Readings

The course has two central texts:

[Gee] = Buy at Amazon Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have To Teach Us About Learning and Literacy. St. Martin's Griffin, 2007. ISBN: 9781403984531.

[Schell] = Buy at Amazon Schell, Jesse. The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses. A K Peters / CRC Press, 2014. ISBN: 9781466598645. [Preview with Google Books]

WEEK # TOPICS READINGS
1 Introduction None
2 Designing Curriculum for Commercial Off the Shelf Games

Hunicke, Robin, Marc LeBlanc, et al. "MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Gesign and Game Research." 2004.

[Gee] Chapters 1 and 2.
3 Designing Curriculum for Commercial Off the Shelf Games

[Gee] Chapters 3 and 4.

Duncan, Sean. "Fiasco and Failure: Uncovering Hidden Rules in a Story Game." Well Played: A Journal on Video Games, Value and Meaning 3, no. 1 (2014): 11-32.

Nealen, Andrew. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Ascension: A Case Study in Deck Building Games." (PDF - 1.1MB) Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA), 2013.

Duncan, Sean. "Minecraft, Beyond Construction & Survival." Well Played: A Journal on Video Games, Value and Meaning 1, no. 1 (2011): 1–22.

Learning with Computer Games & Simulations. The Center for Implementing Technology in Education.
4 Designing Curriculum for Commercial Off the Shelf Games

[Gee] Chapters 5 and 6.

Harger, Bakker. "Improv." ETC Press & Morningstar, and Segedy. "Fiasco Companion Excerpt." 2011.

Berland, Matthew. "Understanding Strategic Boardgames as Computational Thinking Training Machines." ETC Press, 2011.

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Turkle, Sherry. "What We Build." In Falling for Science: Objects in Mind. MIT Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780471137740.

Lauwaert, Maaike. "Challenge Everything?: Construction Play in Will Wright's SimCity." Games and Culture 2, no. 3 (2007): 194–212.
5 Multiplayer Games

[Gee] Chapters 7 and 8.

Buy at Amazon Levy, Frank, and Richard J. Murnane. "How Computerized Work and Globalization Shape Human Skill Demands." In Learning in the Global Era: International Perspectives on Globalization and Education. University of California Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780520254367.

Johnson, Soren. "Playing the Odds." Gamasutra. March 16, 2010.

Squire, Kurt, et al. "From Users to Designers: Building a Self-Organizing Game-Based Learning Environment." TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning 49, no. 5 (2005): 34–43.

Steinkuehler, Constance, and Sean Duncan. "Scientific Habits of Mind in Virtual Worlds." Journal of Science Education and Technology 17, no. 6 (2008): 530–43.
6 Game Gurriculum Presentations None
7 Game Curriculum Presentations (cont.) None
8 Board Games

Optional Readings

[Schell] Chapters 1 and 2.
9 Board Games (cont.)

Readings Due

Nicholson, Scott. "From Settlers to Quarriors: Breaking up the Monopoly with Modern Board Game Design." Modern Board Game Colloquim 2011. September 13, 2011.

Optional Readings

[Schell] Chapters 3 and 4.

Presentations

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Bogost. "Procedural Rhetoric." In Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. MIT Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780262514880.

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Salen, Katie, et al. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Game Based Learning & Knowing." In Quest to Learn: Developing the School for Digital Kids. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Reports on Digital Media and Learning. MIT Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780262515658. [Free download available]

10

 Board Games (cont.)

Readings Due

Buy at Amazon Daviau, Selinker, et al. Excerpts - Kobold Guide to Board Game Design. Open Design LLC, 2012. ISBN: 9781936781041.

Optional Readings

[Schell] Chapters 5 and 6.

Pulsipher, Lewis. "Characteristics of Boards." Gamasutra. January 26, 2015.

Presentations

Joplin, Laura. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."On Defining Experiential Education." Journal of Experiential Education 4, no. 1 (1981): 17-20.

McGonigal, Jane. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Why I Love Bees: A Case Study in Collective Intelligence Gaming." (PDF) The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning (2008): 199–228.

11

 Board Games (cont.)

Optional Readings

[Schell] Chapters 7 and 8.

Presentations

Buy at Amazon Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development, 2005. ISBN: 9781416600350. [Preview with Google Books]

Mislevy, Robert, et al. "A Brief Introduction to Evidence Centered Design." ETS Research Report Series 2003, no. 1 (2013): 2003.
12 Board Games (cont.)

Optional Readings

[Schell] Chapters 9 and 10.

Presentations

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Kafai, Yasmin, and Deborah Fields. "Playgrounds for Millions" and "Identity Play." In Connected Play: Tweens in a Virtual World. MIT Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780262019934. [Preview with Google Books]

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Ito, Mizuko, et al. "Gaming." In Hanging Out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out—Kids Living and Learning with New Media. MIT Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780262518543.
13 Board Games (cont.)

Optional Readings

[Schell] Chapters 11 and 12.

Presentations

Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Stevens, Reed, et al. "In-Game, In-Room, In-World: Reconnecting Video Game Play to the Rest of Kids' Lives." In The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. MIT Press, 2008, 41–66. ISBN: 9780262195751.

Squire, Kurt. "From Content to Context: Videogames as Designed Experience." Educational Researcher 35, no. 8 (2006): 19–29.
14 Board Game Presentations None
15 Board Game Presentations (cont.) None
16 Digital Games

Readings Due

Buy at Amazon Bogost, Ian. "Intro, Empathy, Exercise, Conclusion." In How to Do Things With Video Games. University of Minnesota Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780816676477.

Optional

Bogost, Ian. "The Cathedral of Computation." The Atlantic Monthly. January 15, 2015.
17 Digital Games (cont.)

Readings Due

This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."A-Games Educator Survey." (PDF - 9.7MB) NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and University of Michigan School of Learning. 2014.
18 Digital Games (cont.) Zimmerman, Eric. "This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader.Play as Research: The Iterative Design Process (PDF - 5.2MB)." 2003.
19 Digital Games (cont.) None
20 Digital Games (cont.) Excerpt from Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Flanagan, Mary. Critical Play: Radical Game Design. MIT Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780262518659.
21 Digital Games (cont.) Buy at Amazon Fullerton, Tracy. "Playtesting." Chapter 9 in Game Design Workshop: A Playcentric Approach to Creating Innovative Games. AK Peters/CRC Press, 2014. ISBN: 9781482217162.
22 Digital Games (cont.)

Wilson, Douglas. This resource may not render correctly in a screen reader."Designing for the Pleasures of Disputation." (PDF - 6.2MB) 2012.

Consalvo, Mia. "Cheating Can Be Good For You: Educational Games and Multiple Playstyles." In Beyond Fun: Serious Games and Media. ETC Press, 2007.
23 Digital Games (cont.) None
24 Digital Games (cont.) Buy at MIT Press Buy at Amazon Shute, Valerie. Stealth Assessment: Measuring and Supporting Learning in Video Games. MIT Press, 2013. ISBN: 9780262518819. [Preview with Google Books]
25 Digital Games presentations None
26 Digital Games presentations (cont.) None