What Do Students Have to Say About the Web Game Design Course?

One of the activities is the Flying Monkey Experience, in which students capture data, graph it and make predictions using the graphed information. Naturally this is a very cross curricular activity, which is one of the primary reasons we at CTeLearning created it. But you never know where a student will apply his or her new skills in other classes. When asked about how this class has helped him in other classes, Cameron said “It helped me track data in economics.” Makenzie chimed in to say, “I have learned more about graphing and visual learning. This has helped me a lot in Math class.” Sometimes it is easy to forget how much core academics are supported, reinforced and made contextual through career and technical education curriculum.

In game design, story is very important for engaging the target audience. Many of the projects incorporate the need for the learner to think creatively about story and engagement. Learning how to write creatively, in context, can help students improve their overall written communication skills. Wesley said, “The text adventure helped me the most with English by letting me refine my storytelling skills.” This makes sense, as creative writing starts with great brainstorming. Dylan had this to say: “The course has helped me learn to come up with ideas on the spot rather than taking more time.” And Tristen said, “I like how it has taught me how to code.”

Sometimes administrators and district coordinators don’t realize how students think of the work and choices they make. Gavin had this to say to the administration about the course opportunity: “I would like to say thank you and all the people that have contributed for making this possible, not only for me, but for others, as well. Video games have been a long-term passion of mine and I would like to expand on it in the future, and this class I’m taking will help achieve that. Thank you and everyone who has contributed.” Dylan chimed in too: “This is much better than the coding class last year because it is more in depth with the gaming side of coding.” And Hector said, “Thank you for giving me this class to have fun and learn from.”

Other students talked about why they like the course so much. Gavin said, “T he thing I enjoy most about video game design is having the ability to expand my creativity. This class easily makes me satisfied because not only do I get to have more creativity than usual, but I also get to use that in my passion for video games.” Jason said, “ I like that I get to keep my work.” How often does a teacher hear that students want to keep their work to share with their family and friends? We are so proud when we hear these sentiments from students.

We know that teachers listen to students, and we asked what advice students would give to other teachers who are considering teaching the course. Logan said, “They should teach Video Game Design because it’s fun, it’s an enjoyable class, you can be creative, and there is a whole different world when it comes to video game design.” And Makenzie said, “ We have a good time while getting good work done. There are lots of brilliant minds that work together in every class and we help each other.”