Game Plan!

 I love the idea of integrating games into my courses and have dedicated several blog posts to this topic over the last few years. For example, I have gamified two classes (See Gamifying a Course, Phase 1)  with one as a simulated community college and another where I have practicum students who are "hired" as Instructional designers and tasked with completing  5 components to be hired for their new job with my design firm (hiring means they earned an A in their practicum class). In addition to gamifying a few courses, I have experimented with badges and frame games, contemplated virtual worlds, and dreamed of simulations.....

from canva.com

There is so more I want to do!  So...here's my game plan.... my "dream team" of gaming with adult learners, including designing frame games, gamifying trainings, using  - or designing - a virtual world, and creating a simulation where my leadership students can safely practice their leadership skills..

Frame Games 

Frame games are not just for K-12. In fact, in 2015 I blogged about using frame games with adult learners, exploring the issue of their usefulness with this audience.  

Basically, games foster interactivity with the content and, depending upon the game is used, interactivity with classmates. According to Kapp, Blair, and Mesch (2014), games primarily are used to change attitudes and behaviors although they can be used to deliver and/or test content knowledge. Frame games, sometimes known as puzzle games, can be be used to test recall of material, but need to include repetition where the learner who gives an incorrect response learns the correct response through feedback and has the opportunity to try again. Some frame games such as Jeopardy can also be used as teaching games, offering a framework to guide class discussion.

This all sounds fine IF a class meets face-to-face in some, possibly remote or having some type of synchronous experience. I have actually created a Harry Potter Jeopardy game in the past using Powerpoint as a synchronous meeting class opener to demonstrate he use of frame games...but, again, this was a synchronous application.

Can  frame games be used in an asynchronous setting?

I believe they can IF the facilitator designs them as an intentional supplemental activity.... reinforcing cognitive presence. A frame game would have to be designed for asynchronous use, perhaps to reinforce technical vocabulary.

My Game Plan: Frame Games

I am a tetris fan. I am so much of a tetris fan that all four of my daughters are as well. We have been known to turn tetris into a verb by "tetrising" all of the furniture into a van..... 

My thought is to offer/design a falling word tetris-type of frame game as a review  of  budget terms or research design....perhaps even 508 compliance for aspiring instructional designers.

A current example of this would be the Metal/Nonmetal Bucket Drop, a sorting game requiring learners to use their knowledge of metals and nonmetals to guide the falling elements into the correct buckets. 

In 2016 I originally created a powerpoint review of budget-related terms that was very low-tech. so low-tech that I am not sure it even works now:

Screenshot of 2016 activity instructions

Students watched a voice-over ppt (oh, how dated!) then completed a flashcard activity where they downloaded a second powerpoint and viewed it in Presenter Mode to activate the "game" component. This original version lives in my Google Drive. Once it appears on your screen, do NOT try to view it in the drive or through google slides (remember, this is outdated technology). Save it to your laptop, open it, watch in Presenter mode, and quiz yourself. 

I'll be honest.   I am still quite proud that I created this years ago...and in powerpoint! But....students were not reading the instructions to download so they were giving up and skipping the activity. Now I would use a bucket drop template  that would be SO much easier for me and for the learners. The buckets would be labeled Qualitative Component and Quantitative Component, I would use the same terms as in the ppt file (and add more!), and have something more powerful and more professional.

The video below demos the original frame game designed in powerpoint:

 

Gamifying a class

Ah....this is a topic with which I have experience, having gamified two courses so far and adding badges to two additionnal courses, and I have spent a great deal of time researching and pondering this topic (see this blog post from 2016). 

Just to clarify, gamification is the application of game-playing elements (e.g. point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to non game-playing arenas, normally education, training, or as an online marketing technique to encourage engagement with a product or service.

When determining whether or not to gamify, I return to the concept of just because I CAN gamify does not mean I should.... and the gamified course must still engage the learner and add to their learning.  While I hope a course will be fun if gamified, the goal is not to have fun.  The goal is to engage the learner in learning more about the topics while engaging them cognitively.... the purview of the instructional designer. Hopefully gamifiying a course makes it more fun and more likely to engage the learner.

The MDA framework (allows designers to consider the game from two perspectives at the same time – they can see the game from the viewpoint of the user as well as from that of the designer - making this a very useful design, particularly if a designer also plays games (Elverdam & Aarseth, 2007; Kim, 2015; Robson, et al., 2015). This framework, however, can also assist instructors who are considering adding gamification to an online course.

Also of interest - and continued exploration on my part - is Allen Interactions' Taxonomy Alignment for Gaming:

Gamification, applying game elements to a non-game setting, requires a great deal of time when done correctly.  I have already entirely gamified two courses  over the last five years, and one of those courses took over 400 hours to create.

 

My Game Plan: Gamification for Business and Education.

I would love to design and teach a course entitled Gamification for Business and Education.  Actually, I have already designed the syllabus but have not yet had the opportunity to bring the course to fruition.

My thought is the course itself would be gamified with students  being greeted at the beginning of the class by a cloaked being who would welcome them to their journey through Gameland.  The overarching goal would be for students to  reach the Base of the Peaks of Gameland where they receive their final quest to develop a plan for their own gamified course or training. After they receive that quest they will have to climb those peaks, eventually reaching the top where they have to demo their actual plan to be reviewed by their fellow travelers. Along the way to the base of the Peaks, however, students have to accept and pass a variety of challenges where they earn rewards based on knowledge and skill aquisition (perhaps through Easter Eggs)  that will help them meet later challenges - all designed to help them reach their final goal.

I envision a map of the country of Gameland showing their journey....with points, badges, and levels earned along the way, all needed for passage into various parts of the country. They will be able to choose to work together or alone, with a pair of students being able to pool resources to gain additional knowledge necessary for future challenges and for the final quest. 

I actually started the narrative for this game, keeping in mind the MDA theory of instructional design for gamification, but ran into roadblock with Canvas integration.  I want it housed solely in Canvas, so I will need to become more familiar with html to have this look the way I envision.

Key will be the integration of the Community of Inquiry  with the MDA theory of instructional design:

Moving to a simulation

A simulation allows participants to practice a skill in a safe environment, in a virtual real world setting.  Aerospace has been doing simulations for decades allowing astronauts to practice working in a space capsule before going up into space. So has the military.

I used to play Flight Simulator in which I chose a plane (anything from a Sopwith Camel to a 747) and flew it over a topography of choice and landed it.  That was lots of fun!

Simulations can be used in educational settings, too.

Screenshot from Virtual U

I have dreamed of this application since 2005 when I first discovered a piece of software named Virtual U. Virtual U is a simulation game about running a university or college. This software models the attitudes and behaviors of an academic community. Players act as president of a university or college and struggle to manage the institution's affairs while dealing with the various stakeholders and fielding problems the software throws at them as they play.  My students loved this! Unfortunately, it is now very dated, but they did learn the importance of budget and making decisions that were data-driven, while trying to balance the needs of all stakeholders....and the impact one decision can have on all stakeholders. 

Although Virtual U would qualify as retro in today's gaming standards, it might be worth giving it a try.  I had students using it as recently as 2017.

Playing this got me thinking....

 

Game Plan: Evergreen Opportunities

 I coordinate four separate programs, but I have found a way to link all four in a simulation that could start during a student's first semester and culminate in their practicum courses.

In my dream plan, I present  Evergreen Opportunities, a business simulation  with several distinct settings. Evergreen Opportunities produces business apps...lean application design for small businesses. Because one of its goals is to give back to the community, EO also has a nonprofit arm that works with one of the local homeless shelters to provide job skills training and other assistance. Proceeds from the business are also used to fund a small residential college. Instructional designers may be called upon to design online training for the business or nonprofit arms, even possibly for the college.

Basically, students would enter this simulation choosing a specific role in a business, nonprofit, HIED, or instructional design setting. The role they choose should reflect their career goal and, if possible, stay the same as they move throughout the program to the practicum course where this simulation ends.

Students will be presented with scenarios based on their career goal, and the scenarios will shift with each semester, reflecting what they are leaning in their classes.

For example, Leadership and NonProfit students may encounter a recalcitrant employee who gives them the opportunity to apply various leadership theories along with conflict mediation skills.  HIED students might encounter a problem student, a hiring crisis, or an athletic issue, all depending upon their chosen role.  Instructional Design students might encounter a faculty member who needs to be trained in using a new piece of software or even be asked to identify a technology approach to handle a Human Resource crisis. 

All students would receive scenarios focusing on legal issues, budget, organization culture - every topic covered in their core courses....but as they play the game, these issues/problems would appear and require their immediate attention to solve...while they are juggling other problems at the the same time. Just how life does not give us one problem at a time, neither would this simulation.  Players would learn or start to learn how to balance multiple requests and issues, and the problems and problem-solving skills required over the course of the program would become increasing more complex. Some issues might impact all players at once, such as a response to an infectious disease requiring all of EO to deal with a sudden shift to remote work due to a pandemic and all of the issues that could create....and to work together as an organization to address these issues.

Evergreen Opportunities would be played each semester in every class and would live in the cloud where students could log in and start where they left off as needed. My thought is as the courses change, so would the scenarios and prompts.  Students could log in individually and solve their problems individually although all could be online at the same time, cycling through problems  randomly.

 What do I need to create the simulation?

I need a modeling simulation developer who can craft the intensive graphics  needed for this cloud-based program. I can storyboard every single scenario/response and identify the prompts that would cause a problem to appear.  I also have friends who could assist with this....but the simulation developer is necessary to do the graphic and software design,,,and their salaries run from $65,000 to 1$138,000/year, so...   I need to develop a partnership with someone who wants to or needs to to do some testing of system designs. This simulation may have some possibility for interest form other entities, perhaps becoming quite lucrative.

Virtual Worlds in Education

A scene in Second Life

I will admit that I have not been as interested in using Virtual Worlds, mainly because of the privacy concerns.  I have experimented with Second Life, an online Virtual world for those ages 13 and up and around 2005 asked a few of my doc students to interact with each other in Second Life and give me their impressions. At that time - keep in mind that is 16 years ago - it was slow, awkward, and, well, full of people trying to find a date.

However...... you CAN buy an island..... and an island can be closed to all who lack  the password AND students could go there directly upon logging in allowing them to bypass the date-seekers....

So...why SHOULD I consider using a virtual world?

A virtual world is a three‐dimensional (3D) space reproduced on a computer screen, where avatars, can move, interact, and communicate with others (Jones, 2013). Virtual worlds provide realistic face‐to‐face communication between avatars (Potkonjak et al., 2016) and facilitate productive forms of collaborative learning (Olteanu et al., 2014). Virtual worlds also provide interesting platforms for gamification because the immersion of the user's avatar into the 3D environment is a sort of game in and of itself. 

Basically, then, a virtual world can add provide some real-tie interaction berween students.

Although research regarding the use of Second Life started when the program first did, universities are still using this platform: Stanford, University of Texas, and even NC State!

Perhaps I could give it a try...

 

Game Plan: Leadership Hall Island

Second Life combines learning experiences with a game‐like feel that may be attractive for many students today (Richardson‐Hatcher et al., 2014a). It has been demonstrated to be an effective tool with huge potential for developing game‐based learning experiences (Toro‐Troconis & Mellström, 2010). 

First..... I would need to buy an island. Up-front costs average $1,675 per island  with  monthly cost of $295  to maintain each island.

Yikes! Unless such a purchase was funded through research grants, I doubt I get the University to add this to their budget.

Leadership Hall Island would provide a framework for a game‐like competition that allows players to learn the material regarding leadership theories through self‐guided presentations.

I would select 5 leadership theories (servant leadership, relational leadership,  situational ledership, leader-member exchange theory, transformational theory) and create learning panels  displaying videos, activities, and webpages about each. Students would commplete a variety of leadership assessments to help them identify their personal leadership style. After all is created.....

Then....  the competition would begin.

During Phase 1, information about one leadership theory would be available during four days, allowing learners to view the educational content whenever they wanted.  During days 5 and 6, the learning panels would be removed and assessment activities would be placed on Leadership Hall Island. Each student would then have find the assessment case study activity assigned to them. After completing the activity, they would send a notecard response to my avatar. The score of the correct responses at each phase would help me classify participants, and the successive cumulative scores would determine their position in the general classification. 

Now...to clarify,  I am not sure how I feel about competion in a college classroom.  This approach could allow some students to feel left out or discouraged and might possibly disengage from the course itself. I want to avoid anyone feeling demoralized, so the game part might need to shift into a more cooperative activity.

 I could still see having them review materials on learning panels, then perhaps interact with one another during a scheduled visit time when they could perhaps work on a case study with a partner or make their own presentations about a leadership theory.  Students could also lead virtual trainings in Second Life for one another. Unlike in an asnchronous setting, students could meet in real time, with their avatarrs sitting in charis looking at each other and chatting, decreasing some of the "distance" and possibly fostering some social presence.

Along with deciding whether or not to compete, there is still an issue of accessibility that may prove problematic with regards to internet connectivity and strength, Also, Second Life needs to be downloaded, and older laptops may not work as well.

So.....after reviewing my possible game plans...what's yours?

 

 References

Elverdam, C., & Aarseth, E. (2007). Game classification and game design construction through critical analysis. Games and Culture, 2(1), 3-22.

Jones, D. (2013). An alternative (to) reality. In: Childs M, Peachey A (Editors). Understanding Learning in Virtual World. 1st Ed. London, UK: Springer‐Verlag. p 1–20.

Kapp, K. M., Blair, L., & Mesch R. (2014). The gamification of learning and instruction fieldbook: Ideas into practice. San Francisco: Wiley. 

Kim, B. (2015). Designing gamification in the right way. Library Technology Reports 51(2), 29-35.

Oltean, R. L., Bîzoi, M, Gorghiu G., Suduc, A. M. (2014). Working in the Second Life environment – A way for enhancing students' collaboration. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 141:1089–1094.

Potkonjak, V., Gardner, M, Callaghan, V., Mattila P, Guetl, C, Petrović, VM, & Jovanović K. 2016. Virtual laboratories for education in science, technology, and engineering: A review. Computer Education, 95, 309–327.

Richardson, A., Hazzard, M., Challman, S., Morgenstein, A., & Brueckner, J. (2011). A “Second Life” for gross anatomy: Applications for multiuser virtual environments in teaching the anatomical sciences. Anatomical Sciences Education, 4, 39–43.   

Robson, K., Plangger, K., Kietzmann, J. H., McCarthy, I., & Pitt, P. (2015). Is it all a game? Understanding the principles of gamification. Business Horizons, 58, 411-420.

Toro‐Troconis, M.,& Mellström, U. (2010). Game‐based learning in Second Life. Do gender and age make a difference? Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds, 2, 53–76.