Ubisoft Toronto is proud to announce a new partnership with the royal ontario museum
Ubisoft Toronto is embarking on a new partnership with the Royal Ontario Museum, Canada’s preeminent museum and an international leader in new and original findings, to support Hack the ROM, a digital learning program that engages Indigenous students and their peers (Grades 4-10) throughout Northern and Southern Ontario.
Hack the ROM
The program builds students’ digital literacy skills, including coding, and connects Ontario students with Indigenous knowledge and ancestral objects at the ROM. Alongside Indigenous Museum Educators (IMEs) and Maker Space Technicians (MSTs), Ubisoft Toronto team members will mentor students as they look to develop some of their first games. This year, the program will be offered to classrooms and students virtually and through self-guided learning.
“Programs like Hack the ROM are critical in teaching Indigenous history to students, building empathy and creating an environment of mutual respect,” says Istvan Tajnay, managing director at Ubisoft Toronto. “As well as fostering learning of Indigenous history through storytelling, it provides an opportunity for students to see how broad the world of game development is – whether it’s art, storytelling, level design or programming – and can inspire a new generation of game developers.”
Learning and Development
Hack the ROM involves Indigenous ancestral objects in the Daphne Cockwell Gallery dedicated to First Peoples art & culture and digital education kits for classrooms, which include objects like moccasins and the ulu, a traditional multi-purpose knife. Knowledge carriers, including IMEs, help students engage with the objects as well as Indigenous content and histories. Students also learn game development skills like coding from MSTs at the ROM, using Scratch and Twine.
Ubisoft Toronto is committed to partnering with educational institutions on programming like Hack the ROM and Ubisoft NEXT, which showcases the talent of video game development students in Ontario, to inspire the next generation of tech talent, foster diversity in the industry and continue to grow the gaming community in Ontario.
You can read more about Hack the ROM here.
