K-12 Digital Game Design Microcredential

This microcredential gives K-12 educators a deeper understanding of the fundamental elements of game design. It also gives them practice creating a game design document (GDD). At the completion of this microcredential, teachers will be able to describe game design elements and implement them into their own game design document.

MICROCREDENTIAL ID: ETEC-TLG-0004
CREDENTIAL: K-12 Teaching and Learning with Games
CREDITS: 1.0 CEU (10 hours)
AUTHOR: Dr. Rick Ferdig

Registration

How to Earn This Microcredential

Participants will need to submit evidence related to learning, implementing, and reflecting on teaching with digital games in the classroom. This includes a written overview of the elements of game design, the creation of a game design document (GDD), and a reflection on lessons learned in this microcredential.

Fees

Participants submitting this microcredential for review will be assessed an administrative fee of $50. Participants who successfully complete the microcredential will receive a certificate showing completion of 1.0 CEU.

Why Get This Microcredential?

This microcredential is part of the K-12 Teaching and Learning with Games Credential. This microcredential focuses on digital game design. This is an important step before the microcredential on learning how to produce—and have students produce—games in the classroom.

Important Terms

Digital games – a game that can be played on any platform (e.g., web-based, console, mobile) that is electronic in nature (i.e., compared to an analog board game).
Educational games – games that are either created for educational purposes, or if not specifically educational they can still be applied for educational goals. Educational goals can be cognitive, emotional, affective, social, etc.
Game Consumption – Digital game consumption refers to teachers or students that play existing games that are typically created for them by someone else.
Game Design – Game design is the process of creating a blueprint for a game; it combines various components such as aesthetics, rules, storytelling, and mechanics.
Game Production – Digital game production refers to learning about, with, and through games via the process of creating rather tahn only playing games.
Pedagogy – there are a lot of definitions, but it is probably easiest to think of this as the art or science of teaching. It would be easy, for instance, to ask educators how educational gaming fits into their pedagogical beliefs.

Benefits of this Microcredential

Digital and analog gaming impact all aspects of society. This includes recent work on the value of using games for teaching and learning. Digital game use in the classroom is often related to consumption, where teachers and students play games. While this is an important part of gaming, game production can also be used to educate, as students must learn the content to create a game for others. While an educator will not become a great game designer with one microcredential, this microcredential is set up to introduce educators to some basic game design mechanics before building a game with other microcredentials.

Standards

Ohio Learning Standards: Technology

Information and Communications Technology
- ICT Topic 1: Identify and use appropriate digital learning tools and resources to accomplish a defined task.
- ICT Topic 2: Use digital learning tools and resources to locate, evaluate and use information.
- ICT Topic 3: Use digital learning tools and resources to construct knowledge.
Society and Technology
- ST Topic 1: Demonstrate an understanding of technology’s impact on the advancement of humanity – economically, environmentally, and ethically.
- ST Topic 3: Explain how technology, society, and the individual impact one another.
Design and Technology
- DT Topic 1: Define and describe the technology, including its core concepts of systems, resources, requirements, processes, controls, optimization, and trade-offs.
- DT Topic 2: Identify a problem and use an engineering design process to solve the problem.
- DT Topic 4: Evaluate designs using functional, aesthetic, and creative elements.

ISTE Educator Standards

2.1 Learner
- 2.1.a - Set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness.
- 2.1.b - Pursue professional interests by creating and actively participating in local and global learning networks.
- 2.1.c - Stay current with research that supports improved student learning outcomes, including findings from the learning sciences.
2.2 Leader
- 2.2.a - Shape, advance, and accelerate a shared vision for empowered learning with technology by engaging with education stakeholders.
- 2.2.b - Advocate for equitable access to educational technology, digital content, and learning opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students.
2.3 Citizen
- 2.3.b - Establish a learning culture that promotes curiosity and critical examination of online resources and fosters digital literacy and media fluency.
2.4 Collaborator
- 2.4.b - Collaborate and co-learn with students to discover and use new digital resources and diagnose and troubleshoot technology issues.
- 2.4.d - Demonstrate cultural competency when communicating with students, parents, and colleagues and interact with them as co-collaborators in student learning.
2.5 Designer
- 2.5.a - Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
- 2.5.b - Design authentic learning activities aligned with content area standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize active, deep learning.
- 2.5.c - Explore and apply instructional design principles to create innovative digital learning environments that engage and support learning.
2.6 Facilitator
- 2.6.b - Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces, or in the field.
- 2.6.c - Create learning opportunities that challenge students to use a design process and computational thinking to innovate and solve problems.
- 2.6.d - Model and nurture creativity and creative expression to communicate ideas, knowledge, or connections.
2.7 Analyst
- 2.7.a - Provide alternative ways for students to demonstrate competency and reflect on their learning using technology.
- 2.7.b - Use technology to design and implement a variety of formative and summative assessments that accommodate learner needs, provide timely feedback to students and inform instruction.

Evidence Review

Candidates interested in earning this microcredential must submit three pieces of evidence: one piece related to learning, one related to implementing, and one related to reflecting.

When you are ready for your evidence review, submit your pieces of evidence for feedback from a qualified instructor.

Learning

In this first of three sections, you will learn about the successful elements of good game design.

Required Resources

There is a very interesting book called . It is an open-access book that has been peer-reviewed and edited by Ioannis Deliyannis. Many of the chapters will be useful to you if you are interested in gaming and game design. For this first segment, please read chapter one by Mifrah Ahmad titled “.” If reading academic research is new to you, be patient as you read through. The author discusses several elements, first examining game design elements and then examining educational game design elements. You can see these by looking at all the tables and figures. The author brings them together in Figure 4. Please consider the following questions as you read this and look through the tables and figures:
- When you think of playing a game, what are the main elements you consider to be important for gameplay?
- When do you think about your role as an educator? What elements also exist in pedagogy? For instance, think about the role of goals, freedom, and challenges in learning.
- What game would you like to develop, and how would each of the factors or elements shown in Figure 4 influence your game design?

Additional Resources

Popular Press
- Brandon Rollins –
- Gamedesigning – ?
- Graham Dolle –
- Intel -
- TutsPlus –
Research materials
- Lankoski, P. & Holopainen, J. (2017). . ETC Press.
- Ma, Y., Vallet, F., Cluzel, F., & Yannou, B. (2019, July). . In Proceedings of the Design Society: International Conference on Engineering Design (Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 439-448). Cambridge University Press.
Videos
- Brackeys –
- Field of View: The Art of Game Design –
- Filament Games –
- Integral: Redesigning Humanity -

Required Evidence

Submit a 1-2 page reflection on what you learned from the chapter reading and anything else you may have decided to read for this microcredential. Specifically, consider the following two questions: First, what are the most important elements of good game design? Second, in what ways is game design like curriculum design, or in what ways should curriculum design mirror good game design?
Formatting – One to two pages maximum; double-spaced, no smaller than 11pt font.
Use references to support your claims. References do not count towards the 1-2 page minimum/maximum. Any format for references is allowed, but APA is preferred.

Evidence Review Criteria

Criterion 1: Educators will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental elements of game design.

Implementing

In this second of three sections, you will produce a game design document (GDD).

Required Resources

In this segment, you will describe a game you want to create. The game can be analog (e.g., a board or card game) or digital. This document is often called a game design document (GDD). Your GDD can be as simple or as complex as you would like it to be. However, after reading your GDD, someone should be able to understand what your game does, what a player of your game experiences, and the elements necessary to make this happen. You do not have to use a GDD template. However, a few are provided in the additional resources that may help you.

Additional Resources

Alexander Brazie – (Examples and Templates)
Aran Davies –
Whimsy Games –

Required Evidence

Create a GDD from scratch or using a template. The structure of your GDD does not matter. There are two key elements:
- Explain what you want to do with the game.
- Go back to the elements document that you created in the learning segment. Highlight key elements of your game.
Be sure to dream big. You may not know how to create an analog or digital game. Do not let that stop your thinking. Try, where possible, to plan for this to be implanted (eventually) into your curriculum.
Where appropriate, be sure to include the appropriate state learning standards into your lesson plan (e.g., ).
Evidence of successful completion must include the GDD in Word or PDF format. It can be of any length, but it should sufficiently describe the game.

Evidence Review Criteria

Criterion 1: Educators will present evidence of the creation of a GDD.

Reflecting

In this final of three sections, you will reflect upon your experiences in this microcredential.

Required Resources

If you are new to writing reflections and/or this is your first microcredential, please visit at least one of the additional resources.

Additional Resources

EduBirdie -
Trent University –

Required Evidence

Reflect on what you learned in the game design process. Consider the following questions:
- How difficult was it to think about a game you wanted to design?
- How easy or difficult was applying game design elements to your game design and GDD?
- How could you translate the game design into an assignment your students could complete?
Formatting – One to two pages maximum; double-spaced, no smaller than 11pt font.
No references are required.

Evidence Review Criteria

Criterion 1: Educators will be able to demonstrate thoughtful reflection on their learning experiences.

Questions?

Email pd@kent.edu.

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