Playful Learning!

Drew Davidson

Playful Learning (?)!

Drew Davidson

A Little About Me

Playful Learning?

Playful Learning?

Playful Learning?

Playful Learning?

Playful Learning?

Games & LearningAnyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either.

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Games & LearningAnyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either.

!

!

!

Games & LearningAnyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either.

!

!

!

Games & LearningAnyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn’t know the first thing about either.

!

!

!

Learning & Games

Games Teach us how to Play

Rhythmic, Repeating Structures

Master Gameplay Mechanics

Give us Agency

Impact beyond Game

Games Make Learning Fun!

Covert Learning

So Much Fun

Don’t Even Realize You’re Learning

Gamification - Rewards & Achievements

Really?

It’s Hard

Games are HARD

Really Hard

Games are HARD

Learning is HARD

Challenge Is Good

Games aren’t just Fun

Difficult Challenges

Fun has a Half-Life

Pleasantly Frustrating

Pleasantly Frustrating

The Challenge

of Games & Learning

Pleasantly Frustrating

Not too Simple

Pleasantly Frustrating

Not too Simple

Not too Hard

Flow & Failure

Rewarding Challenges

Difficulty & Mastery

Develop Learning Literacy

Challenge Is Engaging

Meet them at their Mastery

Engage through Challenges

Give them Agency

Failure, Doubt, Curiosity

Failure

Learn from our Mistakes, Develop Grit

Fail Faster, Experiment, Explore

Rapid Prototyping

Iterate toward Solutions

Try Again. Fail Again. Fail Better.

Doubt

Question Answers

Challenge Assumptions

Work to Understand

Open to Changing Your Mind

To be Uncertain is to be Uncomfortable, but to be Certain is to be Ridiculous.

Curiosity

Ask Questions & Engage

Lifelong Learning & How Stuff Works

Problem Solving & Cheating?

Story Telling & Model Making

Curiosity was Framed, Ignorance killed the Cat.

Learning Literacy

How to Learn

Challenge Yourself

Create on Your Own

Life-Long Skill

Learning Literacy

How to Learn

Challenge Yourself

Create on Your Own

Life-Long Skill

Both Learning & Games

Learning: Beginning Intermediate Advanced

Both Learning & Games

Games: Noob Casual Hardcore

Both Learning & Games

Difficulty: Easy Medium Hard

Learning: Beginning Intermediate Advanced

Games: Noob Casual Hardcore

Hard Truth

Things Go Wrong

Common Mistakes

Unfortunate Misconceptions

All Eggs In One Basket

Just Make One Game

Or That One Game Solves All

Fun, Fun, Fun

It’s All About Making It Fun

Or Fun Is Just Something To Include

No Testing

Not Playtesting Early And Often

Not Iterating Design Ideas

Feature Creep

Include All Ideas

Include All Feedback

Excluding Team

Not Including Game Designers Throughout

Not Including Learning Specialists Throughout

Gamify!

Just Add Badges

To Track And Reward Learning

All Done!

Finished When You Release

No PR, Distribution or Support Plan

Opposite Day

It’s Easy And Quick

It’s Inexpensive

Just Add...

Just Add Some Fun To Learning

Just Add Some Learning To Fun

Do It All On Your Own

T-Shaped Expertise

Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Anyone Can Do It

Academic Fallacy

Not Everyone Is A Designer

Be Careful

Creepy Treehouse

Whiff of Educational

Kids can Tell & Stay Away

Bad Learning Games = Suckn

Be Careful

Creepy Treehouse

Whiff of Educational

Kids can Tell & Stay Away

Bad Learning Games = Suckn

For Instance

For Instance

For Instance

Making Magic

Design Process

Learning Goals

In order to attain the impossible, one must attempt the absurd.

Games For Impact

Academic Consortium

Best Practices

http://gamesforimpact.com

World’s Best Playground

With an Electric Fence

Learning needs Challenges

Success needs Failures

Creativity needs Constraints

Extraordinary needs Boundaries

Less Talk, More Rock

Less Talk, More Rock

Less Talk, More Rock

Transformational Games

Games for Impact

Beyond Transference

Knowledge through Gameplay

Applicable Outside of Game

Changes in Daily Lives

Transformational Game Design

Goals

Challenges

Rewards

Transformational Game Design

Goals

Challenges

Rewards

Motivations

Assessments

Transformations

Difficulty By Design

They Know Fun, Ask More & Let Them Try

Provide Context

Shape Challenges

Show Connections

Mastery to Literacy

Good Learning, Good Games

Explicit Goals

Involved Engagement

Scaffolded Difficulty

Failure, Doubt, Curiosity

Accomplishment, Mastery, Literacy

Not Just About Fun

Can’t Gamify Learning

Motivate through Difficulty

Reward through Mastery

Learning Literacy

Exceed Expectations

Hard Fun

Pleasantly Frustrating, Engagingly Compelling

Difficulty & Mastery

Agency & Literacy

Transformational

Playing & Learning & Creating

A Child’s Work is Play

Thanks!

Questions?

drdrew@cmu.edu

Thanks!

Questions?

drdrew@cmu.edu

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