Game-Centric Pedagogy and Curriculums in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper examines some recent trends in game-centric education for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) fields, especially those that explore and promote collaboration among multiple disciplines. We discuss various multimodal design research activities that draw upon the applications and usage of popular technical hackathons and game design jams in educational environments. The intent of this work is to guide and inform new approaches to the core components of STEAM curriculums. Game-centric methods appear to be well-suited to a variety of education and training circumstances, particularly those that apply in transnational settings and/or serve highly diverse student populations. The benefits extend beyond the direct game-building activity; for example, the process can promote broader design thinking skills and encourage better appreciation of the typical understand-create-deliver flow process, which may be found in many different contexts. Other advantages can include the encouragement of critical thinking skills, the ability to safely tinker and experiment, and the empowerment to fail and start over. In these respects, we view game-making as a form of 'future-making', and thus a valuable vehicle for enhancing general education and long-term life skills. We conclude by describing some opportunities to undertake qualitative and quantitative research on teams of participants in popular game development events, such as the multinational Global Game Jam (GGJ) series. This process involves examining their background demographics, and characterizing the team dynamics and behaviors in the context of their game design and development activities during the game jam.

Materializing the abstract: Understanding AI by game jamming

“…The potential for facilitating and supporting reflective practice via game jams in an educational context is acknowledged by several researchers, including for example (Murray et al, 2017;Lassheikki, 2019;Meriläinen, 2019;Aurava et al, 2021). The topic of learning in game jams is also connected to pedagogical traditions which are already established and well-researched: Informal learning, collaborative learning, learning by doing, game-making pedagogy (Merilainen et al, 2020), and project-based learning (Hrehovcsik et al, 2016).…”

“…]the process can promote broader design thinking skills and encourage a better appreciation of the typical understand-create-deliver flow process, which may be found in many different contexts. Other advantages can include the encouragement of critical thinking skills, the ability to safely tinker and experiment, and the empowerment to fail and start over" (Murray et al, 2017).…”

“…As pointed out by Merilainen et al (2020) and Murray et al (2017), though the potential for learning in game jams has been increasingly recognized by formal education institutions, the formats are often not organized as integral parts of education. Instead, game jams are often perceived as fun, extra-curricular hobby activities.…”

“…Despite this, there is limited research on learning through game jam participation (Meriläinen, 2019). Additionally, there is only a little research on how to organize game jams, and on how game jams are "most meaningfully and best pedagogically carried out" in education (Murray et al, 2017). More research is needed on how game jams can facilitate learning for participants and how game jams may be organized for optimizing learning experiences.…”

“…More research is needed on how game jams can facilitate learning for participants and how game jams may be organized for optimizing learning experiences. Murray et al (2017) described 'academic' game jams as deliberately organized for learning experiences, as participants generate knowledge by undergoing design processes where they externalize thinking into interactive prototypes, and when presenting these objects, the participants explain and argue for the thinking that led to that object.…”