Tonight is the second run of my “Introduction to Games in Education” class at the Orange County Department of Education. The class began with each participant introducing themselves, what got them excited about learning when they were younger, and what they think their students might be excited about now. I suggested, of course, that for many of them, this might be video games. After listening to me go on (in a very Education 1.0 manner) about Piaget, Papert, Prensky, Gee, Aldrich, and other graduate students, the teachers finally got to go hands-on with Food Force, a serious game (for change) developed by the UN’s World Food Program.
This is the magic moment where I stop doing the heavy lifting at the front of the class, and the action moves to the participants! Then I can make sure everyone is getting started ok, snap a few pictures, and blog in the back. ;)
Despite all the quality academic “ammunition” I give them to take back to their administrators in the first hour, the game playing undoubtedly the most powerful segment of the session.