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HardPlay. Digital Game Based Learning and Information Literacy. Introduction. Average age is: 33 31% are under 18, 44% are 18-49, 25% are 50+ years 62% male 38% are women, Only 23% are boys age 17 or younger Entertainment Software Association ( www.theesa.com )
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HardPlay Digital Game Based Learning and Information Literacy
Introduction • Average age is: 33 • 31% are under 18, 44% are 18-49, 25% are 50+ years • 62% male 38% are women, Only 23% are boys age 17 or younger • Entertainment Software Association (www.theesa.com) • “…many faculty who are earning their Ph.D.’s now are people who played games, and a nontrivial number are actually putting games into their research…”Gee in Joel Forman, Game-based learning. How to delight and instruct in the 21st Century. 2004
Digital Game Based Learning • What is DGBL? • Game Designers vs. Educators • “Growing consensus that educationalists and instructional designers stand to learn a great deal from professional game designers.” Russell Francis, Towards a Theory of a Games Based Pedagogy. 2006
Different Approaches • Digital Natives / Digital Immigrants • Prensky • Learning theories/styles • Becker • Situated learning • Shaffer, Gee, Squire • Games based pedagogy • Francis • Intelligent Learning Games • Van Eck
Information Literacy • Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to "recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information." Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education." American Library Association. • Potential Outcomes • Identifies key concepts and terms that describe the information need • Identifies keywords, synonyms, and related terms for the information needed • Use various search systems to retrieve information in a variety of formats
Using Games • COTS games in classroom • Civilization III • Building games for practice • Quarantined, The Information Literacy Game • Building games for research • Modding or scratch build • Altered Learning, Revolution, DoomEd
HardPlay Overview • Research objective • Research development – building the lab • Research communication: in the culture of the modding community
The Game Experience • “Fun (i.e. gameplay) first, learning second...users know the difference.” Marc Prensky in Handbook of Computer Game Studies, 2005 pg. 119 • “We spent a lot of time on the storyboard…I would say spend a lot of time on the storyboard. :-)” Karl Royle, Wolverhampton University, DoomEd, 2007 • “In Half-Life, the story is an important part of the flavor of the game, but aside from acting as a mechanism to allow the player to become more immersed in the game world, it bears no relevance to the actual gameplay. (And by this we mean that the gameplay of Half-Life is virtually identical to that of any other first-person shooter; it’s just the story and setting that give it the edge).” Rollings, et al. Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design, 2003. pg.90
Increasing Importance of Story to Gameplay Story-Based Gameplay No Story Arcade Games Strategy Games First-Person Shooter Games Role-Playing/ Adventure Games BenevolentBlue Increasing Game Complexity The Story Spectrum Adapted from Rollings A. & E. Adams (2004). Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design. Boston, New Riders. p. 90
BenevolentBlue- Features • First person point of view action adventure game • Overcome explicit challenges: puzzle-solving, exploration, reflex/reaction, coordination • Trial and error learning • Non-player characters respond with fluidity and intelligence demonstrating the full array of human emotion • Objects obey the laws of mass, friction, and gravity making a more realistic world • Players roam multiple floors of two library buildings (MacKimmie Library Tower and MacKimmie Library Block) using a similar floor-plan of the University of Calgary Library • Heads-up display (HUD) to display computer information to the player
Implications for IT • Supporting the Development of DGBL • Financial • Skills • Software • Campus Implementation of DGBL • Documentation and training • Financial support • Infrastructure support
Further information • You can follow the progress of Benevolent Blue and our research at: www.ucalgary.ca/hardplay • Contact us at: • Jerremie Clyde • jvclyde@ucalgary.ca • Chris Thomas • cthomas@ucalgary.ca