'Cat on Yer Head'
We will start the session by playing a game called 'Cat on Yer Head' (Davis, 2014). We will play it for a short time then think about how engaging it was. We will then discuss the relationships between the difficulty of the game and the skill levels we had to master it - this relates to the idea of 'flow'. According to Murphy (2011) Flow is widely accepted to be one of the fundamental reasons that people play games. It is the essence of games. For game designers, the question is not whether flow is important, but rather, how long you can keep your players in flow. This game is very flexible and it's easy to add, remove or change rules. We will add a new rule that we create in class then discuss what effects that had on flow.
Clear tasks - understands what they are doing
Feedback - gives a lot of feedback about progressions towards goals
Balanced - attainable goal
Concentration - must be able to concentrate on the game and should avoid distracting the player away from the tasks.
Recently some researchers have begun to take an interest in how group dynamics and collaborative (or competitive) situations within groups affects flow (Madigan, 2015). Ryu, Cui and Parsons (2010) noted that 'social flow in a collaborative learning space might be a key factor in providing the conditions for optimal learning experience' (p.1). If you want to hear how the rules change when groups are involved, you should listen to Madigan interviewing Dr. Linda Kaye on his podcast episode of Psychological Flow.
Feedback - gives a lot of feedback about progressions towards goals
Balanced - attainable goal
Concentration - must be able to concentrate on the game and should avoid distracting the player away from the tasks.
Recently some researchers have begun to take an interest in how group dynamics and collaborative (or competitive) situations within groups affects flow (Madigan, 2015). Ryu, Cui and Parsons (2010) noted that 'social flow in a collaborative learning space might be a key factor in providing the conditions for optimal learning experience' (p.1). If you want to hear how the rules change when groups are involved, you should listen to Madigan interviewing Dr. Linda Kaye on his podcast episode of Psychological Flow.
Flipped Task Discussion - The design principles for flow experience in educational games
According to Kiili, "whenever people reflect on their flow experiences, they mention some, and often all, of the following characteristics: concentration, time distortion, rewarding experience and loss of self-consciousness. During a flow experience, such as during game-play, a person is totally focused on the activity and is able to forget all unpleasant things. Because flow-inducing activities require complete concentration of attention on the task at hand, there are no cognitive resources left over for irrelevant information. Thus, self seems to disappear from awareness during flow. In other words, in flow there is no room for self-scrutiny... during the flow experience the sense of time tends to bear little relation to the passage of time as measured by the absolute convention of a clock. Time seems to either pass really fast or the seconds may feel like minutes. Rewarding experience refers to an activity that is done, not with the expectation of some future benefit, but simply because the doing itself is interesting and fun". Therefore the characteristics of a flow experience are:-
- Challenge – The challenge level of the game was appropriate for me. It was neither too challenging nor too easy.
- Clear goals - I understood what I needed to do and achieve in the game. Thus, I think that the goals were clear for me
- Feedback - The game provided me with such feedback that I was aware how I was performing. I could really perceive the consequences of my actions.
- Playability - The user interface of the game was easy to use. I could easily find all the necessary functionalities and information.
- Sense of control - I felt that it could be possible to perform well in the game. Training could improve my skills to master the game.
- Rewarding experience - I really enjoyed the playing experience. It was so gratifying that I want to capture it again for its own sake
- Concentration - I was totally immersed with playing the game. External factors did not disturb me and I could keep my mind on the game events.
- Loss of self-consciousness - During playing I was not concerned with what others may have been thinking of my performance.
- Time distortion - During playing the time seemed to pass very fast - suddenly the playing session was almost over.
Educational Game Model
According to Amory (2007), Educational computer games should:
- Be relevant, explorative, emotive and engaging
- Include complex challenges, puzzles or quests
- Be gender-inclusive and non-confrontational
- Provide appropriate role models
- Develop democracy and social capital through dialogue
- Support authentic learning activities
- Support the construction of tacit knowledge
Educational games need all the usual qualities of games, plus they should not contain any socially undesirable features (racism. sexism, violence, etc) but provide positive models, plus they have to have some embedded pedagogy. Maybe this explains why successful educational games are so hard to create.Taking account, and including, all these features into a game is difficult. One good example that tries to include many of these elements is a Maori language game created by Tyne Crow -Kupu Hono.
You can try out a basic demo of Tyne Crow’s Kupu Hono Maori language learning game that is an example of a learning game designed for mobile devices that uses a virtual game world.
Game Design in Education
A starting point for game design in education could be a 'problem space':
"Games and simulations, digital or non-digital, are also problem spaces. They are constructed with particular constraints and affordances that shape what the player can experience as “the game”." McCall (2012)
"By being conscious of the ways in which games and simulations construct a particular problem space for learners, teachers can pay attention to the strengths and limitations of any particular game, and consider what additional ideas and facts need to be explicitly taught, or reflected on, outside the game experience". Bolstad, R. (2017).
In Class Task - Mindomo and Mind Maps
Use mindomo.com to summarise your ideas as an mindmap. The instructions for using mindomo mind maps are in the media section at the bottom of this page.
Ideate a 'problem space'
"By being conscious of the ways in which games and simulations construct a particular problem space for learners, teachers can pay attention to the strengths and limitations of any particular game, and consider what additional ideas and facts need to be explicitly taught, or reflected on, outside the game experience. " (Bolstad, 2017).
Examples of 'problem spaces' might be:
- History Events - Civil Rights
- Science - Climate change
- Student Self Management
- Literacy - for a particular target group
Then add your chosen problem space to the middle of your mindmap and identify 3 or 4 game mechanics from Marczewski's Game Mechanics Table to ideate further.
Include key learning that you want to occur.
Give and receive feedback on your presentations in the G+ community 'In class tasks':
- Chosen problem space?
- What game mechanics have they used?
- What learning are they wanting to encourage?
- Something about the educational game criteria?
Keep in mind that these are ideas you could propose to your students, we hope they will develop the idea and game(s) further with you.
Game creation tools
One of the tools that could be used with students to create their own games is Gamefroot.
- GameSalad includes ready-to-use projects, activities, tutorials and assessments to meet STEM initiatives.
- Yoyo Games Allows users to make 2D games with the GameMaker: Studio game engine is easy. No code or programming required.
- Gamestar Mechanic uses fun, game-based quests and courses to help you learn game design and make your own video games!
- Flow lab Visual game creator, right in your browser. No coding needed - Export apps for iOS, Android & Windows
References
Amory, A. (2007). Game object model version II: a theoretical framework for educational game development. Educational Technology Research & Development, 55(1), 51–77
Bolstad, R. (2017). Playing for peace: Complex role-play gaming in high school history A case study. New Zealand Council for Educational Research.
Davis, R. (2014). Cat On Yer Head. Playniac Ltd. Retrieved from http://www.catonyerhead.com/
Kiili, K. , de Freitas, S. , Arnab, S. and Lainema, T. (2012) The design principles for flow experience in educational games. Procedia Computer Science, volume 15 (4th International Conference on Games and Virtual Worlds for Serious Applications (VS-GAMES’12)): 78– 91. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2012.10.060
Madigan, J. (2015). Podcast 3: Psychological Flow. The Psychology of Video Games. Retrieved from http://www.psychologyofgames.com/2015/05/podcast-3-psychological-flow/
Marczewski, A. (2016). GameThinking – Differences Between Gamification & Games. Gamified UK. Retrieved from: http://www.gamified.uk/gamification-framework/differences-between-gamification-and-games/
McCall, J. (2012). Historical simulations as problem spaces: Criticism and classroom use. Journal of Digital Humanities, 1(2).
Murphy, C. (2011). Why Games Work and the Science of Learning. In Proceedings Modsim World 2011. Retrieved from: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20130008648.pdf
Ryu, H., Cui, J. & Parsons, D. (2010). Raising the Bar of Challenge with Collaboration: Social Flow in Mobile Learning. Proceedings of 9th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn 2010), Malta, (pp. 240-247). Retrieved from http://davidparsons.ac.nz/papers/Raising%20the%20Bar%20of%20Challenge%20with%20Collaboration%20Social%20Flow%20in%20Mobile%20Learning.pdf
Salen, K. (Ed.) (2007). The Ecology of Games: Connecting Youth, Games, and Learning. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
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