Developing Teen Leaders with

3D Games

Lisa Dawley, Ph.D.Chris Haskell

Dept. of Educational TechnologyBoise State University

3D GameLabSummer 2010 teen camp

Goal: teen leadership via meta-gaming and multimedia production

17 teens, ages 13-17

2 teen teaching assistants

2 instructors, 2 teacher-player participants

Wiki with blog

Mobile mac lab and game stations

Guildies

Design-based research

Plan, implement, and evaluate based on anticipated student needs

Generate back totheory

Iterative cycles, non-linear

Theory: games and media production can be used to develop teen leadership

Identify Needs

Design & Implement

Learning Spaces

Collect & Analyze

Data

Generate Backto Theory

Phase 1: Pre-planning

Bateman’s DGD1 player typesArchitect, storyteller, socializer,

player, leader

Weekly themes: 1. Games & play2. Games & learning3. Games & leadership

40 quests, from simple to complex, player choice

Room and equipment set-up

Phase 2: Games & Play

Establishing self: Create a Mii

Learning to self-select roles and quests

Guildies like to help in-class and in-game

Social groups formed around specific games

Interested in specific characters within those games

Phase 3: Games & LearningThe business of

educational games Analysis & Reflection Focus group: what do we learn

by playing games?

Design: what elements make a game fun?

How do we improve our performance with real-time data?

Why are many educational games boring?

How can we share our learning with others through media production?

Phase 4: Exploring Leadership

Leadership 1st: small group discussions of digital citizenship

Peer game evaluation

Tournaments as a meta-game strategy to bring participants together across self-selected game environments

Leadership 1st

Tournaments &Active Gaming

Findings: Questing

Quests 158 completed 52 unfinished or abandoned Preference for social component.

Some chose specific games, others quests.

Some chose isolated gaming.

Consoles and computers, equal use

All 4 Bateman play-styles observed.

Findings: Leadership

 

coaching othersleading tournamentsselecting and completing quests arriving early and staying latecontributing games/controllers/etccreating games for others to playcollaborative scavenger huntalternative roles for quest achievementcontributed to quest design

Findings: Impact Camp validated talents and interests

Students wanted parents and school leaders… involved in their social gaming to meet parents of other gamers to support the kids’ ability to game

They also expressed the desire … to create a persistent community for quests to continue for their teachers to know what they had

done

A student applied to a high tech HS, reported as more outgoing

“It was nice to know there are

other people who are like me.”

Developing Teen Leaders with

3D Games

Lisa Dawley, Ph.D.Chris Haskell

Dept. of Educational TechnologyBoise State University