GottaCon is an annual broad-spectrum gaming convention held the first weekend of February at Pearkes Arena in Victoria, British Columbia.
As already mentioned, I was the Special Events Coordinator for GottaCon 2012. Part of my role as Special Events Coordinator was to moderate the discussion panels.
The firth and final discussion panel was Learning Through Gaming. It was held on February 5, 2012. Seated on the panel were Kirsten Andersen (Teen Services Librarian at the Greater Victoria Public Library), Karl Johanson (Neo-opsis Science Fiction Magazine), Eric Seaton (Crosstime Games of BC), Joanne Service (InLight Entertainment) and myself.
The panel outline read: The panel will focus on ways to learn through gaming (video, board, etc.). The panel will focus on games that are obviously educational and how to make it fun. It will also focus on how to turn “regular” gaming into teaching moments. For parents and caregivers attending with their children, or just parents and caregivers in general, this panel is for you.
Some of the topics we explored during this panel include: Our personal learning gaming experiences growing up; Games that are not educational and how to create teaching moments while your child is playing them; Games that are geared towards education, both ones that are fun to play and may be boring for the child. If the game is boring, how to make the learning fun, ways to deviate from the rules and create spontaneous teaching moments; How to create a learning game from scratch; Resources for parents, (games available on the public library, free online games, cheap games, etc.). After the panel was over, there was a brief Q&A.
The panel, including Q&A, is just under 1 hour and 35 minutes. The file size is 86.8 MB. The file type is mp3, 128 kbps, 44.1 kHz, stereo.
You can download the panel here (right click, save as).
Alternatively, you can stream it below.
Podcast: Play in new window
I hope you enjoy!
And if you haven’t yet, listen to/ download the first discussion panel, Making a Player Character That is More Than Just Statistics here, the second discussion panel, Evolution Of Social Gaming here, the third discussion panel, So You Wanna Write… here and the forth discussion panel, DM Roundtable here.
