250 likes | 273 Views
The story of Adventure Author. Dr Judy Robertson Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. Software to support the creative process. The story so far Our model of the creative process Building in support for the creative process Fridge Magnets (try it yourself!) Evaluation Worksheets
E N D
The story of Adventure Author Dr Judy Robertson Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland
Software to support the creative process • The story so far • Our model of the creative process • Building in support for the creative process • Fridge Magnets (try it yourself!) • Evaluation Worksheets • Current field study • Some thoughts on research methods
Adventure Author aims • To develop a theoretical model of the creative process of game design (for children) • To develop software support for stages of the creative process • To refine the model based on log file data gathered from the software support • We are building on top of the commercial Neverwinter Nights 2 toolset
Project Ethos • Work with real learners and teachers but be prepared to innovate • Try to bring research software to real classroom settings • Try to understand how the software fits in with other learning – don’t try to do everything digitally • Talk to lots of educationalists – game making is part of the Curriculum for Excellence (since last week!)
What have we done so far? • 6 week study in a school with 30 ten year olds – finding out what children find hard with existing software • Two week long intensive summer workshops with teenagers • 6 week learner centred design project with six 12 year olds • 2.5 day teacher training workshop • 1 month intensive school study (21 pupils) to evaluate support for writing conversations • Developed theoretical model • Implemented most creativity support features
Now you try it! • Find a computer, work with a friend • Use the fridge magnets to plan a storyline for a game • Please donate ideas to the “Lucky dip” feature
Current field research • Currently working with a class of 26 primary 7 pupils (11 -12 year olds) • Project running for about 5 weeks. Curriculum suspended apart from Maths and PE • Data gathering: teacher reflections, games, fridge magnets, evaluation worksheets, log files.
Some thoughts on research methods • Data gathering in the age of the blog: • http://edubuzz.org/blogs/campiep7b/2008/04/17/fridge-magnets/ • http://judyrobertson.typepad.com/adventure_author/2008/04/example-literac.html • Evaluating complex end user software with children is extremely time consuming • Learner centred design for the above is even harder!
Any questions? Thank you! Judy.Robertson@hw.ac.uk http://judyrobertson.typepad.com/adventure_author/ http://judyrobertson.typepad.com/adventure_author/