Games for Learning – Design Principles for Student Engagement in Blended Learning Models

Games for LearningDesign Principles for Student

Engagementin Blended Learning ModelsMax Holecheck Ayu Othman

UX Designer Art Director

Dr. Tim HudsonSenior Director of Curriculum Design

Which blended model is better?FLIPPED-CLASSROOM ENRICHED-VIRTUAL

Blending is a means to what ends?

What is happening during class?What is happening on the

computers?H. Staker, M. Horn, Classifying K-12 Blended Learning, © 2012

The Quality of Digital Learning

Experiences is just as important as the Quality of

Classroom Learning

Experiences

Principles of Game Design can be

used to Improve Student

Engagement in Learning

Max Holechek

Creative DirectorNancy Drew PC game series• Changed conventional misconceptions about

female gamer habits• Pioneering “casual” game design years before

the term was coined.

Producer & Design Consultant• THQ• Nick Jr.• Cranium• Codemasteres• Oberon Media• PopCap Games• PlayFirst• Her Interactive

Lead Game Designer• Turbo Subs• Turbo Fiesta• Go-Go- Gourmet,• Go-Go- Gourmet: Chef of the Year

Ayu Othman

2D & Texture ArtistNancy Drew PC game series• Created 2D maps, hotspot graphics, and

puzzles integrated 3D environments.• Game series won several awards, including

Parent’s Choice Gold.

Art Director, Nancy Drew Dossier Series & Cody Capers• Oversaw visual direction for casual

games at Her Interactive• Dossier series was runner up to Plants v.

Zombies for best casual game 2009

Art DirectorPassionFruit Games• Tiger Eye: Curse of the Riddle Box

Games for Learning – Design Principles

How can I make learning seem more like a game?

(Not the right question, unless

you understand what you’re asking.)

FUN!

“When the fun goes out of play, most often so does the learning.”

- Joanne E. Oppenheim (Kids and Play, ch. 1, 1984)

What is “Fun?”

FLOWAn idea of heightened focus and

immersion in an activity.

Gratuitous example of myself in ‘flow’--Ecstasy, clarity, receiving immediate feedback, forgetting myself, doing it for its own sake.

FLOW: An idea of heightened focus and immersion in an activity.

FLOW is that sweet spot we experience during an activity, in which the challenge level being presented is properly balanced with our skill level.

During ‘flow’ we experience being ‘in the zone’ and lose all track of time during that activity.

Graph source: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/166972/cognitive_flow_the_psychology_of_.php

Not too easy (snore)

Not too hard (eep!)

Just right!

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/166972/cognitive_flow_the_psychology_of_.php

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, professor and former chairman of the Dept. of Psychology at the University of Chicago created Flow theory as part of his life work towards understanding what is it that makes humans truly happy, satisfied and fulfilled.

Sources: http://www.jenovachen.com/flowingames/researches.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi.jpg

aka the genius behind Flow theory

Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

http://www.jenovachen.com/flowingames/researches.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mihaly_Csikszentmihalyi.jpg

Elements of Flow• A challenge activity that requires skills• The merging of action and awareness• Clear goals• Direct feedback• Concentration on the task at hand• The sense of control• The loss of self-consciousness• The transformation of time

Source: http://www.jenovachen.com/flowingames/foundation.htm

Great teachers and coaches already utilize elements of Flow theory in engaging their

students.

http://www.jenovachen.com/flowingames/foundation.htm

What is a game?A system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that

results in a quantifiable outcome.

Source: •Salen, K. and E. Zimmerman. Rules of Play : Game Design Fundamentals. The MIT Press. (2003)

What is a good game?

A carefully designed system that invokes flow in players as they engage in an

artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome.

Source: •Salen, K. and E. Zimmerman. Rules of Play : Game Design Fundamentals. The MIT Press. (2003)

..and Ayu & Max

Relevance to the player and game’s goals

Understanding upon a glance

Get out of the player’s way

Learning through safe exploration

Use rewards for perseverance and replay-ability

Good Casual Game Design Principles

Relevance to the player and game’s goals• Contextualize your game


Who’s ready to play?

Fist Flat Two?

Match-3 Game Mechanic

© ShapeMatcher

© PopCap, © iWin, © kibagames


• Don’t Assume your Assumptions are Valid

• The player only gets 3 lives, right?

• Being penalized & vanquished is just part of learning/playing a game!


Pac-Man

© NAMCO


• Don’t Assume your Assumptions are Valid

• The player only gets 3 lives, right?

• Being penalized & vanquished is just part of learning/playing a game!

• Classroom application: Plan Backward from Learning Goals


Plan Curriculum Backwards

1. Identify desired results

2. Determine acceptable evidence

3. Plan learning experiences and instruction

Understanding by Design, Wiggins & McTighe, ©2005

Key Questions1. What do you want

students to accomplish?

2. How will you know they’ve achieved it?

3. What games can help students meet these

goals?

Learning Goal: Perspective, Strategic Thinking

MECC, © Broderbund

Learning Goal: Recognize Shapes, Presidents

© Dan Russell-Pinson

Stack the States

Presidents v. Aliens

Learning Goal: Geography, Culture, Inquiry

www.mobygames.com ©Broderbund

Learning Goal: Practice

Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium

Wolfram|Alpha

Wolfram|Alpha

Better Goals for StudentsDavid Bressoud, Mathematical Association of America (www.maa.org/columns)

• “The existence of Wolfram|Alpha [and calculators] does push instructors to be more honest about their use of standard problems executed by memorizing algorithmic procedures.

• “If a student feels that she or he has learned nothing that cannot be pulled directly from Wolfram|Alpha, then the course really has been a waste of time.”

http://www.maa.org/columns

Calculator-Proof Games

Classifying Learning GamesNo Prior Instruction Needed• Learning Experiences• Usually Conceptual• Simulation, Situation• Critical Thinking Focus• Mostly Self-Directed• Realization Focus• Content Specific• Learning Context &

Content first, THEN game is added afterward

Prior Instruction Required

• Practice• Often Rote• “Flash Card” Design• Often Memory Focus• Mostly Teacher-Directed• Recall Focus• Possibly

Interchangeable Content

• Game Design comes first, THEN content is added afterward

Good Casual Game Design PrinciplesUnderstanding Upon a Glance

• Players can learn to play the game within 15 seconds• Layout, simplicity of elements, and highlight use instruct visually.• If your game looks like an XL spreadsheet, start over.• Simple, minimal, elegant rule sets. If the game incorporates more

or more complex rules, stagger them in slowly and in later levels. (Flow!)

No tutorial needed.

© Rovio

Run! I’ll explain later!

© iMangi Studios

Good Casual Game Design PrinciplesUnderstanding Upon a Glance

• Minimal, transparent, very intuitive player input• PC: Avoid/limit keyboard or right button input• Touch screen: Limit number of gestures• Never change already introduced UI behavior

• Gradually introduce new features and rules• Build upon existing learning and create combination behaviors

Plants vs Zombies – Level 1

© PopCap

Plants vs Zombies – Later Level

© PopCap

Good Casual Game Design PrinciplesGet out of the player’s way

• Keep reading to minimum• Use simple, elegant visuals/animations to convey instructions, if

you can.• If text must be used, then keep it concise and in simple

language.

Pudding Monsters – Levels 1 & 2

© ZeptoLabs

Good Casual Game Design PrinciplesGet out of the player’s way

• Keep reading to minimum• Use simple, elegant visuals/animations to convey instructions, if

you can.• If text must be used, then keep it concise and in simple

language.

• No lengthy story exposition - Nobody cares about your writing skill

• No long, front-loaded tutorials• Classroom application: Front-Loading Explanation is

Disengaging

Tim’s Elephant Habitat Lesson

http://www.syracusenewtimes.com/newyork/article-5474-stomp-the-yard.html

In the Classroom: Quick Task Entry

• If your classroom learning tasks require more than 1 minute of directions, there is probably too high of a barrier to engagement.

• Try redesigning the task to create a simpler entry point.

• It may require more class time to complete the task, but it results in more engagement, better thinking, and better learning.

Common Experience

From a 5th grade teacher in NY:“I had a lot of good people teaching me math when I was a student – earnest and funny and caring. But the math they taught me wasn’t

good math. Every class was the same for eight years:

‘Get out your homework, go over the homework, here’s the new set

of exercises, here’s how to do them. Now get started. I’ll be around.’”

p. 55, Teaching What Matters Most, Strong, Silver, & Perini, ©2001

Let Me Show You How To

DoX

Now You Go Do

X

Can You Independentl

y DoX?

Maybe You Need

to Be Shown X

Again

You KnowX

Schooling as Content Delivery

Let Me Show You How To

DoX

Now You Go Do

X

Can You Independentl

y DoX?

Maybe You Need

to Be Shown X

Again

You KnowX

Content Delivery cannot ‘give understandings’

Learning Principles

• “An understanding is a learner realization about the power of an idea.”

• “Understandings cannot be given; they have to be engineered so that learners see for themselves the power of an idea for making sense of things.”

p. 113, Schooling by Design, Wiggins & McTighe, ©2007

Pros & Cons

Benefit of Blended Learning

Becoming MORE thoughtful and strategic about the use of precious class time

Danger of Blended Learning

Becoming LESS thoughtful and strategic about how students learn and make sense of things

Engaging Learning

Student Engages within

a Context

Student Transfer

s & Predicts

Student Receives Feedback

Adapt & Differentiat

e

Student Independently Transfers

Engineered for Realizations

Student Engages within

a Context

Student Transfer

s & Predicts

Student Receives Feedback

Adapt & Differentiat

e

Student Independently Transfers

Casual Game Design Principles

3. Learning through safe exploration• Player should feel safe exploring, always. • The player always makes informed decisions, because

everything to be known can be seen• Nothing is going on off-screen or behind the scene that can

hinder the player’s progress.

Coconut Queen

© iWin


3. Learning through safe exploration• Use trial and error/failure as a tool to lead to “aha” moment

for the player.• If the player loses or performs below their expectations, make

it absolutely clear why that happened and how they can do better.

Cut the Rope

© ZeptoLabs


3. Learning through safe exploration• Use trial and error/failure as a tool to lead to “aha” moment

for the player.• If the player loses or performs below their expectations, make

it absolutely clear why that happened and how they can do better.

• Classroom application: Engage in Exploration First

Learning Myth

“Presentation of an explanation, no matter how brilliantly worded, will not connect ideas unless students have had ample

opportunities to wrestle with examples.”

From Best Practices, 3rd Ed., by Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde, ©2005 From Understanding by Design, Wiggins & McTighe,

©2005

“If I cover it clearly, they will ‘get it.’”

Don’t Start by Telling

“Providing students with opportunities to first grapple with specific information relevant to a topic has been shown to create a

‘time for telling’ that enables them to learn much more from an

organizing lecture.”

• How People Learn, p. 58

Learning Goal: Systems Thinking

© Electronic Arts

Learning Goal: Exploration, Creative Thinking

© Logo Programming

Logo

63

For Additional Game Ideas

Common Sense Media• commonsensemedia.org• 2013 ON for Learning Award Winners• 50 Apps, games, and websites that received

highest ratings for learning potential


4. Use Rewards for Engagement and Replay Motivation • Early and frequent in-game rewards• Maximize replay value

• Level pass, versus 1-3 stars• Dangle the carrot to “try again”

Cut the Rope – Level summary

© ZeptoLabs




• Classroom application: Re-Think Assessment & Grading Practices

Learning is Not Linear

© Rovio

Puzzle & Strategy, Not Exploration

© Rovio

Exploration, Short-Term Reward

Problems with Grading Practices

• Assessing Behavior Rather than Learning• Score of “Zero” indicates only that a

student didn’t complete an assignment• Percentages distill learning into a

meaningless number• Students engage in “point grubbing”• Students can often earn enough points to

“pass,” but might not have learned much




• Classroom application: Re-Think Assessment & Grading Practices

• Use meta game rewards• Use point, commerce or completion system to earn upgrades and

features• Badges/Trophies/Achievements• Power-ups/Enhanced or Odds-reduced gameplay• Earn rare items for game or décor

Chuzzle

rewards and trophies

© PopCap

Plants vs Zombies store

© PopCap

• The game itself is intrinsically rewarding. o Extrinsic motivators are certainly nice but good

game design and content still rules!

Testing for flow in game design:

Gamification certainly has its merits but can also be over-used to mask

poorly-designed games or interactive content.

• The player is up to play the game.o This seems like a no-brainer but as per the

often overused proverb about that reluctant horse.


• The game offers the right amount of challenges that match with the player’s ability and allows her/him to delve deeply into the experience.


• The player feels a sense of personal control over the game activity.


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[email protected]@DocHudsonMath

www.dreambox.com

DreamBox Combines Three Essential Elements to Accelerate Student Learning