[game_edu] Ad Hoc committee

[Leo Moreno]

I would love to see something happen in the K-12 sector if not just HS also.  I have voiced my concern before at IGDA in at least High School participating and having access.

Leonard A. Moreno - InfoTech Instructor
FalconTech Pathway
Regional Occupational Programs
Palmdale High School
(661) 273-3181 x.362
http://infotech.phsfalcons.org
"No Child Left Unplugged"



>>> "S. Gold" <goldfile at gmail.com> 2/27/2008 8:32 PM >>>

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