LEEF Blog

Creating Characters for eLearning

Thanks to Jennifer Kerwin for this guest post. Jennifer is presenting at LEEF on creating health education games for children. She is an Instructional Designer in the Learning Solutions department at JPL.

When I first started as a Management Development Trainer, a colleague and I had an ongoing debate about the need to be a performer when facilitating.  We agreed that proper facilitation requires charisma and the best facilitators we knew had a personality that lent to their presentation.  However, we disagreed about who was the star of the show.  He held that to some extent the session was about the facilitator, while I argued that the session was about the content and the learner’s connection with it.  He wanted the presentation to be memorable.  I wanted to ensure learning for everyone in the room.

Ten years later as an Instructional Designer, I strive to create memorable characters that will balance these two opinions.  I’ve learned to use characters as facilitators in eLearning modules, simulations and videos.  My biggest challenge is quickly developing a character the audience will relate to and remember, without detracting from the content. The goal is that each learning event that I create grabs the learner’s attention while communicating the content and ultimately transferring the knowledge to the learner.

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Serious Games to Change the World

Watch Jane McGonigal’s video.  She’s a game designer, games researcher, and, in her own words, a “future forecaster”. She is the Director of Games Research and Development at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California. Jane researchers how the games people play today shape the real-world future. Her mission is to design games that will solve real-world problems and ultimately change human behavior to save the world and ensure a better future! A difficult task by any means, but after listening to her 2010 TED presentation, her seemingly impossible ideas become not only possible, but absolutely practical as well.

Watch her 2010 TED presentation: “Gaming can change the world” on Jane’s blog. Find undoubtable inspiration in the power of serious games to change the real world and attend LEEF 2010 to learn more about the technology, resources and research associated with serious games.

A federal budget video game?

According to mashable.com, USA Today reported that the Obama administration’s Bowles-Simpson fiscal commission has been working with Microsoft to make a computer game about managing the US federal budget and deficit. The game is only one small aspect of the commission’s broader objectives and ideas for dealing with the nation’s rising deficit and other fiscal challenges. The game will be available to anyone with access to a computer, where the user will be tasked with balancing the federal budget. While the game will not be a completely realistic simulation of the task, as it would be too complex and no one would want to play, it will embody the true and difficult nature of the task. The commission hopes the players will become more sympathetic to the difficult and controversial decisions the commission will have to make as the game demonstrates that there are no ideal options in balancing the budget. 

This is an excellent example of how serious games may be used to increase public involvement in and their understanding of government tactics dealing with national problems. It is easy to point fingers and blame the government for their inability to solve problems like health care reform, jobs loss, and education when totally unaware of the complexities and obstacles of the task. By creating serious games, the federal government is not only encouraging individuals to help “solve” the problems, but to also support public involvement in and knowledge of the challenges the government is tasked with overcoming. Serious games may also create a greater level of support, sympathy and interest in the government’s efforts to solve these problems, decreasing the gap between the people and their government.   

Read the article on mashable.com.

The LEEF 2010 conference will discuss the current uses and possibilities of serious games in education and training, as well as the future of serious games. LEEF will also offer the opportunity to learn about emerging technologies in the gaming industry and demo some of these technologies. Register for LEEF 2010 now!

Emerging technologies and their potential impact on games, simulations and virtual worlds

Thanks to Andy Petroski for this guest post. Andy is a co-coordinator of LEEF and Director and Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University.

The learning field is often influenced by entertainment and communication technologies that can be repurposed from their original intent to impact learning solutions (e.g. video, the web, games, virtual worlds).  The adoption of entertainment and communication technologies for learning is such a prevalent activity that Harrisburg University has created the Center for Advanced Entertainment and Learning Technologies (CAELT) to focus on such opportunities.

In fact, one element of the upcoming Learning and Entertainment Evolution Forum (LEEF) at Harrisburg University on June 17 & 18 is the High Tech Demo area.  The area at LEEF will allow attendees to view and interact with emerging technologies that may have an impact on games, simulations and virtual worlds for learning.

While it’s extremely difficult to predict what technology will be made available to education and training organizations that may impact learning, there are three (3) types of technologies that are gaining traction in the entertainment and communication spaces that I think the learning industry should keep an eye on.

Augmented Reality

In general, augmented reality technology allows virtual information to be “overlayed” or experienced in conjunction with the physical world.  Augmented reality technology has already had an impact on learning solutions for automotive and vehicle repair, especially in the military (http://tiny.cc/cbma3).  But, most of the applications have been in entertainment, retail and advanced mapping (http://tiny.cc/7tsf8).  While more advanced and immersive applications require a “heads-up display” (http://www.vuzix.com/iwear/index.html), augmented reality can also be smart phone- or kiosk-based.  There will be two examples of augmented reality in the High Tech Demo area at LEEF.  Criterion Systems will demonstrate its augmented reality applications for training, including the opportunity to use the Vuzix heads-up display eyewear.  And, Microsoft will be demonstrating Surface technology that allows the tabletop computing device to interact with “tagged” physical items for enhanced shopping, entertainment and asset management experiences.

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New High Tech Demonstrations

Three new high tech demonstrations have been added to LEEF including Virtusphere and MicrosoftSurface .                                                                                                                     

Technologies on the Horizon

The Horizon Project is the product of a series of ongoing conversations and dialogues of technology professionals, campus technologists, faculty leaders from colleges and universities, and representatives of leading corporations from more than two dozen countries. The result is the publication of a report focused on the emerging technologies relevant to higher education based on published and unpublished research, articles, papers, scholarly blogs, and websites. The Horizon Report specifically includes a list of the key technologies, trends, challenges, and issues that knowledgeable people in technology industries, higher education, and learning-focused organizations are thinking about. http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2010/

2010 Horizon Report

Executive Summary

The annual work of the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Project, a qualitative research project established in 2002 that identifies and describes emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative inquiry on college and university campuses within the next five years. The 2010 Horizon Report is the seventh in the series and is produced as part of an ongoing collaboration between the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), an EDUCAUSE program.

In each edition of the Horizon Report, six emerging technologies or practices are described that are likely to enter mainstream use on campuses within three adoption horizons spread over the next one to five years. Each report also presents critical trends and challenges that will affect teaching and learning over the same time frame.

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Gameration 4: Implementing Games and Simulations within a Generational Context

Thanks Andy Petroski and Josh Stroup for their guest posst. Andy is a co-coordinator of LEEF and Director and Assistant Professor of Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University.  Josh Stroup is President of QTS Performance Solutions in Harrisburg PA.

Read Gameration 1
Read Gameration 2
Read Gameration 3

In this series, we’re taking a look at how the generation (Boomers, Generation X or Generation Y) might impact the way an individual thinks about and engages in games and ways in which learning professionals can adjust the game and simulation to address the expectations of each generation.  As we explore the generations keep in mind the characteristics are generalizations of the generation and not necessarily accurate for any one individual. 

This blog post summarizes the previous three gameration posts by listing game design approaches for each generation and indicating common approaches to game design that can address the preferences of all generations. Read the rest of this entry »

Avatars help train social workers

This article by Lydia Dishman posted on the Fast Company website demonstrates another invaluable use of avatars and serious games.

Lieutenant Rocco’s recently returned from deployment in Iraq and he’s having trouble acclimating. He sits near the edge of a sofa in his social worker’s office, still dressed in fatigues, and sporting a buzz cut. Even though he says he’s okay, he admits to getting flack from his boss about his lack of productivity and that he’s arguing with his wife. “There are things I don’t want to talk about with her. Things I can’t get out of my head,” he says.

The more you listen in on Lieutenant Rocco’s session, the easier it becomes to forget the slightly odd cadences of his speech and the blocky outlines of his clothing which point out that the Lieutenant isn’t a real person. He’s a digital avatar designed to be a training tool as part of University of Southern California School of Social Work’s curriculum for the Master of Social Work degree with a Sub-concentration in Military Social Work. A virtual patient like Lieutenant Rocco teaches prospective counselors how to deal with soldiers returning from duty where they may have witnessed life-altering atrocities.

Read the full article at: http://www.fastcompany.com/1648674/learning-to-heal-wounded-warriors-with-digital-avatars and learn about create new ways to use avatars and serious games at LEEF 2010.

Go to http://leefblog.com/ to register now!

Will Technology Enhance Learning in the Future?

Derek Morrison discusses his views on the possibilities of technology in 2015. He uses the historic evolution of technology and its role in education to project where technology will go and what it will be used for in the future. But Morrison pauses to argue what technology in education should offer the learner. That is to say that while there may be endless possibilities, not all are effective in providing excellent learning solutions.  

Go to http://www.auricle.org/auriclewp/?p=4152 to read the full article.

How do you see technology transforming the future of education? Does technology truly provide innovative learning solutions? If not, how can technology be used to be effective?

IBM Unveils New “Serious Game” To Tackle Urban Challenges

The Society for Applied Learning Technology or SALT website recently posted a news release announcing that IBM is unveiling a new serious game that uses a multiplayer, sim-style game to address real-world challenges in urban settings.

Armonk, NY – 03 May 2010 – IBM today announced CityOne, a new “serious game” that can help customers, business partners and students discover how to make cities and their industries smarter by solving real-world business, environmental and logistical problems. Based on decades of experience in solving business challenges in creative ways, IBM “serious” games are designed to train the workforce of tomorrow. Details on the latest serious game from IBM will be unveiled on May 4, during the IMPACT 2010 conference in Las Vegas.

Historically, simulation gaming has been used extensively in the military, by athletes and by scientists to discover effective new strategies and techniques and develop the skills needed to implement them. These simulations have migrated into the entertainment space and spawned a new generation of what are known as massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs). In these online games, players from all over the globe log into realistic and real-time virtual worlds via the Internet; they learn different roles and skill sets, and come together in self-selecting teams to collaborate and carry out missions in pursuit of common goals. Businesses have realized the value of this and are deploying their own games to create life-like simulations of real markets, customers and business situations that they deal with every day. 

“Enterprises are increasingly adopting Web 2.0 collaboration tools to appeal to a new generation entering the workforce that grew up immersed in social media technologies,” said Lisa Rowan, director HR, Learning, and Talent Strategies research IDC. “Training will need to follow suit by incorporating interactivity and gaming to be relevant to this new workforce.” 

To read the full article go to http://www.salt.org/salt.asp?pn=industry&ss=l

What are the implications of this “game”? Could this be repurposed for other situations or real challenges in society, politics, or the environment?