"I like to position what libraries do with gaming and rich media in the context of storytime for the 21st century."

~Jennifer R. Nelson
Hennepin County Public Library
Minneapolis, MN

Game Studio

Hennepin County Library, MN

Hennepin County is a large urban/suburban public library system that includes the city of Minneapolis, MN, serving 1.1 million users.

The goals of the program were to establish libraries as relevant to youth by meeting them where they are at in their social/recreational/developmental processes, provide safe space/activities for youth to engage with one another, provide youth opportunities for meaningful involvement in developing leadership skills by running gaming programs, and provide a structured activity for youth who are already present in the libraries.

Libraries interested in replication any portion of the Game Studio program may be interested in World Scratch Day on May 16, 2009.

Running the Program

Initial classes in game design, now called Rich Media Design, began in the summer of 2006. It featured instructor-led sessions using a didactic format that focused on teaching youth to create a Pac-Man-like program using Scratch in a three-hour session. The workshops were taught by highly competent staff from the Science Museum of Minnesota, so library staff were able to learn with youth. Partnerships with other organizations is critical, whether it is after school programs at the YMCA or a more focused organizations such as a science museum or arts organization. It is a way to get programs running if there isn't capability within the library itself (either funding or staffing).

Youth were instructed in each step of the process, from creating sprites and backgrounds, to setting up a system to score points. Variations in the curriculum occurred only as participants had questions, needed assistance or self-advanced to other features. While youth were highly engaged, they largely worked alone, focused on their computer screen and the instructor. During the first Game Studio sessions staff learned that this method of instruction wasn’t ideal for youth.

Formative evaluation of the program and reflective meetings with the lead instructors led to a new and much more successful teaching strategy for the Game Studio Workshops. The new method, a just-in-time format, allowed participants to enter the class at their skill level – whether experienced or brand new – and build projects based on personal interest. Rather than teaching all youth in the program the same project, the instructor allowed youth to individually explore and engage in already-created projects. This process let youth develop an intuitive understanding of how the Scratch program worked by inspecting other people’s finished projects that mirrored their personal interests – graphics or point scoring, for example. In this class format, participants quickly focused on modifying, enhancing or copying specific projects.

As this class process unfolded, youth guided the learning process as the instructor responded to individual requests for assistance. At strategic points, the instructor introduced new concepts to the class--usually advanced skills that one or more participants had already expressed interest in. This method took advantage of tools such as Scratch Cards (developed by MIT and adapted to this program) that allowed workshop participants to engage in guided self-discovery. Each Scratch Card demonstrated how to program a particular facet of Scratch. Using this teaching method, the instructors were able to more readily reach all class participants at their individual point of entry and for as much time as each had available. Youth were able to engage more readily for short duration projects of higher interest, particularly those that incorporated music or digital images.

The just-in-time method was especially successful at North Regional Library, where participants often didn’t stay for the whole class time, came late, or attended with an eye toward learning specific skills. It also allowed youth who were caring for younger siblings the opportunity to learn chunks of programming that could be built on at a later date. Moreover, all participants were able to be successful at creating something, regardless of the time spent on a project.

The just-in-time format also evidenced more 21st century literacy skills as participants readily interacted with one another to learn pieces of programming and quickly developed expertise in specific areas that they were then able to share with the class as a whole. Youth also took more risks in programming, as they were able to clearly experience the low consequences of so-called "failure."

In addition to creating the just-in-time method for conducting the class, the lead instructor also proposed adaptation of the ScratchR website (developed by MIT) for youth to house projects for later revision and further development. The awareness of the need for a tool like this came directly out of project team meetings with Scratch and media literacy and game development experts who visited Minneapolis as part of the evaluation project.

As the classes developed, it was easy to talk about the skills kids gained from understanding how games are created and constructed. There was great value for youth being able to bring their creative ideas to the world through the website and by using related programs.

Marketing

Game design sessions were marketed at youth 12-18, via the library website and MySpace page, posters inside the library and in the community, flyers and email newsletters, word of mouth, and 'game talking' at other youth programs, such as console gaming.

Literacy Connections

Participants in the program gained skills and fluency in digital and media literacy. Participants read, evaluated, and processed text and visual information in order to construct new ideas and understanding. This analysis resulted in participants creating their own products by designing videogames. Scratch required a high degree of digital, media, and technology literacy skills. As described above, the design, application, and evaluation of game creation created an environment where the participants literacies skills were able to develop and grow. This program not only created opportunities to practice these literacies, but actively developed them.

Impact

Evaluation of the youth participants included the observations used to formatively change the program structure. Participants were also asked to reflect on what they had done during the program and how they might use Scratch in the future. When asked “what was the most interesting thing they did that day,” 13% specifically mentioned the creativity involved in the program. Participants were more likely to mention designing a game (40%) and creating animations (23%). Responses indicated engagement in the process of game development (“learning where to put things in order for the [game] to work,” “exploring the scripts”) and ownership (“that I made my own game,” “making my own dancing thing”).

Nearly all participants (91%) indicated they would use Scratch again. Just over half (55%) indicated that they expected to design games at school, but most (81%) said they would design more games at a library.

Clearly, the library and Scratch are a team that can provide opportunities for youth to develop higher order skills. Now that the curriculum and instruction processes have been tailored specifically to youth at libraries, Hennepin County Library anticipates continued success in developing 21st century literacy skills by offering Scratch programming to youth.

In addition to formatively assessing and revising the program, the evaluation documented youth participation in an effort to better understand the project’s audiences. Half of all participants were between 8 and 12 years old; another 45 percent were 13-17. The remaining participants were younger than 8.

About half of the participants (46 percent) indicated they used a computer more than once a day and 39 percent of participants played video games more than once a day. Another quarter used a computer just once a day, but only 7 percent reported that they played a video game once a day. Respondents were more likely to indicate that they played video games a couple times a week (29 percent). Most participants, then, already possess basic technology literacy skills and use them on a regular basis.

When asked about their computer access, half of the participants had a computer at home and half did not. A majority (86 percent) indicated they had computer access at school. Participants were more likely to report that they had access to a computer at a library. When participants were asked about their Internet access, over half (59 percent) indicated they had no access at home, but most (64 percent) had access at school. Again, participants were more likely to report access at a library. Most (86 percent) indicated they had internet access at a library.

As a result of this program, youth developed leadership skills, became actively engaged in positive activities while in libraries, and felt welcome in the library environment. Kids and have an outlet for creative skills. Measures of success were attendance & repeat attendance, the focus and level of engagement of the youth in program, and youth returning for other library activities. As we move toward integration of programs led by library staff we're looking at a range of mechanisms to provide staff skills and support for offering workshops.

Funding

Funding for the Game Studio/Rich Media programs has come primarily from the Best Buy Children’s Foundation. The game design/rich media programs are a partnership with the Science Museum of Minnesota. Scratch is free game design program.

Resources

For more information, please contact Jennifer Nelson at jrnelson@hclib.org.

World Scratch Day. day.scratch.mit.edu. February 20, 2009.
Website of resources for using the free game design program, Scratch, on May 16, 2009.

Animation Program Evaluation

Scratch Evaluation

Teen Tech Squad Evaluation

Scratch. MIT, 2009. www.scratch.mit.edu.
Free game design program.

ScratchR
Support website for Scratch

Science Museum of Minnesota
Partner's website

Games for Change Toolkit. GC4, 2008. www.gamesforchange.org/toolkit. January 28, 2009.
Contains resources for making a serious game for real-world change.