Play&Game

The play&game group will present the final results of the OSMA project at the e-culture fair and is looking for new collaborations to futher build on the OSMA platform.

The play&game research group is one of the partners in the GameHUB project.

During the GameHUB event several keynote speakers will talk about the actual situation of the existing game companies in Flanders and The Netherlands and share their experiences and visions on this evolving market. Workshops organized in the afternoon will illustrate the knowledge gathered in the GameHUB project and give the participants a first hands-on introduction to specific topics of the game development process.

Op vrijdag 30 september 2011 organiseert MEDIA Desk Vlaanderen, in samenwerking met enkele partners, voor de tweede keer de Games Summit. In 2008 gaven we een publiek van 150 Europese game developers, beleidsmakers en andere betrokken partijen een overzicht van wat games kunnen zijn –zowel hun maatschappelijke, culturele, economische als creatieve waarde.

Ondertussen, slechts drie jaar later, is veel veranderd. Games en de gamesindustrie zijn verder gegaan op verschillende vlakken. Zo is er meer verbondenheid onder spelers, al zijn ze duizenden kilometers van elkaar; de opkomst van handheld devices beïnvloedt het gedrag van de gamer en de mogelijkheden van de developer; business models in de gamesindustrie veranderen. De evoluties sinds 2008 indachtig, tonen we op deze nieuwe editie van de Games Summit wat games en de gamesindustrie anno 2011 betekenen.

Daarnaast stellen we ook de vraag naar beleid. In Vlaanderen is er heel wat talent aanwezig op gebied van game development. Dat wil echter niet zeggen dat er voldoende draagvlak is. Wat kan het beleid doen om een industrie te vormen, structureren en onderhouden? In de Noordelijke landen is alvast een industrie ontstaan, waarin de overheid een belangrijke rol speelt. Een ontmoeting met de Nordic countries (Denemarken, Finland, Zweden, Noorwegen, IJsland) en hun beleidsmakers is dan ook een van de aandachtspunten van de Games Summit.

In de prachtige Studio van Villanella in Antwerpen komen op 30 september enkele internationale sprekers samen die de state of the art van games en de gamesindustrie toelichten, is er ook aandacht voor de uitdagingen binnen het (Vlaamse) beleid, worden de projecten van het Business and Development Lab gepitcht en stellen we werk van eigen bodem tentoon. Op 1 en 2 oktober kan het grote publiek de spellen, creaties en demo’s zelf ontdekken tijdens de eerste Gamezone in De Studio.

Houd www.mediadesk-vlaanderen.eu en www.gamessummit.eu de komende tijd dus in de gaten. Daarop zullen we het programma publiceren en de inschrijvingen openen.

De Games Summit gebeurt in samenwerking met MEDIA Desk Denemarken/Duitsland en:

Last week I attended the AACE Global Time Conference, a three day, online spectacle filled with speakers whom all shared interest in educational technology and media.

One topic which was a focal point throughout many presentations was mobile technology (e.g. Ipad and Smartphones). Judging the sheer number of speakers which submitted a paper connected to mobile teaching, it is clearly a ‘hot’ topic. Of course, this has its reasons. Thomas J. C. Smyth indicated that mobile devices are becoming very popular and widespread among different populations. Alec Couros expanded on this by showing that there will be more mobile devices than there are pc’s by 2012. Cathleen Norris and Eliot Soloway also said that better school results were achieved by students who used mobile learning devices instead of pen and paper. If looked at from the perspective of serious games, it is interesting to image the evolution to mobile serious games.

Keynote speaker Jay Cross suggested a provocative idea about the gap between how education (in this case relating to work, but this can also be applied in general) has always been and how it should be. He emphasized that we need to do things differently, but we don’t know how exactly. Following this train of thought, it reminds me of what Cathleen Norris en Eliot Soloway said in their presentation: “Schools need to create an opportunity of the current crisis. […] We need to change the way we work.” In other words, instead of rebuilding the same educational resources in the very same way, it should be improved upon. In my opinion, this also has some complications for serious games. They should not blandly integrate traditional schooling, but transform it in a meaningful, digital way.

The main trend, of course, was about the shift from traditional schooling to digital education. In an entertaining presentation, Alec Couros, talked about the vast resources that were available online, also known as ‘open education’ (open content, free software, open courses, open teaching, etc.). His take on open education, which is mainly a very social one, is an inspiration to anyone involved in schooling technology. Finally, Gilly Salmon made clear that mistake in e-learning were made in the past. Educators want to be innovating on every front, but should instead focus on core values. Wise advice for the future!

On Wednesday the 23^th of February at 6PM (UTC) I will give a virtual presentation at the AACE Global Time conference. The conference is about innovation in educational technology and media. My presentation will be about my Master thesis (teaching physical actions via a digital media) which will also be a part of my doctoral research.

The conference will run from the 22^th to the 24^th. Registration is still open and can be done at https://www.aace.org/conf/gtime/.