Week 9) Final thoughts

This is my final reflection for my 6190 design journal. I still have a few items to wrap up before I can consider my work completed, primarily documenting a few requirements.

Between my last entry and the showcase, I made major improvements to my project and felt like I really had it up to par for the night. Major items that I fixed or added were instructions, a text area for content related to the map information, and separating map functions based on data chosen. This last item was the most difficult -- I had tried to do this about a week prior with no success. The critical piece of information to do this was knowing which value the user selected with the initial combobox. After a lot of false starts, I finally added a trace() to locate what values were being attached to the three different choices. After doing this, I could send the playhead to the right display and make a few other dynamic adjustments.

When 4-H or Print-on-Demand information is requested, the map shows counties colored by magnitude, a bar graph indicating counts, a text area to report county contact information, and the appropriate unit on the rollover captions. For the Impact Statement choice, counties are colored based by having a particular quality. The user is able to further refine the information displayed by program area and topic. The second part of this display allows the user to choose counties from the map to display associated Impact Statements.

I enjoyed talking with various folks at the showcase. I definitely saw some items that were out of place (which I've fixed since) -- as well as design choices that were not clear to the users. I especially liked chatting with folks about other uses for this and thinking of ways it could be adapted for the classroom. Almost everyone chose counties that they were familiar with, which I think struck a personal note for folks at some level.

On Friday, I met with my boss and showed her my final product. I expect that this will be online for internal usage fairly soon. I've enjoyed finding a place to use my class projects throughout the IDD program, it feels good to be able to put things to use as I learn them. I think it's also a positive for my job since my employers can get an immediate benefit too.

In sum, I've enjoyed taking 6190 again this semester and am looking forward to taking 6120 this fall. I feel more confident with my actionscript skills and willing to take some risks and experiment a bit to find solutions. After all, that is the zone I like to be in!

I've been reading Michele Dickey's article on gaming in instructional design. I am intrigued by the idea of appropriating commercial gaming techniques for educational purposes. I think this is a good departure point for me as I look towards the next semester. As a result of this degree, I would love to be involved in creating interactive games or some sort of experiential learning environment. From this reading, I really see a need to be at the crossroads where game design and learning theory converge. It's not so much the ability to program an experience like this, but to understand how to fit educational methods into an ever-more engaging and changing media (and vice-versa). I really think I'd enjoy the Second Life class this fall and am hoping that it may fit into my schedule and graduate needs.

This article does make me reflect on my own gaming experiences... the things that motivated me, the methods that I enjoyed that may be usable in other narratives. Metroid Prime and Paper Mario were the last games I really got in to in the past few years. Paper Mario was so heavy on a written narrative in the first part of the game, I nearly quit. I enjoyed the doing, the action, the exploration, and puzzle solving much more than reading a back story or practicing moves. It was the environment that was fun to me, not the rote details that set the scenes. Metroid Prime was an awesome game that did put me in the flow state for some time. This game was great as more parts unfolded the more experienced you became. Most of this was based on an ability to find tools and acquire special skills. The playing world was limited, yet I remember returning repeatedly to various places to unveil yet another layer of game play. I think this is important and I see how this builds on experience and a strong story line or end goal for motivation. In the end, I hit a foe to hard to beat and slowly lost interest based on frustration. After a while I got to the point that I knew I would have to start again from the beginning to get back to my previous skill level. I think that is also important to consider -- the critical point where a learner may proceed or completely withdraw from a gaming environment. I suppose this is the ZPD in gaming, but if acquiring a life skill depended on it (versus entertainment only), it would be crucial to keep up the student's motivation, self-efficacy, and attention.

I also remember the old, early video games. Playing pong on my friend's TV, learning how to uncover hidden secrets in Super Mario Bros. As a designer and amateur programmer, I now understand the limitations that drove some of the games I played. I hadn't thought about the limits of a scrolling screen until I read this article. Moving from Super Mario Bros. to Super Mario Bros. 2 was a big step because technology changed between the two games. Someone discovered how to scroll back! You could now retrace your steps and travel throughout a level! Of course, now, the technology is improving at a steady clip... we've moved on to truly immersive MMOG games and systems like the Nintendo Wii that require physical interaction for game play.

References:
Dickey, M. D. (2005). Engaging by design: How engagement strategies in popular computer and video games can inform instructional design. Educational Technology Research & Development, 53(2), 67-83.