supporting positive risk - Taking
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We emphasize the utility of failure in the process of learning and the importance of practice in developing mastery. In game design and coding, messing up is key to the process and often yields positive results. The supportive learning environment strengthens students’ capacity to constructively confront challenges in their own lives, and to think more broadly about what they would be good at doing in the future.
“I realize that if I’m put on the spot and I’m given a certain task or time limit or something, I’ll be able to accomplish what I need to.” |
Practices that Support Positive Risk-Taking:
- Emphasizing the Importance of Practice. Discussions around process, practice, and mastery are built into the lessons of design and coding. Practice is framed as the process of trying and failing over and over until you figure out what you’re doing wrong and how to tweak it until you get it right.
“…If it’s too hard, I just try to do it more till it’s comfortable.”
- Acknowledging that Failure is an Important Part of Success. One of the fundamentals of game design that we drill into students from the start is that the first draft of their game will not be very good. New School Game Design Professor Nick Fortugno has them repeat the mantra “My first game will suck” three times before they begin the design process.
“Game design is my style… you [just] throw something out there and fix it later”
- Providing Honest Feedback. A structured feedback and iteration process that includes feedback from all members of the learning community (i.e., instructors, students, and guests) supports the notion that it is okay when something takes time to perfect.
- Sharing Stories of Mistakes Made and Challenges Overcome. Instructors, staff, and guests regularly share their own stories of struggling with and overcoming failure or uncertainty throughout their career as learners and as professionals.
