[game_edu] "Identifying a Good Game School"

[Ian Schreiber]

Jose, I actually agree with most of your points, which means I've failed to write the article clearly.



>1. Students know what's best for their education.


It's a subtle line, but I would say the main point is not that students need to know what's best (else, they would teach themselves and eschew school altogether), but rather that students should know what their own goals are: what do they expect to get out of school? If they don't know why they're going to school, they are probably not going to choose one that suits their specific needs.

Granted, a lot of students don't know what they want (I certainly didn't when I was 16). But as long as they KNOW they don't know, there are still strategies that will help them to take the next step of figuring out a goal.



>2. Research-focused institutions have poor teaching.


I think that's taking the article to perhaps a further extreme than I'd prefer. What we said is that if the majority of P&T decisions focus on research, grants and publications, then those faculty are probably going to concentrate in those areas -- that is what the system is driving them to do!

I would actually say the same of teaching-focused institutions. In some so-called "teaching" schools, teachers don't even sit in each other's classes, and P&T is decided based primarily on number of hours taught (regardless of quality). I've heard from instructors who either had no faculty contact, or maybe a single hour late in the term. I understand that sitting on a 40-hour class takes time, but honestly, how much can you tell about someone's teaching ability if you don't?

I wouldn't say that either type of school is "better" at teaching, but rather that the systems in place are going to cause certain behavior, and being aware of those systems gives an indication of how the majority of faculty are going to act in the classroom.



>3. Research-focused institutions (or "career academics"), have no impact 

>or relation to the game industry.


This one, I'm not sure where in the article you were looking. I distinctly remember writing that a diverse mix of faculty (some who do primarily research, some who come from industry) can make for a wonderful ecosystem. There is merely a danger if the department is too homogenous -- too many researchers may not understand the issues relevant to the students that just want to graduate and get a job in industry, while too many fresh-from-industry faculty run the risk of making the school ONLY relevant to industry and not teaching the broader picture.



>4. The goal of a university education is to get a job.


Here I would say, that is clearly not the goal of the university, but we are kidding ourselves if we don't think it is the goal of many (but not all) of our students. And for those students who do have this as a goal, is it shortsighted to say that they should choose a school that stands a good chance of helping them reach that goal?



>5. Entrepreneurship is what you do when you can't get a job.

>(and a university education can't prepare you for entrepreneurship)


I think what we said is that entrepreneurship is all fine and good, but that if there is a persistent pattern where MOST graduates start their own companies, it could be a signal that they are trying and failing to get hired. I have heard of schools that specifically encourage their jobless graduates to start companies so that the school can boast a higher percentage of graduates who got "industry jobs". While the practice is sketchy, it happens, and students deserve to be warned in advance.

As for whether school can prepare for entrepreneurship... I don't consider myself an entrepreneur so I can't really say. I have been told from other entrepreneurs that you can either pay $100K for an MBA, or take that same money to start up a company that you crash into the ground, and you'll learn just as much either way. Some of these people had MBAs, others didn't.



>6. If it isn't obviously related to games, it's useless to a games education.


If I did imply that, then I really messed up. Of the classes that I think game designers should take in school, more than half have nothing to do with games (overtly).


At any rate, wanted to clarify where I stand on these issues, if nothing else.

- Ian



      
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