Game Based Learning (GBL) Faculty Interest Group (FIG) – Notes from Meeting

Monday, November 6, 2017, 12:40pm, M391

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte, Mary Ortiz

1. Grace welcomed all to the meeting.
2. Grace brought Pictionary, and we discussed ways to modify the game to adapt it for our classes.
3. Mary brought the math version of “What’s Your Game Plan?” to share.
4. We discussed the article, “Game Changers”, from Science, that had been posted.
5. A notice will go out for our next meeting on Monday, November 20, 2017, at 12:40pm in M391.
6. Meeting ended at 1:05pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz

Game Based Learning (GBL) Faculty Interest Group (FIG) – Notes from First Meeting

Wednesday, September 27, 2017, 1:50pm, M357

Grace Axler-DiPerte, Facilitator

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte, Mary Ortiz

1. Grace did a welcome and spoke of a game she did via a BIO11 (A&P1) lab activity in the lab manual, “Which organ doesn’t belong in the list?” The game motivated the students.
2. Sign up for the CUNY Games Festival 4.0 Conference. It will be Jan 22-23, 2018 at The CUNY Grad Center.  Sign up on the CUNY Academic Commons CUNY Games Network.
3. Our next meeting: Monday, October 16, 2017 at 12:40-1:40pm in M391.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz

Participants:    Grace Axler-DiPerte, Keston Boyce, Tian Cai, Devin Camenares, Mary Ortiz

1. Grace welcomed all and discussed the purpose of the meeting – to pool resources, learn how to use games in the classroom.
2. Grace discussed how this FIG came about – she and Mary wanted to create a metabolism game for use in microbiology. They also attended the CUNY Games Conference two years ago.
3. Grace gave background info on GBLs where a whole course is a game, and on serious games that have a direct educational component. Games can be simple.  They don’t have to be complex.
4. Last semester we discussed different games and how to incorporate them into our classes, regardless of subject area.
5. Grace asked each of us to share GBL approaches we take in our classes:
   1. Mary (Bio)– spoke of games she used/uses, such as A&P Feud. Discussion followed.
   2. Tian (Math) – has individual competitions with “Catch my mistakes”. Discussion followed.
   3. Devin (Bio) – has done “Jeopardy” exercises and uses Chess. Discussion followed.
   4. Keston (ASAP) – is working with “at risk” students and looking for GBL ideas to engage his students. Discussion followed.
6. Grace mentioned the article she had sent out to everyone on what you want your game to accomplish. She also went over the “What’s your game plan?” game we got at the last CUNY Games Conference.
7. Grace distributed the sheet, “Game Development Organizer” and went over it. It is about how to develop a game.
8. We discussed the idea of a 24-hour clock game (“Beat the Clock”) to help students better organize the time in their day.
9. The CUNY Games Festival will be on Jan 22-23, 2018. You can join via Peatix.
10. We can also join the CUNY Academic Commons games community. The gaming community is collaborative.
11. More resources are the MIT STEP Lab, Sheller Education Labs For Teaching, and Tailblazer.
12. We tried a couple rounds of Apples-to-Apples.
13. A notice will go out for our next meeting. It will be on a Monday at 12:40pm.
14. Meeting ended at 1:40pm.

Notes respectfully submitted by Mary Theresa Ortiz