Creating computer games in the classroom

Whatever you think about computer games, making computer games is a creative process just as writing a story or painting a picture. All creative efforts require a substantial degree of intuition, logic, problem solving and fun. It is fair to say that we can learn and develop a range of skills from anything we create from scratch. Moreover making computer games are a good way of getting children interested in topics that they may not normally choose to spend time involving themselves in. Creating computer games can entice children to stretch their creativity and their intelligence. It is also making a tentative start on diversifying the ICT content taught in out classroom and it may even stimulate an interest in developing their own more complex games later on.


In this week’s sessions we have been exploring Gamemaker - the light version. Students were initially asked to create a game following the onscreen tutorial. This gave them hands on experience of the game making process, and it allowed them to learn the tools of the application as they progressed.
In the main they were successful in creating a basic game. Some were more creative from the outset, only following the tutorial when they needed help. It was interesting to see how their games differed when they were asked to just write suggestions of the progression of their game, outlining what improvements they would make to their original game with only the limitations of their creativity to stop them. I introduced them to Tim Rylands today too so hopefully he will inspire them to persevere in their voyage of discovery in the gaming in education process.

The Face of Gaming

You may say that first and foremost games are ‘fun’. This is, of course, true, but games can be much more than that. Click on the Mr Toledano link below and take a look at some pictures of gamers playing and you will see fun in some of their faces. You may also notice another much more constant emotion: challenge. Games challenge in ways traditional linear media, from feature films to textbooks to PowerPoint presentations, generally do not, certainly not at such regularity with such power and impact. And in an age when politicians, parents and many educators feel that learning has lost its rigour, gaming presents a superb means to challenge young people. For a start, games seem to raise our expectations from the moment we launch them, like a Hollywood blockbuster, and then engage us for as long, sometimes longer. No matter what your own ideas and preferences about gaming are you will have an opinion about whether there is a place for it in education.  Simon Egenfldt-Nielsen discusses the challenges of edutainment in his PhD ‘Making Sweet Music: The Educational Use of Computer Games’. Where he suggests the area of ECG is not yet well defined.  He states that it is not enough that a player is more motivated, or that game culture is collaborative, or even to suggest that computer games as complex devices will somehow automatically transfer knowledge to the player.  Rather he promotes the notion that it is how each of these elements helps constitute the activity educational use of computer games.

Gaming in Secondary Education

The Games Debate

This is week three of the games in education module and the debating is well underway.  I'm not intending to comment specifically just yet as there are still two groups to go.  However, I just want to say that it is going really well...I hope that I have not jinxed it now though!  It has been really fascinating to listen to the constructive arguments that each group has presented and the analysis of the debate given by the judges has been quite interesting too.  I think that they are all developing informed opinions of the pros and cons of utilising 21st century resources in formal education situations.   I look forward to writing my full evaluation later on in the week.