Part of the bashing of humanities is the constant critique that knowledge gained in the humanities is not applicable, that humanities don’t create anything tangible. By creating computer games, students learned how to apply their theoretical knowledge on transmedia storytelling with the help of digital tools. They produced a product they could share with the world and that boosted their self-confidence.

• Twine

• The individual teams of students used many more digital tools they were familiar with.

Twine is user-friendly and not too overwhelming when new to the field.

You can find examples of the games here.

Barbara especially recommends “The Ugly Piglet”.

The game jam was part of a very intensive 7-day program, so many students used their nights to work on the games. I think it would be a good idea to organize game jams as separate events to give students more time for the project.

Advice for other teachers would be to team up with other instructors. Rather than trying to become an expert on digital tools, start working together with an expert, to both make the burden of implementing digital methods in teaching much lighter, and to gradually improve your own skills. While a basic understanding is of course necessary, it seems to be more efficient to combine different expertise rather than trying to become an expert in many different fields from the start.