This presentation was given at the Games and libraries seminar 13 July 2011 at the State Library of NSW

1. Learning from Games
Dr. Joanne O’Mara, Deakin University

2. Computer games and Me
• Playing “Sim City”
in Vanuatu in 2001
on the Visor
• “The Sims” -
dollhouse games
• ipod- ipad

3. Part of Gregor’s
eurogame
collection...

4. Boardgaming Resources
• Games in libraries
with Scott
Nicholson podcasts
• Everyone Plays at
the Library-
N025.5/57
(Available Mon!!!)
• The Geek

5. Drama/Virtual Worlds
• Drama teaching
and research
background
• Process Drama/
Virtual worlds/
Architect/
Character/”as if” in
world learning

6. Research Projects
• Literacy in the Digital world of the 21st
Century: Learning from Computer Games
Catherine Beavis, Clare Bradford,
Joanne O’Mara and Chris Walsh --ARC
with DEECD (Vic), VATE and ACMI
• Public Institution - ACMI- as a partner

7. New Project
• July 2011- 2014 Serious Play: Using digital
games in school to promote literacy and
learning in the twenty first century
LP110200309 Prof Catherine A Beavis, Dr Michael L Dezuanni, Dr Joanne A
O'Mara, Dr Sarah Prestridge, Dr Leonie Rowan, Prof Claire M Wyatt-Smith,
Dr Jason A Zagami, Prof Yam San Chee
Partners:Department of Education and Early Childhood Development,
Victoria and Queensland Schools (Lutheran
Church
of
Australia
QLD
District
-­‐
Pacific
Lutheran
College,
Marymount
Primary
School
,Merrimac
State
School
,
St
Aidan's
School
Council
Limited
,
St
Catherine's
Catholic
Primary
School,
St
Joseph's
Nudgee
College
,
St
Laurence's
College

8. “Both the making of text and the reading of text
require greater attention to all possible means of
meaning making” Kress (2005)
Kress, G. (2005). Communication now and in the future. Discussion paper for
the English 21 project. United Kingdom Qualifications and Curriculum
Authority. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from http://www.qca.org.uk/
12292.html

9. Kress (2005)
new textual dispositions
• Traditional disposition to New disposition to text
text
Text is monomodal/linguistic Text is multimodal/semiotic
Mode of approach: linguistic Mode of approach: semiotic
Text is stable Text is radically unstable
Text is composed by producer Text is designed by producer
Text is interpreted by reader Text is designed by reader
Text has sequential, linear order Text has spatial ordering
Authority/Authorship underpins Potential usefulness underpins
Text is site of knowledge Text is site of information
English 21 project. United Kingdom Qualifications and Curriculum Aut

10. Game Making with Year 8
• Game Maker:
yoyogames.com
• Every boy (last 4
years) has made a
playable game
• Game mechanics
and narrative
John Richards from yoyogames.com

11. GameMaking Outcomes
• “Blank slate of potential”:
Creative, engaging,
technical, narratives
• Kids as Producers: Their
games have currency
Joanne
O’Mara
and
John
Richards
“A
• Designers Blank
Slate:
Using
Game
Maker
to
Create
Computer
Games”
in
Beavis,
C.,
• Critique and “Borrow” from O’Mara,
J.,
and
McNeice,
L.
(Eds)
(2012)
Digital
Games:
Literacy
in
Commercial games Action
Adelaide:
AATE/
WakeOield
Press

12. Game Making in Public Spaces
• Range of Programs:
Cahoots, GameMaker.
• ACMI Games Lab
Workshops, developing
your game idea-online
resources
• Your Library: Workshop
then a group???

13. Game Plan: Engage the Disengaged
Getting them to write anything down was
a real challenge. So I really had nothing to
lose in trying to engage them. It was time
to bite the bullet, and as there were so
many boys in my group it was time to
capitalise on their interest in computer
games.
Paul Byrne

14. A repertoire of literacy practices
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15. Students were enthusiastic and involved. Writing for
them became less of a chore because it involved writing
about something they didn’t see as work but as play.
Byrne,
Paul
“Game
Plan:
Using
Computer
Games
in
English
to
Engage
the
Disengaged”
in
Beavis,
C.,
O’Mara,
J.,
and
McNeice,
L.
(Eds)
(2012)
Digital
Games:
Literacy
in
Action
Adelaide:
AATE/
WakeOield
Press

16. Console Games as Texts
Mark Cuddon
• Year Nine Boys
• analyse tape of seven year old
playing console game
• review and discuss game-
deconstruct game actions Mark
Cuddon
“‘Gamer
Hands’
–
Console
Games
as
Texts”
in
Beavis,
C.,
O’Mara,
J.,
and
McNeice,
L.
• deconstruction of Simpsons
(Eds)
(2012)
Digital
Games:
Literacy
in
Hit and Run Action
Adelaide:
AATE/
WakeOield
Press

17. The beauty of whole-class and small-group
discussions on gaming is the enthusiasm and
excitement it engenders in the class. In turn,
students are willing to document, write and
reflect on their experiences in an individual
writing folio piece based on a ‘text’ they had
an interest in and an experience they were
willing to share.
Mark Cuddon

18. Archetypes & Quests
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• Examine critically how games designers 1" #$%&2,00&3/&4)5%+36(%&
transgress, replicate or challenge the 7" 8%96:,0&/9&3$%&2,00&
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quest narrative, archetypes and ?" 2(/::*+=&3$%&@*(:3&
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• Playing games alongside reading novels, 2,5%&
watching films- texts on multiple I" #$%&J6F(%D%&'()%,0&
platforms K" 8%>,()&
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Lisa
McNeice,
Andrea
Smith
and
Toby
R o b i s o n
“ C o m p u t e r
G a m e s ,
Stages
in
the
quest
narrative,
adapted
Archetypes
and
the
Narrative
Quest”in
from
Joseph
Campbell
by
Christopher
Beavis,
C.,
O’Mara,
J.,
and
McNeice,
L.
Vogler,
a
Hollywood
script
consultant
(Eds)
(2012)
Digital
Games:
Literacy
in
Action
Adelaide:
AATE/
WakeOield
Lisa McNeice, Andrea Smith
Press & Toby Robison

19. Pitching a Game Idea
• Presented a “Pitch”
of a new game to a
panel of judges to
secure funding
• narrative, plot,
mechanics game
characters.
Emphasis on
multiple narrative
possibilities

20. Serious Games
• Prof. Yam San Chee, Nanyung
University, Singapore (Legends
of Alkhemia: Fostering Authentic
Learning of Chemistry Within fictionalised
Game Contexts; Statecraft: Trans-
contextual Learning: Student Learning with
Mobile Devices in a Persistent world game
to construct meanings and identities
• School Projects in Victoria and
Queensland: Making and using games
in curriculum.
• Victorian Ultranet game making
software: Cahoots, GameMaker

21. virtual/real worlds
• narrative writing/
construction from
“virtual worlds”
experiences
• Drama research-
experience in
dramatic world
improves narrative
writing

22. Have Fun!
joanne.omara@deakin.edu.au