NYC College Empowering Youth Through Game Design

A no-cost summer program for teachers to acquire the skills to teach their students to create and use educational games!

Teachers now have a new tool available in the eternal struggle to motivate their students to acquire critical knowledge and skills. The Graduate School of Technology at Touro College offers a Masters Degree in Instructional Technology, and is proud to announce a Summer Institute for teachers featuring Gamestar Mechanic. This game-based platform and curriculum teaches youth ages 8 to 14 how to design video games to foster systems thinking and 21st-century skill building (problem solving, critical thinking, iterative design, creativity, and collaboration) and to create a powerful motivation for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education.

Gamestar Mechanic is published by E-Line Media in partnership with the Institute of Play. It won several awards including the 2012 Computers For Youth’s Family Learning Software Award, making it the most highly recommended digital learning platform within CFY’s Digital Learning Program. The American Association of School Librarians also selected Gamestar as a 2012 Best Website for Teaching and Learning. Additionally, the game has been positively reviewed in a wide variety of magazines, newspapers, and blogs ranging from the New York Times to Common Sense Media, and has received consistently positive feedback from teachers, parents, and kids.

Gamestar Mechanic features an online, browser-based game that teachers can use to provide their students with the core principles of game design and how to use the design tools through playing and fixing games in the context of an exciting narrative. It includes a powerful suite of game-creation tools that enable players to design original games through easy-to-use drag-and-drop tools. Teachers in formal and informal learning environments, including online courses, can use the flexible, modular curriculum. It creates and provides a vibrant community where players can publish, review, compete, and collaborate on game design with peers and mentors.

Launched in the fall of 2010, the game was quickly embraced by schools and after-school programs. There are now over 3,000 teacher-users and 200,000 student-created games published, with more than 5 million plays in 100 countries.

Katya Hott, Learning Content Producer at E-Line Media, will be the main facilitator at the Touro College Graduate School of Technology Summer Institute. She received her Masters in Educational Technology from New York University, and her background is in linguistics and English as a second language (ESL). For years before coming to E-Line Media, Katya taught ESL in classrooms around the world. Now, she is combining her studies in education with her passion for technology by working with teachers and students to incorporate and embrace educational games in their classrooms.

Registration for the Summer Institute will be open to a limited number of teachers of various subject areas currently working in New York City public and private schools. Prospective participants can choose between two dates: Thursday, July 26 or Thursday, August 2, 2012. Both sessions will take place at the Touro College Graduate School of Technology's Manhattan campus at 43 West 23rd Street. To register, call: (212) 463-0400 ext. 5248 or email info.itp@touro.edu. For more information, visit the website.