We’ve finally completed the web site for the ARGSOI project.
This contains the research findings from the project (see the Evaluation Report in deliverables) as well as a page of resources the team has created for anyone wanting to develop their own educational alternate reality game using the ARGOSI framework.
I would very much appreciate feedback from anyone who makes use of the site.
Big thanks to Daniel Livingstone for highlighting this blog, Net Gen Skeptic, which aims to “provide a balanced exploration of research and commentary on generational differences, particularly the net generation discourse and impacts on learning, teaching and the use of technology”.
I’m still amazed at the amount of times that terms such as ‘digital natives’ and ‘internet generation’ are still bandied around uncritically when such limited evidence exists. Any resources that question the assumptions that underlie these models can only be a good thing.
I’ve just discovered the ECT-Press site, which offers academic, open source versions of the books it publishes. There are already some interesting texts available, with more in the pipeline.
I was quite excited when what I think is the first twitter game, Spymaster, was launched recently. Essentially, when you sign up to join the game you have complete tasks, recruit other spymasters from your twitter network and assassinate other players. While I think the idea of a game built around something like twitter is a great idea, in principle, I have a couple of concerns about spymaster:
So, while I love the idea of embedding a game into a tool like this, I think it’s essential to make it unobtrusive to the majority of users who have no interest in game playing.
On Wednesday we were lucky enough to have Dr Richard Hall, from de Montfort University, come and present a seminar on autonomy and the read/write web at my work. Richard managed to hit the balance just right, I felt, between catering for those who are interested in the theoretical and socio-political angles and those with an interest in application and practice.
You can view the slides here (without video clips).
On Thursday I spent the day at my Faculty’s Learning and Teaching Conference, and was pleasantly surprised with the focus on play spaces, creativity and ‘messy’ learning. I presented an introductory session on using games to support learning, which seemed to go well (in that I no one left half way or was physically sick). My presentation is available here.