Education

At GGJ we are all about jamming, we like the process and feel there is so much to gain from participating in a jam experience. As much fun as it is to get people together to jam, we think it is really important to have some preparation prior to jumping into a jam. That is why we are recommending that jam hosts either hold workshops or incorporate some sort of classes to prepare the young creators for making games. At GGJNEXT™ we want to help by providing educators and hosts with a curriculum, lesson plans and projects to help get students ready for a positive jam experience.

The Global Game Jam®, Inc. is proud to announce our next step in growing the world of game development & innovation: GGJNext--game creation challenges for young creators worldwide, ages 12-17.

We think that all children around the world should have the opportunity to learn the digital literacy lessons, including the skills and tools that game development employs, (STEAM, leadership, collaboration and curiosity), expands GGJ’s global goals of knowledge democratization. Although founded in games, we do not expect to turn everyone into game developers, but instead, to give children skills and software mastery that will gain them confidence to further their dreams by expanding their experience with digital tools to succeed. Participants will learn skills that will help them in their lives; providing healthy curiosity and a foundation in which to grow. To do this we are developing & supporting a global network of volunteers and educators with a curriculum, challenges and a yearly jam that will bring everyone together at the same time around the globe. We hope that countries all over the world will join us in deploying the power of game development and jamming

The Global Game Jam has grown yearly based on community outreach and developer support. Our locations are run independently go for 48 hours including overnights. We feel that this is not an ideal situation when working with younger developers who have less experience. Therefore we plan to provide GGJ Next to last one week, with no overnights required. In addition, we require organizations that are offering GGJ Next to follow our strict guidelines for working with youth and we will protect children and their work in every possible digital way, following all legal recommendations.

We embark upon a world of collaboration by challenging youth to innovate providing skills of the 21st Century. All with the goal of distributing a free, easy to access curriculum to create and grow communities of young developers.

Today, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) education is recognized as one of the most important areas of growth for young people. Many organizations recognize this and are providing their own youth game development classes; these programs, however, lack scale and focus heavily on the United States. Our goal is to support young creators globally, providing them with resources, guidance, and place for them to gain confidence within game development and STEAM.

We plan to do this by creating a free curriculum and model for students anywhere to learn basic game development skills--coding, art, storytelling and audio, communication, collaboration and planning. Partnering with schools and skilled facilitators to deliver the content, our hope is to develop a scalable program that can be integrated large or small. Our workshops will be delivered with online content and educator instruction, set out to prepare our young creators for the 1st GGJNext^TM Game Jam to be held Summer 2018. This jam will be held over the course of one week, giving participants the time to make and explore the world of collaboration and teamwork. We expect, through the aid of the IGDA Mentor program to have veteran game developers attend local jams to mentor in as many locations as feasible. The game jam will be an explosion of creativity and passion. The end result will not only be a collection of games, but increasing the education, experience and most importantly, the confidence of the young minds involved.

Global Game Jam®, Inc. has a proven track record of bringing STEAM development programs to nations all across the world. Our annual event, the Global Game Jam, has been in over 100+ different countries, including many developing nations like Peru, Palestine, and South Sudan. After nine years of consistent year over year growth, we have created and proven a successful model that we are replicating with GGJNext. The volunteers, global connections, and infrastructure we have made with the Global Game Jam® will be invaluable to the success of GGJNext. The level of scale at which Global Game Jam, Inc. works will allow us to impact the greatest number of youth possible.

For Additional Information questions@globalgamejam.org