I'm looking forward to working as a practitioner on the Change School project because I think the challenges that it presents will help me develop as a teacher, communicator and designer. Not only are the students I am working with more than six thousand miles away, but they are in a time zone six hours ahead of mine. While I am finishing up at my full-time job, they are (hopefully) sound asleep. So I am going to need a lot of help from them to create this workshop. I would like to test my theory that designing an effective game is not unlike designing an effective distance education experience. All games are sets of rules, but the rules should be established in a way that allows for play and exploration within the system of the game. A good game is one where interactivity is essential and provides a meaningful experience for the player. Also, a game should provide feedback often, letting the player know if they are on the right track to winning the game or if another strategy might serve them better. All of these concepts can easily translate to the online classroom. Structure is needed for a student of any age to provide guidance; however, it must be created in a way that encourages playfulness and curiosity. Students should be provided with experiences that are interactive and let them learn through direct contact with the content. Furthermore, students should be provided with an engaged learning model for their lessons; the reasons for learning a lesson should be clear and students should receive periodic feedback on their progress. As game designer Eric Zimmerman has described, game play occurs within a structure, but then transforms the structure. I hope to provide students with an educational structure that they can transform.
As for the three areas of inquiry in regards to my professional development:
C1 The ability to identify and address new issues and challenges creatively.
The students and I are going to have to work on an effective way for us to interact that provides them with clear guidance and direction for their game development, without it interfering too much with my day job. I hope that the use of videoconferencing, wikis, forums, email and chat will give us a good foundation by which to begin creating our workshop and address difficulties as they arise.
C2 The development and communication of new skills, ideas, knowledge and understanding
I have never taught a structured game design course before, and I think teaching will help me improve as a designer, making me think about the practices I use and what works and what doesn't work when I am developing a game. As an instructional designer, I create online educational experiences for others, so I am interested in trying different applications that I may be able to incorporate with the teachers I consult.
C4 Co-construction of learning with young people
Young people today have been very exposed to digital games from an early age. I think I can learn a lot from them about what a game should be and what makes a game fun. I also hope that the feedback I receive from them will help me be a better teacher and designer.
