Games Behind Bars

Peninsula College Clallam Bay Corrections Center

Brian Walsh – Corrections Education Director

Ray Pulsipher – CSE Instructor

Serious Play Conference 2013

Play in Prison? Really?

Olympic Peninsula Who we are:

• Washington State Community

College

• Contracted by State Board of

Community and Technical Colleges

(SBCTC) to provide education at

two prisons

• Located on the rural Olympic

Peninsula with 70,000 residents

Clallam Bay Corrections Center

(CBCC)

900 bed adult male maximum,

close and medium facility

Olympic Corrections Center

(OCC)

370 bed adult male minimum work camp

• Wide age range 18 - 75

• Diverse backgrounds – Race

– Gang Affiliation

– Education

– Mental health

– Substance Abuse

• How long have they been locked up?

• Length of time until release

Student Population

• Adult Basic Education

• Bookkeeping

• Horticulture

• Small Business

• Baking

• Green Building

• Game/Mobile Programming

Our Programs – CBCC and OCC

• Long Commute • No remote access • Updating curriculum and current events • IT Issues – system updates? • Getting online tools into the classroom • Multiple campus locations • Trying new things can be tough • Limited options for homework – no electronics in their cells • Budget • Maximum security – Following the process when bringing

stuff in

Curriculum Design Challenges

• Creating our own internet

– Take over root level DNS

– Virtualize servers for easier movement in and out of the facility

– Clone anything we can (websites, linux distros, etc…)

– Run standalone copies of software or licensing servers where possible

IT Challenges – NO INTERNET!!!

Build Some Roads Start with some infrastructure and how about some free software too?

We run 11 different virtualized Linux or windows servers on

one box

We use Nas4Free for our NAS solution

Proxmox server

VMs are big files, this allows us to take them out of the institution for updates/maintenance. Also allows us to build them elsewhere and bring them in or clone them for use on other sites. Syncing content of individual apps like Canvas can still be tricky. Backups to IMS format is easiest method right now.

Viewing Student Screens - ITalc

• Windows or Linux software - http://italc.sourceforge.net/

• Differences – Teaching outside and in

• Project based learning and flipped classrooms

• Staying productive for 3-6 hours

• Peer pressure inside (good and bad)

• Learning to love books

• Teaching life long learning skills

• Encouraging innovation

Building A Learning Culture

Games Inside

• Game playing

• Game building

• Business projects with game elements

– Social networking site with mini games

– Construction project tools

– Entrepreneurship projects

• Students coding instructional content

• Visual Studio and Xamarin Studio (C#) • MonoDroid (android dev in C#) • Netbeans (java, php) • Eclipse (android dev) • Kloxo (hosting html5/css/javascript/php/mysql) • Irrlitch (3D engine) • Qt-project (cross platform c++ with mobile support) • Blender • Gimp/Photoshop • Gamemaker

Tools We Use

Student Projects – Learning C#

Student Projects – C# Music, Sort, Tron

Student Projects – C# Matrix and Console RPG

Student Projects – Othello and Frog Jump Puzzle

Student Projects – 3D Rendering with Blender

Student Projects – 3D Rendering with Blender

Student Projects – Making Wesnoth Levels

Student Projects – 3D Models with Blender by tracing

Student Projects – C# Social Media Website

Step Down – Preparing Inmates For Release

• How can we better prepare inmates for release? – Role play does not work well in prison due to

social pressures

– Orientation simulations on entry to and exit from a high stress environment

– Preventative Activities

• What real world skills will make student successful?

Where next?