James LaPierre, Author at Filament Games

FGP 15: How Did I Get Here?

March 22, 2016 // Kat Shanahan

Filament Games | Educational Game Developer

Welcome to Episode 15! Join us on the Filament Games Podcast for a behind-the-scenes look at how Abigail Rindo, Lead Producer, and Stephen Calender, Game Engineer, decided to create learning games and what drew them to Filament. Hot Topics in This Week’s Episode Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake Oxenfree Cities: Skylines Stardew Valley More Information…

District Game-based Learning Implementation Guide

March 23, 2016 // Kat Shanahan

One of the things we’ve heard from District Administrators after implementing 1:1 initiatives is that the challenging part has only just begun. Now that they have these beautiful new devices, administrators have to make sure they’re useful to students and teachers. Implementing a district-wide game-based learning program is a great way to make sure you’re…

FGP 16: Win The White House

March 29, 2016 // Kat Shanahan

Welcome to Episode 16! In FGP 16 we ask the important question, “What do you think is the largest number of bananas you can eat in a day?” We also chat with special guest Carrie Ray-Hill from iCivics about Win The White House and the importance of teaching in a non-partisan, safe environment around the…

Get to Know a Game Engineer: An Interview with Stephen Calender

March 30, 2016 // Stephen Calender

On March 9, 2016, I met with the Game Maker’s Club at Norwich Tech via Google Hangouts. I had a great time chatting with the students! Here’s a selection of the many thoughtful, insightful questions they asked: Where do you get your game ideas? Good game ideas can come from anywhere. I have literally dreamed…

FGP 17: Game Design Contest

April 5, 2016 // Kat Shanahan

Welcome to Episode 17! This week we bring you a very special episode of the podcast. We invite game designers Abby Friesen and Matt Haselton into the studio for a game design contest. Hear what happens when we ask two designers to design and pitch a game in under 40 minutes. Hot Topics in This…

Depth vs. Breadth in Learning Games

April 11, 2016 // Dan Norton

One of the best things about making digital learning stuff is that we get to have a constant dialogue about the nature of knowledge. After all, if you want to make learning tools, you need to have an opinion about what it means to know something! One thing that comes up a LOT is the…

FGP 18: Season One Finale

April 12, 2016 // Kat Shanahan

Welcome to the season one finale! We want to extend a heartfelt thank you for listening to the first season of the Filament Games Podcast. We enjoyed releasing each episode and reading your Tweets, Facebook comments, and notes on Soundcloud. Rest assured, we will be back with season two before the end of 2016. If…

Challenging Systems

April 18, 2016 // Dan White

Filament Games | Educational Game Developers

I recently delivered a talk at the National Science Teachers Association entitled “Engagement Unlocked: Using Learning Games for STEM”. I began the presentation by disavowing the title because it suggests that, up to this point, engagement has been locked up and inaccessible in schools. That’s obviously not true. Yes, I remember having to memorize the…

What Makes Great Learning Games?

April 25, 2016 // Brandon Pittser

Over our long track record of creating educational games, we’ve developed some fairly strong opinions about what makes a great game-based learning experience – from mechanics, to learning objectives, to organization, we have a lot of specific ideas about best practices for learning game development. In this video presented by our Chief Creative Officer Dan Norton,…

An Interview with Game-Based Learning Pioneer Zack Gilbert, aka EdGamer

April 27, 2016 // Elle Jacobson

Zack Gilbert, 6th grade teacher and gaming enthusiast, is the host of the EdGamer Podcast, the longest running podcast dedicated to Games and Learning. Since 2011, Gilbert has interviewed some of the biggest luminaries in game-based learning and has contributed significantly to the conversation about games in education. We reached out to Zack to learn…

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