Hello Everyone and welcome to my Gaming Course for you to use.
This page introduces you to this Gaming Course. It tells you about the maker of the course, Mr. Scott MacCrum, how the course began, what is unique about the course and the theories behind the course.
To see the content of the course (e.g games played, products made by students etc.) please browse through the website.
Who is Mr. Scott MacCrum?
Let me begin by introducing myself. My name is Mr. Scott MacCrum and I am a secondary teacher at Rosetta High School in 2009. I am English/SOSE trained but I know quite a bit about ICT and therefore, I am also a "Gaming" teacher : ).
I have always been interested in "Gaming" and I can still remember (as I'm sure you can!) playing the Commodore 64 and Atari consoles at home whilst watching The Muppets on the telly!!
Why, and how, did I create this Gaming Course?
So, I was quite excited when my Principal last year said I could teach "Gaming" at my school to 180 Grade 8's in the space of 1 school year.
My Principal, Mr. Graham Speight, told me that he wanted me to create my course around the concepts of Empathy, Meaning, Story, Change and Perception. I have also used Bloom's Digital Taxonomy in building this course. I hope you can see how and where I have done this as you go through this course (and website). Any questions please ask me.
My dream to create a gaming course that is unique and not just 'game making' in nature:
In preparation for teaching the course, I had a dream to create a gaming course which would let my students succeed and have fun. A lot of the other gaming courses today are very sophisticated and focused on 'game making' only. I wanted my course to be accessible to all students and to be a course that would allow the students to play computer games that I select for them. Our students play games all the time and they are a part of their lives. So, why suppress this. Why not select the 'educational', simulation, problem solving, cooperative games for them to learn from (without them always knowing that are learning!!!).
My students use 'easier' game making programs than the 'well acclaimed Game Maker' program:
I had a 'frustrating' look at the "Game Maker" software program that lots of teachers rave about. Honestly, I found it too hard and frustrating to use and I did not want only a 'select few' of my students to be able to make a computer game with such a 'hard to use'/time consuming program.
So, I spent many hours in my school holidays finding free 'game making' programs on the internet. I believe I have found the 3 easiest-to-use, drop and drag 'game making' programs available in the world!! (big call, I know, but you wait till you see these programs and what you can make with them). So, I don't use "Game Maker" in my course. This is not the only 'difference' that my course has in relation to all other existing game making courses taught in schools today.
In my course, students:
Play 108 problem computer games: from the 1970's Arcade games of Pacman, Asteroids etc. through to the 2009 Simulation Games of Age of Empires III, SPORE, Rollercoaster Tycoon, Diner Dash, Nancy Drew Mysteries etc. and the cooperative and problem solving games of the Playstation 2 (e.g. Lego Star Wars, Shrek 2, Crash etc.).
My students use PCs, Ps2s and the Interactive whiteboard to play these games and they develop many problem solving, social cooperation and thinking skills along the way.
These 108 games have been categorised in the course as follows: 35: Interactive whiteboard games, 40: Arcade to Simulation games, 11: PS2 games, 22: games made by their fellow students in the course.
Evaluate the games the students' play (according to a "What Makes a Good Game?" checklist):
Whilst playing these computer games, my students are required to do some work!!!
They are given a checklist with 10 "What Makes a Good Game" criteria on a checklist and the list of games to play. They need to fill out the checklist with their evaluations (1 to 5) about the different games (e.g challenging = 2, Fun = 3, Problem solving =2). By the end of the course, all students would have played, and evaluated, 108 games.
Learn what makes a 'good computer game':
Whilst filling out these evaluation forms, students learn what goes into making a 'good game' and what type of game they like to play (at the start of the course, they learn about the different 'gaming genres' that are available today). They learn quickly that not everyone likes the same type of games!!!
Students make their own computer games with 3 different 'free to use' internet programs:
Students love this part of the course as they can show their own games to the others in the class and the games are easy to make!!
What skills are they demonstrating in making their own games?
There are too many skills that they students need to learn, and apply, in making their own games to be mentioned here, but as a starter:
Literacy, problem solving, screenshots, saving images, using tools in the programs, thinking, planning, narrative structure, story elements etc. etc.
To see some of the games that my students have made, click here. Before this, you will need to go here and then install the 3 programs on your computer to see all the other games that have been made by my 180 students this year.
After Playing, Evaluating and Making Computer Games, students then make a 'marketable' gamebox with their games (to take home with them!):
My students then need to take their newly made games home with them. But they need a "Gamebox" to do that!!! So, we make one!! Click here to see what I am talking about in this section of the Introduction.
Student use Microsoft Word program to make a "Gamebox cover" for their gamebox (which are blank Cd cases which cost 40 cents each) and they put screenshots of their games onto the Word Document. They can put a blurb on the back telling us what their game is all about and some headings and their name. Then, they have their very own gamebox.
No good marketing campaign would forget to include a "Game/Movie Trailer" for their game!! So, we do that as well in the course. Students use their screenshots from their games and the Movie Maker program to make a film advertising their game to the world!! (the games' screenshots need to be converted into JPGs using the PAINT program first).
What type of 'gamebox' would not have an instruction manual in it? Not one of ours. We make one of these manuals for one of our games using Microsoft Publisher and the screenshots/pictures from our games and then we put this inside our gamebox to take home (or to sell!).
For the students who want more in the course, I also teach them how to make a blog or website to place all their work onto (as this is another marketing method that they should know how to use for the future of gaming).
How Do My Students Know what To Do When in the Course?:
Good question. I thought about this a lot. That is why I made this website and have spent many hours updating it so it is easy to use for my students.
All the tasks, games to play and worksheets to complete for this course can be found in this website.
The course is divided into 6 Rotations:
When they get to a new rotation, they need to go to this website and find the "ROTATION PAGE" that are going to be working on for that 30 minute period (e.g. ROTATION A/B, ROTATION C/D etc.). On that Rotations Page, they will find the tasks to complete in order. For each Rotation, students must complete certain tasks/worksheets and update their 'final powerpoint presentation' with what they have done and learnt in that Rotation.
WORK vs PLAYING GAMES
Of course my students enjoy playing the games. There's nothing wrong with that. It is good for them to learn to play together on the interactive whiteboard and on the PS2 and then use their problem solving skills to play the PC simulation games of today.
I haven't stopped that in my course. I have used it to get them thinking and succeeding. Then I have thrown in the fun "Work" components as well. Making their gameboxes, films, instruction manuals, their own game making, evaluation checklists, the massive "Learning Powerpoint" and identifying what type of genre is being played (and other tasks), are all activities that I have included in my course for them to demonstrate their learnings and knowledge of gaming.
What's this Powerpoint thing I have just mentioned?
Students need to update this "Learnings Powerpoint" throughout the course and present their thoughts, ideas, learnings at the end of the course (with their gamebox).
WHAT EDUCATIONAL THEORIES I HAVE EMPLOYED TO BUILD THIS GAMING COURSE?
In designing my gaming course, I have used the following theories
As you can see, there is a lot in this course. My course run for 45 hours and there is always something for the students to do. It is working and playing, learning and having fun. Feel free to have a look through the rest of my site and "GAME ON!!!".
Mr. Scott MacCrum
(Rosetta High School, Tasmania, Australia)