Manchester Games Edu 08

Not all games graduates are created equal..

Sharing best practice - practical advice for games educators

Manchester Games Edu 08

When ‘Booty’ isn’t enough

Manchester Games Edu 08

Sharing best practiceWorkshop overview

• Part 1 • Steven Yau (EA)

– Experiences of games education and getting into the games industry.

• Gregor White (The University of Abertay Dundee)– 'you can lead a horse to water... '

• Jon Purdy (The University of Hull) – Herding Cats… Organising and assessing student group work.

• John Sear– Industrially focused group projects “Applied Game Development”

Manchester Games Edu 08

• Part 2

• Sharing Best Practice.– Split into three groups to discuss areas of best

practice.

• Report and Review.– Each group to present one or two novel ideas for the

audience to take away and try.

Sharing best practiceWorkshop overview

Manchester Games Edu 08

Manchester Games Edu 08

Herding Cats…

• Organising and assessing student group projects.

• Why bother? • “Students’ portfolios should contain the outcomes from a

team-based project to develop a computer game,

demonstrating the ability to work in a team.” – Skillset accreditation document

Manchester Games Edu 08

Organising and assessing student group projects.

The Problems (quotes from students) – The game we were making was too big..– One of the group did nothing..– Two of the group were really bad

programmers, the code they did had to be rewritten, but they still got the same mark as the rest of us.

– I didn’t want to work in a group so I did it on my own.

Manchester Games Edu 08

Organising and assessing student group projects.

The Problems (Problems caused by specifications)– “form a group of between 1 and 6 to complete

this coursework”– “design and build a game of your choice”– “ there is no formal class contact for this

module – the game you produce must be demonstrated to the group at the end of term”

Manchester Games Edu 08

Organising and assessing student group projects.

Golden rules for successful group game project.

Seven years MSc experience.Three years final year BSc.Split into

– Group Selection – Group Management – Assessment

Manchester Games Edu 08

Group Selection

• Rule 1.– Never let students select their own groups

• Rule 2.– Select groups on ability – don’t mix ability.

• Rule 3.– Allow as little freedom in the product as

possible. • Provide tech students with a design document.• Provide Design students with a very tight

specification

Manchester Games Edu 08

Group Management

• Rule 1 – Set major milestones

• Get groups to define their weekly and final deliverables.

• Rule 2 – Monitor progress

• Weekly presentations and progress reports • Play the role of an external publisher

• Rule 3– Mix groups and sack group members if required

Manchester Games Edu 08

Assessment

• Rule 1– Use self assessment

• Get groups to assess their product against their own planned deliverable – get them to give a mark.

• Rule 2 – Use group to group peer assessment

• Get each group to assess each others work – rankings are good.

• Rule 3 – Use self and peer assessment within the group.

• Get each group member to assess their own performance within the group.

• Get each member to assess all the other group members.• Use individual interviews for this – don’t accept “we all did the

same”.

Manchester Games Edu 08

Herding Cats…

• Conclusions – At the start of the project:

• Give the students as little freedom as possible

– At the end of the project:• Allow the students as much input into the

assessment as possible.