The Affordances of Katamari Damacy Angel Inokon http://ldt.stanford.edu/~inokon

Using the lens of intuitive design, we aim to understand why a little Japanese game named Katamari Damacy captivated the world. Discussion will explore how basic design principles like affordances, visibility and constraints can be used to create captivating games. By examining this innovative game, we show how the basics of good design can and should be used in the creation of educational games. Led by Angel Inokon, Stanford University.

A Taxonomy of Serious Games for Education in the Healthcare Professions Cynthia K. Russell, PhD, RN

University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Nursing Webpage to access relevant materials and links: * Most of the games found atNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine site - http://nobelprize.org/medicine/educational

Examples include:

* Pavlov's Dog Game - experimenting to make a dog drool * Electrocardiogram Game - performing an EKG on 4 patients and interpreting results * Immune System Defender Game - using immune cells to defeat bacterial infections

I just took a brief peek at the "poster", a PowerPoint. I missed the panel session, so might not be getting the full picture. They have a paper on "AdverGames":

"It Walks like a Duck and Talks like a Duck but…" Why Educational Games are Neither Educational nor Games

No one can deny that the use of games in education is a hot topic. The idea of games in education looks right and it feels right, but is it right? This presentation proposes to outline why educational games are neither educational nor are they games and how being aware of this can allow us to still make the most of them to get the results we are aiming for. Led by Jared Bendis, Case Western Reserve University.

Aims to be controversial.

Defining games, dictionary? Came up with 3 characteristics:

* Outcomes / goals * Rules * Conflict / Competition

Fun /Enjoymeent = balance.

Is a book a game? No? Yes, "a bad game".

Great Idea for a game... "School". It has all the elements... "So why isn't school a game?"

Why do we want Educational Games? Because students want to play them! Are we catering to addiction?

Problem 1: Its not a game if I don't want to play it?

What have I learned from games? Process.

How about Tic-Tac-Toe. "The only way to not lose is not to play"

Problem 2: It's Not Educational If I do not Learn Anything

Should we have a Game Style Inventory (like Kolb's)? Help people understand their game style.

Why is it hard to incorporate games in formal education? Non-linear. They teach process not content.

Making Process Work- break down training component of the educational experience and support those components with games. Use games as a foundation for the process underlying the experience.

Tomorrow the NMC conference starts, and hopefull all of our "Maricopa 9" have gotten their invites. The site is now open, and you can log in and check out these sessions, run the multimedia tests for the live sessions, and look at the materials posted for the "poster" sessions.

You can also post your bio and a photo (I see Jennifer has already gotten in there, way to go).

I posted a quick thing including my own disclaimer:

Our Marciopa Team of colleagues covering the NMC Online Conference next week is set! Starting in left field.... , no wait a minute, wrong group of nine players.

The following people will be participating in the conference and recording their notes and ideas in their ePortfolio blogs (follow the links). The latest news from each also appears in my sidebar:

1. [Dale Doubleday] (Phoenix College)
2. [Angela Ambrosia] (Rio Salado)
3. [Barbara Winckler] (Chandler-Gilbert)
4. [Jennifer Freed] (Rio Salado)
5. [Michelle Shivnani] (Glendale)
6. [David Weaver] (Chandler-Gilbert)
7. [Jeff Anderson] (Mesa)
8. [John Roberts] (Glendale)
9. [Alan Levine] (MCLI)
   
   

I am using the Add Sidebat functionalty of the eportfolio software to add dynamic RSS fed links to the other Maricopa colleagues who are also covering the conference.

What does this mean? The RSS feeds can be used in a number of viewing applications such as a desktop RSS aggregator, so you can quickly scan what is "new" on other sites without having to click and visit directly. In this case, as the peoiple are adding new entries to their NMC Conference blog, these are automatically updated in the sidebar.

Look for new names as we add the other participants in the next 2 days or so.

These are the sessions at thi sonline conference I plan to participate in.

"It Walks like a Duck and Talks like a Duck but… " Why Educational Games are Neither Educational nor Games - I've seen the presenter before, and he is high energy, lots of unique ideas, and is definetely a "gamer"

The Affordances of Katamari Damacy Angel Inokon, Stanford University-- I am intrigued by the ideas of simplicity and design of game environments.

I hope to be at a few more, but this is my list for now.

I am writing this as an example for other Maricopa participants to show how to set up a conference reflection blog. However, I am sloe very interested in this topic because to me, games are pivotal kinds of activities because of the level of engagement successful ones create- be they simple word games to complex computer simulations.

I also look to the game technology to give me ideas on how effective environments are created with technology.

Though I am intrigued by their design and technology, I actually play almost no video or computer games-- I think I am afraid of finding something that will chew up more of my limited time! I perhaps had a Pac Mac addiciton in the 1980s but have gotten over it!

Back in 1996, we ran an MCLI project Shall We Teach With a Game where we had Maricopa faculty look at what was then cutting edge games and simulations SimCity, SimEarth, Myst, etc) to have them generate ideas on how they might be used for teaching. We found some very creative ideas came out of that project.

I have also created game-like applications for learnig, the most complex was Negative Reinforcement University a Myst-like environment we created with the ideas from a team of faculty and students from Scottsdale Community College.

To me there is still a great deal on untapped potential in using existing games, or creating game like activities,a nd I look forward to seeing what comes from this conference.