Games that Teach (not Preach)

Well, I just lost about half an hour of my morning to learning about sweatshops.  And I never even opened a single blog, Wikipedia article or YouTube video documentary.  Instead, I dove in head first to Sweatshop, Channel 4’s newest games for youth project.  It is addictive – as all games should be – so you have been warned.

I had the pleasure and privilege recently of hearing former Editor of Education for Channel 4, Alice Taylor speak about the genesis of games like Sweatshop.  Her keynote at DML 2011 was inspiring and eye-opening:  the idea that the BBC would turn over an entire television budget to the development of rich, educational games was so outside the norm for the colonies.  Imagine having millions of £s to throw at developing content that teaches kids instead of just distracting them!

Just like games such as 1066, Cover Girl and The Curfew, Sweatshop is smart, well-produced and highly engaging.  It doesn’t hit players over the head with information but the learning is still there.  Most importantly, it treats the player like a young person of the modern world – so much so that it’s not so far below an adult level that it’s clearly a “kid’s game.”

Creat[ive/ing] Stories

Stories Across Platforms, with Metro Screen from Metro Screen on Vimeo.

An hour-long video from the opening of Creative Sydney 2011 on the art of engaging modern viewers in stories.  As the audience becomes more sophisticated to adapt to increasingly involved and evolved narratives, it’s critical to take a hard look at what makes our media projects worth watching in the first place.  Great to hear from our neighbors to the (far) South!

StrengthsQuest

MC 101 Wrap Up: The West

Now that I’ve had an entire week off the road and in the office, I’ve had a chance to reflect on the first five Media Commons 101 sessions that I put on at my western campuses.  Looking back at the sessions, I feel confident in saying that they achieved exactly what Carla and I had hoped for, namely reaching new people in the Commonwealth.  Of the 63 people that attended my sessions, 67% were “new”, at least to me which means that I met for the first time a lot of faculty and staff that I would not have otherwise – or at least not for a very long while.  And in meeting these individuals, I discussed quite a few new ideas for projects, leaving each campus with at least one wholly new Media Commons collaboration.

I also had a chance to better experience campus culture during the MC 101 sessions.  Because the just-in-time nature of my past travel has me on campus for course times and then back on the road, there isn’t often much time to interact with clients and contacts in a more relaxed session.  This is especially true with campuses that bring me out for mostly evening classes.  As much as I enjoyed getting to learn about the community members at my campuses, they seemed to relish the opportunity to have me there long enough to really talk at some length about their courses, research, projects and plans.  In addition to follow up visits for new projects, my hope is that I can continue getting closer to these fascinating Penn State people by visiting each campus more often – and for longer periods of time, ideally on a regular schedule.

Looking at the evaluation data in full, it’s clear that the sessions were very well-received overall.  27 people (42%) responded to the survey sent at the end of each MC 101 and 21 of them felt that the Media Commons overview at the heart of the programming was Excellent (the other 5 found it Good – and one didn’t respond).  

Unsurprisingly, Refreshments scored very well across the board.  Organization was certainly the best rated logistical element of the MC 101 sessions that I coordinated with Pacing and Communications coming in a close second and third.  Venue was a mixed bag and I’m still trying to figure out what might be an ideal space.  While I prefer the round tables and gallery feel that made the Forum on Media + Gaming, it’s possible that trying to recreate this same atmosphere at all campuses is just not feasible.  Something to continue pondering as I look forward to August’s last two sessions at Beaver and Mont Alto.

Most importantly, most respondents found that MC 101 was Relevant to them professionally and even more thought that the session – and Media Commons – was Interesting.  All but one person would attend this event again or recommend it to a colleague.  (That one person simply prefers that the next session be something more in depth than MC 101 since they’ve already attended.)

MC 101 Wrap Up: New Kensington

Today was the fifth and final of my MC 101 sessions for the Summer and I’d say the programming went out with a bang.  New Kensington had the largest turn out of all the campuses I have been to with 17 people in attendance.  Of those, about 65% were faculty, many of whom had not worked with the Media Commons in the past.

MC 101 Wrap Up: Greater Allegheny

I’m now in the homestretch of my MC 101 sessions, rounding out my last week in Pittsburgh with my fourth session at Greater Allegheny.  I arrived at campus early, but still found that the Traina presentation space was already being set up by Gil Loshelder (AV) and Housing & Food Services (catering).  The space was excellent for the kind of event that I’ve been putting on and I think that is going to reflect in the evaluation data.

Ten people attended the overview and the Chancellor, Curtiss Porter stopped in over the lunch hour, bringing the total up to eleven.  Two faculty clients who we have worked with in past semesters were present and the rest of the crowd was staff from across many areas of the campus.  All participants were very interested in discussing the potential of the Media Commons for their departmental projects and the faculty were very curious about the Mobile Media Pilot as a means to shake up their courses for the Fall.

I followed up lunch (which was excellent) with a tour and a bit of hands on time for a few staff members who hadn’t yet seen the MC space.  All three left with a good idea of ways they could take advantage of the editing space for media projects they had been considering for a few months.  

Innovative AR Use

Ever wish your business card could say more about you than just your contact information?  This “new” (to me – it’s actually from 2009) application of Augmented Reality helps take the lowly business card into the world of interactivity:

AR Business Card from James Alliban on Vimeo.

You could imagine adding the same sort of thing to your résumé header to play an introduction to potential employers or a sample reel of your work.  Or in the middle of a written paper for a class assignment as a way to embed a supporting video or audio project.  Really, I’m surprised we aren’t seeing MUCH more of this already.  

I’d also recommend checking out James Alliban’s other immensely creative projects like Konstruct over at his site.

MC 101 Wrap Up: Altoona

Despite many highway repairs, road closures and detours, I made it to Altoona today for MC 101 session #3 in 148 Hawthorn, a room I wasn’t even aware of until 9:30 this morning!  The space is generally used for music practice and theory classes but worked fantastically as a presentation space.  Again, the windows really made for a light, airy feel and the tall ceiling kept it seeming more like a gallery than a traditional classroom.  (A slightly more powerful projector would have been the only improvement to the set up that I would suggest.)

Thirteen attendees made it out today for the overview session with a few more coming in to join us for lunch as a few left to tend to office needs or FTCAP obligations.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the overview session and peppered me with lots of questions about topics like the Mobile Media Pilot, the One Button Studio and the EGC.  I also had a few faculty folks who were surprised to learn that our MC training and support carries no cost for their departments. 

My personal favorite part of the day was learning about a Norwegian TV project being filmed and live streamed from 20+ HD cameras attached to a mail ship sailing around the country right now – which Paula Ford posted to our Facebook page after telling me about it and sharing videos clips on her iPad.

Update: Evaluation< Same as Harrisburg and Shenango, MC 101 participants were asked about their experience of the entire event.

Eight of the thirteen participants responded to the evaluation in just 24 hours.  Of these, all but one ranked the quality of the Overview session to be Excellent, with the remaining respondent ranking it as Good.

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All respondents felt that MC 101 was Interesting to them professionally (5 Strongly Agree, 3 Agree) and most felt that it was Relevant to their work (5 Strongly Agree, 2 Agree, 1 Neutral). Since this was a mixed crowd of faculty and staff, the emphasis on course projects may not have been entirely applicable to support staff from all departments.

Communications and Pacing received the highest marks of all event logistics (5 Excellent, 3 Good) while Organization was also highly ranked (4 Excellent, 4 Good).  The Venue and Refreshments were generally marked as acceptable and I did receive one comment that the projector was not bright enough for the room, as I expected I might.  

MC 101 Wrap Up: Shenango

My second MC 101 session was at Shenango today and was another successful event, if anecdotal attendee response is used as any indication.  All 8 registered participants made the trek out on a day threatening rain and joined me in Sharon Hall 314 (a room I hope to use again in the future for its airy set up and great windows overlooking town). 

Lunch provided an opportunity to talk with the two faculty attendees who I have worked with in the past, Dr. Joy Perrine and Dr. Lisa Reeves Bertin. Joy is very interested in working on gamification concepts in her Fall courses and will be getting in touch with the EGC to discuss this further while Lisa is strongly considering an iPod touch pilot for her Fall MIS 204 class.  Both Joy and Lisa are hoping to also book an MC open house event in conjunction with the student-run computer club on campus – around which training for their courses and a new faculty orientation to the Media Commons could occur.

Because most of those who registered were past MC clients, the focus of the afternoon session became a tour for the single newcomer.  This tour proved to be very productive conversation opportunity as ideas were swapped for ways the Media Commons could be better integrated into the Library which is currently under renovation. I hope to have assessment results posted here in a few days!

Update: Evaluation

Like Harrisburg, I asked the attendees to rate their entire experience with MC 101 from beginning to end.  

MC 101 Wrap Up: Harrisburg

Today marked the first of our MC 101 sessions, this one in Harrisburg.  I met Shivaani Selvaraj early for a quick cup of coffee before setting up in E314 of Olmsted, which was a great room for the event, with its tiered seating and buffet-approved curved tabletops.  The gorgeous day probably cut into our attendance a bit, but 15 people made it out to hear about all that the MC has to offer, discuss their upcoming project ideas and tour the Media Commons and Library learning spaces.

One nice thing about today’s session was the tour of the ever-evolving HBG Library.  As it moves towards becoming more of a Knowledge Commons, the push for flexible spaces and furniture is making the Library a vibrant resource.  (It doesn’t hurt that the building itself is lovely to begin with…)  John Hoh and Greg Crawford graciously led a tour through some of the newest rooms and arrangements and shared their plans for the coming move of the MC studio and equipment lending to the Library this Fall.  This will go along perfectly with the already-moved MC editing space that is prominently positioned in the Library entrance.

I met a lot of new faculty and staff contacts and discussed some exciting projects for the coming year today – and now I can’t wait to get started on the Fall consultations and training!

Update:  Evaluation

I asked the attendees of MC 101 at Harrisburg to rate their experience from start to finish.