[game_edu] Qol, "crunch" and Education

[Jose P. Zagal]

> The timing of this thread, in the week following Global Game Jam, is

> hilarious.

>

> "We should not encourage students to "crunch", or expect that they

> will, or assign them work such that they have no way of completing it

> without having to put in crunch-style hours."

>

> Unless it's fun.



You raise a good point that I've wrestled with over the years.

Does Game Jam somehow legitimize (in the eyes of the students) overtime 
and crunching? I don't really have an answer for that, and I hope that 
someone explores the question...

I am concerned that it does, and this year I almost cut the "overnight" 
aspect. What I have done, as far as organizing Game Jam is:

1. On Friday I send everyone home. Game Jam only runs overnight from Sat 
to Sun.

2. We end earlier on Sunday (11am, rather than 3pm)

3. I make sure to provide decent meals (within budgetary constraints) 
rather than snacks to create opportunities for participants to take a 
break, step away from the computer, and nourish themselves properly.



-- 
José P. Zagal
Assistant Professor
College of Computing and Digital Media
DePaul University

http://www.ludoliteracy.com/
http://facsrv.cs.depaul.edu/~jzagal