138 Matching Annotations
  1. Feb 2019
    1. educators map their own individual learning pathwaysby looking within and beyond the institution for learning opportunities and mentor-ship, and doing so with support from local environments. We

      I would agree that self-determined learning pathways are key for those who are motivated and enthusiastic about improving/refining/creating their pedagogical outlooks. However, this balances with the fact that many faculty are more expert in different arenas that are not instruction or learning facilitation. Perhaps the long-term answer is more in how the university/learning institute is structured, how educators are hired, etc, but, as it stands, there are plenty of instructors who need more guided pathways because they wouldn't know where to start without them. A PLN could help mitigate this, but we start to run up against the bandwidth issue again. How do we simplify without dumbing it down or being overly prescriptive?

  2. Jan 2019
    1. students and teachers co-author together the parameters for their individual and collective learning

      With the teacher as both a learning individual and part of the learning collective - everyone should be learning. I like how including the teacher in the equation makes it easier to envision just how personal learning is. We're all learning a bit differently, through different lenses, and on different paths. An excellent classroom brings our paths together for a time, giving us exposure to each other's journeys, including that of the teacher.

    2. particularly when it is accompanied by the word “packaged.”

      I agree with this - I think there's been a major push toward trying to provide more options, more quickly because more people need/want to advance their education and many of them have different requirements to make it happen. But it's also really hard to keep the student in mind when you're packaging content without the context of who your students are both collectively and as individuals. Creates an unfortunate tension for those who want to provide these educational options/opportunities, but who also want to remain student-focused.

  3. Aug 2018
    1. Let’s start strong: “Good food” is code for white American or European food. Hear us out.

      Interesting - I had never thought of this before.

  4. Aug 2017
    1. Hypothesis allows instructors to contextualize discussion around class readings and creatively integrate critical thinking, socialization, and other scholarly discourse.

      What are the strength s of discussing alongside the text.

    1. Trust: Environment should allow students to take intellectual risks.

      Is a low-stakes environment essential for this or are there ways of constructing safe, higher-stakes environments?

    2. It may be hard to define it, but you know it when you see it.

      This is something I'm struggling with defining - it is difficult to place parameters around "good discussion."

  5. Jan 2017
    1. ersonal familiarity also appears associated with this increased prevalence; interpretations of day-to-day commercial and civic habits (like parking, analyzing sales price, or purchasing a coffee) generally situated PSTs’ disciplinary connections among mathematics concepts, mathematical actions, and objects

      That makes sense - it's easier to identify connections within contexts that are familiar (I imagine people also feel more confident in these scenarios). I wonder if there would be value in encouraging that "next step" of application to less familiar habits.

    2. connections between school-based mathematics as activity and everyday mathematics in activity
    3. A persistent disconnect – evident in student problem solving, tool use, and evaluation – exists among how school mathematics is conceptualized and taught, if it connects to so-called real world mathematics, and whether new pedagogies can bridge this ga

      My brother and I were just talking about this the other day. He's taking "high school" math in college and wishes he had already taken it, but I think it might be more useful to him now that he's on a career path. The applications will be less abstract and more clear.

  6. Jul 2016
    1. Use Hypothesis and add your second Daily Create as a public annotation to this blog post
    2. Use Hypothesis and add your first Daily Create as a public annotation to this blog post

      Contrasting Emotions<script async="" src="//&lt;a href=" http:="" embedr.flickr.com="" assets="" client-code.js"="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

    1. Use Hypothesis and add your second Daily Create as a public annotation to this blog post

      Continuous Line Landscape<script async="" src="//&lt;a href=" http:="" embedr.flickr.com="" assets="" client-code.js"="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

    2. Use Hypothesis and add your first Daily Create as a public annotation to this blog p

      This is not a blank canvas<script async="" src="//&lt;a href=" http:="" embedr.flickr.com="" assets="" client-code.js"="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

    1. Can you identify these next 6 films?

      I heart #6 - Run Lola Run! You have excellent taste in movies

    2. Can you identify these 6 films?

      Ok, I'm going to try a few 1) I'm hoping that's from 5th Element - Bruce Willis shouldn't do his hair that way too often... 3) The Mummy 4) Clue I don't have guesses on the others!

    1. I also participated in the Annotation Flash Mob

      Yay! I think it's such an interesting experience. Even if it isn't someone's "thing," it's a really great way of seeing the different ways a tool can be used.

    2. perform research to check the facts of the speech

      I love this idea. I'm sure I can work it into something for the library...

    3. I think most people do think that online learning becomes a lone activity, but it doesn’t have to be

      I would be sad trying to learn all by myself on the internet! Our networks (and cohorts:-)) are important in helping us shape and test our learning and knowledge. We push each other to greater heights!

    1. because the servers kept going down,

      I was seeing lots of Tweets about this. Pokemon have really stood the test of time, haven't they? How many cartoons continue to get this kind of response this long after they first appeared?

    2. For example, yesterday I was at the zoo with my family, and there were Pokéstops everywhere.

      I'm feeling like I need to check this out!

    3. Just this morning I saw a boy (maybe around 11) running down the street with his smartphone in his hand, he came to an abrupt stop at one point, for which I can only assume he was catching a Pokémon.

      Do we need to tag these kids with "car alert" beepers? I'm going to be having nightmares about this aspect...

    1. second Daily Create as a public annotation to this blog post

      My shadowing reading along with me Reading Shadow<script async="" src="//&lt;a href=" http:="" embedr.flickr.com="" assets="" client-code.js"="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

    2. Use Hypothesis and add your first Daily Create as a public annotation to this blog post

      Me Now and Then<script async="" src="//&lt;a href=" http:="" embedr.flickr.com="" assets="" client-code.js"="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

    1. annotate final drafts of personal narratives they wrote and published online in this way.

      I wish I had been able to do this in my undergrad college days! All of the notes scribbled in margins that were so easily misplaced...

    1. second Daily Create

      Remixed Stills XX Islands<script async="" src="//&lt;a href=" http:="" embedr.flickr.com="" assets="" client-code.js"="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

  7. Jun 2016
    1. first Daily Create

      Octopus and Diver meme<script async="" src="//&lt;a href=" http:="" embedr.flickr.com="" assets="" client-code.js"="" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

    1. What does copyright enable or restrict? What counts (in the US at least) as “fair use”? Can copyrighted materials be used in the classroom? If so, how?

      Yes! And these end up being such complicated questions/answers since things like fair use are a moving target...

    1. Use Hypothesis and add your second Daily Create as a public annotation to our Week 2 blog post

      Bearded Sea Monkey...

    2. public annotation

      Squirrels! Those crazy, food-stealing (from the library?), fluffy-tailed creatures.

    1. with

      And a second Daily Create for the week! Here's a little "Sandbox Zen Garden" for you...

    2. annotate this text right here with your creative media!

      Things that make me happy!!

  8. May 2016
    1. Do you think there are some missing that might encourage more participation? Which ones?

      As I mention in the video, I think a more prominent "here's the place to start" might be helpful. One person had started a "training" area, but it was a little out of date and not the easiest to navigate. I don't know how many times I visited it before I realized it had a feature I had been looking all over for (a beginner's glossary). But it was listed under Miscellaneous and you only really saw it was there if you scrolled through everything to that section. A great effort on that person's part, but it could be improved!

    2. What might you do if they ‘edited’ one of your posts?

      I doubt I would be back, unless someone contacted me with a really great explanation!

    3. Have you posed your question yet regarding them creating a beginner level?

      It seems that most people consider the training levels as beginner enough. However, I did also get the scoop that the free version I am using is one of the earlier game versions, so it may be that the training levels have improved with new updates.

    4. Is there a way besides the reputation points that you can find out people background, years, etc. Just wondering how many women were on this site.

      I didn't really notice much additional info given for people, although, I'll be honest, I didn't really look that closely. When you asked about how many women are on the site, I realized that I had no clue! A few people that I interacted with had screen names and/or images that suggest they are more likely male. I don't remember encountering anyone in particular that I can easily infer as being female.

    5. more fiction

      Oooh, what science fiction are you into at the moment? I just finished watching The Expanse and am thinking I'll pick up MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood when I have some downtime (I love the other two books, but didn't really get into that one when I tried it previously). Ok, I'll stop geeking out off-topic now:-)

    6. Because, as you so aptly and simply noted at one point, “I learned!”

      I never figured I'd appreciate the space more than the game. That was really a revelation to me.

    7. Does it even matter that the foundational leadership is set and maintained, almost exclusively, by individuals who are (for lack of a better term) “outsiders” masquerading as “insiders”?

      To a certain extent, I'd say it doesn't if it's working. There is a reason why people stay in the space, and, I imagine, if power became over-played there would be a lot less going on here. However, as a concept, it starts to bring us back to some "big picture of humanity" concepts that revolve around power and control. It's difficult to not envision the utopian/dystopian visions that are currently popular in film and literature. And, you know, one person's Utopia is always someone else's Dystopia...

    8. questions about themes of agency, ownership, and vision

      Which relates nicely back to the discussion of agency, ownership and vision in Tategate (aka, Annospate:)). What are your rights as "owner" of a space? Of content? What are the boundaries/are there boundaries (I think Gamergate shows us that there are)? What happens when visions collide and who must give way?

    9. This is quite different than an in-person space.

      So true! It's hard to slip in and out of a room without anybody ever noticing. Not a big challenge online, most of the time.

    10. Because users can hide so easily online, it makes inappropriate behavior easier to engage in.

      I do sometimes find it surprising how differently people tend to behave if they think they won't be caught out...

    11. I am wondering how much control is too much?

      This is a really good question! Since I have no explicit examples of what's "too much" on the site, it's really hard to judge how much is actually being controlled. I suspect they don't crack down on every little disagreement, but I don't really know for sure...

    12. That’s a great learning attitude and I am very impressed with the way you delved into becoming a part of this affinity space.

      Thanks, Susan! I think it's good to push our personal boundaries (which you might also be able to relate to;-)). I'm glad to be working with a group of people that supports our forays, and, as Susannah suggests in her comments for Code Combat, it makes it much easier to explore when you know you've got a supportive space to head back to at the end of the day.

    13. I think there needs to be a distinction between administrators and leaders.

      Interesting thought!

    14. Did you come across any negative responses to your questions?

      I didn't get anything that I would consider a negative response. A few people were more inclined toward pointing "in the right direction" rather than explicitly helping, which I think is fairly common in forums. I, personally, find this annoying at times when I've been fairly explicit about having searched those areas. And, for the most part, I was framing questions in terms of opinion ("do you have a favorite resource for..."), rather than asking for any sort of set answer. It's not horrible to redirect questions, but it's not always treating someone as an individual with whom you're engaging in conversation, either. I'd say those were the least engaging moments of interaction overall.

    15. Did you feel restricted by these rules?

      I didn't really think about them while I was posting. I imagine most people don't really think about it unless they run into trouble...

    16. Does NOT see leadership as porous? Foundation of leadership maintained outside of the community?

      My thought here is that while there is a certain degree of conferred leadership (usually people who participate a lot or are known for having a particular expertise, perhaps a moderator), Squad members are employees and they have final control over how/what people are sharing within the Community. They are hired by a company (Squad), therefore, the company controls the appointed leadership of the space. Does that make more sense? Lisa suggests in her comment that she sees this as a different role (administrator rather than leader).

    17. Squad members have ultimate control and can choose to minimize what is “contested.” Although social learning when a positive discourse is present will most likely be collaborative and nurturing. However many great things can and do come out of what is contested.

      I wish that I had gotten a better picture of what would actually count as a flare-up since what is "moderated out" could span quite a range. I'm guessing that there's still room for discussion/disagreement, which wouldn't preclude contested or controversial discussion, as long as people were keeping a certain level of respect in their discourse. I'm guessing that some of those more technical conversations would be helpful in answering some of this point better as that's where "contested" information is more likely to show up. I wonder if searching the forums for "polite argument" would give me any results...

    18. Also what is the ESRB rating of this game?

      It doesn't appear to have one...CommonSenseMedia suggests 14+ and I see a few suggestions to parents around the web that say it would likely be an E-10+ because of the crashing and (un-depicted) death of crew (the Kerbals).

    19. One thought I had about the heavy moderation may be due to the educational quality of the game and nurturing focus of the affinity space.

      I think that's probably a good thought, although there's nothing that expressly states it anywhere. There is also the following guideline, which is interesting in relation to minors: "(4.4) Users under the age of 18 who reveal their age and/or face on official KSP community channels, may have their messages/photos removed for privacy purposes." Not sure if that is a common practice...

    1. What 3 features from Gee and Hayes (2008) describe your peer’s experience, and why?

      I come back to "individual and distributed knowledge" for this space. There are lots of examples of individualized experiences/knowledge sharing - that's probably particularly true here where people are more regularly needing feedback specific to their projects in order to move forward. However, from your tour of the space, it seems like there are also many places where distributed knowledge is important and useful because it allows people to get the less project-specific "stuff" out of the way without waiting for individualized answers.

    2. How would you describe your peer’s experience learning in another setting (i.e. not Canvas, not a “classroom”) as complementary to our other course activities?

      It seems like you were somewhat inclined to bounce ideas/experiments off of your affinity space to see what would happen. I like this aspect of your presentation as it illustrates an awareness of, and a playfulness with, our somewhat constructed experiences in these various spaces we’ve chosen I think your approach highlights the usefulness of "trying it out" in settings other than just the classroom in order to better understand real life applications, limitations and practicalities.

    3. How did other members of the affinity space respond?

      I enjoyed your analysis of different types of contributions versus the various types of responses you received. If I understand correctly, more interest and response seem to be generated when you posted things that were geared toward catching the eye of the more active members. You also mention that short responses to discussion threads seemed to get more likes and that you could get a higher Retweet count when you included key terms to get the bots to take over pushing your Tweets.

    4. Please respond to at least one question from each of the following question sets aligned to the criteria of our affinity space project.

      I like this setup for adding responses via hypothes.is! Posting in segments is a bit easier on the brain, I think.

    5. What are the cultural norms – the means of interaction and discussion – that are prominent in this space? And why?

      From your descriptions, it sounds like the vast majority of the time people are providing feedback, which can include constructive criticism, brainstorming and polite support, with the general push toward encouraging people to continue forward with their ideas, although that encouragement might also come with some practical “heads up” about the realities of what they’re trying to accomplish (I’m thinking of the responses to “BingoBob” that certainly included ideas for moving forward, but also added a bit of a reality check to the situation). Did you see any areas where people got testy or defensive? What happened if the conversation started going downhill?

  9. Apr 2016
    1. Students with digital access can now go to the library and pore over the books they are most interested in, with or without permission, with or without curriculum, and generally entirely without a rubric, learning outcomes, or scaffolding.

      And yet I think it's also important to understand that while digital natives (aka, the children being taught now) may understand how to use a device and access a wealth of information, they will still need help learning the underpinnings and contexts in which technology fits into our lives and societies (and also ways in which it might not). Being a good digital citizen and having an understanding of what technology affords you as an individual/us as a society has a great deal of value.

    2. The digital isn’t magic.

      Harry Potter!! Who went to a very low tech school, from what I could tell...

    3. But it would be a mistake to think that what I do is digital, because what I really do is human.

      Love this quote! I think this perspective helps get rid of some of the stereotyping people are prone to when it comes to the digital divide among professionals.

    1. easily manipulated by parents or teachers

      Ha! The people who think that haven't met many teens:)

      Also, does the highlighting on this annotation match up for readers? It doesn't look right on my screen...

    2. As he developed an interest in local places he used media design to share his ideas, which in turn further immersed him in his community. This student’s learning trajectory illustrates the potential of place– based design to develop students’ sense of place

      It would be interesting to see if/how this experience impacted the student over time. Did the interest in the local community and local issues "stick"?

    3. . Engaging in ethnographic work at the Capitol provided a unique opportunity for the class to experience the protests from a different perspec-tive.

      Adding back in the personal/human element after the more removed/distancing research. I like the structure of this.

  10. gamesandlearning.files.wordpress.com gamesandlearning.files.wordpress.com
    1. These conversations ranged from concerns over the increased ability of mobile service providers to collect personal data to school policies regarding cell phone use

      Yay! I'm glad this was part of the conversation.

    2. Because most of the students adapted quickly to the environment, we were able to spend additional time working with those who needed additional support

      I wonder if they had a back-up strategy for if this had been inverted...

    3. the creative use of constraints

      Not the first place that we've discussed "constraints" in this course, but I like this perspective from a design standpoint. Adding constraints thoughtfully and with purpose in order to give shape to the vision. Which we see in all games that have rules (and that we sometimes adjust to better fit our own visions:)).

    1. gameful learning as one interpretation of game-based learning

      The anthropologist in me particularly appreciates this statement! Interpretation and perspective is key to understanding culture (including gaming and learning culture:)) and acknowledging that there can be legitimate differences in interpretation is important.

    1. is thevery real possibility that a change in leadership might derail the currently supported courses,models and ongoing vision.

      This is a rough one - different visions can really make or break a budding program or initiative.

    2. legitimized a games teaching andresearch agenda for faculty and students shared between disciplines

      The cross-discipline approach is a pretty straightforward way of allowing people to customize their learning within the structure of the institution!

    3. At one point, she described the emotionalconnection with her avatar allowing her to construct a narrative, which led toself-expression and a more meaningful learning experience

      Interesting

    1. These pursuits not only improve theirprofessionalism but also encourage lifetime learning habits and sharing of ideas and whendone, they experience the thrill of expertise by sharing what they know back to the class

      Yes! The short game helps with the long game.

    2. For high level learners to go beyond points and be comfortablewith defining and pursuing learning goals under the mentorship of an instructor is, in myopinion, one of the finest outcomes of quest-based learning

      This is a nice statement about what the author sees as meaningful. I also find myself in agreement as both an instructor and a learner - it's pretty exciting to get to the point where the learning connections start to branch out from the main core of the class in constructive ways. It also takes a confident instructor/mentor to feel comfortable with this!

  11. Mar 2016
    1. The company may make those claims under the agreement if "defendants possess and rely upon competent and reliable scientific evidence to substantiate that the representation is true."

      I was happy to see a clause that they can go back to making their claims if they gather appropriate evidence - it makes the precedent much clearer if people are referring back to this case that with proper evidence, you would be welcome to market your game/brain product/whatever as a tool. I think that's important when we're talking about what games might actually do for people.

    1. It's a common language that we can use to talk about these larger societal and social concerns.

      And isn't that part of why people end up feeling territorial over it? Because it's common and "naturalized" and people don't want to feel bad about themselves and their lifestyles? If only self-reflection didn't make people feel all insecure! It's a highly underrated skill...

    1. I’ve had this argument about whether it was “technically” rape

      This reminds me of a Language and Gender class I took in 2004; people in general were very uncomfortable discussing rape in broader contexts (aka, outside of violent attacks). We also discussed sexual harassment and abuse within online gaming communities. Gaming communities weren't as popular at that time, and many classmates felt like something happening "virtually" didn't count - almost to the point where people didn't understand why we were even discussing the topic. It would be interesting to know what a class of undergrads would have to say today; I wonder if the perspective has changed much (from some of our current reading, I would guess that it hasn't!).

  12. Feb 2016
    1. Certainly I referenced my notes when writing a paper.

      It's difficult to organize the digital annotations well enough for them to be easily referenced later. I can find some things through the tags, some through ctrl f, and some by revisiting the text, but it's more challenging than I would have thought. Makes me miss my tabbed notebooks...

    1. -ification is always easy and repeatable, and it's usually bullshit.

      In anthropology, part of the writing style I learned was to, basically, always qualify one's conclusions since one is never the definitive interpreter of cultures, behaviors, etc. However, the application of qualifiers to nouns is oddly different and can be quite subversive. Which, I think, is part of the point here!

    1. We are just beginning to identify and assess these emerging sets of social skills and culturalcompetencies.

      We probably all have examples of these skills and competencies that we have had to acquire along the way. I like to contemplate in what ways this has always been true for humans (think about your range of relatives and what feels different versus natural for each) and in what ways this time period is unique for these changes.

    2. students were learning how to read information from and throughgames, but they were not yet learning how to read games as texts, constructed with their ownaesthetic norms, genre conventions, ideological biases, and codes of representation

      This is such an important skill - I would love to see more, also, about teaching to create and critique one's own work (along the lines of "with great power comes great responsibility")

    3. every child deserves the chance to express him- or herselfthrough words, sounds, and images, even if most will never write, perform, or draw profession-ally. Having these experiences, we believe, changes the way youth think about themselves andalters the way they look at work created by others

      I would like to change this to say, "every person" rather than "every child" - I think it's important to regard all ages as benefiting from artistic expression, and I would suggest that it's fairly common for people to trivialize non-professional creativity in adults.

    1. A design tool like Scratch can promote the reciprocal development of individual and community, enable youth to ex-press their cultural heritage, have a broad communi-cative value, and allow for information and resource exchange (Pinkett 2000)
    2. Jerrell, Chandelle, and Jorge to implement ideas that are personally meaning-ful to them without having to conform to a designer’s aesthetics or to a choice of genre that may not be ap-pealing to marginalized groups.

      I would have been interested in knowing more about the individual responses of these youth in relation to the game design experience. I would also be interested in knowing how much of the "inspired by" designs adjusted cultural aesthetics to match the youth-designer's vision and how much they tended to try and repeat what their exposure to the original games taught them about game aesthetics.

    3. Interfaces happen to be one of the most difficult artifacts to design, because many assumptions about human interaction are built in, as-sumptions that most people are not aware of unless faced with designing them.

      This makes me consider the concept of human communication in an even broader sense! Probably everyone on the planet could work on this one..

    4. technical and creative fluencies that are complexly intertwined, helping them to organize and coordinate multiple events and types of meaning-making systems in the process. We call this intermix of technology and gaming practices “gaming fluencies” because youth became fluent not only in game design but in technol-ogy design.

      If you were working with this group of youth, how would you help them relate their game design experiences back to technology design in general? Do you think it's necessary to be explicit about the relations in order to make them meaningful to the learner?

    5. Our central argument is that gaming fluencies, like gaming literacies, promote valuable learning goals in the design of games but do so in addition to developing technology fluency (National Research Council 1999).

      For additional reading, if you're interested: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/6482/being-fluent-with-information-technology

      What evidence best supports this argument? Anywhere that the argument falls short?

    6. Our interest in gaming fluency has involved the creation of a more general tool that is not specific to game design.

      This makes sense as they indicated that gaming fluency includes technical implementation as well as creative production in their earlier definition.

    7. We define gaming fluencies to include not only the critical evaluation of game designs but the creative production and technological implemen-tation of those designs.

      Does this definition/terminology affect your view of the topic? Why is it important to include?

    8. he scope of Club-house game production and the variety of game designs we observed provide evidence that game-making activi-ties can authentically connect youth to multiple expert communities, including the game-design industry, the gamer community, programming communities, and visual arts and design communities.
    9. Jorge began to mentor other inspired youth in the creation of their own games
    10. support alternative path-ways toward gaming fluencies and, more broadly, the new literacies important to 21st-century learning
    11. archive shows that youth engaged heavily both in learning to program and in designing the types of interactions that players would have with one another as well as with the computer-crucial technology fluencies that underpin most con-temporary technologie
    12. suggests that more complex forms of human-to-computer interaction need to be an explicit part of youths’ exploration of Scratch.
    13. The increased breadth and frequency of challenging programming concepts in the second year of the study indicates that the Clubhouse community had become more adept at programming with experience—another central component of creat-ing a sustainable video game design community
    14. hese findings indicate that the Clubhouse members were widely incorporating aspects of aesthetic and audio design, enhancing the professional value and personal quality of their work
    15. But do these game designs represent the full range of gaming fluencies?
    16. game designs: three Case studies

      As you read through the case studies, what stands out to you? What are your initial thoughts in relation to these stories?

    17. peer-to-peer mentoring

      Consider Salen's Litmus Test stages...

    18. Work in Scratch established one’s membership within the Clubhouse community
    19. In ad-dition, Scratch was quick to be adopted in the Club-house because of rules and norms that supported a design-based approach to learning as well as the presence of mentors and knowledgeable peers
    20. Our goal was to capture the range of gaming fluencies that emerged over the course of the study.
    21. We believe this distinction is arbitrary and neglects to take into account the design process and community in which game design with Scratch is situated.

      What do you think about this statement? Do you have an opinion about "arbitrary" versus "not arbitrary" in this instance?

    22. By providing opportunities for underrepresented youth to participate in making games, we hope they can be vehicles of change as both critical consumers and designers in an industry that has an increasing importance for schools and society at large.
    23. game play is not the only approach to becoming literate in gam-ing; writing reviews or “modding” game components can be equally instrument

      Or, perhaps, even scholarly inquiry and reflection? Time to write some blog posts, everyone!

    24. Gaming literacy is the understanding of the narratives, rules, and economies that provide the semiotic structures of games, whereas creative produc-tion involves transformation of different resources and assets pertaining to games
    25. design computer games that would teach younger students in their school about fractions.

      How cool is that?!

    26. One of the first studies to address game produc-tion for learning did not come out of the traditional strands in these academic communities but built on efforts to construe design as a new pedagogy for learning with technology.
    27. address the following general research question: What do youth learn in the process of designing games?
    28. approach differs from these other efforts in that we use game produc-tion not just as a way to promote gaming literacy in the broadest sense but to enhance the technological fluency that disadvantaged youth particularly need
    1. hat gamification systems need to either allow different ways for users to achieve goals so that users can be involved in the ways most meaningful to them or to allow users to set their own goals and achievements.
    2. n, meaningful gamification puts the needs and goals of the users over the needs of the organizatio
    3. Another example of meaningful gamification is the display of the Toyota Prius. This game-like display shows the driver if power is coming from the fuel or battery, and when power is being directed back into the battery. The driver can get information about how their driving is affecting t
    4. A class of examples of meaningful gamification is most Alternate Reality Games (ARGs). In these games, game elements are used to tell a story that is based upon a non-game setting
    5. . Ensuring that there are a variety of ways for the "what", the "how", and the "why" will allow more users to find meaningful connections to the

      I assume that "who" is sort of built in, but do you see a place for "where" and "when" here as well?

    6. 011b). Putting these two theories together means that for meaningful gamification, it is important to take into consideration the background that the user brings to the activity and the organizational context into which the specific activity is placed. A significant challenge in creating this type of a broad system is developing a strategy to encompass a wide variety of user backgrounds, desires, and skillsets

      It might also be interesting to consider if a strategy could be too broad. Is a activity intended to spark motivation in most/all individuals likely to succeed? Is it possible to make an activity flexible enough that the appeal can easily be shifted depending on the audience? As an instructor/designer, what kind of resources would be needed for such an endeavor?

    7. ns, students should be able to select the way in which they demonstrate how they have met learning outcomes. The result is a course that is meaningful for a wider variety of learners (
    8. at a user is motivated by an aspect of a system only when there is a match between that aspect and the background of the
    9. . Two users with the same search query will have different information backgrounds, so that a document that is relevant for one user may not be relevant to another use
    10. l influence. OIT explores how different types of external motivations can be integrated with the underlying activity into someone’s own sense of se
    11. Organismic Integration Theory

      I think I could pretty much highlight this whole passage, but I will resist. Again, any real life examples out there?

    12. there are more effective ways than a scoring system to engage use

      Before the author offers ideas, do you have any to share?

    13. "pointsification

      @midnight? Sorry...had to.

    14. programs. These gamification programs can increase the use of a service and change behavior, as users work toward meeting these goals to reach external rewards (Zichermann & Cunningham, 2011, p. 27)

      Anyone have either a positive or negative experience with gamification they'd like to share?

    1. I don’t think reality is broken. It’s messed up and horrifying, sure, but we don’t get to fix it, ever. It’s flawed and messy and delightful and repellent and stunning. Reality is alright
    2. where she values happiness and epic wins, I value wonder and sublimity

      While the Bogost specifies that he and McGonigal are not opposites, this is an interesting "versus" comparison considering that Bogost said several times that he is not as optimistic as McGonigal. Yet, McGonigal wrote a book about reality being broken, where Bogost says, essentially, that reality is what it is. Which is more optimistic in your view? Where do values come into play? How do your own values affect your view of the topic?

    3. tend to see my games as troubling the idea of solutions rather than leading us toward them

      In what ways would you agree and/or disagree with this statement about games that "engage problems?"

    4. claims that games can save the world

      Since we aren't reading the book itself, this might be a bit off-topic, but do you have any initial responses to these ideas from Reality is Broken that Bogost highlights?

    5. I need to remember that reality is always a mess. That’s not tragedy to me. It’s the unstoppable infinity of being.
    6. we never save the world
    7. we don’t occupy game worlds because the real world isn’t happy or fun enough, but because we need help embracing that real world through the properties of ambiguity and intricacy that make games like the world in the first place
    8. One can only hope that McGonigal’s book scores an epic win against the trite, simplistic trends in “gamification” that her smart, sophisticated ideas overshadow
    9. playing and making games like Evoke not only make people happier (she calls game designers “happiness engineers”), but also inspire people to collaborate to solve problems
    10. “ARG” to mean any game that integrates itself with the real world
    1. The subject serves as a gateway

      This is an interesting statement because I would argue that gateways are often necessary components to moving into different realms of interest. They suggest to me a place to start - a foundation. Where does foundational knowledge come from if some of these concepts are not explored independent of a driving passion? How does one discover a passion if one is only participating in that for which one has a passion? How do we connect our passions back to broader concepts if we do not have the foundational knowledge to communicate with language/understanding that is shared by a wider audience? I feel like there is something missing...or maybe I'm just missing something!

    2. An important question for further research is how nurturing affinity spaces are initiated, by whom, and how they are sustained over time.

      Do we know if any of this research has been done in the meantime? **Note to self to look into it!

    3. ven a visitor who has come only once to the news room is ―in‖ the affinity space and part of what defines the space

      But that visitor is not necessarily afforded any rights within the group that runs the newsroom. There are still a lot of social structures that have to be dealt with and complexities of interaction. Does the visitor feel to be a part of the affinity space if the news reporters and editors aren't interested in interacting? Depends on a variety of factors. Might belonging then be more dependent upon the perspective of the visitor (which is likely related to what they came to accomplish)?

    4. Within a space, various other sorts of (sub-)group membership criteria or norms can be set up

      So the affinity space is the general population (you belong because "you are"/you were interested enough to show up), and these groups then be the niche spaces that may have their own rules (and might be less open). This will be interesting as part of our exploration of affinity spaces to discover if the sub-groups have a lot of impact on the experience. I imagine it really depends on the original space and what it provides to users. Makes me start contemplating "ownership" of spaces and groups.

  13. Jan 2016
    1. a game has to communicate successfully to its players how to play, orit will, in some sense, fail to exist full

      This point is intriguing to me as it suggests a marker for when a game might need to be abandoned or revisited as a learning tool (if the learners don't understand the play structure). But I think this is often also a transformative point - how often do players then just make their own rules and forge ahead? This reminds me of Susannah's comment in the Games, gods and grades article; transformative points may be useful in that they can allow the learner/players to be more in charge of the game/problem. However, there is a lot to consider in how/why/when this may or may not work!