I am now in my 4th week of the EdX course on Design and Development of games for Learning. This week we were asked to “play test” our games and think of questions we would ask of those who “play test” our game in a prototype such as cards or rough digital version. Since I am interested in what motivates people to play games, I chose the following questions:
-what was fun about the game?
-what strategy will win the game?
-what support did you find to learn winning strategies?
-what elements in the game gave you control over your progress in mastering the game?
Here are some resources from the course on design based research, strategies to make the most of student playtesting, and a conjecture map to show the concept by visually organizing the major theoretical, design, and outcome elements.
While commenting in posts on games in progress from other students, I joined a group called SWA. I joined this group because I was interested in what the airline’s training department was doing for practice in learning workplace tasks using games. The task is for maintenance crew in refilling the bins in the galley. Previously, the task was learned through OJT. Of course, motivation may well be external in this case…keep your job. However, I’m still interested in motivating any learner using fun, mastery, community, or just the freedom to learn- DIY.
Perhaps should mention Gary and his Tempo group have been working on DLE for another airline. They were developing a proposal that would help the airline provide OTJ training using mobile devices… It would be good to ask him what gamification elements they may have incorporated.
Kris, can you post more about the SLA group, if you have more? Thx.
See here the public upload of the game described in my post about the SWA group game for memorization of galley items found in the bins on planes.
http://swauniversity.com/galley-ho/galley-ho.html
That looks like a simple way of getting to know where things are on the airplane. And maybe fun enough to encourage “play”. Are there rules for how to “score points”? Clicking around was fun, but I didn’t “score”….
Also, while the music track is jaunty and carnival like, it was also a short loop playing over and over like electronic greeting cards, and that would get annoying if one had to listen to it “too much”. Maybe the music changes if one can manage to score a point?
Thanks Kris. BTW, Tempo didn’t get the Delta contract which went to IBM and SAG. Tempo is undergoing fairly radical re-organization into a different entity…said Gary yesterday…based on certain challenges in the market…and needs for new business models to fit.
(see today’s post re the machinations of various business models in the music industry; Spotify being a second generation of disruption in that industry…and in the article the general landscape of players on the field that PSA want’s to inhabit: for online distribution of DLE…is detailed in all it’s complexity. Food for thought on how to change the status quo in learning)