GAMEHIGHED explores the synergies of higher education (HE) and games in the ‘knowledge triangle’ between education, research &business. Game development (gamedev) is a booming innovation-driven EU (and global) creative industry, whose power of job creation grows faster than the available qualified workforce. Higher-ed institutions (HEI) and students, in turn, are searching for career-oriented degrees building skills valuable for employment. This is especially relevant for the humanities & soc. sciences, stereotyped as “useless” on the job market, while in fact their skillsets tend to be highly useful for creative industries in the experience economy. Next to entertainment games is (also developing rapidly) the market for serious (edu-)games: a part of the educ. technology industry. It is no coincidence that Education provides the most jobs (26.8% - 31%) for graduates of video game degrees after game dev itself (HEVGA 2015; 2019 reports). Thus, game-focused HE trains employees also for game-based learning (GBL), serious games and edu-gamification. Other career outlets for graduates of games-ed include the non-digital game industry (board / card games) & game-based entertainm.(live-action role-playing games, immersive experiences, etc.). Graduates of Master degrees may consider research-based careers in game Research & Innovation (R&I). Nonetheless, it is the commercial video game market that offers the most jobs & the most economic R&I potential. Western and Northern EU states already have well-established formal degrees for game dev careers, but in East.& Cent. EU these are new &few. Their accreditation faces resistance in traditional HEI in Cent./East. EU as game dev is inherently multi-disciplinary. In GAMEHIGHED, universities from North. (Finland), Cent.East. (Poland; Czech) and Sou.East Europe (Turkey) join forces with video game companies united in Czech Game Developers Association (GDACZ) to: 1. create, field-test and implement innovative Bachelor & Master programmes for gamedev careers, with emphasis on game design 2. create Open Educational Resources (OER) for further game curriculum development & gamedev education in European Higher Education Area (EHEA), including a set of practical handbooks & a digital Curriculum Generator; 3. encourage an extension of the above from HE to other EU edu-sectors (secondary schools, VET, Youth, Adult); 4. expand and promote EU industry-academia collaboration in the development and execution of games education, edurecruitment, and cross-sectoral projects. The curricula capitalize on Game Design Curriculum White Paper (Mochocki, 2018) and will be based in the revised 2017 European Qualifications Framework (EQF) / Bologna Process. The aim is to enlarge the scope of proposed curriculum by including new subjects and activities (programming, game jams), implement and test it in practice. The curricula will be supplemented with resource packs (syllabi, lesson plans, teaching guidelines) shaped by the methodologies of constructionist, connectivist, experiential & project-based learning. Design & implementation will be consulted with a variety of external stakeholders, most notably the game industry (also beyond the project consortium). Thanks to the project: 1. The participating HEIs will implement project-created solutions (selected according to their current needs and affordances), increasing the quality and innovation of their own programmes. 2. The participating HEIs will expand their networks of academic & gamedev collaborators - locally and across the EU. 3. Published OER will provide all EU HEIs with ready-to-use, implementable & scalable edu-programmes & resources, plus practical guidelines on its implementation. 4. The gamedev partners will strengthen & expand their ties with HEIs and with EU funding. For GDACZ it is the first Erasmus project ever. All this responds to the needs of gamedev in the project countries, expressed in the recent local (2017, 2018, 2019) industry reports. A special need is education in game design, heavily underrepresented in HE degrees (compared to programming or graphic design). Game design-focused HE is still a novelty. On EU level, GAMEHIGHED feeds into 3 key actions of the 2016 Skills Agenda for Europe: EQF; Digital Skills &Jobs; Key Competences. It follows guidelines for future-skills educ. of "Worldwide Educ.for the Future Index 2018" (The Economist Intelligence Unit). In the long run, the project should increase the quality & innovation of EU higher-ed for careers in games & related creative industries, & increase the interest of game companies in partnerships with HEIs. This in turn will bring a positive impact on the growth of the EU game industry (now hampered by the shortage of qualified staff), on the rate of graduate unemployment, and on the general perception of the practical value of HE. Some of the resources, even if developed for HE, are likely to be used in all edu-sectors: secondary schools, VET, adult and youth.
We wanted to create a treasure trove for higher-ed curriculum developers and educators in the area of game design and development. This meant a comprehensive pack of resources providing not only know-how and expertise but also a solid library of directly implementable materials, all this supporting innovation, practical skills, academia-industry connections and internationalisation. The whole set would include ready-to-use Bachelor- and Master-level curricula, syllabi, lesson plans and workshops released on Creative Commons, as well as reports, insights, good practices and tools for further development and coordination of game-focused education. Another goal was to enhance the level of innovation, internationalisation and quality of education at our own institutions. This breaks down into two areas: the development of personal competencies and networks of our staff due to foreign study visits and collaboration, and the introduction of improvements and innovations in our institutional edu-environment. This, in turn, should directly translate to a better learning experience and more efficient competence-building for students attending the games-ed programmes.
GAMEHIGHED responds to the needs of: 1. The HEI (higher-ed) sector for career-oriented degrees building skills valuable for employment 2. HEI students for the same 3. Game industry for qualified employees Game development (gamedev) is a booming EU (and global) creative industry, whose power of job creation grows faster than available qualified workforce. Many companies are chronically understaffed. This may be amended by a greater number of gamedev-focused edu-programmes, if only those programmes equip students with valuable skills. HEIs and students are searching for career-oriented degrees building skills valuable for employment. Our teaching resources were co-created by a consortium of academic educators and gamedev professionals, with the gamedev organisation GDACZ as a full partner next to HEIs. The materials should be of particular interest to: 1) teachers and curriculum developers in games-ed, who aren’t sure which competences are career-relevant, 2) industry veterans who are hired to teach but have little teaching experience 3) edu-administrators. Thanks to the academia-industry joint effort, GAMEHIGHED materials have a ‘stamp of approval’ from both sides.