the ‘ecology of implementation’ for immersive games in teacher education: from products to...
TRANSCRIPT
The ‘Ecology of Implementation’ for Immersive Games in Teacher Education:
Practices to support Integration for Impact
ANNA ARICI, SASHA BARAB, LEE MCILROY & ADAM INGRAM-GOBLE
CENTER FOR GAMES & IMPACT
MARY LOU FULTON TEACHERS COLLEGE
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
www.quest2teach.org
Quest2Teach is a series of 3D game-infused teacher education curricula and a socio-professional network, to immerse learners in help bridge between educational theory and practice.
Learning scientists, Designers, Innovators
Game designers, publishers
Donors, domain experts, educators, faculty
Multi-StakeholderCollaboration
• Based in Dewey, Piaget & Vygotsky, and supported by modern learning scientists
• ‘Learning by doing’ isn’t new, but technology is giving educators around the world unprecedented access and avenues to engage their students’ in meaningful ways.
“a communicative action or activity involving two parties or things that reciprocally affect or influence each other—changing both.”
Transactive Learning
John Dewey
Videogames as 21st Century Curricula
Videogames as a learning context offer ….
• entire worlds in which learners are central, important, active participants;
• a place where the actions one takes has a significant impact on the world;
• and a place in which what you know is directlyrelated to what you are able to do and,ultimately, who you become.
Transformational Play
an experiential state that involves:
(a) projection into the role of a character who,
(b) is recruited into a partly fantastical problematic context,
(c) must apply conceptual understandings,
(d) to transform the context,
(e) and, ultimately, oneself.
It involves positioning …
• Person With Intentionality• Content With Legitimacy• Context With Consequentiality
(Barab, Gresalfi, & Arici, 2009
Barab, Gresalfi, & Ingram-Goble, 2010)
Dance of Agency“invitation as contract”
Games for Impact – Meta Research
Serious games have been found to be more effective for learning than conventional instruction methods, especially
• when the game was supplemented with other instruction methods,
• when multiple facilitator training sessions were involved,
• when players worked in groups, and • when game structures were designed with a good
match between the game mechanics and the learning goals.
Games for Learning aren’t software, they’re curricula …
Or, Tech-Enabled Services
• Lean Startup Movement– Agile Development
– Iterative Release Cycles (DBIR)
– Product Development Customer Development
• Customer/learner as Consumers Producers – Who we are What you can be
• Minecraft- Not what Mojang developed, but what the players developed with their software.
• NIKE - Shoes and other Products -> How Customers use our products.
• INTEL – Tagline was “Intel Inside”, New - “We make amazing experiences”
Quite a different focus for a chip company.
• Raises a very new question: Where does the fidelity lie?
Atlantis Remixed: Mystery of the Taiga River
In-Game Tools: Taiga• Game technologies allow us to
provide simulations and play out future outcomes, based on the current water quality indicators
• Field Notebook tracks their data collection, interviews, water samples, etc
• The Logic model collects their evidence into chains of scientific inquiry, to see which theories are supported by data.
The Mystery of the Taiga River
Taiga Comparison Study
• 2 week Science Unit in Quest Atlantis
• Game condition vsTraditional Class
• Same Teacher for all classes/condition
• Equivalent curriculum & tasks, both inquiry-based
• Context and role (active vs passive) differed
A B C
Turbidity 6 27 22
Dissolved
Oxygen5.5 4.5 4.0
Temperatur
e17.5 22.5 22.0
Nitrates 3.15 0.96 2.08
Phosphate
s3.6 1.7 3.1
pH 6.6 7.0 7.3
Teacher’s Prediction:
Which group do you think learned more?
“It depends on how you measure learning. I think that if you look at ‘facts’ and being able to take a multiple choice test, I think the traditional classroom kids will score a little better.
In terms of learning things like social commitments, being able to understand the relationship between actions and consequences, real science, those kind of things, the QA kids would have a higher score.
Comparison Study Results
Quest Trad QA
Interested in Task 4 42
To get a good grade 52 24
Teacher told me to 22 5
Quest Trad QA
Extra Credit 3 39
No Extra Credit 52 13
Percentage 4% 74%
Learning Gains: [F(1,115) = 6.53, p < .01]
Delayed Posttest:[F(2,88) = 14.78, p < .001].
Results: Role of the Teacher
• The teacher did not scaffold the QA classes to the extent of his Traditional classes.
0:00:00
12:00:00
24:00:00
36:00:00
48:00:00
60:00:00
Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Min
ute
s o
f Te
ach
er
Gu
idan
ce in
Cla
ss
Day of Unit
Amount of Teacher Guidance & Structuring:Time Spent on Introduction, Framing, & Closure of Material
QA
Traditional
Teacher Dashboard
In Quest2Teach, students create a professional avatar, play out roles, solve complex problems, fail safely, and see the impact of their decisions while gaining fluency in theories-in-action. Pre-service teachers evolve their professional identity in a variety of narrative-based 3D role-playing scenarios, each with a particular theoretical focus, and embedded within a larger experience-based curricula and network.
Awards and Accolades
• The Joan Ganz Cooney Center (Sesame Workshop) chose Quest2Teach as the first in their documentary series of the Top 5 innovations in Teacher Education.
• Presidential Award for Innovation at ASU
• Top 3 at Games Learning Society’s International game competition
• Documentary on the Games & Learning website
• Featured innovation at New Media Consortium• Featured curriculum at Institute of Play• Featured curriculum at Game.Play.Learn.
Protagonist in a nuancedand authentic Narrative
‘Diving into Data’ game: 3DM
• slide 7
• 20 seconds
• In-game tools help learners interrogate and interpret the scenarios and theories
• No single ‘correct’ game interpretation
• Players can flag and question the game scores
• Means for deeper discussion of the theories
Small “g” gamesOur ‘video games’; self-contained and completeable; optimized to engage learners in a particular educational theory in a safe, simulated and structured environment.
An open-ended, flexible ‘meta-game’ structure and affinity spaces that foster locally-driven extensions and adaptations in support of real-world goals and outcomes.
• Data and Analytics Dashboard
• Social Communities/Affinity Spaces/Network
• Learning trajectories and gamification layers
• Smart/Modding Tools
Big “G” game
(A distinction from CGI co-founder Jim Gee)
Q2T Socio-Professional Network
Network Reflection• Write your Post
• Pay it forward with Props
Matriculation: New Students Enter the ‘Nexus’ 3D Hub
Curricula for Each Game
Teacher Toolkit & Dashboard
Quest2Teach International Network for Pre-Service Teachers
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, ASU,
Arizona
Dublin City University, Ireland
University College Copenhagen,
Denmark
University of Bari, Foggia, Italy
The Joan KanzCooney Center,
NYC
DBIR Research Cycles
• A series of multiple Design-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) cycles over 4 semesters
• Three Q2T games and the network were engaged by faculty and over 800 pre-service teachers in intact classrooms.
• Research cycles alternated with design cycles, with the research findings informing the design iterations, as well as the ecology of implementation.
• Our results over the 4 semesters consistently showed significant pre/post learning gains on targeted concepts.
From Outputs to Outcomes
• Our goal in this work, however, is to shift from targeted outcome scores to larger identity shifts and transfer of ideas from theory to practice.
• To get these kinds of outcomes we have found the Ecology of Implementation is essential.
Demographic Findings
Our Teachers College demographic data showed:
• Most common use of computers was for homework or social networks.
• Only 9% reported that they played video games 1-5 hours/week. (Compared with 70% nationally, across all majors)
• Only 5% described themselves as a ‘gamer’
Digital natives are Not always Gamers
N= ~800 pre-service undergraduate students
Positive Results• In addition to learning gains and increased engagement:
• Nearly two-thirds of students (62%) reported that the game helped them to see themselves as a professional teacher more than they did before playing it.
• 45% of students reported that the games helped increasetheir level of confidence in their future teaching ability.
• 52% of students indicated that the games helped increase their commitment to future teaching.
Comparison Findings: Professionalism Game
Regular class setting
• “This unit made me more aware of my actions”
• “It taught me about a lot of different professional situations”
Summary: learned ‘about’ professionalism, and became ‘aware’
Game-infused class
• “This game allowed me to practice how to be respectful in a disagreement, it gave me skills in interpersonal relationships and how to work better with others.””
• “This experience gave me the language to approach new and challenging situations in my professional career.”
Summary: learned ‘skills’, ‘language’, active rather than passive voice
first-person protagonist in learning new skills
Other results• Comparison study showed active learning as 1st
person protagonist, learning ‘skills’ and ‘language’, rather than passively ‘learning about’ the theory.
• Students appreciated the ability to play out roles, solve authentic problems, fail safely, and see the consequences of their individual decisions and trajectories.
• Felt it was more real than the role play scenarios with classmates.
• Many felt better equipped to handle difficult interactions in the real world.
• Shift in identity from student to professional
Findings: Ecology of Implementation
Network was redundant with their own
• They already had a (more divergent) network created in Facebook
• We needed to brainstorm alternative network services we could provide to meet actual needs.
Instructor influence • Instructors welcomed and embraced the innovation• The few with negative attitudes passed those on to students• Teacher support and training is essential, and they are eager for it.
Findings: Ecology of ImplementationSome students initially need more support with Technology
• Reframing the Q2T as a ‘simulation’ (instead of a video game) went far.• We built in explicit supports in the 3D worlds, with tutorials initiated
through player inactivity, and guidance from in-game characters, but they quickly became adept.
Scope and Sequence in Program: ‘Just-in-Time’ vs. ‘Just-in-Case’• Very different reactions from students in their 1st semester vs Student
teachers when playing the Professionalism game.
First semester student: “I would never have a conflict with my mentor. I’m just going to roll over and do whatever she says.”
Student Teacher reaction:“I don’t think if we played this last semester or last year, any one of us would have taken it as seriously, but now we know, this is for real!”
Two years later…
• The same students who found the Professionalism game largely irrelevant early on in their program were given the same game curriculum in their student teaching course two years later. These students expressed how vastly different the experience was now that they were experienced professionals about to enter the field.
• “The last time I played, I have to admit, all the choices all looked the same. I was like, ‘I guess I’ll just click this one and see what happens!’ But this time I was like, ‘Wow! This is really common sense!’ I could tell I had grown as a professional, it was so second nature.”
• “The first time I played the game and my mentor (NPC) didn’t like my lesson plan I quickly backed down and said, ‘Oh, I’m sorry! I’ll change it, or just go with yours’. This time around though, I had the confidence to stand up for myself, and even the experience to say how I felt the students were learning well with my plan. I was able to chose professional ways to support my own plan.”
Shifts in ThinkingROLES POSITIONING INNOVATION
• Protagonist vs Observer: Player has responsibility for integrating concepts to realize personal goals
• Ownership vs Bystander: Integrating the innovation into local ecosystem goals and experiences
• Anticipation vsAssignment: Setting up the innovation in terms of relevant and meaningful goals
• Just-in-Time vs Just-in-Case: Positioning the innovation as part of larger trajectory
• Curriculum vs Software: Supporting game play experience with other curricular resources
• Services vs Products:Using the game in support of realizing desired goals
Fidelity (Consumed or Produced)
• Personal Integration: How well the innovation aligns with and enables goals of the learner.
• Facilitator Integration: How well the facilitator realizes their goals through the innovation
• Ecosystem Integration: How the innovation aligns or productively disrupts the local ecosystem.
Forcing a choice…
“The ah-ha moment for me was when in the game the teacher was blaming the kids for the chaos, and how ‘they just don’t care’. Which is exactly what I hear at my site. All the teachers, and even the principal, say that there’s really nothing we can do because these students are so challenging. And in the game I found myself agreeing with that teacher, it’s the kids fault. But then the game stopped me and my game mentor popped in to explain that there are a lot of things I can do, and within my control. I was so used to ‘it’s the kids, it’s the kids, it’s the kids’, but now, after experiencing this (game), it makes me want to go back and try something new with my kids. I’m starting to wonder if it really could be all the kids as a collective, or if we as teachers need to do something different.”
Best Practices
• Incorporate DBIR to iterate and uncover the optimal ecology for the innovation.
• Reframe the innovation as a service, not a product. Focus on customer development and not product development.
• Instructor training: Not about ‘Tech 101’ but for exploringteachable moments, brainstorming approaches, personalizing, and engaging in the larger outcomes.
• Instructor buy-in is essential, and not hard to come by. Support fluency with the innovation. Treat them as partners who are co-responsible for experience realization.
• Optimize to new contexts through rich dialog with stakeholders, esp instructors, with key goal being fidelity of the higher level service and outcomes.
• Empower learners with agency to determine the meaning and value of your brand, so they can take it to new places you haven’t determined.
