There's much more to creating a successful educational game than "gamifying" a worksheet or offering play as a reward for unfun tasks.
Deidre takes the hands-on approach in this Deep Dive, helping you select a standard pulled from the Common Core and guiding you through the creation of a paper-based prototype game to teach that concept. After a discussion of concepts, attendees will break into teams, and have a short time to come up with a game idea. Because of the short timeframe, games may not be designed to completion. Materials will be provided.
Bio: Deidre Witan is an educator and instructional designer, specializing in the use of new technologies to create innovative solutions to educational challenges. Her interests include educational game design and mobile app development for informal learning. She has worked with the MIT Education Arcade and Learning Games Network to help bring more educational video games into K12 classrooms. In addition to working with organizations like BrainPop, GameDesk, and Schell Games, she is also founding her own educational games studio, PB&Games.
She recently graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education with a Master's of Education in Technology, Innovation, and Education.
