The last two winters Microsoft and Microsoft Research have partnered to host a conference on game development in computer science education. This year, for the first time, Microsoft’s Alfred Thompson reports that he has been given leave to create a special high school computer science track for the conference and to encourage high school teachers to attend.
Between the academic papers and the support through attendance and participation of commercial game development and game tool creating companies, the Microsoft Academic Days on Game Development in Computer Science Education conference has become one of the much anticipated conferences of the year.
In the past, the conference has been attended by only a small number of high school teachers. This new track, however, should make it much more accessible and interesting for teachers. Thompson says he is still working on the track but already there are some great things lined up that will make this a valuable experience.
The current list of confirmed GDCSE 08 general session and tech talk speakers includes people from the Alice project at Carnegie Mellon, Blizzard Entertainment, Electronic Arts, and Bungie (the people who create Halo). A large number of university faculty will also be talking about how they use game development to teach computer science concepts. Beyond that the networking possibilities are amazing. Here is a chance to discuss how game development can be used to teach and attract students in computer science with some of the best in the field.
Please look at this page (http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7977046 ) for information on the conference and contact Alfred (Alfred.Thompson@microsoft.com) if you have any questions.
BTW High school teachers can get a 50% reduction in the cost of the conference. Oh, and did I mention that the conference is on a cruise ship leaving from Florida?
This year’s conference is co-sponsored by ACM/SIGCSE and Electronic Arts.
Chris Stephenson
CSTA Executive Director