• Unit IV: Benefits and potentials of game design and game jams

    In Unit 4 you will experience how setting up game exhibitions for and with the public can serve as a core driver in a MA course where students come together from different subject fields and institutions to work on a common theme that benefits wider society through making games. The case documents one such instance under the theme of ‘Values in games / Valuable games: playing in, with and for the public’. Also, you will hear international scholars from the field of higher education practice reflect on the benefits of using game design as a pedagogy in MA courses along with reactions from the public and students reflecting on the learning experience compared to more traditional ways of doing higher education.

    Through this last unit will give you some perspectives on the value of game design and game jams from students, teachers and the creative industry. In the videos you will how the game jam and game design process in Unit III was experienced by some of the participating students, teachers and professionals, as well as a researcher and professional experiencing the results and games that came out of the process. Students from across the Arts and Sciences give insight into what they think game design and game jams can contribute with as a way of teaching and learning in higher education, while the teachers talk about how they experienced the students learning process and products. Researchers and professionals reflect on the value of the students way of working and the quality of their work.

    In the first part you will hear first from the students themselves, in the second part you will hear the view of the teachers Rikke Toft Nørgård and Claus Toft-Nielsen as well as PhD Fellow in game design and game jams Jeanette Falk Olesen and chair of Coding Pirates Aarhus Mikey Bruun Andersen. In the last part you will finally hear how the students’ work is experienced from the Coding Pirates participants as well as a visiting PhD Fellow and a visitor from The Lego Foundation.

    Overall, through this unit you will gain an understanding of the benefits and potentials of game jams and design for teaching and learning in higher education from the perspective of teachers, students and creative industry partners.