Building the Best: The Academy-Industry Interface Experience at The Guildhall at SMU

The video game industry has expressed a serious need for credentialed professionals to support its dramatic growth. Given the young age of the emerging discipline of interactive media, early educational efforts have by and large not benefited from a systematic discourse on what constitutes a proper and credible education, and to what ends. In the interest of contributing to the discourse, this talk will (i) examine frameworks underpinning game education and its positioning within a larger academic context, (ii) present ideas that may be helpful in shaping the tenets of the new discipline, and (iii) share insights and experience gained over the last eight years in establishing The Guildhall at SMU and offering its programs.