Deadline 2 and revisions to concept

Well, here we go! My adviser is submitting the forms for graduation this week (thanks SL), fees have been paid and now it's just code, code, code and write until it is done. Simple, eh?


I revised my proposal fleshing out the details of the game flow and pedagogy behind the game elements. The proposal forms the basis of the paper, the concept map forms the basis of the code. I include some of the visual elements for your viewing pleasure. (Did I mention, that I LOVE Woordle - it's how I got the word map above.)

Concept map:

A few observations -- the game that I want to create is complex. If I can get the basic framework,, some of the aesthetic elements, and one version of each type pedaogical element (mini-game, mini-case, etc.) then I'm golden. Wish me luck!

Learning Design (Training Design? eTech Design?)

Recently while catching up on my blogreader, I came across Tony Karrer's post on Training Design: eLearning Technology writing about how his training design has been changing over the years. It got me thinking about this Masters project and how I have been trying to come up with a instructional design process that made sense to me. Design to me is like a tag cloud, intially more of an intuitive process that gets refined over time.

Maybe you start with learners, topic, technology (the design challenge) and each of those words has metadata assoicated with it: tags. These tags bring up other concepts/words -- yes just like using del.ic.io.us. From this it is a winnowing/refining process... anyways...i was quite fuzzy in my post on his blog (actually am still fuzzy.) As you move through the metadata you make a path, a schema. From there emerges your personal design process -- maybe you can abstract into a model at this point. I've since refined my thinking a little and came up with this picture -- that currently makes sense to me. See below:


All I'm really trying to communicate is that perhaps we think too linearly about a process that is essentially non-linear -- given all the new web 2.0 technologies that are out there -- we scan, skim, and pop! through data, and sometimes we dive. Are our design processes any different?

Deadline 1 - done!

Well, one week late, but I got the proposal out the door. Yeah! Hopefully my adviser will respond soon (she is on vacation in the Caribbean.)

From Dec'08 - Deserts

Unlike the first 2 drafts I wrote, the final one felt doable, especially as a proof of concept. The best thing about it, whatever I finish I feel I could use on the job market -- and that feels good. Also feel like the design is something that can grow over time and be used for different disciplines. I like that.

Now onto the next 3 things - will try to get something in so I can attend the Games Developer Conference in March (thanks for the suggestion Carla); will reshape a paper I wrote last spring -- which upon second reading is pretty good -- as a thought paper for potential employers (such as DukeCE); and yes, need to finish Module 5 of the Java course -- truly one the most tedious e-learning experiences of my life.

Onwards!

Learning: Demystify & Non-linear

Sometimes it takes a while to remember the why of what you do -- sometimes that happens in the middle of the night.

Many years ago, 1996 to be more exact, I was in a program called InfoTech at Capliano College. It was a 10 month intensive multimedia program -- it was one of the best learning experiences of my life. Before that I knew almost nothing about computers or the Internet. That program launched my web design career, gave me the skills to find work in the States (was living in Canada at the time), and it was also one of the most creative periods of my life.

Back then I started many designs, most of which I never had time to finish. Those are coming back to me now (the files do exist, somewhere in storage...)

At the time I was very much interested in the non-linearity of learning and in demystifying bodies of knowledge. That desire to demystify started my current interest in accounting and finance (aka money). There was an interface design I did back then to demystify the words on the back of a chocolate bar wrapper* that I called the "Wall of Words" -- a beautiful, neon-like, glowing list of food additives (how I loved Photoshop back in the day) that you could click on to find out more about what was in your chocolate bar. Simple concept, beautifully executed. What I also liked about this design was the way you could access knowledge - in a non-linear way. It reminds me of how one learns a new domain knowledge -- it's usually not in a sequential manner laid out in text books - -it's more haphazard. It also reminds me a tag cloud.

Having written the second draft of my proposal I will revise one more time. This is my way in. I realize now that it's not the mechanic I've been looking for but the visceral experience of being overwhelmed when faced with learning a new thing; and the frustration and pleasure of discovering one's own way through the wall. To demystify a domain in a non-linear way. This is a experience that I can play with in many different ways.

I can sleep now.

*this was part of a larger project to demystify chocolate and understand the complexities of making this divine food.

First deadline for the new year

Well my first deadline for the new year has arrived. I am halfway through my proposal and I'm stuck at the place I always get stuck at -- the mechanic of the game. I know the pedagogy, I've got the research about what else is out there and a good description of the content what I'm doing - but haven't hit on a game mechanic that feels good.

The mechanic, at least how I define it, is the thing that defines the play. In a game, you have a set of rules, but the mechanic is the how of the game. Is it a first person shooter game? Is it a card game? What moves the game forward -- the turning over of cards say in Crazy 8, or the dealing of cards. The mechanic and rules can merge into one another but usually there is the "thing" of the game -- is it board game and are you using dice, player pieces, etc in a certain manner. That kind of thing.

What mechanic works best for what I'm doing?

Once again, I think I'm asking the wrong question. It's too open-ended. I can't just design anything because I do not have the programming skills -- so what I need to do is set constraints. I need to find a mechanic that I can do and adapt it to the game. This is I have tried to do, but I think I've been too dismissive of the mechanics. So I go back to mechanics to see if I can redesign one that works.

I want to get this done by Friday noon. I'll let you know how that goes. It's close.

On other fronts - got my bio to my former employer this week, just as they started their layoffs. 25% of the workforce is getting laid off -- for a company of 130, that's huge. Breaks my heart to see old friends, people I've known for years who have given a lot to this company, being let go. Ouch.

Started my Java course with my friend Carla who visited here this week. That looks completely doable so far. cheers, rani