Sorry for the late updates - I always destress after teaching.
I wrote a summary blog post about my class here. http://rockykev.com/2011vgames/
I wanted to write about my experiences with Construct 2 in the classroom. I had a few issues with the computer lab - but that's not Scirra's fault. I want to thank them for their help in troubleshooting the issues. :) I will warn anybody who is attempting this in their classroom to make sure their techlab is up to spec. Because we could use Photoshop CS3 on our computers, I *assumed* Construct 2 would work right away. Never assume anything!
Because I wanted the students to be working with photoshop templates (http://goo.gl/3emrn), I modified the Construct 2 Space Shooter game. (http://goo.gl/9xhz) Modifying the Space Shooter game taught me some bits of programming in Construct 2. I created a Mothership monster that appears near the end! :)
The first week in Construct 2, I just let the students play the game. Telling a student to just play was a joy. I told them to think about what kind of genre they wanted to have. They should think about the enemies, the main character, and the background. And then they just went at it.
The second week in Construct 2, a few students were already tinkering in the code. One student messed with the numbers to give himself unlimited health. Another student repositioned the enemies. Some students asked about animation. All of which was out of the scope of the class, so I didn't teach it to every student - just the ones who wanted to know.
The final week of Construct 2, we had to rush to finalize everything. Students were still picky about their monsters. Some just wanted to continue playing and push back their work. I forced them to get a background in, and create a title screen.
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/gh96l.jpg" border="0">
After every semester, we have a student showcase. It's where all the classes at Fleisher come together to showcase to their parents and their fellow students what they made. The previous day, I uploaded all of their games to dropbox, and had to have offline support for all of them onto my laptop. (since the space didn't have wifi) Everything went off with a hitch! Laptop to projector, a keyboard, and suddenly we had a gaming station! Students shared their experiences with the class, and we attracted a LOT of attention.
A week ago, the Program Manager came up to me to propose a game design class. My original fear with the Winter 2011 class was that there wasn't enough ART. Since this is a ART-based non-profit, I was really afraid to teach any sort of game design. And now, she brings it right up! Unfortunately, my Spring 2012 class won't come to fruition because of low attendance. But she's already setting me up for a Summer course. I still want them to make that side-scrolling platform game. Because if the games they made using the Space Shooter as a template, I want to see what these kids would do with a platform game.
I want to thank the whole community for providing me with ideas on how to approach it. And I really plan to master Construct 2 in the near future and make my own dreams come true.