Group items tagged

An interesting challenge... and a claim about games

Though geared to the for-profit tech and design industry, this article describes what designers at Ziba learned in 2012. How might we apply these insights to education?

Resource to consider for those working on game design; include

math learning management influenced by game design. 

On a study break, I rediscovered this quite addictive, simple game that I think captures the ideas of flow quite nicely. I think the simple design, exponential scoring, soothing music, great art, and realistic physics make it quite immersive (for better or for worse!)

The music, the challenge of hitting the bells, the fact that the bells actually add some 'harmony' to the music, the high score at the end of the game. Simply brilliant. Thanks for sharing it!

is this the right approach?

Although learning game design is valuable in itself, the learning objectives are vague and feedback doesn't seem to be embedded in the process. Gamestar claims that the game is adaptable to all content areas, however, without learning objectives from the outset students may master game design without learning classroom subject matter.

Article talks about the state of voice-recognition and how we might better design interfaces and technology to adapt to how we need our devices to gather greater context about what we are asking.

Two years ago, Bijani finished designing the world's first combat flight simulator for the blind: It is called Three-D Velocity, and it is now hugely popular. Gamers say it takes entertainment for the blind to the next level. Three-D Velocity sells for $43.99 on Bijani's website, and it has been downloaded more than 11,000 times since it first launched. All for a game with no graphics, on a computer screen that is blank, except for the name at the top. It's widely regarded as one of the best "audio games" on the market.

Good summary of the principles for designing learning experiences. 

An application-oriented paper that explores designing effective learning games through the use of Flow, Motivation and Fun.

Katy Salen's views - but what does the research say?

This is such a well-designed learning platform! 

How's your Spanish/Italian going? Do you think this site is good for fostering creativity as well as memorization?

TED Talks Chip Kidd doesn't judge books by their cover, he creates covers that embody the book -- and he does it with a wicked sense of humor. In one of the funniest talks from TED2012, he shows the art and deep thought of his cover designs. This video is entertaining and picks up the content at 8:30. Kidd is an expert at grabbing someone's attention in a glance. Intriguing applications.

This article talks about a participatory design initiative with undergraduates at Utah State University to determine how higher education could be transformed into a more engaging and cohesive experience. "What if we put students in the driver's seat of a new kind of R&D to transform higher education? One that provided a platform for engaging students more fully in a real world effort that also involved faculty, administrators, support services and more?"

Strong claims (with no evidence) about games and learning

Hey Guys, this is an Atlantic article a friend sent me awhile ago and I thought some of you might think it's interesting. It's about Jonathan Blow a video game designer with a unique taste. He's in the process of creating The Witness a game that is more artistic, contemplative, and zen-like than FPS type games. This is a long article and to be honest I didn't read all of it, but if you're interested there's a video half way down that gives you an idea of what The Witness will look like. He says users will really have to observe, pay attention and think in order to play the game. Seems interesting to me!

Really cool!

I agree! It really makes me want to play Braid and keep an eye out for The Witness (which rings a bell--I wonder where else I heard about it...). This article paints a vivid picture of the game designer and the type of art he makes. Thanks for sharing!