Playgrounds to Pipelines: Building a Learning Ecosystem Through Faculty-Led Production of Early Childhood Game Design
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56198/xt6cn339Keywords:
Gamification, Higher Education, Faculty-led, Community Partnership, Educational Game DesignAbstract
The following expanded abstract for an oral presentation outlines a faculty-led production model developed through a partnership between a state university (East Tennessee State University) and a state education agency (Tennessee Higher Education Commission), in which undergraduate and graduate interns collaboratively design and produce educational video games for students grades K-5. The games use appealing art and narrative driven mini-games to introduce careers and educational pathways through game-based learning. The work examines how immersive learning can be structured and sustained as an agency funded internship with a production ecosystem that integrates paid student leadership, course-credit participation, faculty mentorship, and direct client collaboration. Framed within the theme “From Plato’s Cave to Open Immersive Societies: Transforming Learning and Knowledge,” this paper illustrates how immersive learning simultaneously prepares young learners to explore their future education as an embodied experience, while also allowing university students to transition from classroom instruction into authentic production roles.
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The papers in this book comprise the proceedings of the meeting mentioned on the cover and title page. They reflect the authors' opinions and, in the interests of timely dissemination, are published as presented and without change. Their inclusion in this publication does not necessarily constitute endorsement by the editors or the Immersive Learning Research Network.
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