Designing and Developing Computer Games for Instruction 

Presenter: Dr. Andrey Koptelov

Organization: Sam Houston State University

Role: Assistant Professor

Track: Hands On Workshop

Topic: Gaming in Education

Level: For Mere Mortals

Abstract: Today, more than ever before, students’ interests begin with technology and its use. One of the most attractive technologies are computer games. The focus of this presentation is to find the best and the most exciting ways for students to become engaged in research and exploration during the process of designing and developing computer games for teaching and learning. Participants discuss the idea of developing computer games for education and learn to create a game.

Bio: Dr. Koptelov graduated from the Kirov State Pedagogical Institute in Russia in 1982, defended his Ph.D. doctoral dissertation in Moscow at the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences in 1989, and moved to Houston in 2001 to where he has been teaching Technology Applications at Fonville Middle School, Houston ISD for 11 years. In the fall of 2012, Dr. Koptelov became an Assistant Professor at the Sam Houston State University. His research interests center on implementing instructional technology in teaching and learning. He also has great interest in computer game development and Nanotechnology integration into the classroom instructions using Project-Based Learning strategies.

Description: I will share with the participants our experience on educational game creating with university and k-12 students. We will discuss the ways to incorporate core subjects, science, and technology into the process of game design and development. I will teach the participants of how to create a computer game.
The session will last 90 minutes. I will present/teach 75 minutes. Discussion and time for questions will be 15 minutes.
Every participant should have a computer with the GameMaker 8.1 Lite (or later version) installed, for Mac users it should be GM for Mac Lite. I will provide tutorials for this workshop. During this session, participants will focus on how to create computer games for instruction. An educational approach and methodology as well as a technical aspect of game developing will be learned during this session. Our goal will be to make a simple game by the end of the session. More than 20 different computer games for instruction developed by university and K-12 students will be presented.
The free GameMaker software for Windows and Mac users can be downloaded from http://www.yoyogames.com/legacy. If there are questions, I am ready to cooperate with the lab group at CU Boulder before the conference.

Presenter Presentation Materials URL (Web Address): https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B_dHsbjwLlEhUjJxZHRHYzdmTzg&usp=sharing