Character Development and Team Environments

Character development is one of the first steps that a player takes within games. Most team based games provide players with an element of choice that involves selecting their character from a roster of identities or developing a character from scratch. This gives students a way to create versions of characters based off prior knowledge or assumed knowledge, which can lead discussion about character development and the choices that are made about characters or people. Using games to conduct team environments allowing students to build leadership skills and confidence in the classroom is a great way for peer to peer based learning and can sometimes give a quiet student some confidence and leadership within the classroom environment.

RPG’s (Role Playing Games) and Mathematics / Forward Thinking

Role Playing Games allow student to assign and to gain points in certain areas for a created character. This can be something that can really motivate students to do well in tasks within the classroom. Teachers can keep a log of certain areas that students can gain points in. Students can assign point values after a certain task to build their character up in certain areas and compare with others in the class.

Creating sustainability in Characters Environments

Students can apply their learning from sustainability and environments to create environments in a world of their own. This allows students to have creativity and responsibility to create their own worlds that address sustainability. This can be great to prompt discussion in the classroom between students about how their creations address these issues.

Written by Steven McGlade @ridethedigiwave

I have always had a passion for coding and design. It was a way that I found I could express myself when I was younger. This is what led me to studying Games Programming at RMIT and pursuing a career as a Games Programmer. In this role I worked on games such as Need for Speed, The Sims and The Simpsons for several different mobile phone platforms. I was exposed to working with many different people who all had a variety of great skills from the programming, art, design and management fields. A career change to teaching allowed me to share my passion with others. When I began teaching I set about changing some resources at my school to engage a wide variety of students and learners. This is where the journey began.

I have always been a great advocate for students to share their passions and enthusiasm for programming, art and design. This is where the idea started to create a club at my school where students could come and learn to code, work on their art, and work on their designs and to share their work with others. This was something that I did not have when I was at school and that I wish was there for me.

What I didn’t anticipate was the amount of students that would attend every week. It first started as a weekly club and then students wanted more. I slowly saw more and more students attending and sharing their work with myself and other students, asking questions about their ideas and how to develop them. Teachers came along to ask questions about coding and how they could integrate coding in to their classroom activities. I also began to see students forming friendships that would carry out in to the yard. This is where the club took on a new meaning of wellbeing, friendship and leadership.

Upon reflecting about the creation of the club at my school I started to think about the main points that made it successful. Consider the below if you’re thinking of creating a code club at your school:

ENGAGE WITH STUDENTS

Engaging with students was a greatly rewarding part of having a coding club. Talking with students and encouraging them with what they were creating or what they are interested in can make a student’s confidence rise greatly and give them someone that they can feel comfortable talking to.

Some of the students may not have had the best grades in the school and may not even receive praise outside of school, so encouraging them to continue with their passion can be a great way to boost a student’s engagement level and give them a safe space to be.

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CREATE THE CULTURE YOU WANT

Within my school there has been a culture that males are interested in computers and technology more so than females. This is a culture that I wanted to break. With this in mind I encouraged all students to attend through year level assemblies and made sure to create a culture within the club of inclusion. I was able to do this by showing videos of successful females working in the IT industry. This saw many female students attending every week and saw our general numbers in enrolments in to ICT subjects increase also in the following year.

BE ENTHUSIASTIC

Your enthusiasm will create enthusiasm and feelings of inclusion for the students. Most that attend are students who do not participate in sports at lunch time - this is a space that they feel they own and are inclusive of everyone. Don’t be afraid to share some of your passions and to pass on your knowledge or opinions on what the students are creating. Make sure to take advantage of any free excursions or incursions that could be offered to the club’s students. I have used ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), AIE (Academy of Interactive Entertainment) and programs from my school’s local council for excursions and incursions to reward students who are truly passionate and enthusiastic.

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LET IT EVOLVE

Let students have a say - how do they envision their club? Students gave me the idea to run a term long competition in different ICT fields and to have presentations at the end of the term with prizes for best programmer, best animation, and best designer. Consequently, students have an aim and can show their leadership skills by working in groups.

Make sure to have special events for students so that they feel included and they feel that this club is something special to them and something that they can look forward to coming to school for.

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LET GO OF WHAT YOU ARE USED TO DOING…

As teachers we are used to having order and structure, and sometimes flexibility can be a challenge. I have found that being able to let students create what they would like to by working in groups has been a great opportunity for them to engage with each other and demonstrate their leadership and communication skills. I had to take off my classroom teacher hat and let the students lead the learning.

Students became so enthusiastic that they started to all wait at the door as soon as the bell rings for lunch and don’t want to leave! They are able to learn lifelong skills as they are passionate about what they are creating.

WHERE TO START….

Starting is always the most difficult part!

Useful tips for getting started:

Promotion of the club

- Year level assemblies

- Daily bulletins

- Posters around the school

- Get students to do the grunt work, get them to spread the word

- Get other teachers involved - you can’t do everything!

- Have a plan of how you would like to run the club

- By year level

- By working groups etc.

- Have your opening spiel ready and make it encouraging and inspirational! This is what will get the students who are unsure to take an interest.

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Overall it has been a great experience for me as a teacher to facilitate a Code Club at my school. It has been able to make students enthusiastic about the subject of I.T. and more importantly school as a whole. Code Club is definitely a worthwhile endeavour and journey to take for any teacher!