Steam for Schools
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Valve announces Steam for Schools, helps teachers create educational Portal 2 levels
Who ever said being a scientific guinea pig couldn't be educational? With Steam for Schools, teachers can now use Portal 2's level editor to create lessons focused on boosting critical thinking, spatial reasoning and problem solving skills. Announced at the Games for Change festival in New York City, the educator edition of Steam comes with a free copy of Portal 2 and the Portal 2 Puzzle Maker. Students and teachers alike can use the tools to create puzzles, but distribution is handled by teachers alone. (That's right, kids -- no level sharing unless the teach says so.) An accompanying website serves as a gathering place for teachers to collaborate, and aims to provide sample lesson plans centered on science, technology, engineering and math. If you're an educator who can't wait to bring a Portal-assisted physics lesson to life, see the links below to sign up for the ongoing beta. Now if you'll excuse us, we're off to "study."
Designing edutainment, the Valve way: make a good game first
"People don't sit around at Valve and say 'We're educating.' They are educating the player. But it's just good game design," Valve Software's director of education programs Leslie Redd told me in an interview yesterday afternoon. She and her coworker, Valve's Yasser Malaika, were on stage earlier in the day during New York City's annual Games for Change Festival presenting Valve's latest and boldest education initiative: Steam for Schools.The program offers educators a modified version of Steam that puts control in the hands of teachers – and offers students a chance to snag a free, unmodified version of Portal 2 and its puzzle maker. Teachers are able to add "lessons" as they see fit, created in Portal 2's puzzle maker – several of which are already available.It's a first for Valve, and really for any game developer operating today. Thankfully for those of us who love Valve for its video games, not much (if anything) is changing in Valve's approach to game design. "Having a fun game is so connected to learning and mastery and agency and social dynamics. You can't really design a good game without really considering all those things and putting in the effort to understand how your customers respond to those things. And it feels like that process has a lot of value, more than the product," Malaika said.
'Steam for Schools' is a free version of Steam for students, facilitates Portal 2-based lessons
"Steam for Schools" is Valve's next push into edutainment. This summer, educators can apply for beta inclusion in the program, which includes a "limited version of Steam" featuring Portal 2, the game's level editor, and its workshop for hosting and organizing user-created levels. This new version of Steam will be free for educators (in and out of beta), and will give educators administrator access – meaning that kids cannot share levels."We have a limited version of Steam, which is called 'Steam for Schools.' And what we're doing is asking for teachers, after school programs, organizations – anywhere where there's a student relationship, which includes homeschooling – for them to submit a form to be part of it. It's still in beta," Valve's Leslie Redd told attendees of today's Games for Change festival in New York City. The initiative is a continuation of what Valve head Gabe Newell spoke about during his keynote at last year's Games for Change event, where he professed 'no difference' between education and entertainment approaches.The Washington-based company intends on opening up that level of access in the future, but Redd said that "children need that walled garden." In the future, Valve intends to allow more openness.Valve isn't receiving any outside funding or grants for the program. "Valve is a commercially successful company," Redd explained with a smile. Of course, facilitating a massive education program for free is pretty great public relations. Other publishers aren't involved just yet, but Redd said there've been some initial talks.For more information, Valve's "Teach with Portals" website is now open and will expand in the coming months as the beta extends across the summer (hey, that starts today!).
