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social game

Notions:
video games, social, interactivity, violence, collaboration, transfer (context), creativity, challenge, peer, motivation

Evidence that games in themselves aren't necessarily addictive nor expensive
Their popularity mainly comes from visual action (not necessarily violent action) and interactivity

Violence:
- all media present some violent content
- evidence that violent games breed violent behaviour but the same goes for other media
- two-player aggressive video games, whether competitive or cooperative, reduce the level of aggress in children's play
- attracts boys but is a turn-off for girls (critical issue since video games are the entry point of children to computers)

Skills (depending on games):
- eye-hand coordination
- rules and patterns induction from observation (Pacman example) may generate in much of the games' excitement
- quickness
- parallel processing (more accessible to children whose main media was tv)
- interacting dynamic variables
- visual-spatial skills (Rubik's cubes may do that too)
- coordinate visual information coming from multiple perspectives (same as parallel processing?)
- creative thinking
- character development
- reflection
- construction, programming or other specific skill
- curiosity
- peer-teaching

Fantasy role-playing games are particularly interesting

Multiple levels: constant challenge, tangible progress, scaffolding create a long-term appeal. Provides guidelines to incorporate in all learning situations

** Interesting chemistry game example **

Transfer from medium to skill depends on how the medium is used: often seems to require verbal formulation (need to bring games to the classroom?)

www.hup.harvard.edu/...GREMIN.html - Preview

e-learning design IDGBL_MSc collaboration social peer context game

Notions:
videogame, interactivity, social, context, collaboration, participation, immersion, engagement, embodiment, rules, objectives, exploration, practice

Videogames are difficult to define.

Categorization:
- by genre (problematic)
- by location of play: arcade, home (may as well include an arcade mode)

A list of things a game isn't is given
Video games may be characterized as a sense of "being here" (presence), rather than controlling, playing

Skills developed through using by video games may be useful for ICT literacies

The disruptive effect of puzzles (in which an initial disequilibrium state is disrupted, recognized, tackled and ultimately resolved) may be important in linking video games to academic learning

Any discussion about video games must be sensitive to the contexts in which the form is used and consumed

Video games, which being oriented around a transformable and, importantly, responsive simulation, may dynamically adapt to the performance of the player

** Definition: **

Participation is crucial but interactivity isn't uniform: sequences of high and low participation and differing modes of engagement
Video games offer combinations of chance, competition, role-play and kinaesthetic (movement) pleasures
They can offer both plaidea (no specific objective other than those imposed by the player) and ludus (objective-driven) rules, thereby allowing players to engage in goal-oriented or "free play" activity
Note that these terms don't hold the same meaning as that proposed by Caillois.
The term "player" is ambigous because videogames are often experienced in groups with "non-controlling" players, and are absorbed and understood withing participatory cultures of talk both online and offline (social practices)
The definition isn't concerned with any interface systems

www.amazon.com/...041528192X - Preview

e-learning IDGBL_MSc virtual_world social context interactivity play game

Notions:
play, work, game, power, imagination, selfhood, fate, chaos, chance, identity, social, community, rhetoric, theory

The chapter is an introduction to the focus of the book

- The diversity of play forms and experiences:
mind or subjective play; solitary play; playful behaviours; informal social play; vicarious audience play; performance play; celebrations and festivals; contests (games and sports); risky or deep play

- The diversity of play scholarship: different academic disciplines have quite different play interests
** Some of the chaos results from to the lack of clarity about the popular cultural rhetorics that underlie the various play theories and play terms
By revealing these rhetorics underpinnings of the apparently diverse theoretical approaches to play, there is the possibility of bridging them within some more unifying discourse **

The seven rhetorics of play are later referred to by Kane (2005):
- the rhetoric of play as progress (modern rhetoric)
- the rhetoric of play as fate (ancient rhetoric)
- the rhetoric of play as power (ancient rhetoric)
- the rhetoric of play as identity (ancient rhetoric)
- the rhetoric of play as the imaginary (modern rhetoric)
- the rhetoric of self (modern rhetoric)
- the rhetoric of play as frivolous (ancient rhetoric)

Scholarly objectivity always exist within such contexts as broad cultural rhetorics
Rhetorics are narratives that intend to persuade

The definitions by theorists of intrinsic and extrinsic play functions will be considered

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e-learning IDGBL_MSc social wish play

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e-learning virtual_world IDGBL_MSc social community game

Notions:
play, work, game, power, imagination, selfhood, religion, fate, chaos, chance, identity, social, community

Fascinating paper full of great quotes and insights from various views of play, at different historical periods, etc.

** Play is a necessity, not a luxury for advanced mammals: it's central to the survival of humankind: our potential for play indicates our ability to respond to risks and challenges **

Thinking seriously about play opens at least as broad a vista of knowledge as thinking seriously about work: the opposite of play isn't work, it's depression
Play represents the permanent potential for innovation and progress

The author uses the same views of play as Sutton-Smith (1997)

1. The modern vision(s):

- Play as progress
- Play as imagination
- Play as selfhood

2. The ancient vision(s):

We can choose to play but we are often compelled to as well

- Play as fate and chaos
- Play as identity
- Play as contest

The complexity of play

Those aspects of play are at odds with each other
An ethic of play is one that makes virtue, even passion, out of uncertainty
Man didn't invent play but it's play and play only that makes man complete
Now we believe that we understand the world better by entering into its games
A few paragraph about chaos theory and complex theory

Game theory binds the ambiguities of play (as modern and as ancient) together: one of its key conclusions is that all successful game players need to bring an element of randomness into their strategy
All successful animals must be passionate for novelty
The play ethic is for the proliferation of networks throughout everyday life: we need to be energetic, imaginative and confident in the face of the unpredictable.

Armed with our general theory of play, let's turn our faces to a world that belives, by and large, that work is the most functional and useful mode of human existence

www.theplayethic.com - Preview

e-learning IDGBL_MSc play social

www.ted.com/...piness_and_why_we_want_it.html - Preview

happiness social

The value of exploring for oneself rather than imitating pre-specified steps.

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e-learning design virtual_world social

Notions:
motivation, game, learning, design-based, social, participation, collaboration, context, brand

Division playing-learning in elementary school

List of principles of design-based research

1. Quest Atlantis as an example of design-based research

3D virtual world where children perform educational activities (Quests) through their avatar (powerful motivator contributing to their sense of self)
Though connected to academic standards, Quests are rooted in our social commitments and framed by children's interests

2. The design evolves

The importance of the backstory in relation to the defined practices of community members and the attributes that create a product identity and culture
In addition to mandatory acitivites, students voluntarily completed additionoal ones.
Thanks to the game, students began to have an appreciation for the subject areas relation to their own lives (unlike before the game). Participation in the game increased their academic efficacy.

3. Learning Engagement Theory

The 3 dimensions of Learning Engagement Theory: learning, playing and helping (motivation is at their intersection)

QA shows evidence that academic learning was occuring alongside or in the process of playing and helping.
Hard work should and can occur in the context of an activity to which the student is already engaged.
Joy and meaning: integral elements of the framing of curricular activities

4. Motivation as a complex process

Consensus regarding the belief that extrinsic incentives (rewards) undermine intrinsic motivation
Both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation steadily decline over grades 3 through 9
By over-valuing product and under-valuing the rich processes of learning, the joy, fun, challenge and meaning have in part been stripped out of educational activity

Motivational elements: game challenge, stimulating curiosity, sense of control, fantasy of the game, identity presentation, social relations, playing, learning, achievement, helping, reward, immersion, uniqueness and creativity

Importance of context

dialnet.unirioja.es/...articulo - Preview

e-learning tool design social community virtual_world context ULOE_MSc self

Notions:
situated cognition, community, activity, authentic activity, induction, abstraction, cognitive apprenticeship, enculturation, social, collaboration

A must-read, seminal paper

Example of learning words from dictionary definition compared to learning vocabulary outside of school shows the situated nature of cognition
A concept is always under construction

Tools share significant features with knowledge:
- only fully understood through use
- using them entails changing the user's view of the world and adopting the belief system of the culture in which they are used
It isn't possible to use a tool properly without understanding the community or culture in which it's used

** Learning is a process of enculturation which must involve activity, concept and culture in a collaborative way **

School activity too often tends to be hybrid, implicitly framed by one culture but explicitly attributed to another, which limits students' access to the structuring cues that arise from the context.
It is often very different from what authentic practictioners do (and from what people do when they naturally learn) and students rely on cues that are not those of real practitioners (authentic culture of an authentic community vs school culture)

In authentic settings, the problem statement is also the solution and the procedure for solving it.
Problem solving isn't carried out solely in the heads but in conjunction with the environment. Even students do that in unexpected ways in school but this becomes ineffective in authentic settings.

Cognitive apprenticeship methods try to enculturate students into authentic practices through activity and social interaction

** Very helpful examples illustrating excellent and natural learning strategies are provided **
- continuity with familiar knowledge
- several cases leading to students generating their own learning path (and participating in the community's activity)
- abstraction
All of which are carried out collaboratively with the teacher becoming a facilitator of the process

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e-learning design ECDEL_MSc context social collaboration

Very interesting article about all forms of collaboration and social activities in World of Warcraft

portal.acm.org/citation.cfm - Preview

e-learning IDGBL_MSc collaboration social community

Notions:
science inquiry, World of Warcraft, virtual world, social, peer, community, society

A MUST READ

Research on game-based learning indicate that such technology and communities may be one alternative - not as a substitute for teachers and classrooms, to textbooks and science labs.

"Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stone; but an accumulation of facts is no more science than a heap of stones is a house"
This paper presents empirical evidence about the potential of games for fostering scientific practices which is different from content knowledge per se:

1. scientific discoursive practices
2. systems- and models-based reasoning
3. tacit epistemology

See paper for more details about findings

** Read implications and discussions section **

- An overwhelming majority of conversation is dedicated to productive forms of discussion and problem solving
- The predominant epistemology is evaluative (appropriate to science reasoning) which differs significantly from that of other cultural norms, including that of the typical American classroom.
- Solutions developed by one person are referenced, debated, and built upon by masses of other participants, not merely a handful of designated experts
- In a school system sometimes side-tracked by testing regimes that pressure teachers and students to focus on only a narrow range of topics, popular culture contexts such as these might be a nice complement to classrooms
- Demonstrating that game communities such as those in WoW engage in important forms of science literacy again raises the specter of a new form of digital divide — one not between the have and have-nots, but between the do and do-nots
- We should actively seek out ways to build bridging third spaces between school and home that incubate forms of academic play such as those studied here. In so doing, we might address both growing digital divides at once

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e-learning IDBGL_MSc social peer community virtual_world society

It looks like a fantastic reference about MMORPG for students (and others): there's lots of reasearch data papers available and it is wide ranging in scope.
See the project's gateway for overview: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/gateway_intro.html
Recommended by Anna Elliott who is head of a guild in WoW

www.nickyee.com/daedalus - Preview

e-learning IDGBL_MSc virtual_world social community reference

Notes:
e-learning design, induction, development, collaboration, social, peer, activities, tasks

1. The 5 stage framework and e-tivities

I HAVEN'T READ THAT CHAPTER ENTIRELY YET BUT I WOULD CERTAINLY BENEFIT FROM DOING SO

Her model makes an argument for increasing the skills and comfort of online learners through the use of appropriately scaffolded learning activities over five stages
(very effectively applied on IDEL, which first few weeks were like an introduction to the whole Masters)

** Figure 2.1 (p. 11) an the text in front are crucial as it sums it all up nicely **


2. Resources for practitioners: 5 spark ideas for e-tivities

** Fantastic and inspiring list of e-tivities that can be applied (sometimes needs adaptation) at the various stages of the model **

Stage 1: Access and motivation
Quick e-tivities; giving practice with technology; offer 1-1 support for anyone in need; provide rationale

Stage 2: Online socialization
Getting to know each other; understanding the approach the group will take; impatience means that some e-tivities will need to be disguised a little; watch for issues of equality when using humour (netiquette?)

Stage 3: Information exchange
Suggest and model strategies for active online learning; help participants to deal with mass of messages; help them personalise and prioritise learning tasks and social interactions

Stage 4: Knowledge construction

Stage 5: Development
Try to allow maximum choice; make summaries and archives accessible; focus on self-reflection and evaluation of the learning (often assessable to ensure alignment)

www.atimod.com/...intro.shtml - Preview

e-learning design IDEL_MSc ECDEL_MSc collaboration social peer resource reference

Notions:
online learning, approach, conception, experience, interactivity, computer conferencing, simulation, game, social, reflection

The environment makes some activities possible and constrains others but it doesn't change the fundamental processes of human learning.

Given the nature of online learning, it is particularly productive to view it as examples of students' learning from experience.

Much of the early use of internet in teaching has been to reproduce existing practices (and often ineffective practices)

It is critical for learning designers to provide activities to facilitate students' engaging with and making sense of (reflection, active construction and social construction) the content delivered.

Earlier study identified 5 propositions about learning from experience:
- experience is the foundation of and the stimulus for learning
- learners actively construct their own experience
- learning is a holistic process
- learning is socially and culturally constructed
- learning is influenced by the socio-emotional context in which it occurs

Potential of interactivity and communications.

Affordances: analogue of what skilled and experienced teachers do to engage learners in those aspects of the curriculum that will have the most impact on their learning.

Crucial role of the moderator in designing and facilitating learning activities that assist learners to learn from experience. Key features include:
- establishment of a climate for learning that values the learner
- active engagement with problems and challenges
- interactivity and responsiveness
- simulation of rich environments
- peer discussion

Examples of online debate and role-play/simulation.
List of the ideas included by the design features of an online debate, role-plays and simulations to afford learning from experience

Need to test what is regarded as affordances to see if it works.

Learning doesn't occur in isolation and isn't a purely intellectual enterprise: a function of the emotional and personal support we gain from others.

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e-learning social peer reflection ULOE_MSc ECDEL_MSc multimedia

Notions:
e-learning, assessment, design, control, power, authority, peer, social, participation, hierarchy

Assessment is a primary location for power relations

Development of less hierarchical approaches to learning and teaching.
Corresponding changes in the practice of assessment are harder to find

** Sharing the procedures of assessment doesn't necessarily result in more democratic processes: **

- may cause anxiety and frustration
- ambiguity resulting from the redefinition of the tutor's role
- make reasonable expectations as to what the students will be able to do
- if students know that the tutors will intervene if the marking is unsatisfactory, then the marking can't be said to participative or empowering
- fear of receiving a bad mark if a bad one is given
- differences present in learning groups: granting of freedoms by the teacher can result in that control being taken by another agency
Individuals' status and influence informed by who they are in the wider society, in relation to age, gender, sex and race.
Perceived ability may also play a role

Operating assessment methods which encourage learners to be supportive to fellow learners while developing their skills in critically evaluating the work of others, is a challenging, complex process

Putting into practice participative assessment requires tutors to be prepared and able to work with the complex social processes which are generated. If not, traditional practice may be preferable.

Empowering pedagogy doesn't dissolve the authority or power of the instructor. It does move (if previously mentionned barriers successfully addressed) from power as domination to power as creative energy.
Classrooms needn't always reflect an equality of power, but they must reflect movement in that direction.

www.ingentaconnect.com/...art00003 - Preview

e-learning design ECDEL_MSc peer social assessment

Notions and references:
isolation, community, 'insider', 'outsider'
References about sense of isolation
References about synchronous and asynchronous communications

Isolation or the feeling of aloneness that many students may feel is the hardest symptom for educators to combat

This issue of isolation is ‘an important criterion for student satisfaction’ with the web-based online course

It is important that educational bodies and educators appreciate that effective support may be given to distant online learners by the implementation of, and adherence to, appropriate communication protocols

The level of trust between all involved in the educational process has to be high if a sense of community is to develop.

With the text-based communication that occurs in the online learning community, it can be easy for that text to be misinterpreted (Curtis & Lawson, 1999) due to the lack of visual expressiveness by the participants involved.

The use of synchronous chat rooms as a means of fostering communication and interaction between lecturers and the students in the online course

www.ifets.info/index.php - Preview

e-learning IDEL_MSc social community self

Notions:
course, design, approach, traditional, experiential, person-centered, humanistic, power, control, social

The characteristics of both traditional and person-centered approaches are given
Their underlying politics (control and the making of choices) are explained

The threat of the person-centered approach:
- for the teacher or administrator, fearful aspects of sharing power and control
- for the student: habit of being directed (they want the continuance of security of being told what to do)

** It's possible to move a whole profession towards a more humanistic, person-centered approach: compelling example in the field of medicine **

** In comparison, several reasons explain why such example are much less common in the field of education: **

- No desire to change?
- Medics are used to learn all the time (from mistakes, feedback, because of innovations, etc.)
- Much less incentive exist for educators
- Educators often don't learn about the curiosity killed, about the people damaged, etc.
- Similarly, educators rarely see their successes
- Rigid power structure

www.panarchy.org/...learning.html - Preview

e-learning ECDEL_MSc design social

Notions:
scaffolding, feedback, social, context, collaborative, peer, constructivism

** Characteristics of constructivism **

Three-stage process proposed by the authors that can be used in many settings (including diagram):

1. Designing learning tasks

open-ended learning environments

- authentic context
- authentic activities (give meaning and structure but little directed content) such as task-based, problem-based learning and case study
- authentic assessment seamlessly integrated in the activity, able to provide criteria for marking varied products

According to Toohey, designing activities around outcome results in a performance-based approach though (but authors explanations make sense)

2. Designing learning supports (elements used to provide scaffolding)

usefulness of peer work

- creating collaborative learning activities
- coaching and scaffolding of learning by the teacher and other students
- providing opportunities and support for reflective learning
- encouraging articulation and expression of understanding

3. Designing learning resources

suggestions that content should assume a far lesser role in the design process
use of a variety of resources to provide perspective and leave freedom as far as learning trajectory is concerned

- access to expert performances and the modelling of processes
- multiple roles and perspectives

Examples of programs designed using that framework

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e-learning design ECDEL_MSc feedback social collaborative context peer

Notions:
constructionism, social, context, active interview, formative, conversation, facilitator, validity, reliability, collaboration

Interviews are widely used
All approaches to interviewing presume an image or subject behind the interview participant
Commonly viewed as one-way pipeline for tranporting knowledge but this only gives standardised data (passive "vessel of answers")

Active (or formative) interview:

Recently, recognised as a meaning-making conversation: unavoidably interactional and constructive (hence, active). We should therefore embrace this perspective.
Appreciating and striking a balance between the whats and hows of the interview process
We merely have to ask the right questions and others' reality will be ours
"Reliability" doesn't make sense anymore while "validity" needs to be redefined

** Interview must be seen as an interpersonal drama with a developing plot **

Reality is constantly assembled, using the interpretive resources at hand, in light of the respective contingencies of every moments: not meaning contamination but meaning construction
The subject behind the participant doesn't pre-exist but emerges in relation to the give-and-take of interviewing (hows) and the interview's purpose (whats)

** Examples given **

Active interviewers facilitate their respondents' explorations of alternative possibilities and considerations

This is fairer as it also rewards the participants by helping them make sense of their truths and identities

Analytic objective is to show how what is being said relates to the experiences and lives being studied in the circumstances at hand
Reports must deconstruct participants' talk to show the reader both the hows and whats of narratives of lived experience
Challenge is to consider what is said in relation to how, where, when and by whom experiential information is conveyed and to what end

** I included my own interesting views as comments in the paper **

www.amazon.com/...0803958951 - Preview

e-learning RM_MSc social context collaboration