education posts

Despite the fact that recent numbers seem to show that over 65% of the country's population are video game players, there is still a pervasive stigma that pertains to our favorite pastime. Namely, games are seen as mere entertainment, without true redeeming social value -- and that's without even including all the anti-video game rhetoric spewed by well-meaning but poorly-educated "family groups" who want to "protect the children".

Even those of us in the know probably don't need our games to do anything other than entertain, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's why they exist; that's why they came to be the huge industry that they are. We need to be entertained in certain ways, and sometimes only a video game will do. But is it unreasonable to think that our games can be more than just playtime delivery mechanisms? Can we ask for some true education?

In recent years, several colleges and universities have added game design curriculums to their course catalogs. Many programs have been intelligently intertwined with Computer Science and art programs in order for students to learn as much about not only the industry as possible, but the ever-changing field of technology.

However, some feel that while universities are a fine place to learn the industry, their methodology of updating courses is too slow to keep up with the breakneck pace of video games. Develop magazine, in their inaugural Education Spotlight, has conducted an interview with Nic Oliver, marketing guru at new private educator Quantm, based in the U.K.

According to Oliver, Quantm offers something that most universities simply cannot: faster integration of new technologies. Oliver explains that universities must undergo a rigorous updated course validation process that could last as long as three years. "But our course structure, the way we run things, means that if something new is released tomorrow we could have it in our course in a matter of weeks," Oliver says.

To supplement their literal board of developers, Quantm also holds a number of workshops designed to teach or enhance skills integral to success in the gaming industry. Oliver stresses the importance of the workshops, saying that most universities "aren't well enough equipped to teach 3D and games effectively," nor does he believe that they place enough emphasis on the aforementioned. By providing extensive workshops, Quantm believes that participants will get constant hands-on experience with the latest trends and technologies practiced in the industry.

The full interview is available at DevelopMag.com.

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in collaboration with Professor James Paul Gee and others from Georgetown Law School, is creating an online civics learning program for middle school students called Our Courts.

The project, which has been in development since last year, is designed to teach students about American government and the judiciary system, and hopefully inspire them to eventually become more involved in civic life. The need for something like this has become greater in recent years,Justice O'Connor said, since the No Child Left Behind Act "squeezed out civics" from public education. "Knowledge about government is not handed down through the gene pool!"

It will have two components: a curriculum educators use, and a section that students can use to argue and discuss real judicial problems. The first module will be released in late 2008 and focuses on actual case study about the First Amendment and how it relates young people. Subsequent modules focusing on other aspects of the system will be released next year.

Cracking open a musty old textbook is just so 2007, am I right? The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) thinks so, too, which is why they've decided to promote learning immunology in a hip new way - with a computer game.

Via a video on the software's homepage, Jessica Elam, an Advanced Placement Biology teacher in a Virginia-based high school, says that her students played Immune Attack as part of a lab focused on immunology. The software allowed the teens to glean more enjoyment out of the unorthodox assignment, and Elam says that "in terms of actual labs ... those often require quite an investment of money. Immune Attack ... is free educational software."

Teachers interested in using Immune Attack are advised to browse the teacher's guide, in-depth game information, and system requirements.

Universities generally teach acting for theatre or film (movies or television). But games? Not usually. The University of Wisconsin at Madison, however, is changing that. Teaming up with Raven Software, the theatre department at UW-M is offering curriculum on how to mo-cap act for video-games. The new trend of 3D animation in games is definitely oriented around motion capturing, and with professional actors learning how to interact with developers and use the mo-cap technology, it's a fair bet that character animation is going to definitely get more fluid.

Besides being the first gaming-oriented mo-cap class we can think of, it's also one of the first times we've ever heard of a respected university using games as curriculum outside of computer science classes. Could these be a trend towards including interactive media in other courses, such as writing or art? We certainly hope so.

[Via ArsTechnica]