About Us
Founded in 2014, ChangeGamer is comprised of teachers who volunteer their time to further the use of games in subjects such as Social Studies, Geography, and Science.
Founder and Director: Mike Farley
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Mike Farley has been teaching middle and high school Geography and Social Studies for 17 years in the Toronto District School Board and currently at University of Toronto Schools. He has been using digital games with his students for 15 years and founded ChangeGamer to bring together teachers and academics who are excited about the use of games in education, and in sharing their experience and resources. Mike is a frequent presenter at conferences in Canada and the U.S. on the topic of using digital games in Geography, Social Studies, and Science classes. In 2014, the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) presented Mike Farley with the 'Innovation in Geography Teaching' award, the highest honour for Geography teaching in Canada. In 2014, the RCGS also inducted Mike as a member of its College of Fellows.
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Contributor: Jack Allin
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Jack Allin has been an active proponent of cognitively stimulating video games for 10 years as the Editor of Adventure Gamers. After switching careers to teaching, Jack joined the ChangeGamer collective in May 2014 as a University of Toronto intern and it proved to be a perfect melding of interests. In developing environmentally relevant resources for serious simulations such as “Plan It Green: The Big Switch” and “Citizen Science”, Jack was able to begin implementing video games into the classroom in a way that promoted both hands-on learning and increased social consciousness, a practice he intends to expand further with his own students in future.
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Contributor: Nandita Bajaj
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Nandita Bajaj is the Head of Admissions at University of Toronto Schools. She was a teacher of physics and math at Northview Heights Secondary School, where she taught for seven years. During that time, she was also the coordinator of the school's Honours Math, Science, and Technology program, a specialty program that offers an accelerated curriculum to students in these subject areas. With a strong background and work experience in engineering, she is passionate about inspiring students to pursue careers in science, technology, and engineering. She has used games and simulations in her classrooms for the past few years to supplement the science curriculum to bring ideas alive for the students. She is excited to be part of ChangeGamer and looks forward to exploring this field further.
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Contributor: Robin Calla
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Robin Calla has been inspired by the messages video games hold since a young age. He believes that the narrative stories and worlds that are in video games teach the player more about themselves and the world around them. As a recent graduate of the OISE Master of Teaching program, Robin strives to use video games in his classroom to promote a positive and engaging learning environment for his students. In his spare time, he often plays JRPG, Adventure, and Visual Novel video games.
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Contributor: Gordon Grisé
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From an early age, Gordon Grisé has taken an interest in learning through serious games. As an OISE intern in 2013 and a member of the Changegamer Collective, Gordon has researched and constructed tools for teachers to use serious games on a variety of curriculum topics. A co-presenter at the OAGEE conference for the game "Spent", he is currently teaching at Havergal College in Toronto as part of the Social Science department. Gordon is eager to enhance the Geography, History, and Social Studies curriculum through integration of serious games in his classroom.
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Contributor: Drew Halfnight
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A true believer in the power of play to transform learning, Drew Halfnight has been a member of ChangeGamer since the spring of 2013. A graduate of the Inner City Option at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), Drew developed original resources for games for social change including "Inside the Haiti Earthquake" and "Orange Revolution" while completing a Curriculum Development Internship at University of Toronto Schools (UTS) in 2013. After teaching at independent schools in the United States and Canada for five years, Drew recently joined the faculty at Earl Grey Senior Public School in Toronto, where he teaches English and French, and where role-playing and simulation feature prominently in his curriculum.
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Contributor: Sean Hayto
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A graduate of the Junior/Intermediate program at OISE and an employee at the University of Toronto Schools, Sean Hayto has been playing digital games since he was a child; and he strongly believes that games in general are just starting to move out of their infancy as an artistic medium. Sean hopes that contributing at ChangeGamer and encouraging other educators to integrate video games into their classroom communities will result in vibrant lessons and greater student engagement. During his time at Change Gamer, he focused on the social sciences and developed activities for “Ayiti: The Cost of Life” and “Urbanology Online”.
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Contributor: Luka Ilić
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Luka Ilić is always looking for new methods of teaching in order to enrich the curriculum, keep the lessons interesting, and the students engaged. As a result, he was very excited to have an opportunity to work with ChangeGamer as part of his internship. Having majored in International Development Studies, Luka is particularly fond of political games such as “Quandry” and “On the Ground Reporter (Darfur)”. In addition, Luka is keen on working towards developing resources for serious simulations such as “Peacemaker” and “For Crown or Colony”. He believes that these video games are very valuable and looks forward to implementing them in his own classroom.
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Contributor: Kamil Klos
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A future Secondary School teacher and avid gamer, Kamil hopes to continue combining his passion for education and love for video gaming as he continues on his path as an educator. From an early age playing games like Super Mario on the SNES to saving the galaxy from the Reapers in Mass Effect, Kamil brings his love for video games into the classroom in many forms. During his time as an OISE intern at ChangeGamer, Kamil developed lesson plans and activities for two stellar games (SimCityEDU and Argument Wars). In the future you can find him in a classroom near you playing PORTAL, teaching senior Physics and creating and sharing new materials to enrich the curriculum and student learning.
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Contributor: Roy Li
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Ever since he was introduced to the world of video games, Roy Li has been a passionate gamer. He has always been interested in the use of video games in the world of teaching. It is through his internship at ChangeGamer that he was able to realize his dream of combining his two true passions, gaming and teaching. As an OISE intern, he helped develop curriculum-rich activities such as “iBiome Wetland” and “Mission US: City of Immigrants”. With the implementation of video games in his classroom, he hopes it will enhance his students' learning and interests.
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Contributor: June Park
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An avid player of JRPG's, June Park was delighted with the opportunity to develop curricular resources based on educational games. Throughout her schooling years, June noticed an effective, pedagogical correlation between gaming and learning and had sought to help bridge the two through her internship with ChangeGamer. She hopes to not only contribute to the pedagogy of gaming in education, but apply her experiences in constructing such curricular content to her desired work in policy and program delivery at the Ministry of Education. She has, thus far, created an original resource for the game, "Mission U.S.: A Cheyenne Odyssey."
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Contributor: Blaise Patterson
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Enjoying video games since childhood, Blaise considers them to be one of the largest influences over his life. He is currently working towards completing his Master of Education, with a focus on tech integration in the classroom. Throughout his Degree in Early Childhood Leadership, video games were at the forefront of his research; for his capstone research assignment, he conducted a research study examining how video games affect the relationships between parent and child. Blaise hopes to highlight the positive effects of video games, and demonstrate how to effectively use them as a teaching instrument. Throughout his BECL internship with ChangeGamer, he developed student activities for "The Family Farmer", "Over the Top", "Hunt for the Noor Stone", and "The End". Although Blaise has not decided whether his career lies in the classroom or shaping future curriculum models, he is sure that video games will continue to be a defining influence.
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Advisor: Sarah Chu
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Sarah Chu is the Digital Learning Specialist at the Royal Ontario Museum, where she oversees the onsite digital learning and online distance learning programs. Her professional practice and academic research focus on learning through creative making and informal learning in games. She has designed and conducted research on digital games for learning and social impact at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Ryerson University.
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