Synopsis for Reaching Across Art-Technology Divide: A five-year post-mortem on Champlain College’s interdisciplinary, game development educational model

Champlain College is now in their fifth year of implementation of their undergraduate game development cohort. Comprised of three degrees, Game Design, Game Art and Animation, and Game Programming, Champlain integrates these degrees into one learning cohort starting in the freshman year.

In this five-year post mortem, program directors Amanda Crispel and Paul Herzog will present to the community:

• Champlain's program structure
• What an interdisciplinary model has to offer
• The parallels and differences between industry and educational environments
• The challenges in developing interdisciplinary production classes
• The trouble with tools
• Recruiting and the importance of admissions
• The conflict between production and portfolio
• Collaboration between faculty members, programs, and divisions
• Support of the institution
• The role of student community