Category Archives: Gaming, Simulations, and Virtual Worlds

Gaming Brown Bag: Interactive Fiction

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It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged for several reasons that I won’t go into here. But I’m hoping to get back to this. Today, I attended a session by Brett Bixler on Interactive Fiction (IF). I felt like I was going back into the history before graphic and media intensive text-based games. Brett laid out the progression as well as showed us tools that can be used to create these games. Let’s start with a definition of IF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_fiction. During the session we played a classic game called Adventure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interactive_fiction#Adventure.  It was an interesting exercise to talk with the group and try to figure out what we should do next. There was a prompt and we could use a terse sentence to direct the game on where we wanted to go. Later we played a game that Brett had put together using the following site: http://textadventures.co.uk/. Many of the engines that Brett proposed using are free. Sometimes, it is necessary to download free software to create games. Other times, it is possible to work in the browser. Here are a few suggested tools from the talk:

After Brett went through the meat of the content, he challenged us to think about how we could apply this to courses. Here were some thoughts:

  • Language learning
  • Scavenger hunts
  • Ways to teach elements of a game
  • Interesting way to teach a concept like surgery
  • Diagnostics – detective work
  • Problem-based learning
  • Simulations

Ultimately, this a low-cost way to introduce games and allow for them to get in the hands of students. Definitely something worth pursuing further.

Reflection 10/28/13-11/01/13

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Accomplishments:

  • Fall ’13 revisions/developments
    • IST 220 (Giacobe)
      • Received materials
      • Upon further inspection, there wasn’t much done with this materials. Hopefully, everything will stay on schedule.
      • Had to move back the latest deadline to Thursday 10/17
      • Received materials and need to add them to ANGEL
    • IST 402 (Jansen)
      • Meeting set up by Amy S for 6/12 to discuss new topic around Jim Jansen’s f2f 402 “The Google Online Marketing Challenge”
      • Sounds like a good idea from several perspectives:
        • student engagement via competition
        • marketing to students in other majors for minor
      • Few possible obstacles
        • Not enough students from other majors with complementary skills
        • Large need for synchronous meetings
        • Large time commitment
      • Email sent on 6/12 to Jim to set up meeting for June 24-28
        • Meeting planned for June 24 from 3-4
          • Looks like lots of captivates
          • Need to put together a process to share with him to make this streamlined
          • Need to have a drupal space created
          • He probably won’t be able to get me product until August 1
      • Put in request to IST Helpdesk to create ist402gomc site for Jansen’s course
        • received notification on 6/26 that this was done
        • sent a footprints request to set up the site on 6/27 to Ranjani and Will
        • Will overlayed template on the course
        • Allison enabled a few pages for course information & made a template syllabus
      • Amy S contacted Jim on 7/30
        • Jim got right back & asked about videos from the course, specifically screenr
        • after consulting with Will & Allison decided b/c of the changeable nature of the course that screenr process to mp4 to embedded in the course would be the best way to go
        • Jim sounded hesitant about process after I laid out the steps, but it is b/c he’s never done this before. Reassured and asked for feedback to improve process
      • Note from Jim on 8/8 about where to put content
        • Repurposed Saab’s 402 for Jim to use
      • Also asked by Jim about one lesson a week format
        • Told him to put things together using a topical approach, and we can figure out timing later
      • Received materials on 8/12 but it needs to be parsed out, added to the couse space, and send feedback to clarify expectations
      • Got this going and sent a note. Plan to meet f2f when he comes to the building on Wednesdays
      • First meeting was this Wednesday at 1:30. Went well and felt like I got through about the need to complete things asap
      • Updated info for WC on Monday 9/16
      • Sent a note on Tuesday 10/1 about needing to get materials.
      • Jim responded that he would dedicate the weekend to getting materials into the ANGEL dev space
      • Few emails over the weekend to clarify
      • Plan to meet on Wednesday 10/9
        • Good meeting. Here are items that we discussed:
          • Peer evals – sounds like we are going to be using google forms
          • Guest speak recording
            • Talked to Emily Spokus about how we could do this
              • Need to get more specifics so that we can use our resources
  • Fall ’13 Courses
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Heberling)
        • Gary found that the rubrics were not attached to Unit Assessments
          • On 10/26, I attached all of the rubrics to the Unit Assessments that needed them
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001 (Bixler)
        • Brett requested that I update a piece of content which I did on 10/28
    • IST 331
      • Sec 001 (Wenk)
        • Emily asked about Lesson 12 which is a continuation of Lesson 11
          • She asked that we remove Lesson 12 and adjust the Lesson #’s accordingly
  • Spring ’14 Courses
    • IST 110
      • Secs 001 & 002 (Jan)
        • Sent a note on Tues 10/1 about populating her sections for Spring ’14
        • Need to follow up since haven’t heard back
      • Sec 003 (Borge)
        • Spoke with Marcela informally on Monday at Hispanic Heritage Lunch and she was okay with me copying over materials
        • Exported/Imported materials into Spring ’14 section on 10/8/13
          • Updated course schedule and set the course
          • Sent a note on 10/8/13 about completion
      • Sec 004 (Garbrick)
        • in Blackboard
    • IST 111S
      • Sec 001 (Folkers)
        • Sent a note on 10/9/13 about getting the okay to copy materials into her Spring ’14 section
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Aebli)
        • Sent note about putting mateials in his course space
          • Still hasn’t received approval to teach
          • Looks like he will teach, so will copy Summer ’13 materials into his section
            • Completed on 10/8/13 and email sent out
      • Sec 002 (Gary)
        • Sent note about putting materials in his course space
        • He thought that was a good idea
          • Completed on 10/8/13 and email sent out
    • IST 220
      • Sec 001 (Lee)
        • Sent note about putting materials in her course space
        • She thought it was a good idea
        • ANGEL upload on 10/9/13
      • Sec 002 (Mike)
        • Amy S sent note about new strategy to make courses more fair
          • Mike replied that he doesn’t even know that he’s approved
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001 (Newcomer)
        • Sent note on 10/9 to confirm that he will be populating and setting up his own section.
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fred)
        • Planned meeting next week hopefully shores things up to populate his space
          • Hasn’t happened yet as of Wednesday 10/9/13, so I sent a note.
          • Met on 10/11/13
            • Plan is to populate Spring ’14 section with materials from his UP Fall ’13 section.
              • I’ll update the dates to reflect Spring ’14
              • Check in with him early next week to move to next step.
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001 (Wilson)
        • Asked about whether he would like to have his Fall ’12 section copied in or dev space
          • He said he’d get back to me next week
    • IST 260W
      • Sec 001 (Long)
        • Asked about whether he would like Fall ’13 or Spring ’13 copied in
          • He said Fall ’13, so plan is to populate next week
    • IST 295A
      • Sec 001 (Bertin)
        • Asked about whether she wanted me to set up the space or if she would do it.
          • She replied that she would like me to put materials in the section but would like more materials about teamwork.
    • IST 295B
      • Sec 001 (Kari)
        • Plan to populate and contact her next week
    • IST 420
      • Merged Sec 001 & 002 (Hill)
        • Based upon our discussion from last week, I populated the course with Fall ’12 materials
          • Required some unpublishing of materials

     

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Spring ’14 with known instructors
    • Emails to instructors to set up Spring ’14 spaces

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • Need LMS that better integrates and includes tools that we use in our classes.

Important Dates:

  • October 7 – Individual Sick Time (8h)
  • October 17 – Vacation Time (2h)
  • October 29 – Vacation Time – AM (4h)
  • November 6 – Vacation Time – AM (4h)
  • November 13 – Vacation Time – AM (4h)
  • November 28 – Holiday (8h)
  • November 29 – Vacation Time – AM (8h)
  • Feb 4 – Family Sick Time in AM (4h)

Reflection 10/21/13-10/25/13

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Accomplishments:

  • Prof Dev
  • Fall ’13 revisions/developments
    • IST 220 (Giacobe)
      • Received materials
      • Upon further inspection, there wasn’t much done with this materials. Hopefully, everything will stay on schedule.
      • Had to move back the latest deadline to Thursday 10/17
      • Received materials and need to add them to ANGEL
    • IST 402 (Jansen)
      • Meeting set up by Amy S for 6/12 to discuss new topic around Jim Jansen’s f2f 402 “The Google Online Marketing Challenge”
      • Sounds like a good idea from several perspectives:
        • student engagement via competition
        • marketing to students in other majors for minor
      • Few possible obstacles
        • Not enough students from other majors with complementary skills
        • Large need for synchronous meetings
        • Large time commitment
      • Email sent on 6/12 to Jim to set up meeting for June 24-28
        • Meeting planned for June 24 from 3-4
          • Looks like lots of captivates
          • Need to put together a process to share with him to make this streamlined
          • Need to have a drupal space created
          • He probably won’t be able to get me product until August 1
      • Put in request to IST Helpdesk to create ist402gomc site for Jansen’s course
        • received notification on 6/26 that this was done
        • sent a footprints request to set up the site on 6/27 to Ranjani and Will
        • Will overlayed template on the course
        • Allison enabled a few pages for course information & made a template syllabus
      • Amy S contacted Jim on 7/30
        • Jim got right back & asked about videos from the course, specifically screenr
        • after consulting with Will & Allison decided b/c of the changeable nature of the course that screenr process to mp4 to embedded in the course would be the best way to go
        • Jim sounded hesitant about process after I laid out the steps, but it is b/c he’s never done this before. Reassured and asked for feedback to improve process
      • Note from Jim on 8/8 about where to put content
        • Repurposed Saab’s 402 for Jim to use
      • Also asked by Jim about one lesson a week format
        • Told him to put things together using a topical approach, and we can figure out timing later
      • Received materials on 8/12 but it needs to be parsed out, added to the couse space, and send feedback to clarify expectations
      • Got this going and sent a note. Plan to meet f2f when he comes to the building on Wednesdays
      • First meeting was this Wednesday at 1:30. Went well and felt like I got through about the need to complete things asap
      • Updated info for WC on Monday 9/16
      • Sent a note on Tuesday 10/1 about needing to get materials.
      • Jim responded that he would dedicate the weekend to getting materials into the ANGEL dev space
      • Few emails over the weekend to clarify
      • Plan to meet on Wednesday 10/9
        • Good meeting. Here are items that we discussed:
          • Peer evals – sounds like we are going to be using google forms
          • Guest speak recording
            • Talked to Emily Spokus about how we could do this
              • Need to get more specifics so that we can use our resources
  • Fall ’13 Courses
    • IST 421
      • Sec 001 (Ocker)
        • Answered question about extended time on an exam
          • I learned that the Interaction Settings are not 1-to-1. If an exam is timed, there is no way to set the exam to unlimited time in the advanced settings. You have to put a time that is longer than what the base settings state.
  • Spring ’14 Courses
    • IST 110
      • Secs 001 & 002 (Jan)
        • Sent a note on Tues 10/1 about populating her sections for Spring ’14
        • Need to follow up since haven’t heard back
      • Sec 003 (Borge)
        • Spoke with Marcela informally on Monday at Hispanic Heritage Lunch and she was okay with me copying over materials
        • Exported/Imported materials into Spring ’14 section on 10/8/13
          • Updated course schedule and set the course
          • Sent a note on 10/8/13 about completion
      • Sec 004 (Garbrick)
        • in Blackboard
    • IST 111S
      • Sec 001 (Folkers)
        • Sent a note on 10/9/13 about getting the okay to copy materials into her Spring ’14 section
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Aebli)
        • Sent note about putting mateials in his course space
          • Still hasn’t received approval to teach
          • Looks like he will teach, so will copy Summer ’13 materials into his section
            • Completed on 10/8/13 and email sent out
      • Sec 002 (Gary)
        • Sent note about putting materials in his course space
        • He thought that was a good idea
          • Completed on 10/8/13 and email sent out
    • IST 220
      • Sec 001 (Lee)
        • Sent note about putting materials in her course space
        • She thought it was a good idea
        • ANGEL upload on 10/9/13
      • Sec 002 (Mike)
        • Amy S sent note about new strategy to make courses more fair
          • Mike replied that he doesn’t even know that he’s approved
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001 (Newcomer)
        • Sent note on 10/9 to confirm that he will be populating and setting up his own section.
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fred)
        • Planned meeting next week hopefully shores things up to populate his space
          • Hasn’t happened yet as of Wednesday 10/9/13, so I sent a note.
          • Met on 10/11/13
            • Plan is to populate Spring ’14 section with materials from his UP Fall ’13 section.
              • I’ll update the dates to reflect Spring ’14
              • Check in with him early next week to move to next step.
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001 (Wilson)
        • Asked about whether he would like to have his Fall ’12 section copied in or dev space
          • He said he’d get back to me next week
    • IST 260W
      • Sec 001 (Long)
        • Asked about whether he would like Fall ’13 or Spring ’13 copied in
          • He said Fall ’13, so plan is to populate next week
    • IST 295A
      • Sec 001 (Bertin)
        • Asked about whether she wanted me to set up the space or if she would do it.
          • She replied that she would like me to put materials in the section but would like more materials about teamwork.
    • IST 295B
      • Sec 001 (Kari)
        • Plan to populate and contact her next week
    • IST 420
      • Merged Sec 001 & 002 (Hill)
        • Based upon our discussion from last week, I populated the course with Fall ’12 materials
          • Required some unpublishing of materials

     

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Spring ’14 with known instructors
    • Emails to instructors to set up Spring ’14 spaces

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • Need LMS that better integrates and includes tools that we use in our classes.

Important Dates:

  • October 7 – Individual Sick Time (8h)
  • October 17 – Vacation Time (2h)
  • October 29 – Vacation Time – AM (4h)
  • Feb 4 – Family Sick Time in AM (4h)

Reflection 9/30/13 – 10/4/13

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Accomplishments:

  • Prof Dev
  • Fall ’13 revisions/developments
    • IST 220 (Giacobe)
      • Received materials
      • Upon further inspection, there wasn’t much done with this materials. Hopefully, everything will stay on schedule.
    • IST 402 (Jansen)
      • Meeting set up by Amy S for 6/12 to discuss new topic around Jim Jansen’s f2f 402 “The Google Online Marketing Challenge”
      • Sounds like a good idea from several perspectives:
        • student engagement via competition
        • marketing to students in other majors for minor
      • Few possible obstacles
        • Not enough students from other majors with complementary skills
        • Large need for synchronous meetings
        • Large time commitment
      • Email sent on 6/12 to Jim to set up meeting for June 24-28
        • Meeting planned for June 24 from 3-4
          • Looks like lots of captivates
          • Need to put together a process to share with him to make this streamlined
          • Need to have a drupal space created
          • He probably won’t be able to get me product until August 1
      • Put in request to IST Helpdesk to create ist402gomc site for Jansen’s course
        • received notification on 6/26 that this was done
        • sent a footprints request to set up the site on 6/27 to Ranjani and Will
        • Will overlayed template on the course
        • Allison enabled a few pages for course information & made a template syllabus
      • Amy S contacted Jim on 7/30
        • Jim got right back & asked about videos from the course, specifically screenr
        • after consulting with Will & Allison decided b/c of the changeable nature of the course that screenr process to mp4 to embedded in the course would be the best way to go
        • Jim sounded hesitant about process after I laid out the steps, but it is b/c he’s never done this before. Reassured and asked for feedback to improve process
      • Note from Jim on 8/8 about where to put content
        • Repurposed Saab’s 402 for Jim to use
      • Also asked by Jim about one lesson a week format
        • Told him to put things together using a topical approach, and we can figure out timing later
      • Received materials on 8/12 but it needs to be parsed out, added to the couse space, and send feedback to clarify expectations
      • Got this going and sent a note. Plan to meet f2f when he comes to the building on Wednesdays
      • First meeting was this Wednesday at 1:30. Went well and felt like I got through about the need to complete things asap
      • Updated info for WC on Monday 9/16
      • Sent a note on Tuesday 10/1 about needing to get materials.
      • Jim responded that he would dedicate the weekend to getting materials into the ANGEL dev space
  • Fall ’13 Courses
    • IST 110
      • Sec 001 (Garbrick)
        • More questions about the exam
    • IST 210
      • Sec 002 (Liz)
        • WC Helpdesk ticket about student
          • Liz took care of this
        • Question from Liz about getting instructor access to Cengage site
          • Take care of by Cindy Bierly
    • IST 220
      • Sec 001 (Mike)
        • Note from Mike about labs
        • Talked to Amy G
        • Take care of but we need another solution for this.
      • Sec 002 (Lee)
        • Asked her about labs and things look good
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fonseca)
        • Question about recording lab solutions
          • Plan is to talk next week
          • Sent an email outling the process
        • No grades in gradebook
          • Spoke with Fred
          • Found grades on Friday
    • IST 301
      • Sec 001 (Jan)
        • Note from WC Helpdesk about technical issue that she will need to resolve about CATME
    • IST 873
      • Sec 001 (Clark)
        • Helped Shawn with Adobe Connect
          • Nice note from him thanking me for help. Definitely felt good 🙂
  • Spring ’14 Courses
    • IST 110
      • Secs 001 & 002 (Jan)
        • Sent a note on Tues 10/1 about populating her sections for Spring ’14
      • Sec 003 (Borge)
        • Spoke with Marcela informally on Monday at Hispanic Heritage Lunch and she was okay with me copying over materials
      • Sec 004 (Garbrick)
        • in Blackboard
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Aebli)
        • Sent note about putting mateials in his course space
          • Still hasn’t received approval to teach
      • Sec 002 (Gary)
        • Sent note about putting materials in his course space
    • IST 220
      • Sec 001 (Lee)
        • Sent note about putting materials in her course space
      • Sec 002 (Mike)
        • Amy S sent note about new strategy to make courses more fair
          • Mike replied that he doesn’t even know that he’s approved
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fred)
        • Planned meeting next week hopefully shores things up to populate his space
    • IST 420
      • Merged Sec 001 & 002 (Hill)
        • Based upon our discussion from last week, I populated the course with Fall ’12 materials
          • Required some unpublishing of materials

     

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Spring ’14 with known instructors
    • Work on interviews for new ID

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • Need LMS that better integrates and includes tools that we use in our classes.

Important Dates:

  • September 9 Sick Time – 2h in PM
  • September 27 Vacation Time 4h in PM
  • Feb 4 – 4h Family Sick Time in AM

Reflection 9/16/13 – 9/20/13

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Accomplishments:

  • Prof Dev
  • Fall ’13 revisions/developments
    • IST 220 (Giacobe)
      • Received materials that look good
      • Need to get those in place soon
    • IST 402 (Jansen)
      • Meeting set up by Amy S for 6/12 to discuss new topic around Jim Jansen’s f2f 402 “The Google Online Marketing Challenge”
      • Sounds like a good idea from several perspectives:
        • student engagement via competition
        • marketing to students in other majors for minor
      • Few possible obstacles
        • Not enough students from other majors with complementary skills
        • Large need for synchronous meetings
        • Large time commitment
      • Email sent on 6/12 to Jim to set up meeting for June 24-28
        • Meeting planned for June 24 from 3-4
          • Looks like lots of captivates
          • Need to put together a process to share with him to make this streamlined
          • Need to have a drupal space created
          • He probably won’t be able to get me product until August 1
      • Put in request to IST Helpdesk to create ist402gomc site for Jansen’s course
        • received notification on 6/26 that this was done
        • sent a footprints request to set up the site on 6/27 to Ranjani and Will
        • Will overlayed template on the course
        • Allison enabled a few pages for course information & made a template syllabus
      • Amy S contacted Jim on 7/30
        • Jim got right back & asked about videos from the course, specifically screenr
        • after consulting with Will & Allison decided b/c of the changeable nature of the course that screenr process to mp4 to embedded in the course would be the best way to go
        • Jim sounded hesitant about process after I laid out the steps, but it is b/c he’s never done this before. Reassured and asked for feedback to improve process
      • Note from Jim on 8/8 about where to put content
        • Repurposed Saab’s 402 for Jim to use
      • Also asked by Jim about one lesson a week format
        • Told him to put things together using a topical approach, and we can figure out timing later
      • Received materials on 8/12 but it needs to be parsed out, added to the couse space, and send feedback to clarify expectations
      • Got this going and sent a note. Plan to meet f2f when he comes to the building on Wednesdays
      • First meeting was this Wednesday at 1:30. Went well and felt like I got through about the need to complete things asap
      • Updated info for WC on Monday 9/16
  • Fall ’13 Courses
    • IST 110
      • Sec 001 (Garbrick)
        • Several notes from students
          • Amy took care of issues
      • Sec 004 (Farrugia)
        • Sent note about putting mid-term survey into the course
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Gary)
        • Note from Gary with file to update dev space
          • Completed on 9/16
      • Secs 001 & 002
        • Updated course rosters to IT
      • CE (Toth)
    • IST 220
      • Sec 001 (Mike)
        • Mike sent a ticket to IT about no pings showing up on Lab 1
          • Brandon came over on Friday 9/20to clarifiy which lab that was being used
      • Secs 001 & 002
        • Updated course rosters to IT
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fonseca)
        • Several students still checking in about assignments, but it appears to be better
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001 (Bixler)
        • Fixed a video not showing by changing the embed code to not include the page that gives other possible videos to check out
    • IST 302
      • Sec 001 (Jan)
        • More notes
          • Addressed by Amy G, Amy S, and Pete
          • Getting me bogged down
    • IST 420
      • Secs 001 & 002 (Cantor)
        • More transcripts done
        • We’re down to the youtube & captivate videos needing to be done to complete
      • Spring ’14 and Peslak
        • Note from Alan led me to speak with John Hill about Spring ’14
        • Decided to populate John’s section and then add Alan to let him access and use the materials
    • IST 873
      • Sec 001 (Clark)

Ongoing Projects:

    • Sent James Carnicella info about courses & updated 420 for next semester
    • Need to update google spreadsheet for Spring ’14
    • Met with rest of the IST online team to put together the future direction of the group on 9/17
    • Work on interviews for new ID

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • Need LMS that better integrates and includes tools that we use in our classes.

Important Dates:

  • September 9 Sick Time – 2h in PM
  • September 27 Vacation Time 4h in PM
  • Feb 4 – 4h Family Sick Time in AM

LDSC ’13 Day 1

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It’s that time of year again to get together with some of my favorite ppl around the university. Learning Design Summer Camp is a unique opportunity to listen to and learn from colleagues around Penn State. It’s also a great time to reconnect with others who share a passion for teaching & learning. After a welcome by Kate Miffit, Cole Camplese got to share a heartfelt plea to keep the momentum going here. He’s been extremely influential in shaping the Learning Design environment & culture at Penn State & will be greatly missed.

Following the inspired speech by Cole, we moved to a panel about empathy and design. The panel focused on several issues such as accessibility and diversity. It’s important to consider the learner before we can truly design any type of learning. It’s great to see the Penn State community come together over the past several years to make progress in this area. Here are a couple of points from the panel’s talk that stuck with me:

  • Always keep user experience in mind by considering doing user testing as a part of the design process
  • Issues surrounding culturally diverse populations include prof-student relationship, plagiarism
  • Be clear with expectations; don’t assume that every student comes in with complete understanding
  • Don’t assume that as a designer that you know exactly what is needed to cover accessibility. Ask!
  • Mobile apps tend to be more accessible because they are simpler
  • Avoid trying to find a perfect solution to accessibility; the learner also needs to participate in the process
  • Consider how exhausting learning can b 4 some students, especially culturally diverse or differently abled students
  • Don’t over generalize populations
  • Implementing principles of universal design & the use of standards is a way to design for others, instead of yourself
  • Design process becomes not only collaborative but also democratic
  • How do we accommodate more diverse populations? Hire diverse staff

After the panel, we had choices of places to go. I decided to do the discovery trail which focused on issues of accessibility. I had a chance to hear from Keith Jervis, Interim Director at the Office for Disability Services (ODS). Here are a few stats about ODS:

ODS_stats_ldsc13.JPG

Keith went on to talk about changes since 2009 in the role of ODS. Most of the changes were because of the NFB’s complaint.

He also talked about the shift from ODS from defining disabilities to finding solutions. This has to be empowering for those in that group. This has happened because disability has gone from being scientifically defined.

Keith shared a few tools that were being used by ODS.

Keith also presented considerations when selecting textbook for student accessibility.
ODS_tb_ldsc13.JPG

Keith finished up by talking about the future considerations of ODS. The point that stuck the most with me was focusing on STEM materials. Hope to see this in the near future.

Next, we moved to Susan Hayya in 113 Pattee West. We got a chance to see the room dedicated to students with disabilities in the library.

Following lunch, Pam Fuller, Senior Financial Adviser for ITS Financial Services talked about mindful teamwork. She started with a definition of teamwork & asked us to do a few activities to help us think about what we all have in common:

  • Personal Values
  • IT Principles
  • IT Strategic Plan

She also reminded us to sprint to understanding instead of speeding to a solution. Additionally, she told us to be mindful of our fears and learn to trust.

Following this session I attended a game put on by Chris Stubbs about teamwork and elements to good teaming. It was a fun way to reflect on issues that we deal with in teams.

Day 1 was fun and a great chance to interact and reflect on what we do every day.

Web Conference at Penn State 2013 Day 1

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Great first day of the Web Conference at Penn State 2013.

After b-fast at the Penn Stater, we moved to the day 1 keynote by Cindy Li from Flickr on Inclusive Design. Cindy started by mentioning that her mother has macular degeneration. This brought a personal element to her talk. She went on to talk about sites that needed work and how they could be improved. During this part of the talk she highlighted tools that helped in testing sites, like Xscope, Nocturne, Braille Institute, and Color Contrast Analyzer to name a few. 
One of the most memorable parts of her talk were a few exercises where she asked us to close our eyes and hear how a screen reader worked on a few sites. Then we were asked to watch the experience. It was amazing how poorly the sites had been set for accessibility. Just a reminder of how so many individuals are affected by items that many take for granted. 
She also highlighted a few sights that were well done. She mentioned that we should make our designs welcoming. Users remember when it makes them uncomfortable.

Went to several sessions in the AM and PM that I really enjoyed. 
My favorite of the day was by Kris Rockwell from Impact Games on Play the Election. Kris talked about how there were three parts to the experience of Play the Election. 
  1. Electoral map that allowed students to go back to 1960
  2. Election games – 11 games & a way for teachers to create their own games. Impact Games made the interface while the 11 games were created by those at Rand McNally
  3. Community – which needed special consideration because of the audience, high school students. Classes had the opportunity to wall of their classes from the public. 
Kris made some important points about game creation and gamification and differentiating between the two. He also mentioned how competition increases engagement at least in the short term. 
Kris went on to talk about things that went wrong:
  1. Short development time (only 3 months)
  2. Abbreviated marketing research
On the positive side:
  1. The game was a solid platform on several devices that included the transition from flash to html5
  2. Tools in the game were easy to use with little need for support
  3. 2400 classrooms created – 20,000 to 25,000 Individual users, a lot of positive feedback
Another session that I liked was about our users. The speakers highlighted Millennials. I felt like much of what they highlighted could be good for all users. We spend so much time thinking about making everything so useful for a large group when we need to think about personalizing the experience. We really need to do little with our systems. We need to think about how our systems are accessed and integrate with one another.
The last session that I’ll comment on was about leveraging social media for maximizing student engagement by Andrew Smyk. Andrew handled technical difficulties very well. He made some solid points about being strategic with the use of mobile. He also mentioned that accessibility of content via mobile is much more important than the attractiveness of materials and content. 
Nice conversation at lunch with people from outside and inside Penn State. Great day and looking forward to more tomorrow. 

Reflection 4/15/13-4/19/13

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Accomplishments:

    • Personal Security MOOC
      • MOOC meeting scheduled for 4/17
        • Worked on quizzes for the course on 4/17 through Module 1
        • Checked in with Nick about badges (Greg and Will can provide some things here as well.)
        • Sounds like this is something that will fall within the scope of his check for understanding project with Peggy
        • Met with Kate M and Trey about MOOCs through Coursera
    • IST 220 (Friedenberg)
      • Meeting set up for 5/2 from 11:00-12:00 to discuss
    • IST 230 (Newcomer)
      • The truth tables are completed
        • Feedback from Kent about video on the page (& in the rest of the course)
          • Would be nice to point students more clearly on where to start the tables
          • Can make the video accessible by ios devices. Here is an evernote on how.
      • Email sent to Larry on 4/9
        • Reply from Toni D; positive about the final product
      • Amy G pointed me to some resources that were available from the past.
        • I plan to take a closer look and share with Larry for possible inclusion in later semesters
    • IST 240 (Fonseca)
      • Looks like Fred will be speaking with Lisa about the course committee and getting things moving toward a revision
      • My understanding is that the curriculum will eventually have 140 leading to 242 for the design & development option
      • 240 will be for everyone else
      • Fred would like to tie activities together a bit more for this course
      • Met on 4/17 about the course with Fred
        • 1st 7 weeks include
          • Minilecture
          • HW
          • Quiz the next week
        • Last 7 weeks are for creating a game in java
        • He would like to have a way for students to self assess during the 1st 7 weeks
        • I introduced the idea of peer assessment as well
    • IST 250 (Bixler)
      • Met with Brett on 1/30 to discuss adjustments
        • Mostly items that Brett will fix
        • He will send me changes to the curriculum as Word docs for me to update
    • IST 302 (Clark)
      • Sent note to Shawn about new text
        • He replied that if the book changed significantly we would have to do a revision
          • I sent a reply back to let him know that it didn’t change much and to see if he needed a copy
          • He said yes, and I sent a request to Kathy W on 4/8
          • Checked in with Amy S about the possibility of revision
          • I don’t think it’s necessary
    • IST 420 (Ocker)
        • Spoke with Rosalie about both 420 and 301 for Summer ’13. I moved the reminder to mid-April to allow time for her to finish up a few items
        • Got the okay to merge sections
        • Then got a note to unmerge.
        • Then told to merge.
  • Spring ’13 Courses
    • IST 210
      • Middaugh Sec
        • Jesse sent me a note about the eval
        • Created one for him and his section
        • After several emails, got him access and asked for feedback after implementation
      • All Sec
        • Fred sent a note about a student being confused about the assessment.
        • I’m going to add a quick blurb to make things clearer.
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Fred F)
        • Received info on 4/15 & adjusted Fred’s course accordingly on 4/16
    • IST 302
      • Sec 001 (Clark)
        • Received a note about adjusting the settings to allow for students to do the assessment early
        • Fixed the settings for the needs of the instructor and students
        • I sent him a short video to show him what I did for future reference.
  • Summer ’13 Courses
    • Sent note to Sonya L on 4/17 about courses that have been merged and info that WC needed
    • IST 110
      • Sec 001 (Farugia)
        • Emailed Farugia and got the okay to set up the course based upon Spring ’13 version
        • Completed 2/13/13
      • Sec 002 (Newcomer Folkers)
        • Emailed Deirdre on 2/26/13 about course since she will be teaching it.
          • Couldn’t find this email that I thought I sent, probably just forgot 🙁
        • Sent a follow up on 3/20 and got a reply right away to go ahead
        • Completed setting up the course and emailed Deidre of the changes on 3/21
        • Added video from Summer ’12 upon request
      • Sec 003 (Heberling)
        • Got a note from Gary that his section was available
        • Set up his space on 4/3/13
        • Note from Gary about a font issue in one of the course project pdfs.
        • I updated his section, Deirdre’s section, & dev section
    • IST 111S
      • Sec 001 (Folkers)
        • Set up the course based upon SP 13 version
        • Follow up email with Deirdre to let her know that it is done on 2/12/13
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Gary H)
        • Sent Gary an email n 2/21 about what he would like done to populate his section
        • Copied and completed setting up for Summer ’13 on 2/21/13
        • Sent roster on 4/10
      • Sec 002 (Fred A)
        • Sent Fred an email n 2/21 about what he would like done to populate his section
        • Follow up sent on 3/14
        • Fred said that it would be fine, so I set it up on 3/14 and let Fred know
        • Sent roster on 4/10
    • IST 220
      • All Sec
        • Sent note to IT about roster 1 month out on 4/10
      • Sec 001 (Nick G)
        • Talked to Nick on 2/21 & agreed that moving his section from Spring ’13 and making adjustments to fit the summer makes the most sense. I plan to wait until the end of April to move items
        • Talked to Nick on 4/10, & he requested that I move a fresh version into the Summer ’13 space & adjust the schedule.
        • Spent much of 4/11 trying to fix the course for this summer
        • Took more than half of 4/12 also
        • Emailed Nick on 4/12
      • Sec 002 (Mike M)
        • Emailed Mike on 2/21 about plan. He was fine with it.
      • Sec 003 (Hyunjeong)
        • Contacted Hyunjeong about when she would like me to move her materials over to Summer ’13 section
        • Got the okay, but asked whether she would be okay moving to VHOL
          • She’s meeting with Nick to get acclimated
        • She also requested adding the course schedule which I did on 4/12
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001 & 002 (Larry)
        • Will need to merge the sections for Larry to populate
        • Checked with WC on 3/12 about 2nd section being on my profile
        • Checked on 3/14 and had both sections on my profile
        • Thanked WC for the help
        • Called Larry about merging sections
        • I merged the sections on 3/14
        • He will populate the space from there
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Hal)
        • Contacted Hal on April 8 about populating Summer ’13 section
        • Note from Anita C-G on 3/26 that we will have a student with impaired hearing. Glad we took this into account when we last revised the course.
        • Contacted Hal on 4/8 and got the go ahead to populate the course next week
        • Populated on 4/15 and set for the summer
        • Sent Hal a note
        • He responded with request to move items into ANGEL to avoid problems with keeping everything current
        • I checked the course and sent him a list of items to unpublish and add to ANGEL
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001 (John O)
        • Copied over Spring ’13 materials to Summer ’13 space for John
    • IST 295B
      • Sec 001 (Kari)
        • Contacted Madhavi on 2/20/13 about populating the Summer ’13 section
    • IST 301
      • Sec 001 (Ocker)
        • Spoke with Rosalie
          • Sounded like she would populate her own section
    • IST 302
      • Sec 001 (Clark)
        • emailed on 3/8 that will copy over SP ’13 materials
        • he replied that it sounded good on 3/11
        • set up the section on 3/12 and emailed him
      • Sec 002 (Jesse Bill C if needed)
        • emailed on 3/8 that will copy over dev space materials
        • This section is not showing on my profile since 1st section is not full
    • IST 331
      • Sec 001 (Cantor)
        • Emailed to set up a meeting to discuss changes that need to be made before Summer ’13
        • Bill responded that he would be at UP on 4/8 & 4/9, so we will meet f2f on 4/9 at 3:30
        • Bill followed up on 4/8
          • I mentioned that I need to leave earlier than I originally anticipated
          • We discussed next steps
          • I completed the following in the Summer ’13 section
            • I copied the materials into the Summer ’13 space from your Spring ’13 section. Here are a few highlights:
              • I made the course announcement the same as last semester and have it visible until June 1. Feel free to adjust that as you deem fit.
              • I adjusted the textbook name based upon our discussion yesterday.
              • We haven’t run this course in Summer since the revision, so I took a shot at the adjustment.
    • IST 402
      • Sec 001 (Cameron)
        • Melissa will do this
    • IST 420
      • Sec 001 & 002 (Ocker)
        • Merged on 3/27
        • Rosalie still needs to finish a few things reminder for mid-April to check back in
        • Found out I needed to unmerge. Here is an excerpt from ANGEL help about how to do this: unmerge.png
          • One thing it doesn’t say is that you should copy what is in the section if you have already populated or are in the process of populating the merged section. Luckily, we weren’t doing that
          • It was decided to have Rosalie teach the 2nd section so had to remerge it on 4/12
    • IST 440W
      • Sec 001 & 002 – Merged (JW)
        • merged and populated the course on 3/12
        • had to update the course announcement with BB Collaborate info
        • updated the communicate tab to remove live chat
        • sent email on 3/12 that the process was completed
          • Jim said he’d check when he has time
    • IST 495
      • Sec 001 (Kari)
        • Contacted Madhavi on 2/20/13 about populating the Summer ’13 section

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Summer ’13
    • Started a Fall ’13 google schreadsheet 

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • Need LMS that better integrates and includes tools that we use in our classes.

Important Dates:

  • April 1 Vacation Day – 8h
  • April 2 Vaction Time AM – 4h
  • April 3 Family Sick – 8h
  • April 4 Family Sick – 8h
  • April 19 Morning Family Medical 4h AM
  • April 19 Vacation time – 4h PM
  • May 3 Vacation Day – 8h
  • May 6 Vacation Day – 8h
  • May 27 Memorial Day – Holiday
  • June 14 Vacation Day – 8h
  • June 21 Vacation Day – 8h
  • July 4 Holiday
  • July 5 Vacation Day – 8h
  • July 11 Vacation Day – 8h
  • July 12 Vacation Day – 8h
  • August 19 Vacation Day – 8h
  • August 20 Vacation Day – 8h

Reflection 3/18/13-3/22/13

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Accomplishments:

    • Personal Security MOOC
      • Meeting on 3/20 to discuss with Gary
      • Set up a meeting for Monday 3/25 from 10:30-11:30 with Brett to discuss badges
      • ID meeting on 3/25 to solidify things a bit
    • IST 220 (Friedenberg)
      • Meeting set up for 3/14 from 1:30-2 to discuss
      • Mark pushed it back until early May
    • IST 230 (Newcomer)
      • Email from Larry that he likes the tables that have been created
      • Sent him a reply that we will replace static tables with the interactive ones and let him know
      • Talked to Greg on 3/12 about updating the course with materials that we created. This the page to be updated: https://online.ist.psu.edu/ist230/node/27. He got sick and couldn’t complete it.
      • Checked on 3/14 and tables were replaced. Now, we need to add the 2-variable examples and make the directions a bit better. Need to check back in on 3/21 to finish the project
    • IST 250 (Bixler)
      • Met with Brett on 1/30 to discuss adjustments
        • Mostly items that Brett will fix
        • He will send me changes to the curriculum as Word doc for me to update
    • IST 420 (Ocker)
        • Spoke with Rosalie about both 420 and 301 for Summer ’13. I moved the reminder to mid-April to allow time for her to finish up a few items
  • Spring ’13 Courses
    • IST 110
      • Sec 007 (Jim F)
        • Sent results from mid-course survey that he gave.
        • All appears well
        • Request to send student work and give feedback
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001 (Newcomer)
        • Consulted on student interaction
  • Summer ’13 Courses
    • IST 110
      • Sec 001 (Farugia)
        • Emailed Farugia and got the okay to set up the course based upon Spring ’13 version
        • Completed 2/13/13
      • Sec 002 (Newcomer Folkers)
        • Emailed Deirdre on 2/26/13 about course since she will be teaching it.
          • Couldn’t find this email that I thought I sent, probably just forgot 🙁
        • Sent a follow up on 3/20 and got a reply right away to go ahead
        • Completed setting up the course and emailed Deidre of the changes on 3/21
        • Added video from Summer ’12 upon request
    • IST 111S
      • Sec 001 (Folkers)
        • Set up the course based upon SP 13 version
        • Follow up email with Deirdre to let her know that it is done on 2/12/13
    • IST 210
      • Sec 001 (Gary H)
        • Sent Gary an email n 2/21 about what he would like done to populate his section
        • Copied and completed setting up for Summer ’13 on 2/21/13
      • Sec 002 (Fred A)
        • Sent Fred an email n 2/21 about what he would like done to populate his section
        • Follow up sent on 3/14
        • Fred said that it would be fine, so I set it up on 3/14 and let Fred know
    • IST 220
      • Sec 001 (Nick G)
        • Talked to Nick on 2/21 & agreed that moving his section from Spring ’13 and making adjustments to fit the summer makes the most sense. I plan to wait until the end of April to move items
      • Sec 002 (Mike M)
        • Emailed Mike on 2/21 about plan. He was fine with it.
      • Sec 003 (Hyunjeong)
        • Contacted Hyunjeong about when she would like me to move her materials over to Summer ’13 section
    • IST 230
      • Sec 001 & 002 (Larry)
        • Will need to merge the sections for Larry to populate
        • Checked with WC on 3/12 about 2nd section being on my profile
        • Checked on 3/14 and had both sections on my profile
        • Thanked WC for the help
        • Called Larry about merging sections
        • I merged the sections on 3/14
        • He will populate the space from there
    • IST 240
      • Sec 001 (Hal)
        • Will contact Hal in mid-April about populating Summer ’13 section since he has a few items to update
    • IST 250
      • Sec 001 (John O)
        • Copied over Spring ’13 materials to Summer ’13 space for John
    • IST 295B
      • Sec 001 (Kari)
        • Contacted Madhavi on 2/20/13 about populating the Summer ’13 section
    • IST 301
      • Sec 001 (Ocker)
        • Spoke with Rosalie
          • Sounded like she would populate her own section
    • IST 302
      • Sec 001 (Clark)
        • emailed on 3/8 that will copy over SP ’13 materials
        • he replied that it sounded good on 3/11
        • set up the section on 3/12 and emailed him
      • Sec 002 (Jesse Bill C if needed)
        • emailed on 3/8 that will copy over dev space materials
        • This section is not showing on my profile since 1st section is not full
    • IST 331
      • Sec 001 (Cantor)
        • Emailed to set up a meeting to discuss changes that need to be made before Summer ’13
        • Bill responded that he would be at UP on 4/8 & 4/9, so we will meet f2f on 4/9 at 3:30
    • IST 402
      • Sec 001 (Cameron)
        • Melissa will do this
    • IST 420
      • Sec 001 & 002 (Ocker)
        • Looks like a merge
        • Rosalie still needs to finish a few things reminder for mid-April to check back in
    • IST 440W
      • Sec 001 & 002 – Merged (JW)
        • merged and populated the course on 3/12
        • had to update the course announcement with BB Collaborate info
        • updated the communicate tab to remove live chat
        • sent email on 3/12 that the process was completed
          • Jim said he’d check when he has time
    • IST 495
      • Sec 001 (Kari)
        • Contacted Madhavi on 2/20/13 about populating the Summer ’13 section

Ongoing Projects:

    • Updated google spreadsheet for Summer ’13 

Immediate Decisions / Issues:

    • Need LMS that better integrates and includes tools that we use in our classes.

Important Dates:

  • MOOC Jan 4 – March 15 called Introduction to Genetics and Evolution
  • MOOC Jan 14 – Mar 4 called Fundamentals of Personal Finance
  • March 4 Vacation Day
  • March 5 Vacation Day
  • March 11 Prof Dev: Voice Thread at PSU: Hands on Training Session
  • March 15 Out for the day
  • March16 TLT Symposium
  • March 18-22 IST Startup Week
  • March 18 WAH from 2PM
  • March 20 March Gaming Brownbag on Currency Exchange
  • March 29 Vacation Day
  • April 1 Vacation Day
  • April 2 Vaction Time AM – 4h
  • May 3 Vacation Day
  • May 6 Vacation Day
  • May 27 Memorial Day – Holiday
  • June 14 Vacation Day
  • June 21 Vacation Day
  • July 4 Holiday
  • July 5 Vacation Day
  • July 11 Vacation Day
  • July 12 Vacation Day
  • August 19 Vacation Day
  • August 20 Vacation Day

Educational Gaming Brown Bag: Currency Exchange

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I was very impressed by the presentation given by James Laurie and Mary Ann Mengel. It was a thorough presentation and showed both their implementation and research before starting the process.

One resource that I need to read is The Gamification of Learning & Instruction. Just added it to my google book library to read.   

Based upon their reading and research, James and Mary Ann mapped their learning objectives. I noticed that their objectives were found on higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. Definitely an idea to adopt.

A great point made by Mary Ann was that games work great for situations where there are multiple factors. In this example, there were several factors that influenced profit. Making a game was a great way for students to study the effect of these factors in a way that they were able to make choices or be at the whim of circumstances in order to better understand the concepts presented.

As James and Mary Ann spoke, I could tell that there were many team members involved Team approach, constantly checking with multiple experts to make sure the game made sense. They also shared their timeline.

Curr_exch_timeline.JPG

It took awhile to get this going, and that is because of all of the additional responsibilities that each team member had to accomplish besides this project. Also, they were handling the whole process from scratch. It would be nice if we had more easily accessible templates in an engine that we could leverage to cut down the timeline.

As I mentioned earlier, the team working on this project did much analysis and design based upon research. Here is a slide that they shared about their analysis and design.

Curr_exch_analy_design.JPG 

 

With the proper ground work and team established. They were able to move into storyboarding. Here are a few slides on storyboarding.

Curr_exch_storybrd_intro.JPG

It may be difficult to see, but this above slide starts the process of determining scenarios for the game. It lists different cases for round 1 and reasons for decreases in sales price.

Curr_exch_storybrd_r1.JPG

Once an overall storyboard and ideas have been developed, it is time to drill down into each component. This is a slide on storyboarding for round 1.

Curr_exch_storybrd_r2.JPG

Here is another slide, this time for round 2 of the game.

Mary Ann talked at length about accessibility. An unanticipated event that happened in the middle of this project was that NFB had filed a complaint against Penn State. This complaint encouraged them to think about how to make the game more accessible. If they would have known about this, they would have taken a different approach from using flash.

Curr_exch_access.JPG

 

At the end of the discussion, Mary Ann talked about the benefits of gaming relating to skill sets that matter to workforce and mapped what games help to develop. Here is a slide on game dimension aspects of games. They went into detail on what elements were highlighted in their game.

Curr_exch_game_dim.JPG

 

Interesting to think about implementation. Should this be prefaced with instruction or considered as an anticipatory set that will lead to more engagement before introducing a topic. Sounded like the latter worked well this semester.