Game Education Summit North America 2010 - Presentation

Getting the "Ding" back in learning - Using theory and experience to improve effect
Tue, 2010-06-22 16:00 - 16:50
Art and Technology Track
Hans von Knut Skovfoged
Creative Director
PortaPlay

Presentation Summary:


Everybody talks about using games for learning, the possibilities and the proven results. But how do you combine theory and practical experience to make learning games, that are actually played and enjoyed by the end-users?

Paper Abstract:


This talk will address different design-approaches for learning games, seen from the perspective of the players. -how to use academic theories and practical experience to figure out what does and does not work, in relation to the actual end-users and their needs and behaviors?


The discourse is a combination of constructionism and situated practice, viewing learning games as a play-modus for simulation and choice-consequences experience. Both formal (in-classroom) and informal (out-of-classroom) learning games will be discussed, with main focus on the latter.
 

The talk will discuss the cognitive dissonance between actual design knowledge and resulting design, often resulting in games that are testaments to the human habit of forgetting theories when "getting their hands dirty for the first time”. This is done by listing a number of practical cases that failed, the old and well-known theories that tells us how to do it right and finally some practical cases, which used the theories and got it right.


This process will be used to cast light on common mistakes and successes in regards to:
 

Maximizing the effect - balancing gameplay vs. playing time vs. learning.
Getting away from the "multiple choice test - now with graphics" -approach.
Understanding the incitement of the player.
Overcoming the fear of confronting the "weak" users with goals and loosing (children / teens / disabled / dyslexia etc.).
Increasing the learning effect of games using simple gratification tricks.