Games guru David is tipped for Bafta award
College lecturer recognised for work with students
A Paisley lecturer has been nominated for a Bafta award as recognition of his work with hundreds of students.
David Renton is a lecturer and curriculum quality leader for Games Development at West College Scotland and has been nominated for a Bafta YGD (Young Games Designer) Mentor Award.
Bafta YGD is a free initiative which aims to inspire young people to turn their interest in playing games into a passion for creating them.
David has been at the college for more than 20, years sharing his passion for gaming to hundreds of students and schoolchildren across Renfrewshire.
David said he was “thrilled” to be nominated.
He said: “I started teaching games development at what was Reid Kerr College in 2006 to 12 students, and we now have more than 160 students doing games development at different levels in the Paisley Campus of West College Scotland.
“The college and I have done a lot of work in the past seven years to engage with schoolchildren in Renfrewshire in both primary and secondary schools to encourage them to consider games development as a career path to follow.
“I am now seeing schoolchildren who visited the college when they were only 10 years old to playtest my students’ games, applying to our full time courses.
“This nomination is recognition of all that hard work.”
David is up against four other candidates and the winner will be announced at an awards ceremony on Saturday, July 8.
Bill Gallacher, head of Business and Computing Sector, paid tribute to his colleague.
He said: “It is no surprise to me or his colleagues that David has been nominated for a Bafta.
“Everyone at West College Scotland is delighted David has been recognised in this way.
“He has been an inspirational lecturer to the hundreds of students who have been taught by him over the years.
“David has that special talent that can make difficult concepts understandable to us mere mortals!
“He is always focused on using the latest ‘next big thing’ in computing, and how he can use and adapt it to improve his own teaching and his students’ knowledge and understanding.
“He is a nice guy and a special talent.”
Angela Pignatelli, assistant principal in Creative Industries and Essential Skills, added: “We are immensely proud to hear of David’s nomination for an internationally recognised Bafta award.
“He has dedicated himself to learning and teaching, excelled in the field of digital technologies and remains a source of inspiration for his students and colleagues alike.
“We have our fingers crossed for his success on the night and wish him all the very best to continue flying the flag for West College Scotland.”