2008 Woodie Awards
Professors join the gaming craze
by Rachel Alper
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: Mosaic
When students walk into a classroom they expect to sit down at a desk and watch a professor lecture, not play the latest video or computer game. With a new contest for all professors in all departments, games will now be designed to make class interactive. Some ideas are a lab simulation game where students can dissect creatures while others involve building and testing electrical circuits.
PRESENT, the university's teaching, learning and technology center, will award development time to program the game of the professor who submits the best idea for an instrumental or simulation game.
Project consultant Paul Hyde says PRESENT created the contest to challenge professors.
"The contest was started to encourage faculty to think creatively about the learning possibilities afforded by interactive technologies," Hyde says.
He says the purpose of the games is to make students want to use the simulation, serve as a way for students to learn something new at their own pace or to re-learn something they have forgotten. Games can allow students to access tools and different places they wouldn't normally be able to access.
Multimedia developer Becky Kinney, a judge of the competition, says the contest shows faculty members there are other types of learning activities.
"Many faculty [members] assume that online learning consists of WebCT type interactions, such as discussions, Web pages and video," Kinney says. "Few realize that we are able to provide substantially more in cases where the learning challenges warrant it."
She says there are many different platforms in which the games are programmed, but the winner's game should be done in Flash.
"In the case of this contest, winners are awarded development time from a Flash programmer," Kinney says. "So unless there is a compelling reason why Flash is inappropriate for the particular requirements of the winning project, Flash would be used."
After the game is programmed in Flash by Kinney, Nancy O'Laughlin, an instructional designer and judge for the contest, says the faculty member should put his or her product to use.
PRESENT, the university's teaching, learning and technology center, will award development time to program the game of the professor who submits the best idea for an instrumental or simulation game.
Project consultant Paul Hyde says PRESENT created the contest to challenge professors.
"The contest was started to encourage faculty to think creatively about the learning possibilities afforded by interactive technologies," Hyde says.
He says the purpose of the games is to make students want to use the simulation, serve as a way for students to learn something new at their own pace or to re-learn something they have forgotten. Games can allow students to access tools and different places they wouldn't normally be able to access.
Multimedia developer Becky Kinney, a judge of the competition, says the contest shows faculty members there are other types of learning activities.
"Many faculty [members] assume that online learning consists of WebCT type interactions, such as discussions, Web pages and video," Kinney says. "Few realize that we are able to provide substantially more in cases where the learning challenges warrant it."
She says there are many different platforms in which the games are programmed, but the winner's game should be done in Flash.
"In the case of this contest, winners are awarded development time from a Flash programmer," Kinney says. "So unless there is a compelling reason why Flash is inappropriate for the particular requirements of the winning project, Flash would be used."
After the game is programmed in Flash by Kinney, Nancy O'Laughlin, an instructional designer and judge for the contest, says the faculty member should put his or her product to use.
Be the first to comment on this story