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Ethical gaming in schools - need help getting my Kickstarter off the ground.
yodasdarkside
Mr.Okotoks, ABRegistered User new member
Mr.Okotoks, ABRegistered User new member
Hi there. New to PA, although I have been aware of the site and its work for some time. I'm a high-school teacher looking to combine my two great passions: education and gaming. I'll keep this as short as possible, but if I could ask simply to look at my proposal and give me feedback, or if you think it's worth doing, contributing to the project, then that'd be awesome. I'm based in Alberta, Canada, so I had to go with a site other than Kickstarter, as that's USA only, but the concept is much the same. Thank you, Penny Arcade Community.
ceres on
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#1. Valve has started an Steam for Schools and already allows teachers access to some great tools to use Portal and Portal 2 in the classroom.
#2. Have you played "Dear Esther"?!? It's an amazing story and the whole time I was playing it I just got more and more excited about using it in the classroom. Great tool for those students who have trouble visualizing a story and/or understanding symbolism or narrative. I highly recommend it.
If you haven't already, you probably want to start a blog (outside of the rockethub website) to raise buzz about your project and give people a taste of what would be included in your book. Have you already written some sample lesson plans using games? Teachers I work with are usually most eager to use/buy a book that has a lot of practical information they can readily use in their curriculum as opposed to reading philosophy-heavy material.
Another big hurdle (biggest hurdle) to ethical game-implementation in schools (in my experience) is administrator approval, data/research, and relation to state/national standards. Administration often needs research and data to back projects that will use limited funds and which parents/school boards may question the validity of (a.k.a. video games). I think it would be important that your book reference sound evidence showing that games can let to better academic outcomes for students.
Good Luck!
The book will be a light on philosophy and heavy on practical use. The lesson plans will have things like equipment lists, costs, time etc. as well as follow-up activities and ties to curriculum where possible. I will be commencing my blog shortly, as I'm trying to drip-feed this so that I don't run out of steam. Have literally never tried anything like this before - I thought the internet only happened to other people - so I'm excited as well as daunted by the prospect.