Synopsis for Collateral learning, values, and cognitive framing in story-based video games


Speakers/Panalists

Stephen Schafer

Stephen Schafer
Past Chairman of the Humanities and Social Sciences Department
Digipen Institute of Technology
bio

James Portnow

James Portnow
Founder and CCO
Divide by Zero Games
bio

Tom Abernathy

Tom Abernathy
Senior Writer/Designer
Microsoft Game Studios
bio

Michael Highland

Michael Highland
Filmmaker and Strategic Consultant on Interactive Media

bio

Roger Travis

Roger Travis
Associate Professor of Classics in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages
University of Connecticut
bio



Synopsis

The media-sphere seems to adhere to principles of psyche-physics and unified fields. It is within this epistemological framework that a comprehensive array of the media permits human conversation and provokes civilization. Humanity is experiencing an unprecedented paradigm shift into a mediated reality that seems entirely alien to many people educated according to earlier media formats. Conversation has broken down between educational gate-keepers and younger generations inured to the epistemology of the impending media dream. This breakdown is particularly evident in the arena of technological education where training is exalted but education abjured.  

The ramifications of unified field ontology go far beyond the demands of ephemeral markets, exploding technologies, short-sighted objectives, and vested interests. Graduates educated to manipulate the powerful technology of the medium will bear serious responsibilities for the cognitive re-framing of culture according to holistic principles. They must be prepared for that responsibility.  Educators must regain focus and fulfill their primary mandate to produce informed citizens of the world. Instead of bending a suppliant ear to ephemeral industry demands and to immature student values, their education should prepare students for a brave new world that is beautiful and wise. Technical training without foresight and wisdom tends to create monstrosities.