— Day 1 - Set Up and Ender Golf: Our primary goal for this day is to assist students in setting up Minecraft and to familiarize kids with our course’s objectives. At the beginning of the class, we’ll introduce kids to Ender Golf and how they can establish rules and controls for a game. Students will then create their own Ender Golf course and learn how to playtest with others.

— Day 2 - Structure: We’ll teach students how to structure their games with a start point and an endpoint. They will then create their own unique parkour courses to playtest and refine with others.

— Day 3 - Concentric Development: Development should start out simple and then expand with details. Students will build a completable dungeon devoid of areas in which playtesters can get stuck on. 

— Day 4 - Formulating Rules: In addition to the dungeons they’ve created last class, students will build out rules for their dungeons and ensure the rules are easy to follow.

— Day 5 - Balance: In this session, students will explore the concept of multiplayer games and discover how to set one up. Students will then create a boat racing track with at least five obstacles in it.

— Day 6 - Variety: The next step is to add variety by implementing shortcuts or alternative paths to the racing tracks that students have created. To avoid confusing playtesters, students should actively avoid overloading the track with shortcuts. 

— Day 7 - Polishing: What does it mean to polish a game? We’ll show students all of the  different kinds of ways they can polish their favorite mini-games to make their courses unique and one-of-a-kind.

— Day 8 - Showcase Day: This is the day for showcasing and playtesting! Everyone will get to play each other’s courses and provide feedback to each other for future improvements.

Connected Camps is a not-for-profit organization founded in 2015 with the mission to build a global online community where kids build, code, play, and learn alongside one another. Our programs are designed based on extensive research in the learning sciences. The founders and leaders of Connected Camps, Mimi Ito and Katie Salen, are professors at the University of California, Irvine, who specialize in the design of online learning experiences that are fun, social, and directly tied to academic outcomes. Learn more about the research behind Connected Camps at the Connected Learning Alliance resource site: https://clalliance.org/ 

One thing that makes our programs unique is our near-peer mentorship model. Our programs are led by young adults and college students, often with the help of high school volunteers. We hire counselors and coaches from top universities in computer science, game development, economics, social studies, and the arts, and train them on how to facilitate project-based learning with younger kids. Our young instructors have the same passion for technology, games, and digital making as our learners, and take on the role of instructors, as well as fellow enthusiasts and relatable role models.

The curriculum for this program was designed by a team of counselors pursuing degrees relevant to the material at hand. The learning experiences in this class are driven by these counselors’ academic expertise in the field, along with their desire to share their passion for the subject with a group of excited learners. All of Connected Camps’ curricula are vetted by the organization’s Product Manager, Matthew, who possesses a Masters in Secondary Education and a deep belief in the power of collaborative virtual learning.

숙제 제공
This class does not require any out-of-class work. We do offer optional challenges that students can work on as an extension of what is taught in class. We provide guidance and instructions for students who are inspired to delve deeper into the topic. The purpose of these challenges is to give students the opportunity to supplement their learning with additional material that aligns with their passions and goals. Students may then integrate their learnings into their project and showcase their accomplishments to their classmates.

With this approach, students can explore the subject on their own. We give students the opportunity to share what they’ve explored independently with the class.
제공되는 평가
At Connected Camps, we assess each student’s progress by engaging them in reflection of their own work and the work of their classmates. By building in Minecraft and applying concepts taught in class, our students are able to solidify their learnings through hands-on application. Our counselors’ focus is to provide qualitative feedback to further each students’ individual goals and interests, and we do not use letter or number grades.

In addition to our in-class reflections, our counselors also provide post-session recaps that offer a summary of what is accomplished each day. Through these summary reflections, students are able to review the material and share with their parents what they did in class. We find this approach allows kids of different interests and abilities to engage with our teachings in a way that is particularly relevant to them.
제공되는 성적