Carnegie Mellon to Host Next Game Education Summit

Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center will host the second annual Game Education Summit in June 2009, it was announced today. The summit’s goal is to foster more discussion between people in the world of game development education, such as students and educators, and people in the professional industry. The first inaugural summit was held in summer 2008 at Southern Methodist University, which is also home to The Guildhall graduate game school. The two day event was moderately well attended for a first-time show of its kind. According to a press release, the conference is slated for June 16 and 17, 2009 and will be focused on improving academic training to address the skills shortage (primarily in programming) that currently faces the game industry. “Academic institutions of all kinds are rapidly compiling courses offering a variety of qualifications to people looking to enter the industry,” said Don Marinelli, executive producer at the Entertainment Technology Center, in a prepared statement. “It is essential that course design, content and teaching methods are focused on the same goal -- developing a pipeline of highly qualified and motivated young people who can immediately contribute to the creativity and growth of the Industry.” Conference sessions will cover best practices for core curriculum courses, panels by industry professionals discussing their human resource requirements, teaching methodologies that enhance student performance, opportunities for research collaboration, guidance on helping students manage the transition from college to working in a studio, starting a university game development program and how to increase class diversity. The Game Education Summit is open to educators, students, and industry professionals and is organized by Game Path, an independent conference and trade show management company.