Exploratory Learning Through
Educational Simulation & Games
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Overall
Course Themes
This course
deals with aspects of the design process that are sometimes neglected.
To design an instructional game well, you must be both systematic and
intuitive, analytic and artistic. In mastering the ISD process, you've
learned to handle the cognitive side of instruction (which, almost by
definition, is the most important). In EDTEC 670, you'll also learn
to deal with the affective side of instruction. Throughout the course
we'll be addressing the questions: What makes some activities interesting
or fun? How can we maximize enjoyment without sacrificing instructional
quality? It's a difficult and fascinating challenge for any instructional
designer.
A second
major theme of the course involves the design of simulations. The questions
that will dominate the second half of the course are these: How do
we represent reality in a simulation? How do we balance simplicity,
efficiency, and playability against realism, richness and complexity?
These, too, are challenging design tasks.
Objectives
Upon completing
this course, you'll be able to:
- Explain selected psychological theories and models useful to describe
motivational and affective aspects of instruction. The models will
include the following: Keller's ARCS
model; Csikszentmihalyi's flow model; Malone & Lepper's intrinsic motivation taxonomy.
- Explain selected frameworks developed by master practitioners to analyze and design games and game-like experiences. These will include Schell's game design lenses, gamification strategies, and guidelines developed specifically for board games.
- Analyze a situation that is currrently not engaging to its participants and apply principles of motivational design and gamification to it to improve it.
- Design an educational board game that is flexible and effective, and document its rules,
physical attributes, context of use, rationale, and variations.
- Create face-to-face simulations, role plays and other activities designed to build
social cohesion among learners and convey understanding of complex content.
- Design
and document an online educational experience and describe the motivational principles at work
in the design.
- Reflect on and explain the design processes you use in creating motivating educational
products and experiences.
Course
Schedule
Much of the work of the class will be done on your own schedule, either solo or
in small groups. Unless otherwise noted below, both sections meets synchronously
on Blackboard at
Mondays at 4pm. Additional meeting times will be scheduled with subsets of the class
later in the semester.
This will be taught as a flipped class. That is, most new information will be given to you in the form of readings, recorded presentations and solo exercises to be done ahead of time. We'll use our synchronous time together for discussion and activities that take advantage of having dozens of great brains all in one virtual place, not for lectures.
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Week
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Date
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Pre-Class Homework
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In-Class Activities
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1
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Aug 29
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Nothing!
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Course Overview and Introduction
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2
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Sept 12
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Analysis of survey results
Applying ARCS to authentic problems I
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3
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Sept 19
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Feedback on MDD Project Ideas and Requirements. If you see "Yes" in the Approval column, feel free to get started. Otherwise, you'll hear from us soon.
Case Study: Bernie Bombs in Missouri (and online)
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4
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Sept 26
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- Finish the Keller book
- Read Chapter 1 - 4 of Gamification
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Live conversation with John Keller, creator of the ARCS Model.
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5
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Oct 3
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- Read Chapter 5 - 8 of Gamification
- Complete Worksheets 1-6 and provide a link on this form. Links are here.
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Peer sharing of MDDs in progress
Gamification Exercise
Gamification links from Dianne Rees
Review the MDD Template
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6
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Oct 10
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- DUE: Motivational Design Document Draft
- Read: pp 1 - 84 of Tabletop
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Peer Review of MDD drafts
Tabletop design discussion
Board Game Design Assignment
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7
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Oct 17
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Board Game Design Exercises
Team and project selection
Tonight's Slides
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8
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Oct 24
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Peer feedback on Board Game analysis
Board Game Design
Template |
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9
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Oct 31
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- No class. Continue working on your board game design.
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10
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Nov 7
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- Read pp 121 - 170 of Schell
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20 minute meetings with Board Game teams. Make an appointment. We'll meet in the appropriate Appointment rooms, not the Wimba Classroom.
Bernie Monday | Bernie Tuesday
Karl's Monday
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Nov 14
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eGame team formation and initial planning
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Nov 21
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- Team Work Session with Instructors. No class meeting.
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20 minute team meetings with Bernie or Karl. Please put the names of your team members in the What field when you sign up.
Bernie: Sunday | Monday | Tuesday
Karl: By arrangement
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13
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Nov 28
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- Team Work Session with Instructors. No class meeting.
- DUE eGame Project Report 1
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Make appointment to share progress and issues.
Bernie: Monday 3:00pm to 7:40pm and Tuesday 6:40pm to 8:20pm
Karl: By arrangement
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14
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Dec 5
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- DUE: Draft Full Report
- Team Work Session with Instructors
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15
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Dec 12
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Presentations and celebration |
Readings
There
are several required books for the course which may be ordered online by
clicking on the link below. The campus bookstore at SDSU will not be stocking these books.
An additional
set of readings is available online in the Course Documents portion of our Blackboard site. It includes the following articles:
- Csikszentmihalyi,
M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York:
Harper & Row.
Chapter
4: The conditions of flow
- Malone,
T. W., & Lepper, M. R. (1987). Making learning fun: A taxonomy of
intrinsic motivations for learning. In R. E. Snow & M. J. Farr (Eds.). Aptitude, learning and instruction. Volume 3: Conative and affective
process analysis. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
In addition
to the readings, you'll be making use of Cardboard
Cognition, a resource created by previous generations of EDTEC 670
students. Cardboard Cognition is a compendium of dozens of educational
card and board game designs.
Grading
Your final
grade will be determined by your performance a motivational design intervention for an existing course, the design of an educational board game,
an online learning experience (eGame) and your contributions to the group blog.
There will be several possibilities for the final eGame project. These include:
- Taking the board game designed earlier in the course and turning it into an online game using the Vassal Engine.
- Using a new tool named ZigScript to design and develop a role-play simulation that could be conducted either online or face-to-face.
- Developing a place-based puzzle game using mobile devices and puzzles using the SCVNGR platform, or augmented reality using Aurasma.
- Creating a branching simulation in the style of Choose Your Own Adventure using Captivate or PowerPoint.
- Developing your board game design fully and publishing it at The Game Crafter.
Blog contributions will be graded individually. All three design projects
will be team efforts. Each individual on the team will be graded separately,
though the overall performance of the team will have an influence over
individual grades. It behooves you, therefore, to put some energy into
team building in order to maximize everyone's success. The projects
will be weighted as follows:
This is
a graduate level course. Grading performance in an amorphous area like
game design is not easy, but not impossible either. Please keep in mind
the following definitions of grading standards from the SDSU Graduate
Catalog:
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A
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Outstanding
achievement; available only for the highest accomplishment.
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B
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Praiseworthy
performance; definitely above average.
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C
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Average;
awarded for satisfactory performance.
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