Assembling a GBLE Dev Team
October 30, 2009 at 18:00 | In team | Leave a CommentTags: game-based learning, gble, development, team, development team, expertise, role
At the beginning of a new project it is important to assemble a developer team to undertake that project. Sometimes there is the possibility to recruit developers and sometimes the people have already been assigned. In both of the cases it benefits to examine the team composition, expertise and related choices.
This article is loosely based on the paper I presented in DiGRA 2007 Conference titled Team Structure in the Development of Game-based Learning Environments [Full text link (pdf)].
My experience is that GBLE development is a complex task requiring varied expertise. Therefore it is rare that any one person has the needed knowledge and skills to complete a project alone.
Another fact to consider is the shared vision of the team. Creating and maintaining a shared vision demands a lot of work in communication and grounding of shared understanding. The bigger the team the more work this requires.
There is crucial expertise you need to have in the core of a GBLE team. You need someone with game design expertise (preferably lots of it and a track record to prove it), someone with expertise on learning and producing learning environments / experiences as well as someone with a lot of knowledge on the subject matter.
Of course you need the technical and artistic know-how to design and produce the damn thing in the first place, but my point is that this kind of expertise can enter the project in latter stages.
The core needs to stay intact for the whole project. They are the ones who build, cherish and communicate the concept of the GBLE, champion it to the rest of the project team (and the rest of the world). At bare minimum they must be fully committed to the concept.
These people must also understand and respect each others’ points of view. In this kind of project there is a need for many different perspectives to keep all the facets of the product shining. Suberb gameplay does not necessarily support learning and vice versa.
I think that if you get this right you are right on track for the project. Sure, things can still go wrong but assembling a right core of the team and assembling the core of the team right is a huge step towards success.
Background of the Research
October 30, 2009 at 16:00 | In Introduction | Leave a CommentTags: game-based learning, game-based learning environments, research, development, agora game lab, human-centered design, research group
The case projects that the knowledge presented in this blog originate from was carried out in the research group Agora Game Lab (only in Finnish) in the multi-disciplinary research center Agora Center in the University of Jyväskylä.
The projects undertaken by Agora Game Lab as well as the multi-disciplinary nature of the research group itself influenced the way that the case projects and consequentially my research were undertaken.
The projects that were underway during my research were CoEduGame and Virtual Peatland. All of the case development projects of GBLE were also parts of those projects.
This provided a real-life perspective to the design-based research. Instead of existing just for the research purpose, the products of the projects were going to be introduced to real uses.
The goals, resources and timetables of the research projects also shaped the goals and processes of the case projects. Integrating HCD methods to GBLE development was an important research theme in the CoEduGame project and an important part of the method of the research group itself, so this perspective was included in my research also.
Other important factor was the research group’s close collaboration with the IT department of the University. This materialized in using the student projects for development of GBLEs. This provided some opportunities and difficulties for the development and research. For example it was not granted that the student dev team would have the needed expertise to complete the project. On the other hand using similarly skilled university students provided a good baseline to compare different development processes and activities.
I’ve written this meandering account to provide the readers with some information to correlate the information provided on this blog. This is by no means a complete account of the environment that my knowledge on GBLE development was originated from but it should give a short account on the origin of my study.
What is Game-Based Learning? Pt. 1
October 29, 2009 at 16:00 | In Introduction | Leave a CommentTags: business games, definition, examples, feedback, game-, game-based, game-based learning, game-based learning environments, ian bogost, RealGame, unit operations
a.k.a. laying the foundation.
Google gives the following definitions:
- Game-based learning is a field of research and game design based on observations that play, structured or unstructured, conditions the human brain for transformation and learning. (Wikipedia)
- A form of learner-centred learning that uses electronic games for educational purposes. (from Wee Hoe Tan’s research glossary on the Warwick University website)
So it is a field of research and design as well as a form of learner-centred learning. Actually I like Wee’s definition quite much. I would add that it is not necessary to use just electronic (or digital) games or just games to qualify as game-based learning. The defining factor to me is that the use of games is an important factor in the learning process and environment.
There are a number of examples of game-based learning (GBL from now on), games used to support learner-centred learning and reports of use of game-based learning in authentic learning settings. I’ll outline a few as examples of GBL:
Business schools have used business games as part of the education for dozens of years. One of the state-of-the-art business games is the RealGame, developed by Timo Lainema. RealGame is a business simulation game to support learning of decision making in the environment of managing a manufacturing company. Realgame has mainly been used by large and middle-sized Finnish companies as well as several universities as a part of their management training programs.
RealGame casts the players as managers of a manufacturing business. The game provides a real-time simulation of the operating environment of the business in question. The players make decisions as managers and get real-time feedback on how their decisions affect the company. The game can be tailored to simulate different kinds of markets.
RealGame provides the players’ an experience of making management decisions and getting feedback of their consequences. The simulation works in real time so the players can adjust their strategies on the fly.
It is important to see that the game provides learning experiences in at least two levels. The first, self-evident one is the simulation environment allowing the players to practice performing the duties of their future occupations. It is important to notice that in this function the representation that the simulation provides and its verisimilitude to the ral-life environment is important.
The other way of producing learning experiences is experiencing the simulation environment itself and critiquing its verisimilitude. Every simulation is a subjective representation of reality. The aspects (units) of the simulation make statements on the world (Ian Bogost’s book Unit Operations deals with this perception). Through experiencing the game the players can assess the representation provided by it and contrast it with the relevant theory they have studied and case studies from the field.
The first type of learning occurs predominantly within the game but the latter one involves contrasting and discussing the experience of gameplay with other presentations of the same phenomena. It is to be noted that although GBL focuses on the use of games to support learning, playing games is not the be-all and end-all of learning activity in the model.
This concludes the first part of this on-going introduction to game-based learning. There’s too much to say to fit it in just one article, so I’ll continue describing the field of GBL through other examples in later articles.
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