HGSET545

I found the recaps of these seminars (and the handbook linked from this page) very interesting. Seminar 2 specifically focuses on the role of narrative--at what point it should enter the design process, how it can increase motivation and enjoyment or serve as a distraction, issues with traditional narrative in an interactive medium, etc. This quote from the Seminar 2 overview reminded me of relatedness from SDT Theory: "It was agreed that a quality necessary for engagement with narrative was that of identification with characters or a situation (an example was given from a mine disaster simulation with junior children, where the degree of engagement with the narrative content due to the identification with the victims drove the experience forward). Authenticity could also contribute to engagement. Whilst hard to pin down, it could mean authenticity for the children in cultural terms or in terms of being a 'human' story, one of a kind which resonates for them."

This article talks about how studios making MMOs for children are providing free usage but capitalizing on its engagement potential to take advantage of children's purchasing power.

Devices like the iPad are new and fun and give children an incentive to read, including those who might be reluctant. It's a new motivation to explore reading. However, the concern is that parents rely too much on them and stop engagement with their young children.

This organization develops projects that specialize in game-based learning.

If everyone is learning to write code for the internet, will we see an explosion of new sites, apps, and even games?

A very short clip about a "great model" in the game industry (microtransactions) that allows EA to take advantage of a player's engagement.

Professor Dede is mentioned in this article

PAX East, a gaming convention is being held in Boston April 6-8, 2012 and there seems to be some relevant panels. Let me know if anyone is going!

Looks like another interesting panel at PAX East.

Marc Prensky, gaming guru. Author of a popular set of books on the subject.

For those interested in Early Learning, here's a handy library of digital media resources curated by the Fred Rogers Center.

"Activity oriented toward intrinsic goals, almost by definition, is play." - Peter Gray I was struck by this quote because I've thinking a lot about motivation and engagement in terms of games, but haven't really been thinking about EMF in terms of play.

In a world dominated by iPad news , a story on Kindle - motivating kids to read

It's nice to know that there is actually a "museum of play".

An opinion piece addressing the iPad in higher education hype: Lindsay Pund is a junior studying English and Business at Whitworth University. She is completing several writing assignments for a class and was given the topic by the Tech.pinions columnists of forming an opinion on iPad and higher education from a college students perspective.

Although the idea of an iPad for every student may struggle to come to fruition for a few years, Augmented Reality textbooks are paving the way for a smooth transition. Japanese publishing company Tokyo Shoseki is producing textbooks that support AR apps on smartphones, bringing characters to life for students to listen to.

A set of cards that help design better games

This resource was shared during a web session with HGSE alum Bharat. It's a great resource if you're designing games.

Prof. Gardner is just back from India and meeting with a contingent of HGSE students from India for debrief tomorrow morning. Perhaps i'll get to ask him his take on aspects of this article.

Investigating how our hyper-consumption of media affects attention and engagement.

"Intel won't actually manufacturer the product, but it will offer the design license for free to any company interested in making it." Maybe the first open source hardware example I've seen. Will be interesting to see what, if any, effect this has on the ed tech tablet market.