Presentation summing up the 3 main questions fir my PHD

1. 3rd Postgraduate Research
Student Conference
13th July 2015
Staffordshire University

2. Introduction
Nia Wearn BSc (Hons), MA
Staffordshire University
Senior Lecturer in Computer Games Design
Award Leader for BSc Hons / BEng Hons Computer Gameplay Design & Production
n.h.wearn@staffs.ac.uk
@wormella
Currently working part time on a Phd currently
entitled "Identifying commonalities in the
working practices of students during a Global
Games Jam event in line with their education at
Staffordshire University.
I’m passionate about encouraging play, creativity
and fun in education, especially where games are
concerned.
Ludoliteracy defined
• Having the ability to play games.
• Having the ability to understand
meanings with respect to games.
• Having the ability to make games.
• (Zagal, 2010, p. 23)

3. Games Courses @ Staffs in 2016
Computer
Games Design
Computer
Games Design
(Extended)
Creating
Assets
Games
Concept
Design
Game Art
Computer
Game
Animation
Scripting &
Coding
Games Design
&
Programming
Computer
Games
Programming
Core Design &
Indie
Gameplay
Design &
Production
Indie Games
Development
Understanding
Games
Games
Studies
Games
Journalism &
PR
Our General
Flagship Award
Niche Awards for Specific Interests

4. The areas we teach in
Making
Games
Art
Code &
Script
Design
Publishing
Research

5. What we do in Games
• We’ve been doing this since 2006
• We’ve had a lot of alumni go through our
programmes
– Which in that time have evolved with the needs of the
industry
– We have bed rock ideas that form key things we
believe in
Core to this is We Make Games

6. Question 1
What are the skills
that we teach that
our students use to
make games?

7. How to find this out
What we said
we’d teach
• Document
analysis
• Module
Descriptors,
Validations,
Reviews of
the Games
Area
What we think
we teach
• Interviews
with teaching
Staff
What we
actually taught
• Interviews
with Alumni
This kind of reflective practice should
give me an over view of the skills
associated with teaching people to
make games.

8. Question 2
How do we know
that our students
use these skills to
make games?

9. Enter The Global Games Jam
• 48 Game Jam – Friday to
Sunday
• 300+ students take part
– Current staffs games students
– Alumni Students
– Staffs students that aren’t
games students
– Other Students from colleges /
unis / waifs & strays

10. What Do I want to find out?
Do the skills that we
teach on our courses get
used by students when
they make a game in
48hrs?
If so – which ones and why?

11. 2015 Pilot that wasn’t a pilot
• Initially I had an idea of doing a
pilot study in 2015
– Some things got in the way ->
– Trying to balance organising with
anything else was problematic
– Each Jam Site organiser is also
involved in the social media
• E.g tweeting, videos, reddit etc

12. Observing a Global Games Jam
• Easier said then done
– Students have only a limited time to make the
game
– They are either focussed or asleep
– They have a goal to have a finished game

13. Things to consider
• Without getting in the way?
• Without making them angry?
• Could I train research ’minions’ to help?
How do I
observe a GGJ
team?
• I need to make sure there’s a mix
• How do I control teams without making
them angry?
Which teams
do I observe
• Post event interview?
• Autoethnographic write up?
• Large Scale Questionnaire?
If Observation
doesn’t work
what then?

14. Issues the research faces
2016 is my only shot
• In summer 2016 we
move up to the Stoke
Campus
• Jan 2016 will be the
last Global Games
Jam on the Stafford
Campus
• We’ll host them on
the Stoke Campus,
but we don’t know
what that will do to
the attendees
Previous attempts at
research
• Previous attempts to
questionnaire
students post jam
have been
disappointing *
• Similarly gathering
some students for a
post jam discussion
from a different event
came to nothing
Time Balance
• Full time teaching
and Part Time PHDing
is tricky to balance at
the best of times
• January is a really
busy time of year
• The GGJ falls after the
CFP for the 2 main
Games Studies
conference
*This is discussed a little in Wearn. N, Fletcher. B, Vigurs. K (2014) Contextualising nonattendance of eligible
students to Global Game Jam locations. In: Foundation of Digital Games 2014 , 3-7 April 2014, Ft.
Lauderdale, FL .

15. Things in place to help in 2016
• Staffs Staff GGJ organisation Team
– No longer a 2 person operation
– More tutors willing to stay overnight means I can
concrete on my research
• Pilot that wasn’t a pilot meant I had chance to
think about the best way to gather data
without comprising the participants
experience

16. Why do this at all?
Question 3
Could we use a
Games Jam type
thing to assess on
our Games Courses?

17. Please come and talk to me
I’m ludicrously open to suggestions on how I could do
some of these things – This is a small field with big
implications!
Nia Wearn
n.h.wearn@staffs.ac.uk
@wormella
Thank you
for listening
– any
questions?