Game Design in the Classroom - Part 3 - A Game Design Challenge

Years ago I used to organize an annual convention for game designers. At a few of the events I ran a game design challenge where the participants had to make and play a game in an hour.

I realized this could make a great classroom activity, so I modified the original outline we used. (See my notes below about how the original came about.)

Before linking to the worksheet, I want to point out:

• Part 1 and Part 2 in this series touch on some reasons you might want to use an activity like this.
• Part 4 is for further exploration. In it I address further development and easy ways to publish the game.
• The games we designed were non-digital. Digital games are more difficult to complete quickly unless the number of options are very limited.
• I haven't used this activity in school yet. I intend to, but I'm currently an instructional tech coordinator. One thing I love about this activity is it doesn't use much tech! If I get a chance to try it, I'll add some notes about how it went.

Before you run this activity in class:

• Have a lot of components ready for students to use in their games. They'll probably need markers, note cards, paper, dice and pawns for sure. I used to bring other interesting, small items I'd find at the dollar store. Chips, rubber balls, small stones, party favors, etc., all can spark fun ideas. You can also gut some old games if you have them at home.
• Go over the stages of the activity with the students ahead of time so they won't lose time reading details while the clock is ticking.
• Students should work in groups with three or four per group.
• Decide what class concept you want the game to include. For example, in math you might want them to include something about factors and multiples. In social studies it might be some aspect of a particular time period. Have them write that on the blank at the top of the worksheet.
• Decide on the type of game you want them to make. You could give them a choice, but some limited options helps spark creativity and save time. For example, you might want it to be a card game. You could also give them a specific game to tweak, like Crazy 8's or Pig. 
• You could dictate any of the others choices as well. For example, you might say it has to be about zombies (or can't be about zombies!) or that it must use dice in a particular way.
• In an ideal world, I'd have them play several short games to expose them to more ideas than what they are already familiar with. That could take days, though!

Click here to see the Game Design Challenge Document. Feel free to copy and modify it as needed. I'll appreciate it if you include a link to my Game Design page on any copies.

The rough flow of the activity is:

• Create a hook. (5 minutes)
• Make up the rules. (15 minutes)
• Create a playable prototype. (15 minutes)
• Play it. (20 minutes)
• Initial wrap-up (5 minutes)

I have some ideas for an extended follow-up activity and suggestions for further development of the games, but that will be coming in Part 4.

Notes about the original activity:

In about 2002 I came across a reference to a game design challenge in the rules to James Ernest's game The Big Cheese. A challenge like that was a new idea to me, so I contacted him to get more details. I lost the notes what he sent me, but I used them to develop an outline for the activity we ran at the Protospiel 2003 convention.

I worked with my friend James Droscha that year to tweak the directions and to run the activity. We limited the possible games to card games and we required designers to use genies as the theme. (That idea came from James' wife.)

It was a great icebreaker the first night of the convention. After everyone made a game, we went around the room and talked about each one. It was fascinating to see the ideas and to hear what worked and what didn't.

James and I used the same activity a few more times over the years. I'll mention he also lead one hilarious session where we designed a game by committee. I don't think we ended up with anything playable that time, though.

To update this activity for the classroom I simplified the language. Instead of having the teacher pick a theme like we did previously, I changed it to a class concept. 

I'll update the activity based on feedback, so please let me know what you think!

Game Design in the Classroom - Part 2 - What other designers learned from making games

Protospiel game designer convention I helped organize
(quite a few years ago now!)

This is part 2 of a series. The previous articles are:

• What I learned from making games,
• A classroom game design challenge
• Further explorations for developing and publishing your games.

As I mentioned in my first post in this series, I put a survey in a couple board game design forums asking about important lessons learned from making games. I’m grateful to the 20 people who took time to respond! Their responses are all included in the list below.

Remember from the first post that whether or not you are running game design classroom activities, these first two posts are good resources because:

• If you do a game design activity, these lessons should come out loud in clear (right along with the course content). They can help students no matter which path they take in life.
• If you see a student with interest in game design, even if it’s completely unrelated to what’s being done in class, have students read these lists. The ideas in it will provide a good starting point for his or her success.
• These lessons from creative pursuits apply to all of us educators just as much as they do to the students.

Most of these comments below come from designers with experience making non-digital games, but some have worked with computer games. As I hoped, many of their insights apply to design, creative pursuits and even life in general.

Respondents to my survey could provide background information and some links to their work. The only real question I asked was this:

What are 1 - 3 significant things you learned from designing games that can probably be applied to other areas of life (or at least other creative pursuits)?

To show that these designers are at all levels of experience and with various intentions, they were allowed to choose one or more of these categories to describe the scope of their pursuits:

• Hobby
• Seeking publication
• Self-published one or more of my games
• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

I was tempted to add some positive comments to what came back to me, but they speak for themselves. The common themes are evident and important.

Here are the responses I received, with only some minor editing:

Christopher Chung
@FlashForwardCo

• Seeking publication
• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

Game Link:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160851/lanterns-harvest-festival

Lessons learned:

• Always being flexible with solutions to your problems.
• Listen and utilize constructive feedback.
• Network with like-minded people who you can receive help from and vice versa.

Clark Rodeffer

• Hobby
• Self-published one or more of my games
• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

Lessons learned:

• RULES WRITING -- Use 2nd person imperative active voice present tense to tell the players what they need to do to play the game. With this simple step, improve your writing related to almost all areas of instruction, whether it's at the top of a worksheet for school, professional development, recipes, whatever. I came late to this advice.
• ERGONOMICS MATTER -- Some players like to hold cards spread the opposite way others do, so card indices that can be read from both sides makes a big difference. Some players have difficulty distinguishing colors, so using a secondary characteristic such as pattern or shape, is very helpful. A few (more than about seven is probably too many) simple, clear icons to prompt players are helpful, especially if they already have common meanings that match those within the game. These ergonomic principles apply to developing technical manuals, making warning signs and signals, and user interfaces.
• TEST, TEST, TEST -- It's obvious that test playing a game to find potential problems is essential. In the same way, proofreading, testing recipes, and testing instruction manuals are all essential parts of making a product the best it can be.

Dave Armstrong

• Seeking publication

Lessons learned:

• Keep the vision pure. Feature creep can ruin any project. Stay focused.
• Build the function and perfect that before you get hung up on design.
• Pay attention to what people love about your project and build on that because it is the most important thing to your users.

James Hron

• Hobby
• Seeking publication

Lessons learned:

• Motivation and engagement in a classroom. I actually just gave a presentation at a conference in Chicago about how games can increase motivation and engagement for students in the classroom. In fact, games are already motivating and engaging students in their free time. So using game design focused around a unit can be a very effective way to shake things up in the classroom. While gaming in the classroom certainly isn't for everyone, it's another tool teachers can use to engage their students.
• Teaching. Believe it or not, learning about game design and designing my own games has improved my ability to educate students. Now, the area in which it improved my ability to educate is fairly narrow. It didn't help me with my ability to manage students or write curriculum or communicate more effectively with families in the community. But it did help me improve explanations of complex topics. Often times learning is all about connections. Connecting something students already know about to learn a new idea, and connecting that to another new situation. I have spent about 1.5 years designing games on the side, and I have seen an improvement in my ability to take a complex idea, break it down to parts a student can understand and connect to, and build it back up to that complex, original idea.
• This may be a cop-out answer, but I learned about myself. In March of 2014, I was looking for a particular game, and couldn't find it. I didn't know it at a time, but I was looking for a hex and counter game similar to Space Empires 4x, with a fantasy theme that was less balanced that created stories like Dwarf Fortress. I decided during that week, after a long time of searching, to just start making one. I've been working on that game (and many others) since then, and all of that work in non-professional game design has taught me about my personal tastes, and what I look for out of entertainment. I am now much more in tune with what I search for when I go to the local game store. I am immediately drawn to certain games due to their theme, or certain mechanics, or the feel they give when I play them. Designing games has had a very strong side effect for me, which has been self-discovery. Now I understand not only that I am indeed having fun, but why I am having fun and how I can have more of it.

Oliver
@oliverkiley

• Seeking publication
• Self-published one or more of my games
• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

Blog:
www.big-game-theory.com

Lessons learned:

• Testing hypotheses. You design something and then playtest it to see if it works as predicted/intended.
• Setting goals. You need to set clear goals for what your game wants to accomplish, and then stay focused on it.
• Accepting criticism. This is huge. Being able to accept and process constructive criticism without getting defensive is a big life skill. 

Brandon
@waywardstrategist

• Seeking publication

Current projects:
http://waywardstrategist.com/2015/04/15/my-first-sc2-arcade-project-remnants/
http://waywardstrategist.com/2015/04/17/remnants-mod-faction-lore/

Website:
http://waywardstrategist.com/

Lessons learned:

• Game design has a large component of time and project management. Making project documents, producing materials that allow for collaboration towards a common goal with minimal rework... Game design should be viewed with just as much seriousness as creating ad campaigns or any other software.
• Game design has a large component of public speaking and presentation involved. All the ideas in the world are nothing if you cannot effectively communicate a) why they're good ideas b) why you are excited about them and c) why potential publishers should be excited about them

Rob Harper
@harperrob

• Hobby
• Seeking publication

Blog:
http://firsttakesomedice.blogspot.co.uk/

Lessons learned:

• Fail faster. The sooner you get testing a game, the sooner you can find problems, throw out games that have no potential, and move on to something better.
• Ideas are worthless without development. I can dream of games in general that seem like a good idea, but until I turn it into something tangible, even if it is incomplete, it is just an idea, and nobody will be interested.
• Criticism is good. I *want* people to find problems with my game and tell me about them, so I can make the game as good as it can be. If people only tell me things that I think I want to hear, I can never improve either myself or my game.

Dr. Wictz
@drwictz

• Hobby
• Seeking publication

Games:
http://drwictzboardgames.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_9.html

Blog:
http://drwictzboardgames.blogspot.com/

Lessons learned:

• Understand the following: math, economics, and political science
• To succeed you need to do as much for others as they do for you
• If you do not take the initiative to make/do something, it does not happen

Lewis Pulsipher
@lewpuls

• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

Games:
pulsiphergames.com

Game design YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/LewGameDesign

Blog:
http://pulsiphergamedesign.blogspot.com/

Lessons learned:
Not sure *I* learned anything in particular, but game design could teach the following:

• Most people don't like the same things you like, or act the way you act, or think the way you think.
• Creativity doesn't "just happen", you have to work at it.
• Actions are far more important than intentions.

Kevin G. Nunn
@kgnunn

• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

Game Link:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/2212/kevin-g-nunn

Blog:
Kevingnunn.com

Lessons learned:

• The power of rewriting - good ideas start out as bad ideas that are iteratively reworked into good ones.
• The power of perseverance - you can be rejected dozens of times, it often only takes a single yes to be successful.
• The majority of people around you want to help you succeed. Welcome and encourage their help. 

Justin Blaske
@_jblaske or @five24labs

• Seeking publication
• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

Games:
http://www.five24labs.com/
http://gamesalute.com/Area1851

Blog:
http://www.five24labs.com/

Lessons learned:

• Have a plan! - Set out a list of everything you want to accomplish
• Set Constraints - Give yourself limits, limits really help with creativity and they help to keep you focused.
• Stay Passionate - Passion keeps us going even when we don't feel like it, if you're really passionate about something, you're more likely to finish.

Jack Poon
@creativecoveGS

• Hobby
• Seeking publication
• Self-published one or more of my games
• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

Blog about current project:
creativecovegames.com

Lessons learned:

• All of design is making a positive user experience. I designed 3D printers before going into game design. All of my work focused on hitting specifications and numbers. Jumping into game design was a drastic change at first but then I realized that specifications were just a small part of the whole. Those specifications eventually created a specific user experience.
• Designing games is like trying to hit a moving target. I'd like to make everybody happy but that is an extremely difficult task. Some players may like to be very competitive and other players will like to have some cooperation. Once in the hands of the players, the game cannot change but it can be constructed in such a way that everybody can have fun.
• The weakest element is always going to stand out far more than all the other elements, even the ones that work brilliantly. Getting the story, aesthetics, mechanics and technology to all work well together has been the biggest challenge but also the most fun and rewarding as a designer. 

Marc

• Hobby
• Seeking publication

Lessons learned:

• Graphic design (from card layouts)
• Statistics & probability
• Diligence (Stick with it!! Making games isn't always easy or fun.)

Graham Allen
@F3thermoore, @Tesseract_games

• Seeking publication

Lessons learned:

• Business and time management. This is especially true if you plan on attempting to get published either self or by licensing.
• Communication/technical writing. Rules writing is very similar to technical manual writing. I am an Engineer, so this is actually a reverse application for me since I already did that at work, but it is something that people generally wouldn't think of as something they are learning.
• Conflict resolution. Playtesters will say stuff that hurts your feelings. You have to learn not to be an ass about it. 'Nuff said.

Teylad Martin
faratlantis on BGG

• Seeking publication

Game site:
http://personalitycafe.com/mafia/447818-mafia-lxi-perc-house-mafia-ii-sign-ups.html

Lessons learned:

• Anything can be a game; don't limit yourself to thinking in what you have seen done before.
• Think about what does the world need more of in terms of jobs? A lot of my early career aspirations came of what I saw or enjoyed through playing games. So if we could gets kids or students more interested in a field of study early on in life, then maybe we'd have more people to fill x position in future generations.
• When designing a game, I like to imagine myself in every role, and then from there make sure that I'm having fun or enjoying myself throughout the entire game. I play, design, and mod mafia games online. The people playing the game will know or feel how much effort you put into the game. Basically, if you aren't enjoying your game design, how do you aspect the players or customers of your game to enjoy it as well?

Kolby Reddish

• Seeking publication

Lesson learned:

• It requires a lot of focus. I spent over a year of work on a single game design. For some people working on the same project for that long is too difficult.

Yeo Keng Leong & Christina

• Self-published one or more of my games

Games and business:
www.startingplayer.com

Geeklist about lessons learned in the first game design:
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/169153/lessons-learnt-first-time-board-game-designer

Lessons learned:
From Yeo Keng:

• Proper planning
• Patience
• I cannot please everyone.

From Christina:

• Be patient and persevere in what one believe in
• During our game design, we often find that certain ideas may sound good but do not work out well after playtesting. The process to adjust the balance of the game took a long time and we have to remain very patient and playtest the design until it is to our satisfaction. The important thing is not to give up in what you wish to achieve.

Jon Moffat

• Seeking publication
• Self-published one or more of my games
• Other publishers have published one or more of my games

Games:
http://stonecirclegames.com/games/horrible-hex/

Lesson learned:

• Accept criticism.

Gil Hova
@gillhova

• Self-published one or more of my games
• Other publishers have published one or more of my games
• Games and Blog: http://gil.hova.net/

Lessons learned:

• Embrace failure. As I saw on a t-shirt the other day, "Failure is the tuition you pay for success." Take the pain. Turn it into a better outcome.
• Ideas aren't as important as execution. Don't overvalue your idea. Don't wait for the perfect idea to start. Just start.
• Learn your limitations and work around them. A person who doesn't think they have any limitations is about to discover their biggest limitation. A person who knows their limitations effectively has none.
• You can't do it alone. Accept and/or pay for help whenever you are able to.

Caroline Berg

Page at Boardgame Geek: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamedesigner/22287/caroline-berg

Lessons learned:

When I was in school for my degree in Game Art and Design, I had a wonderful design class with one of the guys who worked for Wizards of the Coast. Some of the advice he gave was just awesome, like this: 

When you are creating a game, write down all the ideas you'd like to have in your game. Make a list. Look at that list. Then select 1/3rd of the ideas. And that is all. Don't add more. Those ideas are more than enough to keep you busy. You can keep the other 2/3rds for games later. But don't add them into your current game.

On a related note: one of the things that can kill a game is feature creep. Feature creep is when you keep adding more and more features to a game, taking longer and longer to balance everything. In the end you have a game that does a little of everything, but nothing well.

So my advice: stick with a few solid ideas and run with them, you will be much happier with the end result.

These links or resources were suggested by some of the designers above:

• The art of game design: A book of lenses by Jesse Schell
• kickstarterlessons.com
• A brief crash course in game design
• Game Design Forum at Boardgamegeek.com - Most responses above were a result of a post I made in this forum.
• Board Game University
• 12 Questions on Game Design

If you liked this post, here are others you might find useful:

• Game Design in the Classroom - Part 1
• How to Make Games of Any Type Using My Game Design Template 
• How to Make Games (Part 1) 
• How to Make Games (Part 2) 
• 8 Things I Emphasize in Game Design Lessons 

Game Design in the Classroom - Part 1 - What I learned

An early handmade version of my game What's It To Ya?

This is the first in a series. The second is about what others learned from making games. It can be found here. You can find the rest of the series and other articles I've written on game design in the classroom on this page.

I saw an article recently about game design activities for the classroom. It sounded like a great project that students would enjoy. The final product was a non-digital game, so it didn't require programming experience. Right away it reminded me of similar design challenges I've used that I could modify for the classroom, but something was missing in the article.

I couldn’t find much in it about the educational value of game design. Sure, the kids love it, but what are they learning? I even did some searches for lessons learned from making games, but it’s tricky finding anything. Most sites promise lessons about game design.

So before I write a post about my own classroom game design activity, I’ll start with a few lessons that I learned from designing games.

An improved version from a few years later

I’ve been making games as a serious hobby for about twenty years now. Some have been published and played around the world. Looking back, I have learned far more valuable lessons from making those games than I have in many classes I’ve paid for.

I brainstormed a list of lessons in no time. I won't give you a table correlating these lessons to Common Core State Standards, but these are important lessons for success in far more areas than just game design. They’re usually not taught explicitly in school. I can see they would be useful for any teacher in at least three ways:

• If a teacher does assign a game design activity, the requirements of the project must include the course content standards.  These other ideas I list below should also come out in the lesson, though, because they can help students no matter which path they take in life.
• If a student shows interest in game design, even if it’s completely unrelated to what’s being done in class, have students read my series of blog posts. The ideas in it will provide a good starting point for his or her success.
• These concepts are behind much of what I do when training teachers. These lessons apply to all of us educators just as much as they do to the students.

One last note: Before finalizing my list, I realized it also would be great to bring in input from other designers. I posted a short survey on a couple forums. I will post the responses I received in a second part of this series. (Part 2 is here.)

Knowing I’d ultimately have a lot of input from others, I shortened my list and just spoke to some general topics.

Here are just four valuable lessons I learned from making games.

How to be heard above the noise - Gaining attention for my work taught me the important lesson of how to stand out in a good way. Proper use of social media, directing language and images for a target audience and paying attention to feedback are all crucial for success in today’s world.

Technology skills - I was a math teacher when I started making games. I had no idea that by playing around with graphics programs, web 2.0 tools and website design on the weekends would open doors for me to do rewarding work with educational technology. Sometimes I was frustrated because I felt I had to do so much of the design and publishing process myself to realize my goals. Now I’m thankful for all those skills I developed.

Creative problem solving - I’ve already written much about the importance of this. It makes a great foundation for all of what we are doing in school.

Bringing an idea to reality - I write a lot about “teaching like an artist”. Most of what I have experienced as an artist has come from my work with games. It’s that process of having a dream, working hard to make it real and then sharing it with others.

• When I talk about inspiration in the classroom, it’s because I have seen:
• how much dreams matter
• the benefits of working on them to the end
• they can be contagious

The final edition of What's It to Ya?

I’ve found all students dream big. They also love it when we remind them their dreams matter. The sad thing is most will never learn how to take a big dream from start to finish.

That skill (or combination of many skills) is vital if we want people to live interesting lives and reach their potential, yet it’s not something we teach explicitly in school very often. Living (and learning) like an artist is pure work at times, so we have to encourage and remind students that the payoff is better than just existing off the dreams of others.

As I said, in my next post in this series I will include lessons other game designers have learned.

If you liked this post, here are others you might find useful:

• How to Make Games of Any Type Using My Game Design Template 
• How to Make Games (Part 1) 
• How to Make Games (Part 2) 
• 8 Things I Emphasize in Game Design Lessons 

How to use the Google Slides mobile app to make comics from real life photos

A lot of teachers have been using my process for creating comics with Google tools. I was thrilled to find it can now be easily done using the Slides mobile app! The best part of this is now you can bring in the real world pictures very easily.

If you haven't seen the general process and possible final products, you can read all about it on this page from my Education On Air presentation from a few weeks ago.

That process starts on a Chromebook or a computer and it uses either Google Drawings or Slides.

Now you can start in the Slides mobile app. I did this on an iPad, but the Android app will be similar.

First, start a new Slides presentation.

On a blank slide, click the + sign and select Image.

Choose to get the image From Photos or From Camera. Notice that if you use the camera, this is an amazingly simple way to immediately bring the real world into your creations!

Crop, resize and move the image as necessary.

To add comic elements, click the + again and select Shape this time.

Select Callouts and scroll down to the three comic elements. Choose the one you want.

From there, it's just a matter of placing the thought or word bubble, dragging the point to the character who is speaking or thinking and then entering the text. Here's my sample taken from a game I was playing with my son.

A few things to consider:

• While the tools are easy to use on the app, you might prefer to just use the app to bring the pictures into the Slides presentation. Then you (and any collaborators) can open that presentation on a Chromebook or computer for easy editing. 
• See my two-minute tutorial on creating the comics using a computer. The first steps are now replaced by the import process above, but the rest of the video shows the details of adding and editing the comic elements.
• You can change the background color of the slides by editing the presentation on a computer or Chromebook at any time.
• See the Projects page of my website for possible end products we make such as PDFs, virtual books or videos.

Creativity, Passion and Meaningful Contribution in School

Last week I had the privilege of presenting as part of the Education On Air conference. Jake Gentry and I did a session on my process of creating comics with Google tools. I was glad to see Matt Miller from Ditch That Textbook highlighted both of my classroom activities from the presentation.

Before I got into all that, though, I gave a short, big picture overview of why I believe some teachers are wearing themselves out to make learning happen. I presented some thoughts on the importance of creativity, passion and meaningful contribution in learning. In about four minutes I talk about things such as:

• How I breathe life into a classroom.
• Why teachers need to dream more.
• Why Google tools make this easier.

That part of the session is in the video below.

If you're interested in seeing the entire session, you can find it at this link.

How to Create a Narrated Slideshow on a Chromebook Using Google Slides and WeVideo

I've had a few teachers ask for a project somewhere between a PowerPoint presentation and a full blown video project. I have been suggesting what I call a narrated slideshow and I made a tutorial to show them how to do it on a Chromebook.

This process uses Google Slides and WeVideo. I really like how the whole thing can be done on one device.

I recently updated the final video below to include:

• Correct terminology for the final step in WeVideo.
• Steps showing how to turn it in through Google Classroom.

Some of these steps are specific to the Chromebook, but the great thing about these tools is that you can use them on any computer as long as you have a microphone.

First, here's an example of what I mean by a narrated slideshow:


In part 1 I show a brief overview of creating the presentation and how to download the slides as image files.



In the second stage I show how to import the images into WeVideo and how to build the video presentation. (WeVideo was recently updated, so some screens won't be identical to what you see in this video.)



In Part 3 I explain how to record your narration. (WeVideo was recently updated. It looks like they fixed the problem I refer to in the video about showing the preview while recording.)


In this final step I show how to finalize the project as a video saved in WeVideo and Google Drive. I also show how to turn it in through Classroom.

Note: Be aware that the free version of WeVideo is limited to how many minutes of video you can export each month. If the students keep these under five minutes there shouldn't be a problem, but they need to be sure their work is as good as possible before exporting. Multiple exports of even short videos could end up exceeding the limit on free accounts.


Note about first four videos above:
The first four videos were recorded on a Chromebook. I normally make my video lessons on a PC with Camtasia. Here I used the SnagIt Chrome app and extension. I edited in WeVideo (using some premium features as part of a free month trial). I am happy with the results using the free tools, but they are not as polished as other tutorials I have created.

Reflection assignments from the Mini-Documentary Project

A few weeks ago I posted resources from our mini-documentary project from our high school Communications and the Media class. As we were finishing the project, I realized the students needed time to reflect on all the learning that had taken place. I created these two assignments for this purpose.

This first short assignment was given when they collected most of the content for their videos, but before they finished editing.
Reflection Assignment 1

When the videos were completely finished, we gave students this longer reflection.
Reflection Assignment 2

Shadow Puppet App for Digital Stories and More

I've been very impressed with the free Shadow Puppet iPad app for quick digital slideshows. In the past I've written a lot about 30Hands as my favorite tool for creating these, but I have to say Shadow Puppet is now my go-to app.

I'll post a quick example video I made below. Here are the features that impress me the most so far:

• The intuitive interface allows you to quickly arrange some photos and record narration.
• You can add titles, zoom in and pan and also draw on the screen.
• The Edu version and website has some great resources for the classroom including image search engines and lesson ideas.
• It exports to the Camera Roll so you can share it how you like, transfer to a computer and even edit it in other applications.

The only downsides I've seen so far:

• The area for the image is cropped to a square shape rather than a 4:3 or 16:9 rectangle. 
• The music plays during the recording if I use that option.
• I got confused at the end of the creation process. I wasn't sure if I was previewing the video or finishing it.
• I'm not sure if this is a problem with my YouTube app or the video created by Shadow Puppet, but when I upload it, the audio is a few seconds off from the video.

For an app that should work well with almost every grade level, those are minor quibbles.

If I'm making a quick story for our high school news or a highlight for my church Facebook page, I'll go to the more robust iMovie. For the classroom, though, Shadow Puppet is my current recommendation to students and teachers. Download the Edu version now and give it a try!

miGoogle presentation for Comics and Creativity Games with Google Tools

This week I had to privilege of presenting at the miGoogle conference in Brighton, Michigan, along with dozens of great educators from around the state.

My topic was a very simple one--how to make comics by combining real life pictures with a few tools from Google Drawings or Slides.

Here's the website with all my resources, including:

• My presentation slides
• An example comic we started during the session
• Related tutorials
• Our sample project, including how to turn the comics into ebooks and videos
• Information on my creativity games

I shared many of these resources throughout other posts on this blog, but this one place to find them all as well as additional things I shared only at the conference.

If you want to see the sample comic we started during the session, it's here:

Tips for Classroom Video Projects

This is an updated list from a popular post I wrote last year. It's my attempt to compile the tips I find myself repeating to teachers and students whenever I help with classroom video projects.

I have enjoyed making movies and videos all my life and certainly one of the most rewarding parts of my job is getting to share the experience with students who are new to the process. Videos are a great way to showcase learning and I've been having a blast this year as many more teachers in my district are assigning video projects. I updated my previous list and regularly send this to teachers before we work together.

I'll probably keep adding to and refining this over time. If you have any comments or other suggestions, please share them.

If it would be helpful to have this as a single document, I have a Google Docs version here.

For Teachers

Set expectations at the start for requirements and the project timeline. I suggest a one page assignment sheet that answers these questions:

• What course content is required in the video?
• How much creative freedom will students have? For example, can they be serious or silly? Possibly list options for types of videos, such as skits, documentary style, newsroom style, etc.
• How long do you want the videos to be?
• When will each phase of the video (planning, recording and editing) be due?
• Where will these be recorded?
• How will it be graded? If you have a rubric, include it, or at least the criteria, on this sheet.
• What will they have to turn in (if anything) at each phase and how will they submit it?

Keep realistic, tight deadlines. Set the time you want students to use for planning, recording and editing and stick to it no matter what. Many students will take far longer if they are allowed to. Let them know they must work outside of class if it’s going to take longer.

Share the work when students are done. Share the best videos as much as possible. Post them to your own blog or website and any school public pages, etc. Of course, be sure you have permission to share images and video of the students before you post anything publicly.

Read over the list of student tips below and be sure students are aware of the ones you consider important for the current project.

For Students

Be realistic when planning. Unless you’ve created videos before, don’t plan special effects or anything that will require advanced editing.

Use one camera if at all possible. Using multiple cameras makes it harder to get all your videos in one place and file compatibility can be more of an issue. Even better, if you use an iPhone, iPod or iPad, edit right on the device with iMovie. **Note: Record photos and video to the Camera Roll, directly into the iMovie app.

Don’t plan to use music you can’t easily access and legally download at school. Part of any tech project is to learn the rules of copyright and fair use. It is not legal to use someone else’s song in your videos unless they have given permission. Here’s my favorite site for downloading free music. The composer gives permission for any use as long as you credit him in the video as he explains on his site.      
                           http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

When it’s time to edit, bring any USB cables that work with your camera so it’s easy to transfer files. When all else fails, it’s possible to upload your videos to Google Drive, then download them to the computer you are using for editing. This will take awhile if you have long videos, though, so cables are best.

Plan in detail. It's more fun to start recording, but poor planning will result in either lots of frustrating editing or a poor final video. Good planning includes a detailed script for all dialogue or narration and a storyboard showing the basic camera views for each shot.

Make sure you are recording files you can edit later. This means you have to record with a camera, phone or other device that creates a file format compatible with your editing software. I recommend doing a quick test with your equipment first. Record a short clip and try to edit it with your editing software.

Hold your camera, phone or device in the landscape position. Not only is this a pet peeve of mine, if you get this wrong it immediately makes your video look amateur. Shoot with YouTube and the big screen in mind so your possibilities are not limited. The graphic below is one I made based on one I found from another teacher on Twitter. I don't know if this site is the original source of the image, but I found it here.

Think about what the viewer is seeing and break up the scene accordingly. Does it make sense to stand back with the camera and just record the whole scene as if it were a skit? Or would different camera angles throughout make it more interesting? Would close-ups of certain action help tell a better story? Is there anything in the background that will distract the viewer from what is most important?

Listen before recording. Is there background noise or bad acoustics that echo when actors talk or make other sounds? Choose a quiet location.

Listen carefully when you are recording too. Be aware that a distracting noise (squeaky chairs, doors closing, etc.) while someone is saying a line can't be removed later. We often block these things out easily when listening to someone in real life, but when watching a video they are impossible to ignore.

Speak clearly when being recorded. Probably everyone involved in the video knows the script and knows what is being said, so everyone understands the lines. The viewers don't have that advantage. Pay attention to how fast you talk, how loud it is and whether or not the words are distinct.

Record too much rather than not enough. Start recording several seconds before action will start. If someone will say, "Action," or otherwise alert everyone to start, be sure they wait at least a second after the camera has started before they cue the actors. It is so easy to trim a few seconds off the start or end of a clip in editing. Compare that to the case when the camera person turns off the camera immediately after the last line or the actors start talking as soon as the camera starts. Those make for bad edits later.

If you have the time, get two good takes of each shot. You can overdo this, but generally if everyone finally gets a good performance once, the next one will be even better. During editing it can help a lot to have a couple choices for the take that will end up in the final video..

When acting a scene, don't look at the camera or the people behind the camera. It is very common for actors to look to the person working the camera as if to say, "Did we get it right?" Those looks can ruin an otherwise great take and sometimes you won't notice them until editing later.

To sum it up, remember you will have a much better final video if you…

• Plan carefully.
• Pay attention when recording.
• Always consider what the viewer will see and hear.

Three Simple Tutorials for Creative Project Based Learning

I'm preparing for a P^3BL session I'll lead this weekend and all that work is filtering into my Teaching Like an Artist blog. I didn't realize I hadn't updated this one in over two weeks!

Here are three tutorials for short digital projects that are worth pointing out:
Narrated Image Slideshows using Pixlr and Videolicious on iPad - These make great ways to present spoken poems or short stories.
Narrated Image Slideshows using iMovie and GarageBand for iPad - This is another method for creating slideshows. By using Garageband for the narration it also allows the opportunity to make up simple music too.
Quick Songwriting with UJam - I have created other tutorials for UJam on this blog, but this one shows the simplest way to turn a short tune into an mp3 of a fully arranged song.

Smart Jams math songs playlist on SoundCloud

Here's the playlist of all of our Smart Jams math songs. If you download or share them, please include a link to this page or my Music Creation in the Classroom page.

Digital Storytelling for Middle School with WeVideo

I created a digital story assignment to introduce WeVideo and we tried it out this week.

It confirmed for me that WeVideo is a great tool for the classroom. This assignment results in a digital slideshow, so we were only uploading photos. I'm not sure how well it will work with video, especially long clips, but I hope to try that out soon.

For now, it is my recommended editor when teachers ask me for a resource to create narrated slideshows.

For our assignment, I took 10 pictures of students in various poses. The students had to arrange at least six of these pictures into some short story in WeVideo. They were required to add a title and end clip as well as captions and some panning and zooming.

Here are the resources for the assignment:

• The assignment sheet - This includes directions, requirements and links to the tutorials.
• A shared folder on Google Drive with the pictures - These 10 photos were taken ahead of time.
• Video Tutorial 1 - This shows how to get started in WeVideo. It shows the basics of the interface, how to upload, arrange, add captions and titles and also how to pan and zoom.  Note:  The tutorial refers to uploading the photos because in our class we didn't store photos in Google Drive. You can upload from Drive or you could save those photos above in a different folder.
• Video Tutorial 2 - This tutorial shows how to add music and how to publish and share the final video.

This basic assignment lends itself to a lot of modification for different needs. Here are some suggestions:

• Have the students take their own photos.
• Have another class take the photos.
• Instead of using actors in the photos, students could set up action figures or maybe even objects.
• They could draw the pictures digitally or on paper.
• Require editing of the photos. For example, speech bubbles could be added.
• Narrate the story and have students read the dialogue.

If you use this assignment or you have suggestions for other changes I'd love to hear from you!

Examples from the Smart Jams Math Music Video Project

Here are five samples from our first time through the Smart Jams music video project. I highlighted our work in detail on my Music in the Classroom page. I also included video tutorials for the entire process so teachers or students could do similar work.

Due to privacy concerns, we did not get permission to post the full videos online. The versions here will give you a great idea of the quality of the songs. The videos have been modified (mostly with panning and zooming) so that students cannot be identified.

These are a few of the songs I'm most proud of for reasons noted below.

Best singing performance - Multiplying Fractions - Most students opted for a rap when they performed. It is a lot more work for all involved when they choose to sing as these girls did, but the performance turned out very well.

Best rap performance - Rounding Like a Hero (Rounding to the Tens Place) - This is a great example of how a short, simple rap can focus on the content and give students a chance to let their talents shine through.

Best songwriting - Truckin' Like a Tractor (Reducing Fractions) - I liked the similes and rhymes in this short song a lot. The quiet girl who did the rap really came to life when I started recording!



Example created using just the iPad - This is remix of the first song. After I got the chords from UJam, I created the music using Smart Instruments in GarageBand for iPad. I also played a guitar track using the iRig adapter. Next, I created the video using only still pictures and iMovie. It's a good example of what can be accomplished relatively quickly with all content creation on this amazing device.


Example of WeVideo - Long Division - These students were a joy to work with and they put a lot into their song. It's one of our best, but I also share it here because I finalized this version in WeVideo. All other videos were done with iMovie, but I wanted to see if WeVideo could be used as a simple, free alternative on a PC. My conclusion is yes, but I had to publish this twice before the published version matched the sync of the edited version I worked on. I can't say how common that is, but it was somewhat frustrating.

I'll be glad to hear any comments you have on this project and the final products!

Stick Around App - puzzles for learning

Image from Tony Vincent's website: http://learninginhand.com/

I was glad to receive a promo code for Stick Around from Tony Vincent, the app's inventor. I had heard positive things about it from others on Twitter. I also was excited to see it because it was developed by the same team that made Explain Everything, one of my favorite apps creating tutorials. I installed it right away and tried out a few of the sample puzzles that came with it.

The educational value of the puzzles is immediately evident. Each puzzle requires the user to move the "stickers" to the correct place on the background image. As an example, a sticker in the one sample has the term "cell membrane" on it. The goal is to move it, as well as the other 10 stickers in that puzzle, so all parts of the pictured cell are labeled. Some stickers have an arrow so you can easily point to the correct area of the background image.

The action of positioning stickers also allows for "sort in order" questions and for arranging items in Venn diagrams.

When a user thinks the stickers are in the right place, he or she can press the Check button. The app indicates whether or not it is correct. If so, a badge is displayed and the user can save a picture of the completed puzzle to the Camera Roll. From there it would be easy to send to the teacher or share in other ways.

To me, the big benefit of Stick Around is the ability to create your own puzzles and share them with others. While this obviously will let a teacher make puzzles that fit her students' needs perfectly and quality puzzles will be easily shared among all users, it also makes for a great project option. Students can create puzzles as a final stage of a PBL activity. One of my favorite types of assignments in technology classes is to have older students create content for younger students. This app will be perfect for that and I hope to try it with some students in the near future.

I took some time to explore the puzzle creation features. Most tools are intuitive and anyone who has used Explain Everything will recognize similarities in the interfaces. Whether you've got the app or you're still considering it, be sure to check out Tony Vincent's tutorials. They are well done and I learned some things about setting up stickers that I might have missed at first glance.

Here are my favorite features so far:

• Imported pictures can be used as backgrounds or as stickers and you can trim them to any shape. Having your picture or photos of the classroom in the puzzle adds to the fun for students. You (and they) can make the learning relate to their world and their personal interests.
• Stickers can include additional text notes or hyperlinks to web pages so students can find related information. 
• You can even record audio on a sticker. Stickers with recordings have a small Play button that users can tap to hear what you recorded. This makes it easy to add short comments to a sticker that might be helpful for completing the puzzle or maybe for additional information.

And here are a few things I noticed that were negatives or possible obstacles. I'm sure all of these can be easily addressed in an update if enough users also find them worth mentioning.

• Answer regions (where the stickers have to be for correct placement) cannot be touching. That makes sense, but I found in my custom puzzle they actually had to be spaced apart more than I expected. Since my puzzle was based on an photo, I didn't have a lot of choice as to where two of my regions were. I had to move them apart more and more until the app would finally accept them. This is not a big deal, but you need to keep it in mind before spending a lot of time on a puzzle only to find your regions will be too close. In the future, I'll make and test any regions that might be close, then finish the rest of my puzzle once I know those work.
• I'm normally not into the bells and whistles of educational apps, but I was surprised there weren't more sound effects for actions while a puzzle is completed. Sounds of picking up and placing stickers would have been a nice touch, though obviously not essential. Also, when a puzzle is checked, there's no sound for correct or incorrect submissions. In fact, the message for an incorrect attempt looks like a system dialogue box, simply indicating the puzzle was not solved correctly. There is an image of a medal for correct solutions, but compared to most interactive learning experiences the students are used to, these features didn't seem to get much attention from the developer.
• I want to work with this more to see how much of a problem it is, but the one sticker I made from a photo did not seem to work right when I added an arrow to it. It was fine at first, but when I came back to it later, the arrow was missing. When the app checked for a correct solution, it didn't seem to matter any longer where I placed that sticker in the puzzle. When I edited the puzzle and added the arrow again, it then showed up behind the information/edit box, so I couldn't even tap or drag it to stretch or position it. I need to experiment with that more to see if it happens frequently with image stickers or if something else caused it.

All things considered, I'm very happy to have Stick Around as another learning tool for my students. I plan to share this information with all teachers in my district, since I'm sure the app can be useful in all grades and subject areas.

I will be working with a high school Digital Media class next week and I look forward to having students create puzzles and share them. I will update this post as I see the app in action, both for solving and creating puzzles.

Editing videos for the Smart Jams project

When the songwriting and recording for the Smart Jams math music video project was all wrapped up I ended up with audio files, pictures and video for 23 projects. That means I spent a lot of time editing over Christmas break!

As of today (1-5-2014) I have completed 14 videos and eight more of the songs are mixed down. Over the next few days I'll finish the rest. I haven't had much time for blogging through all this, but here are a few things I learned:

• I wish we would have piloted this with only one or two classes! I really enjoy the entire process, but managing all the files is quite a task.
• I am editing the videos this time around because I need to see the whole process and the project took enough class time already. The overall goal was to identify a simple process and have the students compile the audio, pictures and video themselves in the future. I learned a lot about this and I'll post the information in the weeks ahead.
• I originally planned on having each video play through the song three times. Previous materials I posted referred to that. Now that I look at what I have recorded and how much editing is before me, though, I see it's far more realistic to just repeat the song twice.
• I need more structure to the picture and video recording portion. Some of the factors (creativity, attendance, timing, availability of devices...) caught me off guard and what I have to work with is making editing take longer. I'm sure that by the time I finish all of these I'll have a much better list of guidelines for that phase of the process.

For now, here's a compilation of a few videos I have completed. I blurred the faces because we haven't had a chance to get signed release forms from parents. Also, I wanted to see how that feature works on YouTube.

Comments are welcome!

Perimeter and Area Song - Teacher sample for math music video project

Here is the current version of The Perimeter and Area Song that Crystal Owen and I created as a sample.  We will show this to students next week, then begin working on their original songs and videos.

Our project is funded by a grant from MACUL and you can read about the process and other examples on my Music Creation in the Classroom page.

 

10 tips for recording video in the classroom

I updated this post in October 2014. I added a few tips for teachers and created a Google Docs version too. The new post is here.

Given the popularity of this post, I created a video version of the tips. It is embedded at the end of the list.

I would think many of these items are obvious, but as much as I have to remind students I know they're not obvious to everyone.

• Plan in detail.  I know it's more fun to start recording, but poor planning will result in either lots of frustrating editing or a poor final video.  Good planning includes a detailed script for all dialogue or narration and a storyboard showing the basic camera views for each shot.
• Make sure you are recording files you can edit later.  This means you have to record with a camera, phone or other device that creates a file format compatible with your editing software.  I recommend doing a quick test with your equipment first. Record a short clip and try to edit it with your editing software.
• Hold your camera, phone or device in the landscape position.  I didn't think to remind students of this until we started letting students use their own devices.  Remember that computer monitors are always in landscape.  Don't hold the phone or iPad so the image is taller than it is wide.  It might work great for Vines or other clips you send your friends, but it really weakens the final product no matter how good everything else turns out.
• Think about what the viewer is seeing and break up the scene accordingly.  Does it make sense to stand back with the camera and just record the whole scene as if it were a skit?  Or would different camera angles throughout make it more interesting?  Would close-ups of certain action help tell a better story?  Is there anything in the background that will distract the viewer from what is most important?
• Listen before recording.  Is there background noise or bad acoustics that echo when actors talk or make other sounds?  Choose a quiet location.
• Listen carefully when you are recording too.  Be aware that a distracting noise (squeaky chairs, doors closing, etc.) while someone is saying a line can't be removed later.  We often block these things out easily when listening to someone in real life, but when watching a video they are impossible to ignore.  
• Speak clearly when being recorded.  Probably everyone on the set knows the script and knows what is being said.  The viewers don't have that advantage.  Pay attention to how fast you talk, how loud it is and whether or not the words are distinct.
• Record too much rather than not enough.  Start recording several seconds before action will start.  If someone will say, "Action," or otherwise alert everyone to start, be sure they wait at least a second after the camera has started to cue the actors. It is so easy to trim a few seconds off the start or end of a clip in editing.  Compare that to the case when the camera person turns off the camera immediately after the last line or the actors start talking as soon as the camera starts.  Those make for bad edits later.
• Along with that, if you have the time, get two good takes of each shot.  You can overdo this, but generally if everyone finally gets a good performance once, the next one will be even better.  During editing it can help a lot to have a couple choices for the take that will end up in the final video..
• When acting a scene, don't look at the camera or the person behind the camera.  It is very common for actors to look to the person working the camera as if to say, "Did we get it?"  Those looks can ruin an otherwise great take and sometimes you won't notice it until editing later.

To sum it up, remember you can save a ton of time in editing with careful planning and by paying attention.  Consider what the viewer will see and hear.  After you make a couple videos thinking like this you'll appreciate your favorite movies and television shows all the more!


Based on your experience, what advice would you add to the list?

New Creative Learning Systems Lab

I'm in training this week for our new STEM lab from Creative Learning Systems, so I put the video below together for our Facebook page.

This is coming to our middle school.  This lab represents everything I wanted to accomplish in my math class years ago as well as all the technology integration and project based learning I've worked toward the past few years.

Lots of learning and fun ahead!

Games and thoughts for the start of the school year

We still have a good amount of summer to enjoy, but with all the back-to-school stuff showing up I figured I'd compile some of my own resources appropriate for this time of the year.

First, here are the presentation games I made for ActivInspire that are great for those first days back:

• Oh, Really* - Students rank items in order from most important to least important.  This is based on my published party game What's It to Ya?*.  Another related way to play online, not requiring ActivInspire, is here.
• Say Anything - This is a very simple creativity game where some students compete to come up with the most popular answer.
• This or That? - Here's another game based on a party game I made.  This one gets attention year round, but it's great for introducing students on the first days.

*Update 8/7/2013:  My friends at Fair Play Games have one edition of my party game What's It To Ya?game on sale for $7.99 for four copies.  That's enough for the whole class to play if you're using the physical party game!  Check this post out for more information.

A new school year means a great time for some fundamental changes to how we run our classes.  Here are some thoughts I shared earlier for engaging students with meaningful work.

• Do something big NOW - I added our music video to this recently too. Why I'm not big on career planning lessons anymore
• Lifelong Learner Challenge - A philosophy for ongoing learning and meaningful contributions
• Learning for Doing - Is it bad that I finally gave up on making everyone love to learn?
• The 4 C's of Success - One way I presented the importance of making commitments and doing what it takes to follow through
• The 3 P's of Success - What I learned about success from working with high school seniors
• Advice to a New Teacher - Some overall lessons I learned that I'd tell myself 20 years ago when I started teaching.  I think every teacher could benefit from writing similar advice to themselves.  Also, this post ends with the "Key to Success" that I always told students on the first day of school.

And here's a favor if you've got any interest.  Let me know if this pet project of mine looks interesting.  

Helping Students Live Better Stories

I haven't elaborated much on it since this original post, but it could be a great, ongoing project for a class.  If you like the looks of it, tell me and I'll work on it some more before school starts!