age 18, we have to break a lot of bad habits they have developed, (like doing everything on their own). Put them in teams and make them work together.
A lot of work regarding the curriculum framework has been accomplished over the sumemer. I want to thank Dr. Yusuf Pisan and Dr. Magy Seif El Nasr for their great work and continuing effort. We did get some great syllabi and we are analyzing what everyone has done with the framework over the past four years. It is really great to see so many educators using the framework as the instrument it was designed to be (which is a reference, not a bible).
Speaking of the framework, Tracy Fullerton, Magy Seif El Nasr and I presented at this years SIGGRAPH in San Diego. The name of the session: So you want to start a game program… we had 80 people attend (and for the last session on the last day, we felt that was a great attendance). We discussed the key points of the curriculum framework and emphasized the soft skills. I think our session was well received, there were a ton of questions, etc… everything from what type of math do students need to what game engine should we use? I know that there are a lot of people that need our help and experience in putting their new programs together, I hope many have joined the listserv.
I have asked to have a link to the SIGGRAPH slides (they are a rather hefty 16MB); I will share the URL with everyone as soon as I know it.
As for the rest of the summer, I am going to Asia to speak and meet with industry and educators about the framework. First stop is Shanghai for GDC China, I am doing a talk called Finding a Job and Carving your Niche in a Quickly Globalizing Video Game Industry. Then I get to go to Beijing and speak to several universities about their growing programs and helping them develop their curriculums (hopefully in sync with our framework). Then this globetrotter is off to Singapore where I hope to meet with more educators developing game programs. In addition, I will be attending and speaking at GC Asia, again the talk will be about getting a job in the industry. To round out this Asian tour, myself, Tracy Fullerton and Magy Seif El Nasr and I are going to attend DiGRA in Tokyo and we will be presenting a game design workshop. I am rather thankful that I won’t be talking about getting a job again and get to teach basic design principles. All of these talks and workshops are given to represent the work we have done with curriculums, class ideas and case blats we have shared with those of you that are already members of the SIG.
I know I will miss being a professor, so any time you want me to come visit, give a workshop, teach a class, talk about anything (other than getting a job), email me. No really, I do know a lot about getting students prepared for entering the workforce, so if that is what you need, I would be happy to help you prepare your lectures or give you my slides, or even deliver the info in person. I hope to be traveling around the US this fall meeting as many educators as possible. I would love to visit Boston again and work with them to develop a consortium. There are over 90 educators in the Boston area in some game related work. To me that is amazing and exciting, we should expect to see some great things coming out of the Northeast. I have been asked by some schools in New York State to do something similar with their academics in games (early November). The SIG’s focus with this outreach work is to get everyone talking with one another and hopefully collaborating on projects and/or research together.
I want to wish everyone a great and successful year. I hope your classes are full of students that are excited to learn, creative and hard working. I hope you plan on attending GDC in 2008, remember it is the week of February 18th. I know that Derric Clark is hard at work making sure that our program has something for everyone, be it those starting programs or those experienced game educators that are looking for professional development. We will be having two tracks and our own site outside of GDC, so we don’t have to close registration before the early bird discount is over this year. We also plan to make the two-day workshop affordable, no breaking travel budgets on my watch. You will only need to get a classic pass, not a gigapass and a seperate pass for our workshop. We will be posting news related to that as soon as arrangements and the website are up and ready to go. I have blocked reasonable priced hotel rooms ($100-150 a night) to also help reduce the cost of attendance.
I want to thank everyone who has been a part of the listserv and our community as well as any of the SIG’s activities, thanks for helping and volunteering.
Sincerely,
Susan
--
Susan Gold
Chair, IGDA Education SIG
"We don't receive wisdom; we must discover it for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for us or spare us." -Marcel Proust
Labels: Beijing, curriculum, DiGRA, GC Asia, GDC, GDC China, Shanghai, SIGGRAPH, Tokyo
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home