This is why I chose to not follow a traditional computer science course.
They're mostly filled with uninteresting stuff.
I'm glad to see education in this department is on the rise.

While I love any effort to make education more fun and interesting some of the core game-programming principles are very boring to learn yet necessary. I highly doubt the same education will all of a sudden become amazingly interesting just because gaming is associated with it. I do think some things are easier to understand though when you mention game design implementation.

We see the same trend here in Finland. The problem is that computer science isn't the sexiest of professions out there and something should be done to first attract people into studying it. We have had some attempts at this here in Jyväskylä where the University is organizing summer camps where young people get first hand experience in game development. The intention of this is not strictly to get people into the game industry but to show them computer science in a form that might appeal to them more than creating a web site or jumping straight into the theory of a programming languages without any idea of its application.

I personally got into computers and programming through my interest in computer games. Pulling the right levers and pushing the right buttons is important and games arouse emotions like nothing else.

Hello,

As an early adopter and strong proponent of ICT in education, I have long believed that computer/video games can play an important role in supporting and enhancing teaching and learning.

For some time now, I have tried to walk the walk of this belief with my own students, see http://www.coolclass.ca. I also know that there are many other educators who may have an interest in using games with their own students, but are not sure where to start, or know what current research is telling us.

It is with the goal of encouraging and supporting fellow my educators that I created a free Moodle-based online course, "Learning With Gaming for Educators" at http://www.wecanlearnonline.com.

I would be most grateful if you would share this resource your contacts and networks as you may deem appropriate.

Sincerely,

Bill Belsey

P.S. If you would like some further information about my background with respect to ICT and education, you would be most welcome to visit http://is.gd/chO0U.

I've been putting notes together to write some kind of piece on this very matter. I have worked in a UK school in the IT dept for just under 2 years now, and I've seen some things being taught to kids years 7-11 that would make you cringe. Granted we have just got a new teacher and head of IT (teaching not infrastructure thank fully) and will see how the next year goes but the are several core problems with the way IT is taught as I see it.

- EVERYTHING is far too shallow. There is no depth to any of what is taught and there is very little relation to the real world.

- Ageing fundamental. Most old info is relevant, but what kids learn has barely changes since I was in school which was lacklustre then. For example database programming, a good thing to learn, teaches you how to arrange and use various data types etc, but nowadays there is almost nothing on the programming side, SQL is mentioned but never used etc. It is all done in MS Access with no relation to how it is used in the real world. I believe the kids should be given the option and encouraged to use a bit of PHP and SQL to connect their database to the websites they build, so they gain real world use and understanding.

- A LOT of work is plain patronizing. They do this course called OCR nationals which is a 2 year exercise in taking screenshots of work. They get big forms to fill out with notes of what they need to put in X box and picture Y to get the grade they desire.

The only good thing about it is the section on game maker, but again there is no use of any code at all nor could any teachers do so it it did. I always made myself available for GML help and had a few girls ask for the tools and files they need to do it at home, which I duly gave and pointed them to some friendly forums and books. Hopefully one or more may end up in the industry. They would never have got this help from a teacher because they just..can't.


Some of what I said would mean teachers would *gasp* have to actually understand computers more than just browsing the internet and typing a letter. I don't proclaim to know how to fix everything but it is sad when I see these kids getting taught stuff which is either largely irrelevant or outdated. By and large children in schools get taught to use a PC from the 80's.

I also understand that this IS just my school, but the courses are nationwide. It's really disheartening to see such things, missing opportunities and teaching archaic practices which have no place in modern technology. Hell in IT safety they didn't even get taught to simply not put compromising info/pictures on the net, this was a revelation to the head of IT when I mentioned it.