Posts Tagged ‘gamification’

19
Mar
2015

Recommendations for games and gaming at LRS

categories: gamification, gaming

Gaming and Gamification in academic and library settings (paper)
Short URL: http://scsu.mn/1F008Re 

Based on the literature regarding games, gaming, gamification, game-based learning, and serious games, several clear trends emerge:

  1. Gaming and gamification in the sense of game-based learning is about using games and game-like tactics in the education process, for greater engagement and better learning outcomes. However, this is only the first level of such initiative. The second and higher level is about involving students in the game-building and gamification of the learning process (as per Vygotsky’s Zone of…) thus achieving student-centered and experiential learning.
  2. When hosting games and gaming in any library, “in-person” or electronic/online games are welcome but not sufficient to fulfill their promise, especially in an academic library. Per (1), an academic library has the responsibility to involve students and guide them in learning how to engage in the building process required in true game-based learning.
  3. Game-based learning, gaming and gamification in particular, in educational (academic library) settings must consider mobile devices and the BYOD movement in particular as intrinsic parts of the entire process. Approaching the initiative primarily by acquiring online “in-person” games, or game consoles has the same limited educational potential as only hosting games, rather than elevating the students to full guided engagement with game-based learning. If public relations and raised profile are the main goals for the academic library, such an approach is justified. If the academic library seeks to maximize the value of game-based learning, then the library must consider: a. gaming consoles, b. mobile devices as part of a BYOD initiative and c. cloud-based / social games, such as MineCraft, SimCity etc.
  4. Design for game-based learning, gaming and gamification in educational (academic library) settings must include multiple forms of assessment and reward, e.g. badges, leaderboards and/or certificates as an intrinsic part of the entire process. Merely hosting games in the academic library cannot guarantee true game-based learning. The academic library, as the forefront of a game-based learning initiative on campus, must work with faculty on understanding and fine tuning badges and similar new forms of assessment and reward, as they effectively implement large scale game-based learning, focused on the students’ learning gains.

Recommendations for LRS

  1. In regard to LRS, the gaming and gamification process must be organized and led by faculty, including housing and distributing the hardware, software and applications, when needed.
  2. The attached paper and the respective conclusions summarized in four points demand educational and experiential background, which is above the limits of the LRS staff. In addition, the LRS staff has clearly admitted that the pedagogical value of gaming and gamification is beyond their interest. This recommendation is not contradicting to the fact and opportunity for LRS staff to participate in the process and contribute to the process; it just negates the possibility of staff mandating and leading the process, since it will keep the gaming and gamification process on a very rudimentary level.
  3. The process must be further led by faculty with a terminal degree in education (Ph.D.) and experience in the educational field, since, as proved by the attached paper and 4 point conclusion, the goal is not a public-library type of hosting activities, but rather involving students in a pedagogically-sound creative process, with the respective opportunity for assessment and future collaboration with instructors across campus. This recommendation is not contradicting the fact and opportunity for LRS library faculty to participate actively in the process and contribute to the process. It just safeguards from restricting the process to the realm of “public-library” type of hosting activities, but failing to elevate them to the needs of an academic campus and connecting with instructors across campus.
  4. This conclusions adhere to and are derived from the document recommended by the LRS dean, discussed and accepted by LRS faculty in 2013 about new trends and directions in academic libraries, namely diversification of LRS faculty; breaking from the traditional library mold of including faculty from different disciplines with different opinions and ideas.
25
Jan
2015

Super Mario gets artificial intelligence

categories: Digital literacy, educational technology, gamification, gaming, student-centered learning

Researchers create ‘self-aware’ Super Mario with artificial intelligence

http://mashable.com/2015/01/19/super-mario-artificial-intelligence/

A team of German researchers has used artificial intelligence to create a “self-aware” version of Super Mario who can respond to verbal commands and automatically play his own game.

Artificial Intelligence helps Mario play his own game

Students at the University of Tubingen have used Mario as part of their efforts to find out how the human brain works.

The cognitive modelling unit claim their project has generated “a fully functional program” and “an alive and somewhat intelligent artificial agent”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/30879456

Can Super Mario Save Artificial Intelligence?

The most popular approaches today focus on Big Data, or mimicking humansthat already know how to do some task. But sheer mimicry breaks down when one gives a machine new tasks, and, as I explained a few weeks ago, Big Data approaches tend to excel at finding correlations without necessarily being able to induce the rules of the game. If Big Data alone is not a powerful enough tool to induce a strategy in a complex but well-defined game like chess, then that’s a problem, since the real world is vastly more open-ended, and considerably more complicated.

http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/can-super-mario-save-artificial-intelligence

04
Sep
2014

Gamification: It’s Easier than You Think!

categories: Desire2Learn (D2L), gamification, gaming

Gamification: It’s Easier than You Think!

https://desire2learn.adobeconnect.com/_a707373752/p3mhvdh5gfb/

BONUS: several cool infographics on gamification of education: http://elearninginfographics.com/tag/gamification-infographic/

this is a recording of a webinar, which took place yesterday, September 3, 2014. The presenter is Canadian. Sean Isles
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=ontario+sociology+gamification+sean

Gamification versus game based education

Gamification is application of typical elements of game play to unconventional areas

Game based is learning that takes place withing a game simulated environment itself

D2L offers options for gamified education

Leveling / Gating: turn off/on content modules by weekly increments.

Bosses/Challenges – simple quiz at the end of each module (training quizzes, open to take unlimited times)

Celebration of successes – emails from intelligent agents, short funny video, etc.

Intelligent agent send an email not only to student, but to an office, where top scoring students can get a gift.

Game-based

simulator. used Unity to create the game

Shaun Iles: shaun.iles@mohawkcollege.ca and Brian Gould: brian.gould@mohawkcollege.ca

Leaderboard – Brightspace.com – Brightspace by D2L. needs to be purchased, but allows modify and customize with HTML and CSS

Badges: meaningless if the entire institution is not on board. google and mozilla badges platforms. D2L is about to roll out badges, only if the entire institution and the business recognize them. otherwise, the badges are dead upon exit from class.

make discussion interactive through upvote: http://www.reddit.com/r/upvote/

Scavenger hunt mentioned. Bluetooth info beacons used across campus to enable scavenger hunt. Across mobile devices.

Librarians and instructional designers mentioned.

His D2L home page has twitter widget and skype widget. He says the Skype widget enormously used. When will my proposal for Adobe Connect Widget will be addressed, am asking I for years?

03
Jul
2014

Gaming and Education: Resources

categories: Digital literacy, gaming, hacker

Gaming Learning Society
https://www.gameslearningsociety.org/

Report from the intersection of Games, Learning, and Society
http://remakelearning.org/blog/2014/06/19/games-learning-society-recap/
Games, Learning and Society conference in Madison, Wisconsin. practical ideas and arguments from GLS to help you get through the roadblocks that stand between you and learning or teaching through games.

keywords: gamification + library in Twitter:
Readers Save Legacy Library Content by Crowdsourcing Metadata Games
http://www.gamification.co/2014/05/12/readers-save-legacy-content-by-crowdsourcing-metadata-games/What is Gamification and Why Use It in Teaching?
http://ii.library.jhu.edu/2014/05/13/what-is-gamification-and-why-use-it-in-teaching/What Does the Next-Generation School Library Look Like?
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/06/what-does-the-next-generation-school-library-look-like/
The library now also has reading lounge areas with comfortable modular seating, as well as tables with chairs and stools that students are free to move around; two music studios; a HackerSpace (with high-tech equipment such as a microscope, 3D printer, gaming hardware and software, and a green screen for filming) and a Maker Space that also houses a 3D printer and serves as a “hands-on” craft room where old technology can be disassembled and re-configured with other materials. In short, the Monticello Library Media Center has become a “Learning Commons.”

following now @valibrarian because of MineCraft http://t.co/RnwW7ahOK2
Minecraft and the library: http://blogs.curtin.edu.au/gamification/news/minecraft-and-the-library/

Library Quest Wrap-Up and Post-Game Assessment
https://babeltech.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/library-quest-wrap-up-and-post-game-assessment/

If you build it …? One campus’ firsthand account of gamification in the academic library
http://crln.acrl.org/content/74/4/208.full
Straight from CRL News
SCVNGR as a platform was attractive to us for several reasons, including UCSD’s experience. First, it incorporated gaming into students’ experience of the library, which has been widely explored and recommended as a way to engage library patrons.2,3 Second, it would enable us to connect with students early in the year without needing to commit personnel to lengthy tours and other scheduled services during a busy time.

Pls consider former IMS blog entries. Keyword: “game”:
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=game

 

20
Nov
2013

virtual worlds, simulation, gamification

categories: gamification, gaming, information technology, instructional technology, technology, technology literacy

From: Miltenoff, Plamen
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 4:09 PM
To: ‘technology@lists.mnscu.edu’; ‘edgamesandsims@lists.mnscu.edu’
Cc: Oyedele, Adesegun
Subject: virtual worlds and simulations

Good afternoon

Apologies for any cross posting…

Following a request from fellow faculty at SCSU, I am interested in learning more about any possibilities for using virtual worlds and simulations opportunities [in the MnSCU system] for teaching and learning purposes.

The last I remember was a rather messy divorce between academia and Second Life (the latter accusing an educational institution of harboring SL hackers). Around that time, MnSCU dropped their SL support.

Does anybody have an idea where faculty can get low-cost if not free access to virtual worlds? Any alternatives for other simulation exercises?

Any info/feedback will be deeply appreciated.

Plamen

 

After Frustrations in Second Life, Colleges Look to New Virtual Worlds. February 14, 2010

http://chronicle.com/article/After-Frustrations-in-Second/64137/

—–Original Message—–
From: Weber, James E.
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 5:41 PM
To: Miltenoff, Plamen Subject: RE: virtual worlds and simulations

Hi Plamen:

I don’t use virtual worlds, but I do use a couple of simulations…

I use http://www.glo-bus.com/ extensively in my strategy class.  It is a primary integrating mechanism for this capstone class.

I also use http://erpsim.hec.ca/en because it uses and illustrates SAP and process management.

http://www.goventure.net/ is one I have been looking into.  Seems more flexible…

Best,

Jim

From: brock.dubbels@gmail.com [mailto:brock.dubbels@gmail.com] On Behalf Of Brock Dubbels
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 4:29 PM
To: Oyedele, Adesegun
Cc: Miltenoff, Plamen; Gaming and Simulations
Subject: Re: virtual worlds and simulations

That is fairly general

what constitutes programming skill is not just coding, but learning icon-driven actions and logic in a menu

for example, Sketch Up is free. You still have to learn how to use the interface.

there is drag and drop game software, but this is not necessarily a share simulation

From: Kalyvaki, Maria [mailto:Maria.Kalyvaki2@smsu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 4:26 PM
To: Miltenoff, Plamen
Subject: RE: virtual worlds and simulations

Hi,

I received this email today and I am happy that someone is interested on Second Life. The second life platform and some other virtual worlds are free to use. Depends what are your expectations there that may increase the cost of using the virtual world. I am using some of those virtual worlds and my previous school Texas Tech University was using SL for a course.

Let me know how could I help you with the virtual worlds.

With appreciation,

Maria

 

From: Jane McKinley [mailto:Jane.McKinley@riverland.edu]
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 11:09 AM
To: Miltenoff, Plamen
Cc: Jone Tiffany; Pamm Tranby; Dan Harber
Subject: Virtual worlds

Hi Plamen,

To introduce myself I am the coordinator/ specialist for our real life allied health simulation center at Riverland Community College. Dan Harber passed your message on to me. I have been actively working in SL since 2008.  My goal in SL was to do simulation for nursing education. I remember when MnSCU had the island. I tried contacting the lead person at St. Paul College about building a hospital on the island for nursing that would be open to all MN programs, but never could get a response back.

Yes, SL did take the education fees away for a while but they are now back. Second Life is free in of itself, it is finding islands with educational simulations that takes time to explore, but many are free and open to the public. I do have a list of islands that may be of interest to you. They are all health related, but there are science islands such as Genome Island. Matter of  fact there is a talk that will be out there tonight about how to do research and conduct fair experiments at 7:00 our time.

I have been lucky to find someone with the same goals as I have. Her name is Jone Tiffany. She is a professor at Bethel University in the nursing program. In the last 4 years we have built an island for nursing education. This consists of a hospital, clinic, office building, classrooms and a library. We also built a simulation center. (Although I accidently removed the floor and some walls in it. Our builder is getting it back together.) There is such a shortage of real mental health and public health sites that a second island is being purchased to meet this request. On that island we are going to build an inner city, urban and rural communities. This will be geared towards meeting those requests. Our law enforcement program at Riverland has voiced an interest in SL with being able to set up virtual crime scenes which could be staged anywhere on the two islands. With the catastrophic natural events and terrorist activities that have occurred recently we will replicate these same communities on the other side of the island only it will be the aftermath of a hurricane and tornado, or flooding. On the other side we could stage the aftermath of a bombing such as what happened in Boston. Victims could transported  to the hospital ED. Law enforcement could do an investigation.

We have also been working with the University of Wisconsin, Osh Kosh. They have a plane crash simulation and what we call a grunge house that students go into to see what the living conditions are like for those who live in poverty and what could be done about it.

Since I am not faculty I cannot take our students out to SL, but Jone has had well over 100 of her students in there doing various assignments. She is taking more out this semester. They have done such things as family health assessments and diabetes assessment and have to create a plan of care. She has done lectures out there. So the students come out with their avatars and sit in a classroom. This is a way distant learning can be done but yet be engaged with the students. The beauty of SL is that you can be creative. Since the island is called Nightingale Isle, some of the builds are designed with that theme in mind. Such as the classrooms, they are tiered up a mountain and look like the remains of a bombed out church from the Crimean War, it is one of our favorite spots. We also have an area open on the island for support groups to meet. About 5 years ago Riverland did do a congestive heart failure simulation with another hospital in SL. That faculty person unfortunately has left so we have not been able to continue it, but the students loved it. We did the same scenario with Jones students in the sim center we have and again the students loved it.

The island is private but anyone is welcome to use it. We do this so that we know and can control who is on the island. All that is needed is to let Jone or I know who you are, where are you from (institution), and what is your avatar name. We will friend you in SL and invite you to join the group, then you have access to the island. Both Jone and I are always eager to share what all goes on out there (as you can tell by this e-mail). There is so much potential of what can be done. We have been lucky to be able to hire the builder who builds for the Mayo Clinic. Their islands are next to ours. She replicated the Gonda Building including the million dollar plus chandeliers.

I can send you the list of the health care related islands, there are about 40 of them. I also copied  Jone, she can give you more information on what goes into owning an island. We have had our ups and downs with this endeavor but believe in it so much that we have persevered and have a beautiful island to show for it.

Let me if you want to talk more.

Jane  (aka Tessa Finesmith-avatar name)

Jane McKinley, RN

College Lab Specialist -Riverland Center for Simulation Learning

Riverland Community College

Austin, MN 55912

jane.mckinley@riverland.edu

507-433-0551 (office)

From: Jeremy Nienow [mailto:JNienow@inverhills.mnscu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 10:11 AM
To: Miltenoff, Plamen
Cc: Sue Dion
Subject: Teaching in virtual worlds

Hello,

A friend here at IHCC sent me your request for information on teaching in low-cost virtual environments.

I like to think of myself on the cusp of gamification and I have a strong background in gaming in general (being a white male in my 30s).

Anyway – almost every MMORPG (Massive Multi-online role playing game) today is set up on a Free to Play platform for its inhabitance.

There are maybe a dozen of these out there right now from Dungeon and Dragons online, to Tera, to Neverwinter Nights…etc.

Its free to download, no subscription fee (like there used to be) and its free to play – how they get the money is they make game items and cool aspects of the game cost money…people pay for the privilege of leveling faster.

So – you could easily have all your students download the game (provided they all have a suitable system and internet access), make an avatar, start in the same place – and teach right from there.

I have thought of doing this for an all online class before, but wanted to wait till I was tenured.

Best,

Jeremy L. Nienow, PhD., RPA
Anthropology Faculty

Inver Hills Community College

P.S. Landon Pirius (sp?) who was once at IHCC and now I believe is at North Hennepin maybe… wrote his PhD on teaching in online environments and used World of Warcraft.

From: Gary Abernethy [mailto:Gary.Abernethy@minneapolis.edu]
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 8:46 AM
To: Miltenoff, Plamen
Subject: Re: [technology] virtual worlds and simulations

Plamen,

The  below are  current options I am aware of for  VW  and SIM . You may also want to  take a look at  Kuda, in Google  code, I worked  at  SRI  when we developed this tool. I am interested in collaboration in this area.

Hope the info helps

https://www.activeworlds.com/index.html

http://www.opencobalt.org/

http://opensimulator.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://metaverse.sourceforge.net/

http://stable.kuda.googlecode.com

Gary Abernethy

Director of  eLearning

Academic Affairs

Minneapolis Community and Technical College  |  1501 Hennepin Avenue S.  |  Minneapolis, MN 55403

Phone 612-200-5579

Gary.Abernethy@minneapolis.edu | http://www.minneapolis.edu

From: John OBrien [mailto:John.OBrien@so.mnscu.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2013 11:37 PM
To: Miltenoff, Plamen
Subject: RE: virtual worlds and simulations

I doubt this is so helpful, but maybe:  http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/SLED

23
Oct
2013

Gaming in Higher Education: EDUCAUSE 2013 welcomes Jane McGonigal

categories: Bring Your Own Device BYOD, distributive learning, gaming, information technology, mobile apps, online learning

The Awesome Power of Gaming in Higher Education

EDUCAUSE 2013 welcomes Jane McGonigal and considers the potential of games in education.

http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2013/10/awesome-power-gaming-higher-education

1. Foldit

The University of Washington’s Foldit game enables anyone to contribute to scientific research through virtual protein folding. The university’s game developers posit that human gamers’ propensity to not give up on a gaming task – resiliency – make them much more adept at solving complex protein structure prediction and design than supercomputers. And in some ways, they’ve already proven that to be so. Foldit game participants have been named in several published scientific journal articles, including one that describes how a protein structure could be solved and used in the treatment of HIV.

2. Urgent Evoke

The rich, interactive universe of Grand Theft Auto was the inspiration for this game, developed for The World Bank as a way to teach Sub-Sahara African youths to solve social problems in ways that also could provide a sustainable living. The platform is free and available online and can be used by schools to teach social entrepreneurship. A graphic novel serves as the game’s centerpiece, and players build out their gaming profiles as a comic or graphic novel might retell a superhero’s origin story. Participants complete projects in real life to solve real problems, such as securing a community’s food supply or establishing a sustainable power source, then progress through levels of the game. Those who successfully complete their 10-week missions ultimately earn certification from the World Bank Institute. In 2010, 50 student participants saw their entrepreneurship models funded by the World Bank, including Libraries Across Africa (now Librii), a franchise operating in Ghana.

3. Find the Future: The Game

Not all games must be played out in a virtual space. This game – developed by McGonigal with Natron Baxter and Playmatics – combines real-world missions with virtual clues and online collaboration, resulting in young people working together overnight in the New York Public Library to write and publish a book of personal essays about what they learned.

“The game is designed to empower young people to find their own futures by bringing them face-to-face with the writings and objects of people who made an extraordinary difference.”

Participants spend a night wandering throughout the library’s stacks and research materials, scanning QR codes to prove they found and interacted with the objects of their clues or missions. One 2011 participant, upon discovering the library’s early draft of the Declaration of Independence wrote an essay called a “Declaration of Interdependence.”

 

More on Jane McGonigal on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjSVo8N31r4

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5t3y7EeBhxg

 

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