February 18 & 19 (Monday & Tuesday)

This 2-day summit will focus on nuts & bolts practices in curriculum and teaching methods for game development education. There will be two tracks, one aimed at novice educators just entering the game education genre, the second for experienced educators looking for additional tools teaching game design and development. There will be lectures, model curricula, case blasts, post-mortems, interactive hands-on sessions as well as great opportunities for networking and discussion throughout the workshop. Attendees will leave with useful examples and ideas on how to best develop and/or reinvigorate game development curricula in their institution.

[See IGDA Education Summit sessions]

IGDA Education Summit Advisor

Susan Gold
IGDA Education SIG Chair

Susan is chair of the IGDA Eduaction SIG and serves as an academic consultant for Garage Games. Susan's work with the SIG has created many new tools for instructors in game education. Her current focus is in organizing a knowledge base and resources for educators as well as crating curricular models for the varying academic programs. A key focus for Susan is in developing game industry relations to help build academic resources and recommendations in education. Susan is an artist, teacher, and activist with a specialization in digital art, new media and videogames. As an educator, Susan has helped shape a niche program in entertainment technology. Susan sits on the ACM SIGGRAPH Education Committee and IEEE WG16.3 Committee on Theoretical Foundation of Entertainment Computing in addition to numerous university advisory boards.

IGDA Education Summit Sessions

Day 1:
Monday (February 18, 2008)   10:00am — 6:00pm

Keynote: Ernest Adams
10:00-11:00am, Room 131, North Hall

Coffee Break - 11-11:15am

Outcomes of Successful Game Programs
Speaker(s): John Buchanan (Carngie Mellon University), Tracy Fullerton (University of Southern California), Magy Seif El-Nasr (Simon Fraser University), Michael Nitsche (Georgia Institute of Technology), Scott Roberts (DePaul University)
11:15-12:15am, Room 131, North Hall

Session Description: What defines a successful program and consequently a successful game student? This session will analyze the outcomes of successful game programs and how they achieve these outcomes.

First Year Experiences
Speaker(s): Scott Brodie (Carbonated Games), Matt Highison (Cryptic Studios), Sally Huang (Electronic Arts), Robert Smith (Shaba Studios), Brian Winn (Michigan State University)
11:15am-12:15pm ∙ Room 122, North Hall

Session Description: Recent graduates will discuss what their transition from college into gaming and first year of employment were like. Panel would consist of approximately five recent graduates (about one year of full time employment).

Lunch - 12:30-2pm

Faculty Submitted Course Critiques
Speaker(s): Derric Clark (University of Advancing Technology)
2-4pm ∙ Room 131, North Hall

Session Description: Developing courses is a daunting and difficult task. Based on discipline, groups will display and critique their ideas and concepts fro game courses with the goal of an improved experience and outcome for the student. This session may cross over to some individuals in the existing game programs track.

Cross-Institution Projects to Broaden Projects and Courses
Speaker: Stephen Jacobs (RIT)
Panelists: Drew Davidson (Carnegie Mellon University), Ann DeMarle (Champlain), Mirjam Palosaari Eladhari, Mary Flanagan (Hunter College), Stephane Natkin (ENJMIN), Andrew Phelps (RIT)
2-4pm ∙ Room 122, North Hall

Session Takeaway: A challenge for many institutions is creating a complete game project in a program that does not have all of the elements required to produce one (CS Programs with no artistic educators or talent, for example). Building relationships between game education institutions (or across departments within a given institution) would allow students to work to fill in the facets of a complete game they might not otherwise might not have access to. Beyond just filling in gaps, collaboration across departments and/or institutions offers new points of view, new energy, a broader set of students to draw on and many other benefits. This first half of this session will feature a panel of representatives talking about successful models and the second half will be opened to the group to discuss how they might be replicated and to develop an on-line resource for facilitating cross departmental and institutional collaboration.

Coffee Break - 4-4:15pm

Qualified Instructors and Accrediting Bodies
Speaker: Toby Barnes (Pixel-lab)
4:15-5:15pm ∙ Room 131, North Hall

Session Description: Finding qualified instructors is a challenge for all institutions. How do you justify the credentials, when they may not be typical academic credentialed individuals, of your game faculty to administration and accrediting bodies?

The Internship
Speaker: Jesse Schell (Carnegie Mellon University)
4:15-5:15pm ∙ Room 122, North Hall

Session Description: A candid discussion on game industry internships. Included in this discussion are the philosophy, feasibility and execution of a game industry internship emphasizing the benefits to both industry and academia.

Session EdSIG Recap and Presentation of the 2008 Curriculum Framework
5:15-6pm ∙ Room 131, North Hall

Day 2:
Tuesday (February 19, 2008)   10:00am — 6:00pm

Keynote: Ian Bogost (Persuasive Games)
Time: 10:00-11:00am, Room 131, North Hall

Coffee Break - 11-11:15am

Reaching Out to the Industry
Speaker: Ann DeMarle (Champlain College)
11:15am-12:15pm ∙ Room 122, North Hall

Session Description: Industry/education relationships have always been difficult but the growing trend is to bridge this gap and work together. This session will concentrate on building a relationship with industry, a relationship being defined as a mutually beneficial partnership. The goal here is to illuminate the strengths education and industry bring to each other to explore deficits that can be improved.

Industry Veterans as Educators
Speaker(s): Brenda Brathwaite (Savannah College of Art & Design), Tim Langdell, Celia Pearce (Georgia Tech), Ian Schreiber, Warren Spector (Junction Point Studios)
11:15am-12:15pm ∙ Room 122, North Hall

Session Description: A case study of current working industry vets and their experience teaching in a game program on an adjunct or part time basis. The goal of this session is to improve communication between these two constituents and make academic institutions aware of the issues involved in this endeavor.

Poster Sessions: Presentation of Research Projects
Curated by Jose Zagal (Georgia Institue of Technology)
12:30-2pm ∙ Room 131, North Hall

Session Description: The emerging field of game research is exciting and should be celebrated and supported. These individuals are contributing to the body of game knowledge in very positive ways and their work can be used by both industry and academics alike.

Lunch - 12:30-2pm

Postmortems of Student IGF Groups
Speaker(s): Tracy Fullerton (University of Southern California), Peter Raad (The Guildhall at SMU), Elizabeth Stringer (The Guildhall at SMU)
2-4pm ∙ Room 131, North Hall

Session Description: Short postmortems of the challenges of student projects who entered and made the finals of the student IGF competition. This will allow instructors to help design classes for and guide students to successful completed works.

Coffee Break - 4-4:15pm

Gaming as a Course of Study
Speaker: Jim Whitehead (UC Santa Cruz)
4:15-5:15pm ∙ Room 131, North Hall

Session Description: A challenge of developing a game program is the legitimacy of gaming as an academic field of study. There are those that may not see it as an academic pursuit and this can hinder the creation and ability to resource a game program. Being able to legitimize your program in the eyes of decision makers will help to build and resource a program so that it has the highest chance of being successful.

Case Blasts
Speaker: Mary Flanagan (Hunter College)
4:15-5:15pm ∙ Room 122, North Hall

Session Description: Case studies based on successful curricular endeavors. Examples would be things like running a project class, engaging students, how to develop course materials and activities, etc…

EdSIG Town Hall Meeting
5:15-6pm ∙ Room 131, North Hall

Register for the IGDA Education Summit

To register for the IGDA Education Summit, you will need to purchase an All Access Pass or Summits and Tutorials Pass.