With great excitement, the School Library Association of Victoria is proudly managing the delivery of the 2017 Victorian Schools Games & Apps Challenge. The Challenge is a Victorian Department of Education initiative with the support of Microsoft and is open to all Victorian Schools.  Aligning to the Victorian Curriculum and in particular, the Design and Technologies and Digital Technologies curriculum areas makes the Challenge an ideal curriculum enhancement project.

By providing opportunities to explore, experiment and tackle real world problems, the Challenge also directly supports STEM based learning and the Tech Schools initiative. It directs students’ focus outside the classroom walls as they seek to apply their inventive talents to every day problems.

With that in mind we ask – what is the problem, issue or challenge you want to take on? Could you create a game? How is your game or app going to increase awareness, provide strategies, create empathy or make things better? Who is your audience? Can you pitch your idea?

Using the Design Brief Template and other resources on the Victorian Schools Games & Apps Challenge website and supported by a range of tutorials and online support sessions, students will follow the design process to create a prototype of the Game/App.

Teachers will submit each group’s entry by 5 pm on Wednesday October 11.  Entries will be judged at Education in Games Summit as part of Melbourne International Games Week 22-29 October.

So, get a team together at your school and register them to compete. Who knows where it could lead?