We regularly bring on co-op students to help build Tapfun. One of the programs that we work with is the Cooperative Education program run by the TDSB. Griffin Nikkel is a grade 12 student in the Cyber Arts program at Don Mills Collegiate. As he is wrapping up his co-op placement, Griffin discusses his experience and future plans.

Take us through your day – what do you actually do?

Well it depends on what stage of a project we are on.  If it is near the beginning of a new project I usually will start off by sketching out ideas and concepts for the app in my sketchbook.  Then once I have my ideas down I will bring them to Jordy and we will discuss together what we like and don’t like.  Once we agree on a direction for the app I then take pictures of my sketches that I later bring into Adobe Illustrator where I start to create the graphics for the game.  If we are in the middle of a project or near the end I will usually just conference with Jordy, figure out what aspects of the game we still need and what needs changing and then work to implement those changes.  

Describe your creative process?            

Usually if I can’t already imagine what I want to do clearly in my head, I will start to sketch out various ideas in my sketchbook and just play around until I get something I like.  Then I will re-work it over and over until I am completely satisfied with the concept.  Then I take a picture of the sketch with my phone and email the picture to myself instead of spending time scanning.  I take that image and import it into Adobe Illustrator to use as a reference when creating the graphics.  The style I used was very vector-like and mainly consists of using the pen tool to create different shapes and layer them to create the image of the character or environment. 

Can you share a few images from the projects you've worked on?

The images here are just a few of the many characters that I created during my placement at Tapfun.

What is your favourite part about the Tapfun office (located in the Ryerson Digital Media Zone)?

My favourite part of the office is the space itself.  It’s a very well equipped office with plenty of workspace and all the tools that you’d ever need.  The Digital Media Zone is also great because of the people involved.  The space is full of nice people willing to help and there is a lot of creativity going on.

What skill do you think is most important to have as an illustrator / animator?

I think the most important skill to have is creativity.  Creativity is a tricky thing because sometimes the ideas flow great and other times it can be a struggle to come up with something cool and new.  At the end of the day it doesn’t really matter how good of an animator / illustrator you are if the things you are creating aren’t interesting in their own way.

What are your plans post-Tapfun?

Starting in September I am attending George Brown College to start my study of game design.  I hope to one-day work on big game franchises for consoles like the PlayStation.  Before that though, my plans are to find a job so I can pay for my college tuition.

If you are interested in working for Tapfun as a co-op student, please contact us at coop@tapfun.com

Check out this great report (available in English and French) by Thierry Karsenti and Aurélien Fievez: The iPad in Education: uses, benefits, and challenges.

This report provides insight on the advantages and drawbacks of integrating the iPad in education, and provides recommendations for a successful integration, to maximize the benefits of this educational tool. This report explores the educational use of the iPad as it is a new scholastic trend increasing its presence in classrooms. The adoption of the iPad in education is described as “a necessary risk for schools” as this technology possesses incredible cognitive potential for students in this digital age. 

Research on the uses of the iPad in education is very scarce due to the iPad’s recent 2011 emergence into classrooms. However, the article has consulted several publications on the use of touchpads in education. The collected early research seems to indicate that touchpads in education have a positive impact on learning as it provides “limitless opportunities for formal and informal learning”. Some researchers included in the article, believe that it is a vehicle for improving academic performance though others have remarked that little is known about effective pedagogical uses that have actually impacted academic performance. The research notes that young people are not necessarily using technologies for learning, but primarily for amusement through gaming or texting. Educating with technologies consequently lies in how they are used, where responsibility falls onto teachers to realize the full pedagogical potential of the educational technologies.    
Research was conducted on 6,057 students from Grade 6 to 10 and 302 teachers of varying subjects in schools across Quebec that were commencing programs to provide students with an iPad in fall 2012. This was done in an attempt to better understand the effects and uses of the iPad in the classroom. Below are some interesting findings: 

• 53.6% of students reported to not having any prior experience working with an iPad compared to 70.2% for teachers.
  
  
• The main task performed on the iPad in the classroom was devoted to “doing schoolwork” according to 5,072 respondents. Students said they enjoyed the freedom to decide how to search for the answers they needed.
  
  
• A significant 2,301 students reported to using the device for “gaming” in class, most often occurring when they had completed their work. Some teachers used the games to reward and encourage hard work.
  
  
• Only 372 of respondents said they used the device for reading. This is in part because teachers did not adapt reading assignments to allow the integration of the iPad. Many schools still required the hard copy of a book although the ebook version was at their disposition for free.
  
  
• 76% of time on the iPad outside of the classroom was for recreational and social uses only after completing homework claimed students; 5,980 of students used it outside of class for social networking and texting
  
  
• 5,739 said they used it to do homework when outside of class
  
  
• Major Benefits: access to information, portability, better quality of presentations, creativity, greater collaboration between peers and with the teacher
  
  
• Major Challenges: source of distraction, difficulty writing with the iPad, difficulty organizing work
  
  
• 757 students and 14 teachers reported that the iPad lowered the students’ academic performance although overall, the average student was “very or extremely satisfied” and the average teacher was “moderately satisfied” in response to using the iPad in class.
  

Whether you are an educator debating the value of implementing a similar iPad project in your classroom, or a parent looking for deeper understanding of the involvement of technology in your child’s education, check out this great report http://karsenti.ca/ipad/ 

What has your experience been in integrating iPads in your classroom? Let us know!