Takeaways from Games, Learning, & Society 8.0

A couple weeks ago I headed to the Games, Learning, and Society conference held every year in Madison, Wisconsin.  Here are some of the things I took away from the conference and think others might be interested in:

• Kodu Game Lab: Build your own 3D games and learn how to think like a programmer using this tool (PC download or on Xbox 360).

• Studio K curriculum:  Use Kodu in your classroom or at an after-school program, using this curriculum, being developed at UW-Madison.

• ARIS games: Create your own location-based games for mobile platforms using this tool, developed by David Gagnon and others in Madison.

• Newton's playground:  Solve challenges that require creativity and the use of simple machines to move a ball around obstacles from point x to point y.  Being developed by Yoon Jeon Kim and others.

It was fun to be at the conference, surrounded by so many creative people.  I came away from it wanting to download Kodu and start building games or applications for ARIS.  After downloading Kodu (free) and tinkering for a while, I think it's a great visual programming environment and way for people to get started making games and thinking like a programmer.

Other highlights included being in sessions and hearing from James Paul Gee, talking with people working on YouSTEM projects in Illinois, hearing from Ben Shapiro about other games being developed in Madison including Progenitor X, and being inspired to come home after the conference and start making things.

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