Thoughts While Traveling Home from Ann DeMarle

 

It's 12:12 AM Thursday morning and the Champlain Team has finally arrived home!! All of us are a bit frazzled around the seams having had very little sleep and only able to catch cat naps on our very rugged flights (held over on the tarmack for 2+ hours in Orlando, then being raced across the JFK field to catch a plane already inline). But perhaps that was preparing us all to re-enter "normal" life. :-)

 

But I thought at this late hour, I would take a few moments to comment on the final presentation, trip home, etc.

 

To begin, I need to thank all who made this grand experience/experiment possible. First to John who initially connected Champlain to Elliott. Then to Elliott for having the vision of the project. Then to ALL the participants - the Wise and Caring Crowd - who acted as guides and colleagues to our intreprid four. Ben, Em, Lauren and Wes and their faculty were overwhelmed by the support - both from the mind and from the heart.

 

Elliott stated in a follow up email to us that the students, Ben, Em, Lauren and Wes, "They ROCK!". They truly out did all expectations! First - they created not two but three games. The "Dress Elliott" game is truly a gameLet.

 

The other two games however have the conceptual backbone and potential to go beyond the small game form into a much larger and deeper, "multi-level" form. On our flight home the students were talking about how they could see the "Pandemic" becoming multi-layered and played through all three intial perspectives first discussed: business impact, community impact, personal impact (self and family). Likewise their game on Next Gen in the workforce "Asymbolation" can add layers of meaning; skills to be acquired, methods to do so.

 

Thirdly, the production values achieved in such a short time were amazing. Even still the students were analyzing what needs to be fixed, where the bugs are, etc. The quality achieved speaks both to the individual students' skill-levels, high degree of prefectionism, ability to work as a team but also to the toolset and their ability to appropriately choose and incorporate unknown tools (thank you Virtools http://www.virtools.com/ ) .

 

Finally Ben, Em, Lauren and Wes were able to show three very different visual and conceptual approaches - no two are the same! Conceptually as well the game designs take on different approaches to learning... a sidescroll - explore the environmental game, a narrative trivia quiz form and a paper doll dress-up gameLet.

 

I have been saying that if a client had come up to me and asked for ONE game in THREE days by FOUR people, I would have said "impossible". However when Elliott and I spoke about this challenge ahead of time, I thought that having 4 or 5 Champlain Game Development students create 2 games in 3 days was a great idea! Why the difference?

The answer goes to both the process and the learning community that enabled it. There are four key concepts that I have been exploring and acting on for the past few years that came magically into play at Learning 2007.

1. The supportive base layer - this experiment took place in a community that recognizes that failure or "trail and error" can be a key to the continous spiral of critical thinking and creativity and learning.
2. The Digital Natives. Dan Tapscott gave a solid description of this generation in his presentation at Learning 2007. Much that I have been able to create in the academic sphere is a result of observing, listening and working with them ( http://www.champlain.edu/centers/emc/index.php ). I had total faith that they could create 2 games in 3 days! Even their choice of a major in school - game development in a bachaulaureate degree - speaks of their innovative spirits. This is a vital component to the processes they employ that enabled this result: scrutiny, collaboration, entertainment, speed, innovation and integrity.
3. The Wisdom of the Crowds - the students embraced the wisdom from (1.) the collective at Learning 2007, from (2) their peers at Champlain who designed elements and added commentary and from (3) the web. The students were able to determine the "mean point" in all these diverse information streams and creatively and efficiently employ it to create solutions.
4. Finally the potential power of the medium. Electronic games are a medium in infancy with hugh potential beyond current applications and naming conventions. Once upon a time we had horseless carriages that looked exactly like their names and now we have cars that look like the Nascar version at Learning 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile for great pictures. Likewise games as powerful, fully realized learning tools has yet to find its tipping point. The entertainment industry is profiting from the powerful mix of visual, tactile, audio, simulation, storytelling and enagement inherent in electronic games. Like a fruit fly lab they have rapidly discovered how to compel players to learn tasks, think critically and reapply as well as to convene in virtual communities. However this has been done without a concern about what is being taught or with accessing the outcomes. The academic realm is just beginning to examine, discuss and research the power of games in learning. The writings of James Gee and Henry Jenkins are great starting places to learn more from the academic dialogue. Likewise corporations that in part made electronic games possible such as IBM and Microsoft are witnessing the potential and acting upon it. So too foundatons like MacArthur are funding partnerships seeking to understand and espand the impact.

 

In the Learning 2007 Game Lab experiment, what I believe the Champlain Four demonstrated was: the potential for the employment of games in the learning environment, how the Digital Natives learn and work and how the Wisdom of the Crowds can be utilized to create compelling content. This is a powerful for a learning community. And all the while Ben, Em, Lauren and Wes were sharpening their skills, learning within a community and having fun. :-)

 

Tonight it is time to sleep. Hwever there are still lots of questions to be pondered and observations to be heard from others. What were your impressions? What did you take away from the experiment? Does this illustrate to you the potential for games in the training and learning sphere? What questions need answering then? Is the experiment over or just begun? Where shall it go next? I would love to hear others ponderings.

 

Within the next week or two we will be uploading the games as a beta for all to distribute. So keep tuned...the collaborative continues!

 

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