Game Based Learning 2009
Some Mind Candies went along to the Game Based Learning Conference 2009 unfortunately we were only able to get tickets for the Friday so missed the Pecha Kucha and socialising, but we were there for the whole of Friday for all the great speeches.
Almost every speaker mentioned the travesty of the recent Department of Heath’s Change4Life campaign depicting a listless looking child holding a Playstation controller with the provocative slogan ‘Risk an Early Death’. It was up to Tom Watson to convince the industry that the government wasn’t completely against us. Luckily he made it clear he realises the importance of the games industry to the success of the country in terms of economy as well as education but, like any good politician, successfully dodged a question about tax breaks.
Of most interest to us here at Mind Candy was Derek Robertson who focused on a teacher using Moshi Monsters in the classroom. It’s useful for us to see how teachers are making use of Moshi and it would be great to start a proper conversation with educators about what we can do to make Moshi more friendly for teachers to use as a resource.
For me the overarching message from the conference was that gaming in all forms is hugely educational; it beats traditional education methods because kids actually enjoy learning when they are playing games, but there is still a long way to go before it is seen as legitimate by the mainstream.
I’m really interested to see where this conversation goes and looking forward to installing my children into Nolan Bushnell’s ‘Podules’. Check out all the videos here