theresa devine - shared desires, conflicting agendas and lessons learned
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Shared Desires, Conflicting Agendas, and Lessons LearnedOn Collaborating to Create Educational Games
Theresa DevineAssistant ProfessorArizona State University
tcdevine@asu.eduhttp://studio4gaminginnovation.com/http://theresadevine.com/http://zamtox.com/
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Desires
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My Backstory
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I am an artist.I was trained as a painter and printmaker. MFA 1994
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The enlightened one….
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No audience participation = preaching
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Political and Social Art
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Barrier between artist and audience.
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2 miles per hour
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My Desire: What if?
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1995: I will make games and engage the fine art audience through play
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Note: Day Job 1998-2010(this is important later in the story)
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Their Backstory
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Their desire: beyond boredom
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!!!!!!!!
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Anti-Critical Thinking
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*sigh*
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Assembly Line Learning
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First comes instruction, then practice, then work on comprehension skills
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Break free
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And everyone read it….
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And decided games would SAVE education
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Reinforcement
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Seduced
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Shared Desires
Wishing and wondering
• Can the interface disappear? • Can the artist/educator become one with the
audience/students? • Can our message become embedded in the
delivery so as to make the communication intuitive?
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Rapture
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And so we set out on our journey…
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Conflicting Agendas
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My Agenda
• To make fun, engaging, meaningful, well designed toys and games that are works of art.
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Their Agenda
• To make a game that will engage an audience in their research.
• To enhance their teaching.
Conflicting Agenda #1: Pedagogical Confusion
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Fields I Encountered: Cases #1 and #2
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Case #1: Chemistry two pervasive pedagogical approaches
Lecture to present CONTENT Learn by doing: CONTEXT
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Content vs. Context
Content• Students usually enjoy this
type of approach• Hard to motivate non
majors• Difficult for non majors to
see relevance
Context• Fosters a more positive
attitude to school science over conventional courses
• Helps students make links to their lived experiences
• Seems to engage non majors
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Collaborator for this game…
• Unable to choose an approach• “Just use the book”• Result: a content driven pedagogical approach
wrapped in a story and gameplay• Goal: give the students the same feelings of
positivity and relevance that a context approach would
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The Hope
• To motivate students to learn an admittedly difficult subject; and
• Improve retention
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Fail: Motivation
+
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Fail: Good Game Design
+
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Why didn’t I push back?
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+
What happened when I did push back?
What I said What they heard
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Hmmmm...
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Case #2: First Year Composition
Teaching skills• Identifying, categorizing,
studying, and replicating approaches to writing.
• Emphasis on “Form”
Covering content• Anchored in specific content
but approached from multiple disciplinary perspectives
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Game Design Stumbling Blocks: FYC
Teaching skills• To reproduce the professor
feedback loop in a game would require duplication of the human ability to discern and critique the student's writing
• This type of artificial intelligence capability is beyond what is currently technically available.
Covering content• Adds layer of game design
as it requires that a disciplinary context be created on top of the writing lessons.
• Expected degree of flexibility of discipline is difficult to achieve.
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Irony
• it has been found that neither methodology produces the systematic and wholesale improvements in writing skills desired
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Since 1968
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Stumbling Block:Eliminate FYC
Writing Lab as Game?
+
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What FYC is to English Departments
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Hmmmm...
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Conflicting Agenda #2: Technology Wars
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The BattlesTechnology Battle #1: Purchase “out of the box” solution
Technology Battle #2: Choose a digital environment based solely on novelty
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Seduced at a Conference
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Tech Battle #1: Purchase an “out of the box” solution
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Age Old Software Question…Build or Buy?
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“No Silver Bullet” – Fred Brooks
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Level One Assessment Criteria
1. What does the software do?2. Does the software fill the need of the
project?3. Does the software do what it does well?4. Who are the competitors? 5. What are the differences and similarities of
the competitors’ products with the software being assessed?
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Level Two Assessment Criteria:Total Cost of Ownership (TOC)
• initial license fees, • hardware, • developers, • time, • training, • maintenance, • and feature development
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Level Three Assessment: What is the best value?
• The least expensive isn't necessarily the best value.
• The best value is determined by the long term plan of the software.
• Clear requirements that explain how the software is going to support the research are needed to determine the long term plan.
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If
• There are clear requirements• And a long term plan
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Then
this is the point at which the – build, – buy, – or build and buy
decision can be made
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But…
• The assessment process was never allowed by my collaborators.
• It was seen as “extra work” and “a waste of time.”
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Hmmmm...
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Tech Battle #2: Choose a digital environment based solely on novelty
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Why?
• Collaborator thought – It was cool and cutting edge.– The NSF would fund the project because of the
choice of technology.– The students would respond to this technology.– It was a readily available consumer product
(one that every student already owned).
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Problems
• Inaccessible to people with limited mobility.• Financial burden to students. – my students struggle to buy their books.
• Caters to a kinesthetic learning style.
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Hmmmm...
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Conflicting Agenda #3: Bait and Switch
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I thought I was wiser…Contract establishing rolesStakeholder Requirements DocumentGame Design DocumentAgreement to make Board Game to transfer
research informationAgreement to make Board Game as a
prototype Agreement to create Video Game
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Dead EndContract establishing rolesStakeholder Requirements DocumentGame Design DocumentAgreement to make Board Game to transfer
research informationAgreement to make Board Game as a
prototype Agreement to create Video Game
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Board Game to transfer research information
• Was used to alpha test collaborator’s research• Had some success and some interesting data
was collected
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Bait and Switch
• Once the transfer of research was complete and the collaborator saw a “working” game
• And had some data collected• The project was ended by the collaborator
because he/she had what was needed for his/her own research
• Did not care if I had what I needed for my research
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What happened when I pushed back?
What I said What they heard
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Hmmmm...
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Conflicting Agenda #4:Disappearing Act
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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#1: Unwillingness to share research data
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Why?
• Your guess is as good as mine.• Fear?
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#2: Orphan Textbook Syndrome
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I took the class….
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What these Disappearing Acts have in common.
• Lack of commitment from collaborator
(manifested in their failure to show up for meetings)
• Unspoken: “Do my research for me.”
• Unspoken: “My time has more value than yours.”
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Hmmmm...
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Lessons Learned
July 22-24 20142014 Serious Play Conference
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Know Your Limits andHave a Plan
Phase 1: Inception
• Pre-meeting research for game developer– Ask for teaching philosophy– Research pedagogy - look for opposing camps and assess degree
of emotional involvement in your collaborator and in your director.
• Meeting with collaborator:– Introduce process– Explain the difference between work for hire and collaborative
research– Collaborative research agreement– Collaborator homework: Stakeholder Questionnaire
• research data for game
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Phase 2: Expectations
• Meeting with Collaborator: – Contract establishing roles– Technology Lead Agreement– Stakeholder Definition Document
• Collaborator homework– Stakeholder Requirements Document
• Meeting with Collaborator to discuss Stakeholder Requirements
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Phase 3: Collaborative Elaboration
• Collaborator homework: First Board Game– The point is to transfer research and data needed
for the game– It is not a prototype
• No field testing or data collection allowed
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Phase 4: Elaboration
• Developer homework– Initial Game Design Document• Set limitations on the project
– Project Plan Overview• Make it simple
• Meeting with Collaborator
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Phase 5: Prototype
• IRB – Homework for Collaborator and Developer
• Developer Homework: – Board Game 2• Actual game design begins
• Field testing and Data collection allowed
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Phase 6: Construction
• Developer Homework – Video Game • Promise only one game mechanic
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More information
• http://studio4gaminginnovation.com/projects.aspx
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