Teacher Professional Development

AMD Foots Bill for Gaming Workshop for Teachers

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 03/24/10

AMD is sponsoring a day-long game design workshop this May for teachers at an annual game conference. The chip maker's foundation is awarding a $100,000 grant to fund the workshop during Games for Change, which is hosted in New York by Parsons The New School for Design and the Games for Learning Institute at New York University.

The workshop will help train teachers, non-profit leaders, and others to develop social issue game design programs for their school curricula or after-school programs. The workshop, to be held May 24, 2010, is being sponsored by AMD as part of the company's education initiative, AMD Changing the Game. The program is designed to promote social issue game development as a tool to inspire teens to learn; improve their science, technology, education and math (STEM) skills; and become more attuned to global social issues.

Games for Change is itself a non-profit venture that promotes the power of video games to address social issues, including poverty, education, and climate change.

"Each year, social issue games gain more prominence and visibility within the gaming and educational communities, as those communities increasingly recognize the potential of games to engage youth in meaningful ways on pressing global issues," said Alex Quinn, executive director for Games for Change. "This workshop can have a valuable and lasting impact in this space by putting educational technology tools in the hands of a broad network of leaders who serve so many of these young people."

The workshop will provide information on the software tools available for game design, showcase youth game development programs, and feature presentations by youth game design experts.