library+instruction+technology

If you are really into gaming and libraries there are two conferences you might be interested in attending this summer. I will not be attending either…no more college fundage…paying own way to ALA in DC…kitchen is the last room to be remodeled this summer…you get the idea. However, Paul is going to one or both and I'm sure he'll share.

ALA TechSource is sponsoring the first annual (read new revenue stream) Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium on July 22-23 in Chicago.  Registration is open. I think the price is too high ($300), but hey you get a copy of Jenny's book and fun finger food/refreshments. James Paul Gee is one of the keynote speakers. The sessions looks interesting. There are some focused on the use of gaming for teaching information literacy concepts. However,  I don't believe that an individual library can realistically develop a full blown interactive game on their own. Paul has the fire. Someone with the deep pockets should fund him (hint hint). Then we can all reap the benefits.

During an email exchange, Paul alerted me to the third annual Games, Learning & Society conference being held in Madison on July 12-13. Registration is open and will set you back $295 if you register before May 31. James Gee is again a keynote speaker. This conference may be a bit more cerebral, but would still be of interest to librarians interested in gaming and learning.

The GLS Conference fosters substantive discussion and collaboration among academics, designers, and educators interested in how game technologies – commercial games and others – can enhance learning, culture, and education. Speakers, discussion groups, and interactive workshops will focus on game design, game culture, and games’ potential for learning.

If you go to either conference, I encourage you to share what you heard and learned. Do you know of other gaming conferences happening this summer?

Olga Hart, Ted Baldwin, Debbie Tenofsky, Stephena Harmony, and Heather Maloney from the University of Cincinnati shared their experience developing an online game [PowerPoint slides] during the Instruction Interest Group breakout session. I was very interested to see how far they had gotten in the development of their game. I had dinner with Olga and some other Ohio librarians at LOEX in May. Olga had described their library faculty learning community focused on using games as pedagogy during dinner.

The UC team has spent over 200 hours developing their game. Unfortunately we were not able to see a live demo during the session. However, they did show us some screen captures (see the PowerPoint slides). Their game is focused on teaching plagiarism. It is remnicent of the Sims, but requires the students to make choices to move the game forward. 

The tools they used to create the game include: Flash for the framework, Poser for animation, and Mimic for audio synch. They recommended that game development requires a lot of time, project management, and resources.  Additional best practices and lessons learned can be found in their slides.

Their session handout (not included in the PowerPoint slides) includes the following "sources of inspiration":

Tutorials 

• Bruin Success with Less Stress (UCLA)
• The Plagiarism Court: You be the Judge (Fairfield University) 
• TILT (University of Texas)
• You Quote it, You Note It! (Acadia University)

Books

• Learning by doing: a comprehensive guide to simulations, computer games, and pedagogy in e-learning and other education experiences by Clark Aldrich.
• The study of games by Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith.
• The art of game characters by Leo Hartas.
• Rules of play: game design fundamentals by Kate Salen and Eric Zimmerman.

Article

• Squire, K. & Steinkueler, C. (April 15, 2005). Meet the gamers: they research, teach, learn, and collaborage. So far without libraries. Library Journal.

I was on vacation last week trying to burn the rest of my days off before the end of the fiscal year. I was able to finish one of the books recommended at a LOEX session, Got Game: How the Gamer Generation is Reshaping Business Forever by John Beck and Mitchell Wade. It's a relatively short book coming in at 180 pages. Beck and Mitchell surveyed 2,500 business professionals in the US. Their research subjects included recent MBA grads from two programs (unidentified universities on the West Coast and in the Midwest) and business professionals working in all sizes of companies and in a wide range of fields. Their research focused on finding out if worker's abilities, expectations, and attitudes were different between those that grew up playing or being around games versus those that did not.

I was a little disappointed in their choice to make 1975 the starting point for what they called the Gamer generation. I don't agree with this choice, since I was born in 1970 and I consider myself to be a gamer. I also know many other people born anywhere from 1968 to 1974 who are active gamers.

Beck and Mitchell set the stage for their findings by starting out with a quick overview of the development of the game industry. They then explore some of the common concerns about video games: sexism, violence, stereotypes, and isolation before jumping into the analysis.

Their research shows that gamers:

• are driven to compete;
• care about the fate of their employer;
• are very loyal;
• are engaged in their work;
• prefer to multitask;
• prefer compensation tied to actual performance; 
• enjoy being the hero;
• value teamwork;
• are comfortable taking risks; and
• learn best through trial and error.

Throughout the book Beck and Mitchell offer suggestions on how managers can best use a gamer's strengths. The book doesn't have much to offer for those interested in the use of games for learning. However, I would still recommend this book to anyone with management responsibility.

This was the best session I attended this year. Robin Ewing from St. Cloud State University and Justine Martin from Minnesota State University at Mankato were an outstanding (and entertaining) duo. Their presentation provided a background on gaming, gamers, learning styles of gamers, motivation, engagement, features of games that make people want to keep on playing and how all of this can be applied to instruction.

People play games because they are engrossing. They have flow, rules, goals, challenges, elements of control, and some have aspects of fantasy. The current generation of students prefers to learn through trial and error. That is how they learn the new games. They don't read the manual. They learn best by doing.

If we are able to take these concepts and apply them to our instruction, then we have a better change of engaging the current game generation. Integrating narrative or creating a first-person scenario is an easy way to start to implement some of these game based concepts.

Examples they suggested we try is to allow students to pick their own topics, don't demo…have a student "drive" the computer, ask students to direct the student "driving" the computer as to what to do next if a search fails, create "power-up" cards [database tricks...truncation symbol...the power of AND OR NOT] that you can give to students who are having trouble or who are doing well.

They developed a great bibliography of books and articles to get up-to-speed on game based learning. They highlighted the books written by John Beck, James Gee, and Marc Prensky during their presentation.

technorati tag: loex2006

Bee Gallegos and Karen Grondin from Arizona State University at the West campus presented on how they are using gaming to engage students. They have used a couple of different gaming techniques.

Fletcher's Great Library Race, was one of the first game based activities they created. This game is an exploration activity designed to acquaint students with the physical arrangement of the building. The game is loosely based on The Amazing Race. Students are divided into teams and assigned roles. They were given a clue and then had to go to different areas to find additional clues. They could ask for help at service desks. The first team to collect all the clues, return, and solve the puzzle was the winner. 

Race Through the Library, is the current game that they are using and improving. This game is board based and used in an instruction classroom with English classes. Students move game pieces through the board by rolling dice and correctly answering questions about the library and the research process.

They are currently developing an online video game .  

technorati tag: loex2006