As a result of this course, students expressed a greater understanding of how complex and interconnected systems work in games, developing their abilities to apply programmable concepts as a form of visual self-expression.
From the student interviews, the unit operations of MARC also provided a tactical framework for students to understand and connect interdependent systems within games and daily life. Performing at an introductory level, the MARC concept was intended to support students in game making, allowing them to become creative producers of programmable digital media while providing a method to critically investigate game production. From this research, there is valued evidence that art educators should learn how to critique and make video games as a way to develop an understanding of the associations between objects and ideas, and how game interactions can be traced to reveal and critique complex relationships and systems within artistic and other life processes.
As forms of digital communication swiftly change, new opportunities for creative expression, exhibition, and critique appear in our contemporary culture. The addition of the media arts standards (National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, 2012) and the video game creation category in the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards (Scholastic, 2010) show how the range of opportunities for K-12 art curriculum has expanded. Observing these cultural cues, we art educators should actively engage and respond to these changes. I propose the time is right for art educators to embrace making programmable media such as video games across the K-12 art curriculum.