[game_edu] Ad Hoc committee

[Burke, Robin]

(I apologize if this message appears twice. My previous attempt did not appear on the list - I think because of an address mismatch issue. Trying again.)

I really do not understand why this issue keeps moving forward despite the total lack of publicly-stated interest from the SIG membership. I've not heard word one in support of this idea on the mailing list, yet according to this email, it has already been decided that such a stamp of approval will be created, the only question being what the requirements will be. There's been "a large offline discussion." By whom? Why is such an important topic unable to be discussed in the only public forum that we have as a SIG?

I believe that we should not have or be a party to creating such a curricular oversight process, whatever you choose to call it. My reasons are as follows:


*         As I said at the town hall meeting, "regulatory capture". Let us imagine school X that invests as little as possible in its educational programs and seeks to turn a big profit. School X discovers that the IGDA stamp of approval program exists and can be used as a marketing tool. Suddenly it is in the interests of School X to meet the "letter of the law" requirements of the stamp of approval, and furthermore to become heavily involved in the formulation of those requirements to make sure that its own curriculum passes muster. It will be far more cost effective for School X to lobby / infiltrate the regulatory body than to actually improve its curriculum. This is the wrong incentive structure to create.

*         Game development means different things to different people. We are so early in the process of teaching this discipline that it is very pre-mature to say that we know how to do it right. Just because people get jobs in the industry does not mean that we are doing it right. 50 years from now, when we see who has created the real innovations in the field, then we'll know if we were doing it right.

I totally disagree with the premise that some other organization will commandeer this process if we don't. That is just fear-mongering. There are lots of academic disciplines / sub-disciplines out there that have no formal or informal accreditation. It is the exception more than the norm.

We need to let a thousand flowers bloom, especially now when things are just getting started. Sure, there will be some dross, that's inevitable. If we have a stamp of approval, there will also be dross, but then it will "approved" dross and that will make us look bad. And there will be great, innovative programs that don't meet the bar for whatever reason and that will also make us look bad and generate resentment.

Why are we doing this?!?!?!?

robin
=:-{)
http://josquin.cti.depaul.edu/~rburke/

"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms" - Muriel Rukeyser





From: game_edu-bounces at igda.org [mailto:game_edu-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of S. Gold
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 10:33 PM
To: IGDA Game Education Listserv
Subject: [game_edu] Ad Hoc committee

I would like to develop an ad hoc committee on the issue of accreditation (I would prefer to call it an IGDA Stamp of Approval) for lack of a better word. It has been a large offline discussion and I want to further it to the list, but in an organized way. I realize that some of you may worry about not being able to pass, but I feel that many of you have successful programs and can comfortably achieve the outcomes that this project would want to insure.

Due to the nature of the SIG, with no mandatory membership or fee, lack of any paid staff, whatever we do needs to have a certain simplicity to the process. We are not in a position to create a large scale accreditation process like ABET. Since accreditation is not the word I am really looking for, let me outline some of what I am trying to implement:

 *   a list of criterion to insure that students are getting the appropriate outcomes in their education (this needs to be flushed out extensively)
 *   that the institution has an adviosry board with members of the video game industry
 *   students work in teams, study itterative design, essentially embrace the ethos of the curriculum framework
 *   students have graduated and been placed in the video game industry

I like the idea of a stamp of approval, something that can be achieved no matter what country or type of institution. This approval process will secure that whatever school a student is coming from that the institution they decide to attend to meets the challenges and provides the core experiences that the IGDA Education framework sets forth.

The goal would be to have some sort of "authority" that would insure students can easily identify that institution and understands that thier best interests are first and foremost. I do not want to set up an accrediation that is another notch in an institutions belt, but a way to secure a continuity of educational standards on a global basis.

I would like to see the committee compose of a variety of educational institutions and types of programs. I want to limit the actual size of the committee to 10 people. The criteron developed by the committee must be able to fit all institutions in higher education. Of additional interest, I am looking for members outside of North America as well as members that have adopted the IGDA Curriculum Framework.

The reasoning behind the IGDA Ed SIG's move to do this is so that we determine those outcomes and criteron as opposed to another orginization that will not work in the universal best interests of students.

If you are interested in being a member of this committee, please write me a short note as to why you feel strongly on this subject, a copy of your CV and your committment to work collaboratively within the committee. I will select members of the committee by March 15, 2008. I will limit the number of members to ten. Members of the committee will have to be able to meet enough to prepare a report/list of criteron to the leadership board by June 1, 2008.

Sincerely,
Susan

p.s. I am sure this will set off some discussion, please note I will be offline until March 3rd while attending the Microsoft's Academic Days Conference on Game Development, (GDCSE'08).

--
Prof. Susan Gold
Chair, IGDA Education SIG

"There's this game where you put in a dollar and you win four quarters. I win every time." - Chris Griffin, Family Guy
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