Learning Games Games about learning or learning about games?

My colleague John Sutherland (who amongst other things founded the first games industry specific degrees while at a former employer) has started a new blog, Akademos Gamer. In his opening post he considers the relationship between universities and employers (specifically in relation to the games industry).

You can catch John’s biog here, on his home page.

I found his experience of Skillset accreditation (at a previous employer) different to my own at least. I recall some deliberation here on whether to apply – as it seemed like a lot of work with an uncertain outcome. In brief, teaching staff and line managers met and discussed what was required. I drafted one of the sections, and reviewed what paperwork we would need to put together. We met again, decided to proceed and shared out responsibilities for the final proposal. As a group we managed to put it all together, just in time.

When the accreditation panel did visit, they certainly gave the impression that they needed to be convinced – no sign of it being a mere formality. When we got notification that we had accreditation, we were very relieved!