The UCLA Game Lab organized and hosted a “Teaching Games in Co-Op Mode: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum Workshop” on April 10, 2015. The workshop was developed to explore the challenges of game education across the sciences, humanities and the arts. Although gaming is rapidly maturing as an industrial, cultural and artistic medium, the study and practice of games in an academic setting continues to find its footing. Game artists, designers, and scholars from across the US and Canada, as well as academics from other disciplines at UCLA participated in the workshop, exchanging ideas about the future of game education and tackling the issues of cross-disciplinary collaboration in an academic setting.
The workshop objectives, agenda, and participants are included below. For additional information about the workshop or its work product, please contact workshop co-chair and UCLA Game Lab researcher David O’Grady at manager@games.ucla.edu
The UCLA Game Lab would like to extend a special thanks to UCLA Interdisciplinary & Cross Campus Affairs and the UC Humanities Research Institute, whose grants funded the workshop.
Starting Objectives
| 1. | To identify the key concepts/components of an introductory, corss-disciplinary, large-scale, undergraduate game course (or series of courses). |
| 2. | To identify the structures for game centric curricula for undergaduates across and between multiple disciplines. |
| 3. | To develop an informal network in which to share information and solicit advice. |
Workshop Agenda
| 10-12:30 p.m. | Workshop morning Session Level 1: Workshop introduction and individual presentations
Level 2: Course Design, part 1: Brainstorming a cross-listed/cross-disciplinary games course |
| 12:30-1:30 p.m. | Lunch break and UCLA Game Lab tour |
| 1:30-5 p.m. | Workshop afternoon session
Level 3: Course design, part 2: Building a cross-listed/cross-displinary games course
Session Break Level 4: Games curriculum/program elements and aspirations in an interdisciplinary context Level 5: Conclusion and next steps |
| 5-6:30 p.m. | Reception at UCLA Game Lab and campus walking tour |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
| Co-Chair | Eddo Stern, Professor Department of Design Media Arts; Director, UCLA Game Lab |
| Co-Chair | David O'Grady, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA; Researcher, UCLA Game Lab |
| Coordinator | Tyler Stefanich, Manager, UCLA Game Lab, UCLA |
| Transcriptionist | Sofia Staab-Gulbenkian, Game Lab Resident, UCLA Game Lab, UCLA |
| Participants | Matteo Bittanti, Visiting Professor, Arts and Media, IULM University – Milan Peter Brinson, Assistant Professor of Practice, Interactive Media Games Division of the School of Cinematic Arts, USC Cindy Poremba, Professor, Animation and Game Design, Sheridan College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning Troy Richards, Associate Professor, Art, University of Delaware Judd Ruggill, Associate Professor, Social and Behavioral Science, Arizona State University Braxton Soderman, Assistant Professor, Film and Media Studies, University of California - Irvine Emma Westecott, Assistant Professor, Game Design, OCAD University Casey Reas, Professor, Design Media Arts, UCLA Brian Kim Stefans, Assistant Professor, English, UCLA Colin Smith-Clark, Lecturer, Psychology, Santa Monica College Steve Mamber, Professor and Vice Chair, Film, Television and Digital Media, UCLA Susanne Lohmann, Professor, Political Science, UCLA Denise Mann, Associate Professor, Film, Television and Digital Media, UCLA Oscar Moralde, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA Harrison Gish, PhD Candidate, Cinema and Media Studies, UCLA |