Cast Wisdom +2 Fun
Game-based Learning
“to the extent any activity affords experiences of volition, effectiveness, and social connection, it should yield enhancements in wellbeing. It is our contention that the psychological ‘pull’ of games is largely due to their capacity to engender feelings of autonomy, competence and relatedness, and that to the extent they do so they not only motivate further play, but also can be experienced as enhancing psychological wellness (e.g., subjective vitality, self-esteem, positive affect), at least short-term” (Ryan, Rigby, & Przybylski, 2006, p. 4).
FIELD EFFECTS
Huizinga (1956) teaches, “civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play...it arises in and as play, and never leaves it.” Play, then, though fun, is serious business, and games, defined by video game designer and producer David Mullich (2016) as a “a playful activity with rules and goals,” are much the same. Defining play, fun, games, and gamification, and identifying their individual functions as well as relationships between them are not easy tasks, and yet establishing a shared vocabulary to build understanding and drive innovation in the many varied industries employing such techniques is critical. For this reason, I began my work on HackHealth with two six-week Coursera courses: Gamification by University of Pennsylvania's Kevin Werback, JD and Serious Gaming by Erasmus University Rotterdam's Drs. Jeroen Jansz & Mijke Slot.
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Game-based learning positions students as players, and a key element of playing is fun. My goal in designing new HackHealth learning objects was to incorporate fun and game elements to activate intrinsic motivation of students, primarily through self-determination theory's activation of basic psychological human needs, so that students engage and keep engaging with the program, material, and peers. Both courses emphasized self-determination, although Serious Gaming also introduced uses and gratifications theory (UGT), which explores why humans use media broadly and, in 2006, was applied to games, identifying seven motivations for playing video games explicitly.
My learning objects, like the HackHealth curriculum itself, represents a commitment to digital humanities and open pedagogy. Technology products and services reflect creator biases and corporate agendas. Although the learning platform, quiz, discussion board, and video game were created using commercially-produced software, they were developed for University of Maryland's College of Information Studies instructors and local middle school librarians to promote specific learning objectives in response to very particular challenges. In addition, learning objects are freely available, to anyone with a computer and internet connection. I offer the following considerations that influenced my digital tool selection to encourage informed decision making by any planning similar projects.
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Wix: Cost was a primary concern and so only free-to-use web development platforms were considered. As I lack any programming abilities and have limited web design experience, I required a website builder with drag-and-drop functionality as well as customizable templates. Of the several web development platforms I explored, Wix seemed to offer the greatest amount of features, specifically online forums with social media compatibility, with highest ease of use. In addition, Wix offers comprehensive administrative functionality, including such features as:
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Transferal of ownership and duplication of site, essential for ensuring each iteration of HackHealth at any school is able to cultivate an independent community that is stable despite inevitable librarian and instructor turnover.
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Password-protection and screen name membership features, which are critical for student security as access is restricted to those in the class with improved pro-social behavior as comments are linked to individuals (who are identified via screen names rather than real names as additional security measure) rather than anonymous
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Qualtrics: Cost remained a leading factor in my decisions and so only free-to-use and free-to-publish online survey software was considered. I initially created the quiz using Free Online Surveys and did like it's overall design much more than the resulting Qualtrics one. It allows use of a background image and incorporation of the HackHealth logo, and has a much more intuitive interface which is incredibly simple to use as both creator and taker. Finally, the aesthetics were more inviting and modern, like any of the numerous free online quizzes people take and share via social media. However, despite the name, Free Online Survey quizzes are not free to publish. After a little more effort up-front, I was able to learn the Qualtrics interface and create a survey that was mobile friendly, grouping questions into thematically-determined sets to ensure no more than six questions appeared on any screen at a time. Because my access to Qualtrics is granted through University of Maryland, the UMD name and colors are used, giving this survey a more professional tone. The analysis and reporting features of Qualtrics are also more robust.
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TyranoBuilder Visual Novel Studio: This software is a multi-platform visual novel development tool with drag-and-drop functionality. It is available to purchase for $14.99 on Steam, a video game digital distribution platform. I had previously purchased this software for another assignment, the creation of a visual novel addressing common library biases of teenagers within the larger project – a sexual health resource guide for young adults. It is one of the only visual novel engines that does not require any coding knowledge.
TOOLS INVENTORY
FIRST ENCOUNTERS
Game-based learning within libraries in particular is an effective instructional strategy; the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) noted in 2015, “As the findings from two AiA projects noted below demonstrate, library instructional games engage students, enhance information literacy competencies, and increase positive attitudes toward the library and its staff” (p. 15).
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Former librarian, now Professor of Game Design and Development Scott Nicholson (2010) asserts, “When libraries plan a program, it is better to first consider the gaming experiences they want to facilitate and then select the games to match rather than to select the games and then build the program around the games” (p. 23).​ The experiences I aimed to facilitate were multiple and varied to engage various player types and learning preferences with regard to autonomy, competence, and relatedness: I wanted to challenge students as they experienced the full research process both as a skill that involves problem solving, searching and evaluating available sources to meet a specific information need, as well as body of knowledge, requiring decision-making. I wanted to introduce collaborative, non-game social interaction. And finally, I wanted students to build empathy and self-advocacy.
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With this in mind, I began designing learning objects. The design process was purposeful, human-centered, iterative, and balanced – analytical but creative, based on abductive reasoning, which promotes educated guesses. My brothers offered feedback, as did HackHealth founder and my instructor Dr. Beth St. Jean, and all learning objects remain a work in progress, available for review and use by students and educators alike.