TheVirtualInstructor Blog

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve been able to post, so I figured that I would share with you a project that I’ve been working on with my students.  One of the classes that I teach is Animation.  Each quarter, our focus in this class is on a different type of animation.  For example, 1st quarter, we concentrate on traditional frame by frame animation, 2nd quarter- Stop Motion, 3rd quarter- Rotoscoping and then 4th quarter students create a lengthy 5 min film.  Stop Motion animation is currently the focus of this class.  The dilemma for me as the teacher lies in the fact that most stop motion work relies on the students taking their own photos out of class, leaving “down time” for students in class.  So this year, I decided to include a little video game development. We could develop our video games in class and the students could develop their stop motion projects mostly outside of class time.  I realized that this would be a challenge for me, since this is relatively uncharted territory for most students.  It also includes quite a bit of coding with action script in Adobe Flash.  Well, this class has really flourished with the video game design.  The students are enthralled in their activities and are creating some pretty amazing video games.  As you might imagine, I get lots of questions.  Students sign up at the beginning of class and I work my way down the list, helping each student in order.  In the near future, I hope to post a video tutorial explaining the process of creating a basic video game in Adobe Flash.  I modified the basic game that I made as a demonstration to the students to reflect the season.  It’s called “Santa vs Aliens” You can check it by clicking on the screen shot below…

It is important for us as art educators to prepare our students for life outside of the classroom.  One way to connect students to the world beyond the classroom is to expose them to some of the careers that artists fill.  One career that is especially exciting for students is video game design.  Many artists are finding their way into this arena and many more are aspiring to be a part of it.  Love ‘em, hate ‘em, or shun ‘em, video games are part of our culture.  This is a medium that our students are familiar with, and more importantly recognize the relevance of.  The multimedia industry  is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world economy.  This industry is a natural fit for many of our creative students.  So now is the time to start showing them what their creative minds are capable of.  If you are knowledgeable in Adobe Flash, you can use it to teach video game design.  But not of us have that luxury.  So how can we expose students to video game design, if we are a (ahem) inexperienced in video game design?  Easy- use Scratch.

What is Scratch?
I first introduced to Scratch through ARTStem and a workshop held at The Center for Design Innovation where I was able to create an interactive math game for my daughter in just a matter of a couple of hours.  Scratch is a program developed by MIT.  It is completely free to download.  It is actually it’s own computer language that helps students better understand how programming works.  Students can easily create their own computer games using Scratch and then share them on the site for others to play.  This program encourages dynamic learning and aligns nicely with 21st century learning.  Scratch is designed for students from 8-16, but younger and older students can definitely find the process challenging and rewarding.  Still intimidated?  You shouldn’t be, because Scratch features educator support through ScratchEd, which is a great resource for teachers.   Take a look at Scratch in the following video…

Scratch: overview from andresmh on Vimeo.

So, give it a try and implement video game design into your art curriculum.  Show your students what their creative minds are capable of.

Visit the Scratch Website here and download the free software.