Game Design Boot Camps
For Year 3 to Year 10 students
Game design offers students a unique platform to address essential skills for learning. These include creativity and innovation, critical thinking, iterative problem solving, communication, collaboration, and information, media and ICT literacy.
Teachers from any NSW school can book these full day excursions to MacICT. Our boot camps give students the opportunity to have the time, space and purpose to tinker. They provide a context for inquiry and discovery, leading students to become active problem solvers and engage in their own learning. These are critical practices for learning and discovery that have application across all curriculum areas.
Game Design integrates skills and knowledge from across curriculums and addresses many elements from the quality teaching framework. This Boot Camp is aimed to introduce students to ‘Good Game Design’ principles through activities that shift students’ thinking from that of a player to a designer.
Introductory Workshop
This Boot Camp aims to introduce students to ‘Good Game Design’ principles through activities that shift students’ thinking from that of a player to a designer.
During the day, students will:
- deconstruct a game to unpack what
- makes a good game
- review games or apps using a designer scoreboard
- design a simple game
- begin to build a game using Microsoft Kodu Game Lab (available on all eT4L servers)
- peer review games and upload to an online space.
Students are able to access their work at home or back at school if they choose to continue with it after the day.
Next Step Workshop
This Boot Camp is designed to develop a student’s ability to design core game mechanics through practical and engaging activities. The focus will be on design, rather than programming.
This workshop aims:
- to develop in students, the understandings, skills and strategies, which will help them design a game that is original and fun
- to actively engage in different types of thinking including: design thinking, systems thinking, computational thinking, critical and creative thinking.
It is assumed students will already have a basic level of understanding the following good game design principles: clear goal; importance of story, world design and challenge; player feedback; and difficulty curve. This is perfect for students who have competed our Introductory Boot Camp and started building games, as well as students who are doing game design as part of TAS electives in stages 5 and 6. This unique program has been developed in collaboration with sucessful independent game designers to deliver an authentic experience.
Keywords: Creative & Critical Thinking, STEM, STEAM, Coding, Engineering Design, Science & Maths K-10, Programming
Feedback
Learning how to program something to move was fantastic. I have brought it back to school and every class is learning to program with Kodu.
Student
I loved this because most of the time what you can do in class time is very very very limited but when I come here I can have freedom in school time.
Student
Book now
Contact us now to enquire about booking in your class.
Term 4 2016 is now fully booked. Unfortunately, we are unable to take bookings for 2017. Apologies for any inconvenience.
Tuesdays, Wednesday & Thursdays during NSW school terms, subject to facilitator and room availability.
Our workshops are delivered at our Centre in Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW.
There is a maximum of 30 students per class. We can take a maximum of two classes per day.
Boot Camp excursions usually run from 9am-2:30pm. If you need to adjust this because of travel time please let us know.
Flat rate of $528 inclGST per class of up to 23 students. An extra $22 will be charged per additional student up to the max number per class.
DoE schools will be direct debited by the NSW DoE. Non-DoE schools will be invoiced after the event based on final student numbers.
Note: cancellations made within 2 days of the event will incur a $200 cancellation fee.
Facilitators
Evan Bonser
Developer & Facilitator
Evan is one of our game design facilitators and is working as an ICT Integrator in Sydney. He began his university training in robotics before changing to complete a Bachelor of Education (Primary) from the University of Western Sydney. Evan has taught in a variety of educational environments ranging from mainstream settings in both the public and private sectors to Special Needs and Hospital Schools where he taught K-12 across the curriculum. He has found that where ever he teaches he sees the same enthusiasm for learning through making and uses that to inspire his students. He has a passion for developing a ‘growth mindset’ in his students to help them see failure as an integral part of the learning process; and sees it as the beginning of deep personal development that will last a lifetime.
Kylie Stanley
Facilitator
Kylie began working for MacICT 2013, in a hands-on teaching role running day-long Boot Camps in Robotics. Kylie has a passion for technology and innovation, and enjoys working with students to explore and problem-solve using new and engaging technologies. Kylie holds a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in Education) and a Bachelor of Education (Primary). She is also Early Childhood trained and holds a Diploma in Children’s Services. In addition to MacICT, Kylie has 10 years experience working in areas of curriculum and teaching and learning in the higher education sector.
