I blogged about this book back in the summer and Henry Jenkins recently had an interview with the author. Part 1 & Part 2 are here. If you missed them in October, set aside some time to read them. And if you read them the first go around... I ask you what comes next? How can librarians use these ideas in our research sessions?

If you are interested in the book, here is the table of contents. Jenkins' conversation was picked up around the gaming world as well appearing both on WIRED's Game|Life and Next-gen.biz.

The coverage and the conversation is great. So what is the next step?

Computers and Composition Online will publish a special issue on the intersections between composition, literacy, and computer/video gaming as a companion to the Fall 2008 special print issue of Computers and Composition, "Reading Games: Composition, Literacy, and Video Gaming." These issues will explore the social, historical, cultural, and pedagogical implications of computer/video games on literacies and the writing classroom.

Here is the full post about the upcoming journal. Proposals are due on Dec. 14th and it looks like the journal with be publish late spring of 2008. For more information check out the journal's homepage here.

Virtual Learning Worlds is consistently a good read and provides useful insight for education and learning in games. I don't often mention his writing here, but since I'm catching up I wanted to highlight two of his posts from this past month.

A Good Day for Educational Gaming
Misconceptions of Games in Education

Back in September I plugged many late hours into Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. A game that I bought a few years ago, played a little, and let it sit as I returned to finish another game. That was two years ago, and a recent essay from ToastyFrog's site rekindled my interest.

Then in October I've spent a good amount of "blogging vacation" time playing Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lions War. It's a great remake of a classic game. I'm only a few hours into the game and I'll probably end up investing over 50+ hours into the game. Many gamers have played over 100+ hours of the game with it's complex job system and character skill sets.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lions War is much deeper and complex both in story and gameplay compared to FFT Advance, but both apply a large number of information literacy skills in order to process through the game and succeed.

1.1b. Develops a thesis statement and formulates questions based on the information need

1.1c. Explores general information sources to increase familiarity with the topic

1.1d. Defines or modifies the information need to achieve a manageable focus

1.2d. (e.g.,popular vs. scholarly, current vs. historical)

1.4a. Reviews the initial information need to clarify, revise, or refine the question

1.4b. Describes criteria used to make information decisions and choices

2.1a. (e.g., laboratory experiment,simulation, fieldwork)

2.1b. Investigates benefits and applicability of various investigative methods

2.2a. Develops a research plan appropriate to the investigative method

2.2b. Identifies keywords, synonyms and related terms for the information needed

2.2.e Implements the search strategy in various information retrieval systems using different user interfaces and search engines, with different command languages, protocols, and search parameters

2.4b. Identifies gaps in the information retrieved and determines if the search strategy should be revised

3.1a. Reads the text and selects main ideas

3.3a. Recognizes interrelationships among concepts and combines them into potentially useful primary statements with supporting evidence

3.3b. Extends initial synthesis, when possible, at a higher level of abstraction to construct new hypotheses that may require additional information

3.4b. Uses consciously selected criteria to determine whether the information contradicts or verifies information used from other sources

3.4c. Draws conclusions based upon information gathered

3.4f. Integrates new information with previous information or knowledge

3.4g. Selects information that provides evidence for the topic

3.7a. Determines if original information need has been satisfied or if additional information is needed

3.7b. Reviews search strategy and incorporates additional concepts as necessary

4.1b. Articulates knowledge and skills transferred from prior experiences to planning and creating the product or performance

4.2b. Reflects on past successes, failures, and alternative strategies

images from IGN.com

The weekly game magazine the Escapist recently featured two stories relating to education.

Erin Hoffman wrote a good editorial about children and games. She continued in part two of her editorial as a short editorial about games and kids. It's quick read but gives another piece of support for why we as educators should continue to look to games and gaming strategies in education.

Ben Sawyer covers and debunks 10 Myths of serious games:

• Serious Games Aren't Fun
• Games Are Young Media, So Serious Games Are For Young People
• There Is No Proof That Games Affect Anyone

And for some lighter reading, Saund Sands of Gamers with Jobs wrote about his journey to quit World of Warcraft. Enjoy.

Clark Aldrich over at Learning Circuits posted a worthwhile discussion about what games for learning should be called. Serious Games? Simulations? Game-based Learning? Immersive Learning?

The discussion itself is interesting, but regardless of what games in education should be /will be / are currently called the distinctions that Aldrich draws creates a good opportunity for discussion and a better understanding of the full scope of applications and possibilities.

I purchased my Nintendo DS Lite during the first week they were released back in 2006 and since day one, it's been one of my favorite systems of all time (big words for gamers, I know). But part of my love for the system is the use that my wife and kids get out of it as well.

My wife and I were hooked on Brain Age for the summer of 2006 and I've used it to help my son with basic math. But now, it's official. Brain Age practice is successful for increasing math scores.

This story was picked up on next-gen.biz and dsfanboy.

Here is a nice quick slideshow from Tom Crawford that serves as a solid introduction to anyone to the world of educational and serious games.

This is a good resource to get people started and help explain some of the applications and potential of games in education.

Thanks to Elaine Alhadeff, of Future-Making Serious Games, for this link.

In my effort to process everything over the last few weeks, I continue to highlight some useful articles and discussions over the past month. Clark Aldrich's Style Guide is an excellent collection of ideas, terms, and concepts. Aldrich brought up four key considerations for those studying, creating, and applying educational games and simulations.

1. Situational awareness: what do experts see when they come to a scene that others don’t?
2. Understanding of actions: what do experts see as viable options, and trade-offs of each? How and when should one calibrate responses?
3. Awareness of patterns: how and why do things play out? What are small steps now that can have a big impact?
4. Conceptual dead reckoning: understanding the opportunities, committing to a vision, and then navigating towards it.

The questions not only address what should be considered when designing a game, they also work for designing information literacy sessions. In creating lesson plans and research sessions, we should not only consider these questions but find answers for them as well.

1. Situational awareness: Our learners enter the "game" with all ranges of experiences, what do experienced researches see and apply that "newbies" don't. What do we want our students to "see" and understand about a given situation?

2. Understanding actions: Why do our students make the choices in research and sources that they do? What choices should they make? How can we help them understand why certain decisions make sense - and why others do not.

3. Awareness of patterns: Students fall into both patterns of success and patterns of failure. We want to help create productive patterns that will increase their success and efficiency for the future.

4. Conceptual dead reckoning: Create the goal / thesis and develop the path to reach it. If we can help our students create those goals and give them the tools to reach then.

These are good questions that we as educators should consider, not only for our individual lessons but for information literacy programs as a whole.

Thanks to the link from Serious Games
which in-kind links to the Mobile Learning blog which has a useful post linking to a variety of content from the conference.

Here are some of the direct links to:
video clips
podcasts
slides of presentations

I blogged about Nintendo becoming a sponsor of the conference back in September (before my hiatus) and John Rice's excellent Educational Games Research blog ran another story on the conference as well.

I've downloaded a couple of the podcasts, including Marc Prensky's keynote speech, and I'm looking forward to listening along with the ppt slides.

Over at Terra Nova, they began the month with an update on the Shakespeare's Game which has some interesting applications for learning and libraries.

It's been a bumpy road. We've learned lots of lessons, mostly that this is very hard to do, and especially hard to do in an academic context. I have new layers of respect for the world-builders out there.

What now? Work continues, with an uncertain time frame. I really enjoy writing systems in NWN Script, so I will keep tinkering. But - there's no telling when there will be anything to report. Based on the current direction and progress of the project, I should downplay expectations.

I remember when this game/project was announced and was interested to see how it developed. Other academic projects have used the Never Winter Nights and the powerful toolset to create their projects. The use of NWN here seems like a manageable choice of platforms. I recently picked up the Diamond edition of NWN for a little over $10 and I'm looking forward to playing around in the toolset.

But this post also brings words of caution. Words that I've heard echoed from a multiple other library game projects. Long timeline, slow starts, and challenges at every step. Even with these challenges, those of us interested will continue to move forward and learn from those before us.

In addition, Terra Nova also discussed Jesper Juul's interesting book Half-Real. I read parts of Juul's book earlier this year and it is worthwhile for anyone interesting in starting out developing and designing an education game. It's based in game theory, but it is accessible. Terra Nova's discussion is worth the read if you missed it earlier.

(if you are not interested in my personal excuses, please move on to the next post)

October's been a blur. Work's a nonstop ride - as any good ride should be. My family's been up and down over the month (including a visit to the ER). Because of this I started October taking a little time off from blogging, a little blogging vacation if you will. But getting started again was the challenge.

During the second half of October, I really had to think about why I started this blog and where I'm going with it. Truth be told, I'm not sure where I'm going with it - heck I'm not sure where I'm going in life some days. But I do know were my passions lie.

Teaching - Reaching out - Connecting to students

I know that video games, the play, and the act of learning is one way to reach out and teach students.

My month off was not because I lacked the passion to go forward. I lacked the energy. The daily grind of my job and life weighted heavily on me. It wasn't one specific thing that prevented me, it was simply a downward spiral. Now, standing on the other side of that break, I missed the engagement, discussion, and innovation that came from blogging and pushing these issues forward.

I will continue to keep the conversation about video games and gaming strategies in information literacy moving forward. I hope if you are still willing to come along for the journey.

#1: If you get new people coming to your site, give them something new to read. Follow up the post that brought them in with more content. Give them a reason to come back.

Well, I missed that one.

My coverage of the games created by the Library at Carnegie Mellon was picked up in a variety of places including Jenny Levine's theshiftedlibrarian, an ALA newsletter, and even the gaming site Game Set Watch. I'm grateful for the coverage and I'm thankful that Carnegie Mellon's project got the coverage and exposure that it deserves (Water Cooler Games highlighted the game as well).

Unfortunately, the exposure can at a time when I took a month long hiatus. I'll blog later about my elective hiatus, but I wanted to say thank you for the coverage and I hope that readers found more to interest them throughout the site.

I am returning to my blog now and will continue the conversations about how and why we as librarians and educators should be looking to and using video games and gaming strategies in information literacy.

Max has some work to do and he needs your help. Max is ordinary student who has procrastinated his research paper until the last day but before he can get started on his paper his needs to help his fellow students and the library. Help Max organize a shelving cart of books by subject and LC call number as he races against the clock. Next Max needs to answer the reference questions of other students before he can get started on his own work, but the demands of time and deadlines force Max to "serve" as many patrons as possible. Test out your library skills and help Max complete his work.

If there had to be a preview for the two mini games that the Library at Carnegie Mellon University just released through their cleverly labeled "Library Arcade" that would be it. Thank you John Fudrow for passing along the link and information about the launch of the games.

Daniel Hood an Information Literacy Fellow and a small group of librarians worked with a graduate class from Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center to develop and create an information game. I talked with Daniel back at May's LOEX conference in San Diego and just recently followed up about the progress of the game and the development process. I'll blog about that tomorrow, but before I get into those details I want to highlight the end product. The production values of both games are great and really have that "just one more try / one more level" feel that makes casual game so enticing and addictive.

There are two mini games available: "I'll Get It" & "Within Range." "I'll Get It" (shown on the right) plays very much like the classic casual game Diner Dash, and that's a good thing. You play as Max, a student helping other students answer reference questions on a variety of subjects. You "conduct" searches at a computer terminal and find a handful of results from various sources (books, articles, & websites). The task is to answer each students' question with the appropriate resource.

The game plays out exactly like Diner Dash making it easy for any student to jump in and play. The interface is completely mouse driven and there are hints available at any time. The player clicks on each table to get the reference question, navigates back to the computer to conduct a search. The results of the search (on the right) show the question at the bottom and the four potential sources in windows above the shelves (printed books and articles) and the public computer (internet resources). The player needs to determine which source best meets the need, retrieve it, and bring it to the patron. As shown in the screen shots, NPC students display a face over the head that represents their pleasure/anger level. Similar to Diner Dash (and real life), the longer a patron waits the more angry they become. The pace of patrons coming and going picks up as the game progresses. Too many "red faced" anger patrons and it's game over.

The second game, "Within Range" is much simpler and straightforward. Max needs to put the books back on the shelving cart in the correct LC order. The player races against the clock to put all the books away in order to move onto higher levels. Call numbers start simple and then before more complex. Higher levels include just subject (on the left wall) descriptions and require the player to place it accordingly.

Again the gameplay in simpler than "I'll Get It" but the interface is intuitive. There are hints available in this game as well.

I'll write more of my impressions later, but in the meantime check out the Library Arcade for yourself.

This week I was invited to join a new ning social group for the newly created library alternate reality game. The invite came with the following message:

About Help Me Solve A Mystery
I can't explain it. This mystery began when I found a volume of a 1933 World Book Encyclopedia among my own books. Inside was a page of mysterious messages. Where did this come from? And, what does it all mean?

If you are interested check out the ning and/or join here.

I posted about the Alternate Reality Game created by John Farquhar, back in the May. The event / game sounded interesting at the time and now after hearing Greg Trefry at GLLS 2007 this summer the game sounds like a fun experiment. I traded emails with John a few weeks ago and he provided some additional details:

Expect the experience to last for 10 weeks where new puzzles and mysteries will be presented 3-4 times each week. Most puzzles will require locating a source of information then critically evaluating that information. The puzzles will be presented on the web, but many will require finding non-web sources.

Is there anyone out there playing already? Please share your experiences.


Here is the description from the site :

William Lewis has a mystery to solve. He found a volume of a 1933 World Book Encyclopedia among his own books. Inside the book was a note with some mysterious and cryptic messages. How did it get there? What does it mean? And, where will all of this lead? Join William's mystery and expect to uncover new mysteries and puzzles throughout the fall. Participate in the online forum or create your own blog of your experience. Use the online tools to: 1) describe search strategies that successfully locate additional clues, 2) critically examine the clues, documents and other sources of information, and 3) guide other participants to successfully search for and critically examine information. Perhaps you'll make new friends and learn new things.

Tonight as millions of video game fans line up to collect their copies of Halo 3 at retailers, specialty shops and even 7-11's around the nation, I want to talk about Halo in a different context. As players go home tonight and work there way through the final chapter of the Master Chief storyline they will be practicing information literacy. Granted it is not in the academic context, but the information literacy skills developed by players is no less real.

Last week was spent playing Halo for the PC (as part of my blogging hiatus). Now, as a disclaimer, I haven't played much of Halo 2 and probable won't play Halo 3 on the XBox 360. However, I have spent hours upon hours reading about the series online, listening to Luke Smith on the Bungie podcasts, and talking with Halo fans. Below is the result of that combination of personal experience and research. The Halo series mapped to information literacy skills.

After working through the ACRL standards, I am incredibly surprised and impressed at the scope of information literacy skills within the Halo series. Because of this breath and depth, I will come back to Halo throughout the week to provide specific examples from the games and from players of the information literacy skills supported.

1.0. The information literate student determines the nature and extent of the information needed.

1.1. The information literate student defines and articulates the need for information

1.1.a Confers with instructors and participates in class discussions, peer workgroups, and electronic discussions to identify a research topic, or other information need

1.1.b Develops a thesis statement and formulates questions based on the information need

1.1.c Explores general information sources to increase familiarity with the topic

1.1.d Defines or modifies the information need to achieve a manageable focus

1.1.e Identifies key concepts and terms that describe the information need.

1.1.f Recognizes that existing information can be combined with original thought, experimentation, and / or analysis to produce new information

1.2. The information literate student identifies a variety of types and formats of potential sources for information.

1.2.c Identifies the value and differences of potential resources in a variety of formats (e.g., multimedia, database, website, data set, audio / visual, book)

1.2.e Differentiates between primary and secondary sources, recognizing how their use and importance vary with each discipline

1.2.f Realizes that information may need to be constructed with raw data from primary sources.

1.3. The information literate student considers the costs and benefits of acquiring the needed information.

1.3.a Determines the availability of needed information and makes decisions on broadening the information seeking process beyond local resources (e.g. interlibrary loan; using resources at other locations obtaining images, videos, text, or sound)

1.3.b Considers the feasibility of acquiring new language or skill (e.g. foreign or discipline based) in order to gather needed information and to understand its context

1.3.c Defines a realistic overall plan and timeline to acquire the needed information

1.4. The information literate student reevaluates the nature and extent of the information need

1.4.a Review the initial information need to clarify, revise, or refine the question

1.4.b Describes criteria used to make information decisions and choices

2.0. The information literate student accesses needed information effectively and efficiently

2.1. The information literate student selects the most appropriate investigative methods or information retrieval systems for accessing the needed information.

2.1.a Identifies appropriate investigative methods (e.g., laboratory experiment, simulation, fieldwork)

2.1.b Investigates benefits and applicability of various investigative methods.

2.1.c Investigates the scope, content, and organization of information retrieval

2.1.d Selects efficient and effective approaches for accessing the information needed from the investigative method or information retrieval system

2.2. The information literate student constructs and implements effectively - designed search strategies

2.2.a Develops a research plan appropriate to the investigativen literate student constructs and implements effectively designed search strategies. method

2.2.c Selects controlled vocabulary specific to the discipline or information retrieval source

2.2.e Implements the search strategy in various information retrieval systems using different user interfaces and search engines, with different command languages, protocols, and search parameters.

2.2.f Implements the search using investigative protocols appropriate to the discipline

2.3 The information literate student retrieves information online or in person using a variety of methods.

2.3.a Uses various search systems to retrieve information in a variety of formats

2.3.c Uses specialized online or in person services available at the institution to retrieve information needed (e.g., interlibrary loan / document delivery, professional associations, institutional research offices, community resources, experts and practitione

2.3.d Uses surveys, letters, interviews, and other forms of inquiry to retrieve primary information

2.4. The information literate student refines the search strategy if necessary

2.4.a Assesses the quantity, quality, and relevance of the search results to determine whether alternative information retrieval systems or investigative methods should be utilized

2.4.b Identifies gaps in the information retrieved and determines if the search strategy should be revised

2.4.c Repeats the search using the revised strategy as necessary

2.5. The information literate student extracts, records, and manages the information and its sources

2.5.b Creates a system for organizing the information

3.0. The information Literate student evaluates information and its sources critically and incorporates selected information into his or her knowledge base and value system

3.1. The information literate student summarizes the main ideas to be extracted from the information gathered.

3.1.a Reads the text and selects main ideas

3.1.b Restates textual concepts in his / her own words and selects data accurately

3.1.c Identifies verbatim material that can be then appropriately quoted

3.2. The information literate student articulates and applies initial criteria for evaluating both the information and its sources.

3.2.a Examines and compares information from various sources in order to evaluate reliability, validity, accuracy, authority, timeliness, and point of view or bias

3.2.b Analyzes the structure and logic of supporting arguments or methods

3.2.c Recognizes prejudice, deception, or manipulation

3.2.d Recognizes the cultural, physical, or other context within which the information was created and understands the impact of context on interpreting the information

3.3. The information literate student synthesizes main ideas to construct new concepts

3.3.a Recognizes interrelationships among concepts and combines them into potentially useful primary statements with supporting evidence.

3.3.b Extends initial synthesis, when possible, at a higher level of abstraction to construct new hypotheses that may require additional information

3.4. The information literate student compares new knowledge with prior knowledge to determine the value added, contradictions, or other unique characteristics of the information.

3.4.a Determines whether information satisfies the research or other information need

3.4.b Uses consciously selected criteria to determine whether the information contradicts or verifies information used from other sources

3.4.c Draws conclusions based upon information gathered

3.4.e Determines probable accuracy by questioning the source of the data, the limitations of the information gathering tools or strategies, and the reasonableness of the conclusions

3.4.f Integrates new information with previous information or knowledge

3.4.g Selects information that provides evidence for the topic

3.5. The information literate student determines whether the new knowledge has an impact on the individual's value system and takes steps to reconcile differences

3.5.a Investigates differing viewpoints encountered in the literature

3.5.b Determines whether to incorporate or reject viewpoints encountered

3.6. The information literate student validates understanding and interpretation of the information through discourse with other individual, subject-area experts, and / or practitioners.

3.6.a Participates in classroom and other discussions

3.6.b Participates in class-sponsored electronic communication forums designed to encourage discourse on the topic (e.g., email, bulletin boards, chat rooms)

3.7 The information literate student determines whether the initial query should be revised

3.7.a Determines if original information need has been satisfied or if additional information is needed

3.7.b Reviews search strategy and incorporates additional concepts as necessary

3.7.c Reviews information retrieval sources used and expands to include others as needed

4.0. The information literate student, individually or as a member of a group, uses information effectively to accomplish a specific purpose.

4.1. The information literate student applies new and prior information to the planning and creation of a particular product or performance.

4.1.a Organizes the content in a manner that supports the purposes and format of the product or performance (e.g. outlines, drafts, storyboards)

4.1.b Articulates knowledge and skills transferred from prior experiences to planning and creating the product or performance

4.1.c Integrates the new and prior information, including quotations and paraphrasings, in a manner that supports the purposes of the product or performance

4.2. The information literate student revises the development process for the product or performance.

4.2.a Maintains a journal or log of activities related to the information seeking, evaluating, and communicating process.

4.2.b Reflects on past successes, failures, and alternative strategies

4.3. The information literate student communicates the product or performance effectively to others

4.3.a Chooses a communication medium and format that best supports the purposes of the product or performance and the intended audience

4.3.d Communicates clearly and with a style that supports the purposes of the intended audience

5.0. The information literate student understands many of the economic, legal, and social issues surrounding the use of information and accesses and uses information ethically and legally.

5.1. The information literate student understands many of the ethical, legal and socio-economic issues surrounding information and information technology.

5.1.a Identifies and discusses issues related to privacy and security in both the print and electronic environments

5.1.c Identifies and discusses issues related to censorship and freedom of speech

5.1.d Demonstrates an understanding of intellectual property, copyright, and fair use of copyrighted material.

5.2. The information literate student follows laws, regulations, institutional polices, and etiquette related to the access and use of information resources.

5.2.a Participates in electronic discussions following accepted practices (e.g. "Netiquette")

5.2.b Uses approved passwords and other forms of ID for access to information resources

5.2.c Complies with institutional polices on access to information resources

5.2.d Preserves the integrity of information resources, equipment, systems and facilities

5.2.e Legally obtains, stores, and disseminates text, data, images, or sounds

For everyone out there playing Halo 3 - enjoy and build those skills.

And for those out there not playing, be aware of the game and use your students' skills to their educational benefit.

Images from Gamespot.com

On Friday, Nex-gen.biz reported that Nintendo will be a sponsor for "The Handheld Learning Conference and Exhibition." The conference will be held in London and here are some of the themes of the conference. 1up.com also had a story on Nintendo's sponsorship as well.

Given Nintendo's dominance in the handheld market and their focus on non-traditional games like Big Brain Academy, Brain Age, and Flash Focus this seems like a natural fit. In addition to Nintendo there are a wide range of other companies developing educational games for the Nintendo DS as well, including math, spelling, reading, and music.

As a father of two, these application with the Nintendo DS look interesting and provide additional (educational) content that I can play with my kids on the DS. In past years, the conference seemed to have more coverage on cell phones and PDAs, but I'll be watching this year to see if there is a larger video game presence and what content comes out of the conference.

In my first post on GOM, about a month ago, I laid out the initial components of Amory's Game Object Model. The model itself appears adaptable and I've started to adapt it by adjusting the model for traditional lesson plans. My fantasy football GOM lesson plan was a good start and really helped change the mindset of creating an instruction session.

I wanted to discuss the additions in the second version of the Game Object Model, GOM II, as well, but didn't get to it. So now I'm returning to provide a detailed outline of the GOMII model. The components of GOM II provides a context in which to assess an educational game. As some libraries are exploring and starting to create games for information literacy, the GOMII provides another means to assess the success of these efforts.

Amory, A. (2007). Game object model version II: A theoretical framework for educational game development. Educational Technology Research and Development, 55(1):51-77.

Game Object Model Verson II

Core concepts: 1) Game definition, 2) authentic learning, 3) narrative, 4) gender, 5) social collaboration, 6) challenges-puzzles-quests

I. Game Space

· Play
· Exploration (1)
· Challenges (1)
· Engagement (1)
· Narrative spaces (3)
· Authentic (2)
· Multiple views (2)
· Gender-inclusive (4)
· Transformation (2)
· Tacit knowledge (6)

A. Visualization Space

· Critical thinking
· Discovery
· Goal formation
· Goal completion
· Practice
· Story (3)
o Plot (3)
o Reflection (2,6)
o Relevance (1,2)
oGame rhythm (4)

I. Elements Space
· Fun
· Emotive (1)
o Graphics
o Sounds
o Technology
o Backstory (3)

a. Actors Space
· Drama
o Role models (4)
o Interaction
o Gestures

II. Problem Space
· Puzzlement (6)
· Accommodation (6)
· Assimilation (6)
· Complex (1)
· Flow (6)
· Activity-based(4)

o Conflict (4)
§Win/Lose
§ Indirect

o Explicit knowledge (6)
o Conversation (6)
o Model-building (2)

A. Communication
o Reading
o Writing
o Speaking

B. Literacy
o Visual
o Logical
o Mathematical
o Computational

C. Memory
o Short-term
o Long-term

D. Motor
o Manipulation
o Reflex

II. Social Space
· Democracy (5)
· Social capital (5)
· Dialogue (1,5)

A. Computer Mediated Communication
o Network (5)
o Tools (5)

B. Social Network Analysis
o Visualization (5)
o Relationships (5)

Back in August, I was one of the reviewers for an upcoming (2008) on electronic gaming in education. For more details on the book, reviewers, and timeline following the link here.

The reviewing process was interesting and the content of the chapters had a lot of potential. I'm sure I'll end up blogging about it once it finally comes out. But until then, there is one piece from a chapter that I wanted to discuss. Since this was included in the literature review, I'm not releasing any new findings or original work from the author.

The researchers cited within the chapter discuss components that could be integrated into an instructional activity or game in order to improve a learner’s intrinsic motivation for playing, these include the following strategies:

• Challenge
• Curiosity
• Control
• Fantasy
  
• Personalization
• Cooperation
• Competition
• Recognition

Considering these factors is useful not only in creating educational games, but also in designing our information literacy sessions and creating lesson plans. Research shows that these are the major components that students look for in judging the value and use of a game within an educational context. If students are creating the criteria that engages them, we as educators should take notice.

I am currently working on redesigning an instruction session that I do with a public speaking course. I've done the same lesson (more or less) for the last four year... granted the class has done the same assignment as well. Incorporating these components into the design of the lesson may increase students engagement and motivation.

Yes, I've been missing in action all this past week. I expected work to be a little slower, but after teaching for two weeks straight I found my desk and my email inbox filled with administrative responsibilities to catch up on. I'm sorry for the delay in responding to anyone who's emailed in the last few days. Add to that I've spent my evenings updating my CV.

If anyone's interested you can download my CV here.

But I'm trying to get back into the habit. Over the next 24 hours I should catch up on all the partial posts I've started since the semester began. I have a lot of guilt about not keeping up on the blog recently (healthy I know), but I looked back at last year and the month of September was terrible for my blogging. So maybe that's just the start of each new year.

Well, thanks for sticking around. There will be more regular posts starting next week that will discuss some of the content I'm working on Amy Harris and Scott Rice's ACRL publication.

Sorry again for the delays in posts, but I'm thankful for those inquiring. I'm tucking my blogging tail between my legs and heading back to the keyboard to buckle down.


Thanks to the Canadian Flake for the sorry pup photo