http://currentlab.art.vcu.edu/
(Internet Archive Backup)
CurrentLab is an organization, headquartered at Virginia Commonwealth University, focused on developing and providing resources for Art Educators to teach meaningful, contemporary New Media artforms.
In my role as CurrentLab’s Lead Curriculum Designer, I’ve developed several modules and accompanying resources, available on the CurrentLab site, for teaching video game design from an arts perspective.
The modules include:
- ● Introduction to Digital Game Design as Art (PDF Lesson Plan) (ZIP Resources)
- ● Creating and Traversing Virtual Spaces (PDF Lesson Plan)(ZIP Resources)
- ● Mechanics as Metaphor (PDF Lesson Plan) (ZIP Resources)
- ● Making & Moving in the Real World: Physical Computing (PDF Lesson Plan) (ZIP Resources)
The modules are designed to work with freely available Game Maker software (downloadable from CurrentLab’s site), and are structured to be accessible to art instructors who are novices to game design and digital artwork in general.
There are also two modules currently in progress, focusing on narrative in games, and on effecting real-world change with games.