SCHEDULE OVERVIEW

Day 1: January 18, 2019, 9:00 am to 6:30 pm

Location: Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Fiterman Hall, 245 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10009, 13th Floor

NOTE: You must bring ID to enter the building.

9:00-9:30 AM – Registration/Check-in (get your goodie bag!)
9:30 AM – Icebreaker/Welcome (coffee and light snacks provided) – Rm. 1306/7

Ongoing, from 9:30-6:30 and beyond: Game Play/Open Space – Rm. 1301

What is Open Space?

Open Space is an “unconference” format that allows attendees to self-organize and discuss topics of interest. In our version, participants may share resources, ideas, questions, etc. Visit Rm. 1301 at any point during the conference, grab a sticky note, write whatever you’d like to share, and add it to the wall. Attendees may add new categories at any time. Check back at the end of the day to see what new resources and ideas have been shared in this space.

Games

Throughout the day, we will have board and card games for you to examine or to try playing together. They will be divided into categories from “easy to learn” to more complex, so that even if you’ve never played a game before, you will find something comfortable and fun. You can always just watch the games happening as well! You will also find “cooperative” games where everyone helps each other (rather than competing) and more socially oriented games. Studying games by playing them together can help you generate ideas for your own activities. After dinner, the conference managers will do a formal presentation of these games (so be here at 7:30pm, or whenever you can). This event repeats on our 2nd day Saturday.

10-12 PM – Workshops
Redesign: Modifying Tabletop Games for Instruction with Joe Bisz and Carolyn Stallard – Rm. 1304

The best way to understand how to make our instruction more playful is to play more games. In this workshop, we’ll play a well-designed commercial board or card game (e.g. Pandemic, Red7, Forbidden Island). Next, we’ll study reference cards that meticulously break down how the game might be modified to teach any academic goal. Finally, you will pick such a goal, and with the other smart people on your team, brainstorm a new learning game inspired by the game you just played. You will walk away with several ideas for enhancing your own instruction.

Introduction to Game Design and Programming in Unity with Deborah Sturm – Rm. 1302

Digital games offer unique affordances for learning. Deborah Sturm has taught hundreds of undergraduates how to build games in the Unity game engine, and will guide you through the process. Attendees will learn many skills related to digital game development for education including (1) how digital games can be used to shape behaviors in a target population; (2) how iterative design can be used to build effective software; (3) how to use a commercial game engine; (4) the basics of the C# programming language; (5) game asset creation; and (6) the principles of object oriented programming.

12-1:30 PM – Poster and Game Demo Session 1 – Rm. 1306/7
Take some of this time to grab lunch at the BMCC cafe on the first floor, at Chipotle around the corner, or at the Amish Market (great deli and salad bar).

• Caudillo: A Gaming Simulation of Government Corruption; M. Gross
• Chemiga – A Mobile game to reinforce Chemistry concepts; V. Flaris, D. Sturm
• Code Control: A Game for Teaching Introductory Computer Science; D. Kletenik, R. Pantaev, M. Williams, K. Holloway, D. Sturm
• Cross-Indexing Game Characteristics to Test Media Literacy Game Design; L. Miles, C. Lyons
• Cyber Secured: A Serious Game for Cybersecurity Novices; D. Kletenik, A. Butbol, D. Chan, W. Chen, D. Kwoc, M. LaSpina
• DazzLinks in the Classroom: Exploring Creative Contraptions; P. Frisch & G. Morris
• From eSports to Education: Understanding the Relationship Between Performance, Team Cohesion, and the Big Five Personality Traits; D. Reyes & R. Duncan
• Games & Pedagogies: Supporting Paradigm Shifts and Cultures of Social Responsibility; S. Abrams
• THE JOURNEY FARAFINA; M. Diallo
• Leveraging Cognitive Science to Develop Killer Games; L. Portnoy, J. Ochoa Hendrix, M. Holford
• Mindfulness & Business Simulations; R. Shane Snipes
• The Physiological Correlates of Body Self-Consciousness in Virtual Reality; E. Owens & R. Duncan
• Power Up: Motivating Student Learning through Super Power Challenges; D. Seelow
• Simulation Evolution: A Study of Structural Inequality and Reform; V. Lim & M. Mead
• Social Media Scavenger Hunt; J. Caplan & C. Brown
• Supplementary Use of Games in Collaborative Sessions; A. Spryszynski

1:30-3:15 PM – Workshops
Game up your Math and Science Classes with Kathleen Offenholley – Rm. 1302

Would you like to get your students to actually want to work together? Get them excited about doing problems? This workshop is for you! Learn some easy math and science games you can use to get your students ready to work together, then create your own game.

What’s Your Game Plan? with Joe Bisz, Anders Wallace, & Carolyn Stallard – Rm. 1304 — 1 hour, from 2 to 3 pm — a shorter version of Joe’s game creation workshop, using his special game design card game for inspiration.

What do the lesson “Finding Citations,” the game “Trivial Pursuit,” and the mechanic “Bluffing” all have in common? In this bootcamp brainstorm, attendees are broken up into design teams whose job is to enhance an instructional plan with the mechanics of popular board games in only 20 minutes.

3:30-5:30 PM – Workshops
Introduction to Game Design and Programming in Unity— open to both faculty and students — with Robert Duncan – Rm. 1302

Digital games offer unique affordances for learning. Robert Duncan has taught hundreds of undergraduates how to build games in the Unity game engine, and will guide you through the process. Attendees will learn many skills related to digital game development for education including (1) how digital games can be used to shape behaviors in a target population; (2) how iterative design can be used to build effective software; (3) how to use a commercial game engine; (4) the basics of the C# programming language; (5) game asset creation; and (6) the principles of object oriented programming.

Allure of Play Game Design Workshop with Joe Bisz – Rm. 1304

What if you could be given a method for designing learning activities around lessons you already use? Are you interested in making your lessons and activities more innovative and playful? Joe Bisz will discuss the principles behind game-based learning, then explain his “Complex Mechanics” method for designing rigorous classroom games. Next, Joe will show you how to incorporate game mechanics and learning principles into your exercises, as you work together with fellow faculty to build a non-digital game for your classroom. This workshop is born from methods researched in his upcoming book for faculty, with Tori Mondelli.

5:30-6:30 PM – Poster and Game Demos II – Rm. 1306/7

• CANDIDATE; L. Andreasen
• Croodles; B. Shuttleworth, J. Sui, C. Huang
• The CUNY Game: An OER RPG about CUNY History; H. Sindh & L. Albracht
• DevilForge: A Prototype of Small Scale Game Making Tools; H. Ramsay & H. Allen
• Free Digital Math Games for Algebra and PreCalculus!; K. Offenholley
• “Fresh Start” – An Interactive Video Game With Narrative Immersion to Promote Mindful Drinking Among College Freshmen; J. Fishburn, Y. Hu, D. Amarosa, D. Desantis, N. Laureano
• Fun Discussion To Develop Critical Thinking; S. Jeshmaridian
• Learning to Program with CUNYBot; B. Weber, A. Mohamed, J. Jackson
• Line it up — A card game for arguments in Social Policy class; K. Rajendran
• Mission-Based Learning: Transforming A Music Survey Course to Build Community; C. Stallard & R. Duncan
• Player-Designer Meta-communication, Interactive Digital Narrative Design and Perspective-taking Skills; C. Daiute, R. Duncan, F. Marchenko
• Playing Novels and Reading Games: On Strategic Choice and Power; L. Evans
• Rethinking Gaming & Representation in Pedagogy; A. Wheeler & R. Gomez
• Teaching history using ancient games; M. Tibaldini

 

Day 2: January 19, 2019, 11:00 am to 7:00 pm

Location: Borough of Manhattan Community College’s Fiterman Hall, F904 (BMCC), 245 Greenwich Street, New York, New York 10009

The heart of game-based learning lies in its inspiration: the games we play.

Therefore, on the second day of the conference, we will be playing board and card games in a social, bonding atmosphere. This is a more informal event and we expect turnout to be smaller than the first day, which is a good opportunity for further networking. You are welcome to bring your own educational games for play testing, as well as your own breakfast. We will provide a large selection of board and card games of various complexity levels, so even if you’ve never played a game before, you will discover something to suit. BMCC is very close to Whole Foods if you need to take a lunch break or pick up food before you arrive.