View from the US: Getting your games into schools

Looking to market your games to US schools? In this post, I’ll share three key insights on helping teachers use your game in the classroom. These strategies, although coming from a US perspective, are also relevant across the pond and beyond. I’ll also highlight key differences between the US and UK.

This post stems from a presentation myself and co-conspirators Allisyn Levy (BrainPOP GameUp) and Barbara Chamberlin (New Mexico State University Learning Games Lab) gave at the Games for Change Festival in New York this year. If you prefer, you can watch the video of the talk (also embedded below).

Laying the groundwork

First, let’s cover some fundamentals.

Tie your game to standards. Stateside, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is the equivalent of the National Curriculum. Sort of. CCSS only covers some subjects, it’s very new, and not all States have signed-up to it. There are also individual state standards in various subjects.

Provide support materials for your game. These are resources designed specifically for teachers. Reduce the technical barriers to using games. Many schools have older IT equipment, are locked-down in terms of installation and internet access, and students are often more tech-savvy than the teachers. Unless you’re going for specific use-cases or target markets, the less technical barriers the better.

Help teachers find your game. Apart from Google, there are various places where teachers can search for games. Here are some options:

• Specialist lists, such as the Science Game Center and Preloaded’s Games With Purpose.
• BrainPOP’s GameUp – a curated collection of embedded games, free to play.
• Playful Learning. New from the Learning Games Network (for which I work), it’s a free platform designed specifically for teachers to search, share, rate and curate games (both educational and commercial) and ways to use them.

It’s also worth engaging with teacher communities such as Edmodo and EdWeb, as well as academic and teacher-directed conferences.

If you’re making games for the classroom, all this is probably nothing new. So what else can you do to help teachers use your games?

Strategy 1: Show what your game looks like

Teachers are busy. They may not be gamers. And the start of a game may well not reveal the core gameplay and how it works.

Here are three ideas you can implement to help teachers judge your game:

• Create a game guide. This is best as a PDF or something easily printable that a teacher can take with them. For instance, for the Game Guide, I included specifics about the content, classroom configuration ideas, possible pause points in the game (such as great places for discussion), and a road map of the game stages.

• Create a video or set of images that show gameplay. This is distinct from a promotional video – it’s not about hooking people in, but about giving teachers the confidence to say, “I can see how this works”. Check out Filament Games for a great example.
• Provide hints in your game design that help teachers understand where their kids are in the game. In Math Snacks’ Ratio Rumble, the rollover on each game level subtly hints at what type of ratio is being used (2 part, 3 part, simple, complex) and what types of potions are used (whole numbers v. fractions).

Strategy 2: Show how to teach with your game

Now teachers know what the game is and how it works, you need to show them what teaching with the game looks like. You want them to say, “I can implement that in my classroom”. Here are some questions to consider:

• How does learning happen with your game? It is likely that it is best used when there is some kind of discussion before, during or after the gameplay, or a combination. Offer examples of guiding questions for these discussions, and provide or link off to complementary activities.
• What do teachers do during gameplay? How active should they be? Do they play along with the students?
• How can teachers justify using your game? As well as teachers, heads, administrators and parents often need convincing. What value does the game bring? Is there any supporting research or evidence for the game’s effectiveness?

Answers to these questions can be provided in a game guide, or an accompanying teacher website. Videos are also great for showing the different ways teachers can interact with students and the game. Again, an example from Quandary is our classroom implementation video.

Strategy 3: Work with teachers and classrooms

This is something we know we should do, but it’s often hard to make it happen and to do it right. Here are some ideas to get the most out of working with teachers and kids.

• Try to use multiple classes and observations. There are great differences between teachers, between students and between schools.
• Use an iterative design approach for your classroom materials. We’re familiar with giving ourselves time and people to develop, reflect and modify the game. Do the same for the support materials. Give your teachers a chance to play the game, come up with strategies, modify them and try again.
• Build great teacher links. There are many ways to do this. At the Learning Games Network, we’ve leveraged student and teacher attendees of our annual Game Design Boot Camp for play testing and content creation throughout the year.

Want more?

I hope this has provided a useful starting point and some food for thought. If you’re hungry for more, do check out Barb Chamberlin’s recording of the Games for Change presentation that inspired this post. There’s a ‘buy 3, get some free’ special at the end of the video with more ideas and tips that we’ve found super useful when making games for use in class!