Game Academy @ Oakwood Academy
There’s every good reason just now to focus upon the transferable skills of video game players - and neurodivergent game players in particular.
Video games are a booming sector of the creative industries. There is a shortage in the UK economy of digital and soft skills, skills that many of the UK’s 35m players of video games deploy in game, day in, day out. What’s more, in a recent survey, almost a fifth of people who work in the games industry are neurodivergent.
In Spring 2023, specialist school Oakwood Academy, did just that, and gathered a group of 19 video game players who are studying for the NCFE Level 2 Technical Award in Interactive Media.
Oakwood is a specialist visual arts, technology and sports college for young people with moderate and complex learning difficulties. With support from charity Career Connect, the Academy commissioned video games educational technology venture Game Academy to run a programme to help identify and develop the transferable skills of the players. The programme was based at UTC Media City in Salford, North-West England.
In five 90 minute sessions across three weeks, students were invited to dig deep into the transferable skills of video game play, won advice from professionals on how to get into the games industry and had an opportunity to share games they had made, games art they had created, as well as their ambition not just to join the industry but also launch their own independent games studio.
The sessions were modelled on Game Academy’s successful Bootcamps: curated programmes of analytics, talks and team exercises that the company provides game players either directly or through intermediaries such as careers hubs, youth charities, local government and other public organisations. The Academy has supported over 4000 players to date and often works with employers in the digital, creative and cybersecurity industries.
The programme was also informed by Game Academy’s work with Career Connect on Connect to your Future, a tailored mentoring and wellbeing support programme for 15-19yr old people ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET.
In Session 1, led by Game Academy founder David Barrie in person, learners were introduced to the skills of game play and started to find out more on their skills and personal power using Game Academy’s unique online assessment tool. Game Academy has developed algorithms that provide a skills assessment of the in-game skills of video game players, their transferability and value to the labour market.
In Session 2, delivered remotely by Barrie, former Army Commander turned technology COO Lee Hosford shared his passion for strategy games and how his work in theatres such as Afghanistan and Iraq have been informed by the strategic planning and thinking implicit in his game play. The group were then invited to identify and share their successes in playing games, and then share their successes in life. Through its website - http://gameacademy.co - and curated programmes and Bootcamps, Game Academy has found comparative experiential learning encourages learners to evaluate the nature and value of their in-game activity in new and different ways, fosters critical thinking and empowers new career choices.
In Session 3, Pete Gomer, Head of Design at Huey Games, shared his work in an illustrated talk, emphasising storytelling through game mechanics, the nature of his work and journey as a game player from an early passion for Resident Evil II and Final Fantasy 7. Learners then broke into groups and were invited to review a common game - Minecraft - from diverse points of view - art, design, marketing and monetisation - and report their findings to others.
In Session 4, because the group had expressed an interest in receiving more personal experience and career advice, Jerry Johnstone, game developer at Just Add Water was interviewed by David Barrie. Jerry shared his experience progressing from doing a degree in Game and Interactive Design from Lancaster University at Blackpool & Fylde College to testing games for TT Fusion, then shifting to game design at Cloud Imperium in Wilmslow.
Learners were then invited to consider decision-making in games - an important soft skills power in game play that is of value to the labour market. Thomas, a neurodivergent Masters degree student in Pure Maths at the University of Nottingham and a big Minecraft fan shared some images of his work, and the decisions he feels are implicit in the game’s play. The group were then asked to write down and share the decisions they feel are demanded by the game.
In Session 5, the close of the programme, another games professional was invited to share their experience and insight, with an emphasis upon games art, since so many learners seemed to make characters, games and game environments for fun. Mel Cummings is a freelance concept artist, who specialises in making vehicles, props and mechanical objects. Mel shared her work. A selection of learners then shared their work with Mel, for her review and advice.
Thanks to David O’Sullivan, Deputy Head of 6th and The Excell Hub Director, Oakwood Academy Sixth Form; Paula Isherwood, Staci Burgess and the Connect to the Future team at Career Connect; and students of the NCFE Level 2 Technical Award in Interactive Media course at Oakwood.
