Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks:Design-based Learning Models in Informal Settings

Games + Learning + Society ConferenceUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison

June 2010

Kieth Braafladt Cynthia Matthias Brian Myers Ricarose Roque

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

People’s Computer Center, Menlo Park, early 70s

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Eric Zimmerman, interviewed by Henry Jenkins (December 21, 2006)

Retrieved July 23, 2007 from http://www.henryjenkins.org/2006/12/an_interview_with_eric_zimmerm.html

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Game Maker Academy organized in 2006, initially as a recurring library-based game design program using the Game Maker platform

Conceived as a way of leveraging our successful open gaming events and competitive gaming tournaments in order to give youth and teens an opportunity to play the role of media creators, not just consumers

Provided a context for the promotion of specific 21st century literacy skills: systems thinking, information management, creativity with digital media content, storytelling, logic, and programming, thus aligning our goals with the Library’s traditional role as a supporter and provider of literacy education.

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Game Maker Object Editor

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

In early 2007 we began offering our first Scratch programs

We began to see greater diversity among participants, with a broader age range and more girls in attendance

Many kids would come back to repeat these programs (both Scratch and Game Maker)and we watched as relationships formed amongthese youth and teens

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Meetings were irregularly scheduled at first, but then began occurring on a monthly basis in one of the library meeting rooms. Members met in order to

• plan additional Game Maker and Scratch workshops,• invite professional guests,• plan game competition events

Some of the more engaged participants decided to form a club in order to sustain the creative environment of the workshops, and to play a role in planning and assisting with additional workshops

Club members began inviting figures from the gaming industry and from academia as guests (Rachel Nador, left, and Patrick Curry, right).

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Members invited to form a teen panel at the ALA’s 2007 Gaming, Learning and Libraries Symposium

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

By the summer of 2008 the club had been together long enough that its members began to see it as a formal institutional entity

• Game Design Club web site was created - www.gamemakeracademy.org

• Members began thinking and discoursing critically about the club, its scope, structure and its future (sense of ownership and responsibility)

• Members began delivering presentations to one another as a component of their monthly meetings (controller mapping, 3D effects, content editing and editing tools)

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

GDC members began facilitating workshops themselves beginning in 2008

A couple members have even been hired to facilitate Game Maker and Scratch programs at neighboring suburban libraries

Members have encouraged and helped to develop additional design workshops and programs, built around the Alice, Robocode and Greenfoot applications.

The club regularly hosts gaming tournaments that draw 20-30 teens. The most popular of these have been the retro tournaments, which sometimes include parents.

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

Reflections

Gender disproportion

Affinity => community => shared goals => collaboration

Informal learning spaces: how persistent? Homes, Clubs, Museums, Community Centers,

Park Districts, Libraries, Online Communities

Learner-centeredness => ownership

Playfulness

Turtles, Gobos, Greeps and Brick Blocks

www.gamemakeracademy.org

www,gamedesignclub.org