Adapting dust: Replayability of Educational Alternate Reality Games



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Adapting DUST: Replayability of Educational Alternate Reality Games

Kathryn Kaczmarek, University of Maryland



kkaczmar@umd.edu
Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are a great tool for learning because the narrative provides a problem-based learning scenario that requires collaboration to solve. The distribution of the narrative across different media interfaces and the ability to interact with game characters also keeps learners highly engaged. Studies of ARGs played in the classroom, like Arcane Gallery of Gadgetry (AGOG), have shown that they are effective in meeting learning outcomes and creating student engagement (Moseley 2012; Bonsignore et al., 2013).
However, an ARG is not a feasible option for most educators, due to the incredible amount of time and resources needed to design and deliver it in real-time (Hansen et al., 2013). One research question we pursued with our NSF-sponsored creation of the ARG, DUST, was how to adapt the design for replayability in different learning settings, such as the classroom, after school programs in schools and libraries, and museums. Our demonstration will 1) show participants the guiding values we used to transform DUST into a replayable version and 2) offer participants the chance to interact with the ARG in its replayable form.
A Reusability Assessment conducted by Intuitive Company, which identified the variables influencing the replayability of the game, informed our decision about what game activities to include. This information helped us choose the apps best suited to learning situations guided by a single educator rather than our team of gamerunners, as well as understand the kinds of scaffolding those apps would need.
Another priority was to retain the narrative as a driving force to complete the learning activities; that is, to make sure there was always a narrative reason for the players to use the apps. We separated the game into 10 modules focused around the graphic novel story segments that delivered the narrative. Each module also includes a call to action requiring the use of an app as well as student interaction on the Co-Lab (short for Collaboration Laboratory), where students post their Questions, Theories, and Evidence based on the narrative, game activities, and outside research. This division into modules allows educators to play as much or as little of the game as they want, focusing on the learning outcomes most useful to their learning situations.
Finally, we wanted to preserve the ability for learners to directly converse with the game characters, so we included a feature for the educator to post as any of the characters in addition to him or herself. We also configured a template for week-in-review posts by a lead character to feature player contributions in the module activities, since post-live game interviews with players identified this individual recognition as a particularly motivating feature.
This conference demonstration features a poster identifying the factors influencing our replayable design decisions and our recommendations for designers interested in building replayability into game design. It also uses a laptop to comparatively display the original game interface with the replayable version, and to give viewers the opportunity to play the game activities.
Works Cited
Bonsignore, E., Hansen, D., Kraus, K., Visconti, A., Ahn, J., & Druin, A. (2013). Playing for real: designing alternate reality games for teenagers in learning contexts. Interaction Design and Children (pp. 237–246). ACM Press. http://doi.org/10.1145/2485760.2485788
Hansen, D., Bonsignore, E., Ruppel, M., Kraus, K., Visconti, A. (2013). Designing reusable alternate reality games.  CHI ’13 (pp. 1529-1538).  ACM Press.  http://doi.org/10.1145/2470654.2466203
Moseley, A. (2012). An Alternate Reality for Education?: Lessons to be Learned from Online Immersive Games. International Journal Of Game-Based Learning 2(3), (pp. 32-50). http://doi.org/10.4018/ijgbl.2012070103

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