Games for Learning – Design Principles for Student Engagement in Blended Learning Models
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Transcript of Games for Learning – Design Principles for Student Engagement in Blended Learning Models
Games for LearningDesign Principles for Student
Engagementin Blended Learning ModelsMax Holecheck Ayu Othman
UX Designer Art Director
Dr. Tim HudsonSenior Director of Curriculum Design
Which blended model is better?FLIPPED-CLASSROOM ENRICHED-VIRTUAL
Blending is a means to what ends?
What is happening during class?What is happening on the
computers?H. Staker, M. Horn, Classifying K-12 Blended Learning, © 2012
The Quality of Digital Learning
Experiences is just as important as the Quality of
Classroom Learning
Experiences
Principles of Game Design can be
used to Improve Student
Engagement in Learning
Max Holechek
Creative DirectorNancy Drew PC game series• Changed conventional misconceptions about
female gamer habits• Pioneering “casual” game design years before
the term was coined.
Producer & Design Consultant• THQ• Nick Jr.• Cranium• Codemasteres• Oberon Media• PopCap Games• PlayFirst• Her Interactive
Lead Game Designer• Turbo Subs• Turbo Fiesta• Go-Go- Gourmet,• Go-Go- Gourmet: Chef of the Year
Ayu Othman
2D & Texture ArtistNancy Drew PC game series• Created 2D maps, hotspot graphics, and
puzzles integrated 3D environments.• Game series won several awards, including
Parent’s Choice Gold.
Art Director, Nancy Drew Dossier Series & Cody Capers• Oversaw visual direction for casual
games at Her Interactive• Dossier series was runner up to Plants v.
Zombies for best casual game 2009
Art DirectorPassionFruit Games• Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box
Games for Learning – Design Principles
How can I make learning seem more like a game?
(Not the right question, unless
you understand what you’re asking.)
FUN!
“When the fun goes out of play, most often so does the learning.”
- Joanne E. Oppenheim (Kids and Play, ch. 1, 1984)
What is “Fun?”
FLOWAn idea of heightened focus and
immersion in an activity.
Gratuitous example of myself in ‘flow’--Ecstasy, clarity, receiving immediate feedback, forgetting myself, doing it for its own sake.
FLOW: An idea of heightened focus and immersion in an activity.
FLOW is that sweet spot we experience during an activity, in which the challenge level being presented is properly balanced with our skill level.
During ‘flow’ we experience being ‘in the zone’ and lose all track of time during that activity.
Graph source: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/166972/cognitive_flow_the_psychology_of_.php
Not too easy (snore)
Not too hard (eep!)
Just right!
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, professor and former chairman of the Dept. of Psychology at the University of Chicago created Flow theory as part of his life work towards understanding what is it that makes humans truly happy, satisfied and fulfilled.
Sources: http://www.jenovachen.com/flowingames/researches.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi.jpg
aka the genius behind Flow theory
Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
Elements of Flow• A challenge activity that requires skills• The merging of action and awareness• Clear goals• Direct feedback• Concentration on the task at hand• The sense of control• The loss of self-consciousness• The transformation of time
Source: http://www.jenovachen.com/flowingames/foundation.htm
Great teachers and coaches already utilize elements of Flow theory in engaging their
students.
What is a game?A system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that
results in a quantifiable outcome.
Source: •Salen, K. and E. Zimmerman. Rules of Play : Game Design Fundamentals. The MIT Press. (2003)
What is a good game?
A carefully designed system that invokes flow in players as they engage in an
artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.
Source: •Salen, K. and E. Zimmerman. Rules of Play : Game Design Fundamentals. The MIT Press. (2003)
..and Ayu & Max
Relevance to the player and game’s goals
Understanding upon a glance
Get out of the player’s way
Learning through safe exploration
Use rewards for perseverance and replay-ability
Good Casual Game Design Principles
Relevance to the player and game’s goals• Contextualize your game
Good Casual Game Design Principles
Who’s ready to play?
Fist Flat Two?
Match-3 Game Mechanic
© ShapeMatcher
© PopCap, © iWin, © kibagames
Relevance to the player and game’s goals• Contextualize your game
• Don’t Assume your Assumptions are Valid
• The player only gets 3 lives, right?
• Being penalized & vanquished is just part of learning/playing a game!
Good Casual Game Design Principles
Pac-Man
© NAMCO
Relevance to the player and game’s goals• Contextualize your game
• Don’t Assume your Assumptions are Valid
• The player only gets 3 lives, right?
• Being penalized & vanquished is just part of learning/playing a game!
• Classroom application: Plan Backward from Learning Goals
Good Casual Game Design Principles
Plan Curriculum Backwards
1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experiences and instruction
Understanding by Design, Wiggins & McTighe, ©2005
Key Questions1. What do you want
students to accomplish?
2. How will you know they’ve achieved it?
3. What games can help students meet these
goals?
Learning Goal: Perspective, Strategic Thinking
MECC, © Broderbund
Learning Goal: Recognize Shapes, Presidents
© Dan Russell-Pinson
Stack the States
Presidents v. Aliens
Learning Goal: Geography, Culture, Inquiry
www.mobygames.com ©Broderbund
Learning Goal: Practice
Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium
Wolfram|Alpha
Wolfram|Alpha
Better Goals for StudentsDavid Bressoud, Mathematical Association of America (www.maa.org/columns)
• “The existence of Wolfram|Alpha [and calculators] does push instructors to be more honest about their use of standard problems executed by memorizing algorithmic procedures.
• “If a student feels that she or he has learned nothing that cannot be pulled directly from Wolfram|Alpha, then the course really has been a waste of time.”
Calculator-Proof Games
Classifying Learning GamesNo Prior Instruction Needed• Learning Experiences• Usually Conceptual• Simulation, Situation• Critical Thinking Focus• Mostly Self-Directed• Realization Focus• Content Specific• Learning Context &
Content first, THEN game is added afterward
Prior Instruction Required
• Practice• Often Rote• “Flash Card” Design• Often Memory Focus• Mostly Teacher-Directed• Recall Focus• Possibly
Interchangeable Content
• Game Design comes first, THEN content is added afterward
Good Casual Game Design PrinciplesUnderstanding Upon a Glance
• Players can learn to play the game within 15 seconds• Layout, simplicity of elements, and highlight use instruct visually.• If your game looks like an XL spreadsheet, start over.• Simple, minimal, elegant rule sets. If the game incorporates more
or more complex rules, stagger them in slowly and in later levels. (Flow!)
No tutorial needed.
© Rovio
Run! I’ll explain later!
© iMangi Studios
Good Casual Game Design PrinciplesUnderstanding Upon a Glance
• Minimal, transparent, very intuitive player input• PC: Avoid/limit keyboard or right button input• Touch screen: Limit number of gestures• Never change already introduced UI behavior
• Gradually introduce new features and rules• Build upon existing learning and create combination behaviors
Plants vs Zombies – Level 1
© PopCap
Plants vs Zombies – Later Level
© PopCap
Good Casual Game Design PrinciplesGet out of the player’s way
• Keep reading to minimum• Use simple, elegant visuals/animations to convey instructions, if
you can.• If text must be used, then keep it concise and in simple
language.
Pudding Monsters – Levels 1 & 2
© ZeptoLabs
Good Casual Game Design PrinciplesGet out of the player’s way
• Keep reading to minimum• Use simple, elegant visuals/animations to convey instructions, if
you can.• If text must be used, then keep it concise and in simple
language.
• No lengthy story exposition - Nobody cares about your writing skill
• No long, front-loaded tutorials• Classroom application: Front-Loading Explanation is
Disengaging
Tim’s Elephant Habitat Lesson
http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/newyork/article-5474-stomp-the-yard.html
In the Classroom: Quick Task Entry
• If your classroom learning tasks require more than 1 minute of directions, there is probably too high of a barrier to engagement.
• Try redesigning the task to create a simpler entry point.
• It may require more class time to complete the task, but it results in more engagement, better thinking, and better learning.
Common Experience
From a 5th grade teacher in NY:“I had a lot of good people teaching me math when I was a student – earnest and funny and caring. But the math they taught me wasn’t
good math. Every class was the same for eight years:
‘Get out your homework, go over the homework, here’s the new set
of exercises, here’s how to do them. Now get started. I’ll be around.’”
p. 55, Teaching What Matters Most, Strong, Silver, & Perini, ©2001
Let Me Show You How To
DoX
Now You Go Do
X
Can You Independentl
y DoX?
Maybe You Need
to Be Shown X
Again
You KnowX
Schooling as Content Delivery
Let Me Show You How To
DoX
Now You Go Do
X
Can You Independentl
y DoX?
Maybe You Need
to Be Shown X
Again
You KnowX
Content Delivery cannot ‘give understandings’
Learning Principles
• “An understanding is a learner realization about the power of an idea.”
• “Understandings cannot be given; they have to be engineered so that learners see for themselves the power of an idea for making sense of things.”
p. 113, Schooling by Design, Wiggins & McTighe, ©2007
Pros & Cons
Benefit of Blended Learning
Becoming MORE thoughtful and strategic about the use of precious class time
Danger of Blended Learning
Becoming LESS thoughtful and strategic about how students learn and make sense of things
Engaging Learning
Student Engages within
a Context
Student Transfer
s & Predicts
Student Receives Feedback
Adapt & Differentiat
e
Student Independently Transfers
Engineered for Realizations
Student Engages within
a Context
Student Transfer
s & Predicts
Student Receives Feedback
Adapt & Differentiat
e
Student Independently Transfers
Casual Game Design Principles
3. Learning through safe exploration• Player should feel safe exploring, always. • The player always makes informed decisions, because
everything to be known can be seen• Nothing is going on off-screen or behind the scene that can
hinder the player’s progress.
Coconut Queen
© iWin
Casual Game Design Principles
3. Learning through safe exploration• Use trial and error/failure as a tool to lead to “aha” moment
for the player.• If the player loses or performs below their expectations, make
it absolutely clear why that happened and how they can do better.
Cut the Rope
© ZeptoLabs
Casual Game Design Principles
3. Learning through safe exploration• Use trial and error/failure as a tool to lead to “aha” moment
for the player.• If the player loses or performs below their expectations, make
it absolutely clear why that happened and how they can do better.
• Classroom application: Engage in Exploration First
Learning Myth
“Presentation of an explanation, no matter how brilliantly worded, will not connect ideas unless students have had ample
opportunities to wrestle with examples.”
From Best Practices, 3rd Ed., by Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde, ©2005 From Understanding by Design, Wiggins & McTighe,
©2005
“If I cover it clearly, they will ‘get it.’”
Don’t Start by Telling
“Providing students with opportunities to first grapple with specific information relevant to a topic has been shown to create a
‘time for telling’ that enables them to learn much more from an
organizing lecture.”
• How People Learn, p. 58
Learning Goal: Systems Thinking
© Electronic Arts
Learning Goal: Exploration, Creative Thinking
© Logo Programming
Logo
63
For Additional Game Ideas
Common Sense Media• commonsensemedia.org• 2013 ON for Learning Award Winners• 50 Apps, games, and websites that received
highest ratings for learning potential
Casual Game Design Principles
4. Use Rewards for Engagement and Replay Motivation • Early and frequent in-game rewards• Maximize replay value
• Level pass, versus 1-3 stars• Dangle the carrot to “try again”
Cut the Rope – Level summary
© ZeptoLabs
Casual Game Design Principles
4. Use Rewards for Engagement and Replay Motivation • Early and frequent in-game rewards• Maximize replay value
• Level pass, versus 1-3 stars• Dangle the carrot to “try again”
• Classroom application: Re-Think Assessment & Grading Practices
Learning is Not Linear
© Rovio
Puzzle & Strategy, Not Exploration
© Rovio
Exploration, Short-Term Reward
Problems with Grading Practices
• Assessing Behavior Rather than Learning• Score of “Zero” indicates only that a
student didn’t complete an assignment• Percentages distill learning into a
meaningless number• Students engage in “point grubbing”• Students can often earn enough points to
“pass,” but might not have learned much
Casual Game Design Principles
4. Use Rewards for Engagement and Replay Motivation • Early and frequent in-game rewards• Maximize replay value
• Level pass, versus 1-3 stars• Dangle the carrot to “try again”
• Classroom application: Re-Think Assessment & Grading Practices
• Use meta game rewards• Use point, commerce or completion system to earn upgrades and
features• Badges/Trophies/Achievements• Power-ups/Enhanced or Odds-reduced gameplay• Earn rare items for game or décor
Chuzzle
rewards and trophies
© PopCap
Plants vs Zombies store
© PopCap
• The game itself is intrinsically rewarding. o Extrinsic motivators are certainly nice but good
game design and content still rules!
Testing for flow in game design:
Gamification certainly has its merits but can also be over-used to mask
poorly-designed games or interactive content.
• The player is up to play the game.o This seems like a no-brainer but as per the
often overused proverb about that reluctant horse.
Testing for flow in game design:
• The game offers the right amount of challenges that match with the player’s ability and allows her/him to delve deeply into the experience.
Testing for flow in game design:
• The player feels a sense of personal control over the game activity.
Testing for flow in game design:
DreamBox Combines Three Essential Elements to Accelerate Student Learning