[arg_discuss] Designing an educational ARG?

[William Killeen]

Hey Richard,

My company is currently designing our first educational ARG for use in
training our government clients. We are located near Baltimore, MD (quite a
drive, but still pretty close to Richmond). While I do not know how open we
can be with our development process (certain disclosure agreements would
need to be signed), I thought you would like to know that we are developing
an ARG for the exact purpose you are describing, with clear learning
objectives and overseen by an Instructional Design team.

If you would like to talk, you can reach me at wjkilleen at gmail.com.

Sincerely,
William Killeen


On 1/17/07, arg_discuss-request at igda.org <arg_discuss-request at igda.org>
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>    1. Designing an educational ARG? (Richard Sebastian)

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> Message: 1

> Date: Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:54:39 -0500

> From: "Richard Sebastian" <rasebastian at comcast.net>

> Subject: [arg_discuss] Designing an educational ARG?

> To: arg_discuss at igda.org

> Message-ID:

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>

> Just wanted to make another post to this list in the hopes of

> connecting with any ARGers who are currently designing (or planning to

> design) an educational ARG.  Christy Dena has contacted me about some

> research possibilities (thanks, Christy), but I thought I would also

> repost this plea to the entire ARG Sig list .

>

> For my dissertation, I am very interested in researching an ARG

> designed for pedagogical use (or at least with some specific learning

> objectives). The learning setting can be formal or informal, and it

> can be designed to take place in any milieu--K12, corporate training,

> post-secondary. My degree is in Instructional Technology, so although

> my background is in adult basic education, I am not limited to

> studying a particular population.

>

> My idea is to observe/study the ARG design process from its beginning,

> conducting interviews with the designers and any other design

> participants.  Then I would observe the game as it unfolded (either

> face-to-face, or online, depending on the design). I would also want

> to conduct ongoing interviews with the participating

> teacher/instructor and, eventually, with the player/students. The

> interviews with the players would probably take place after the game

> is completed so as to not interrupt the gameplay.

>

> I have had some difficulty these past few months locating potential

> ARGs being planned for this kind of use, so a back-up option is to

> examine an already completed educational ARG--following  procedures

> similar to the ones listed above, only without the observation of

> unfolding gameplay.

>

> My interest is to explore the potential educational applications of

> ARGs--the design decisions made to adapt the ARG to meeting a

> particular learning goal,  the process of maintaining the

> immersiveness and engagement of the game, and,  for ARGs designed

> around a limited enrollment class/group,  the methods  teachers and

> designers use to encourage and sustain a community of players from a

> smaller, more localized population.

>

> Currently, there is quite of bit of research on the use of video games

> for teaching and learning. While I know there are big differences

> between video games and ARGs, both types of games can encourage social

> play and deep engagement. Also, both types are games can be extremely

> complex and challenging. But I  feel that ARGs can be implemented in

> an educational setting much more practically and much more

> successfully than video games.

>

> Anyway, if you know of any of these types of ARGs, or if you re

> designing an educational ARG and wouldn't mind me conducting a study

> of the game, I would appreciate it if you contacted me at the email

> address below. I am willing to travel if I need to (within reason). I

> am based in Richmond, Virginia in the US, so the closer to the East

> Coast the better.:)

>

> Thanks for your time.

> --

> Richard A. Sebastian

> sebastian at virginia.edu

> Skype: seethruskeleton

> SL: LaMancha Undertone

> http://richardsebastian.com

>

>

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> End of ARG_Discuss Digest, Vol 16, Issue 9

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-- 
William Killeen
http://williamkilleen.squarespace.com/