What members are required for the development of an epistemic game and once the game begins?

1. It doesn’t seem plausible that a single teacher could do the many thing necessary in order to create an epistemic game so the first thing is that appears that epistemic game development is a team sport.

2. interviewers of professionals in field to capture typical cases or problems or scenarios.

3. research software game engines if necessary and locate software programmer if game development requires it.

4.  work with teacher to align goals of game with student learning outcomes of course.

What roles are necessary as resources in the game itself? – actors or confederates, non-player characters, real professionals in the field available via chat or just resource videos- then game development personnel such as game programmers, interviewers, class teachers, other subject matter experts (SMEs).

more thoughts on this later….

http://gcpsx.coeps.drexel.edu/videos/dgvs_ep3public/

In short, epistemic games are computer-mediated games that require students to take on fictitious roles in order to understand how to think and act like professionals such as engineers, urban planners, etc..  One of the primary differences in epistemic game curricula and traditional didactic instruction is that the tasks that epistemic game participants are often complex tasks with multiple solutions.  Game participants (students) learn to use the content in the framework of solving real-world problems as they learn to take on the identities of professionals while acting in these roles.

Maybe they need to compare Twitter life to other blog, email, or other communication media message life before drawing any conclusions.

At first glance, Twitter seems valuable in terms (1) monitoring the activities of those we admire, and (2) discovering new folks who have similar interests.  I guess the study assumes that you if you find something valuable, you would simply RT it instead of telling someone F2F or via email, etc.

It’s still all about the mashups and integration, isn’t it?  Well, at least I feel good about some more of the time I’ve been spending with tools like Google Earth….

1.    Teachers should provide regular effective feedback and guidance to students
a.    Some course tools such as the assessment tool can provide immediate feedback on individual student performance
b.    Students can give feedback to each other on performance
c.    Some publisher site activities are designed to provide instant feedback on performance
2.    Course design should include authentic activities that are designed so that students learn to apply what they have learned to real world scenarios, i.e., anchored instruction/active learning
3.    Teachers should design activities that connect new content to be learned with students’ existing knowledge structures
a.    Pre-test students on material to be learned by creating an assessment or asking all students to answer a series of questions.  Content presented by the teacher is dependent on students’ answers
b.    Teacher summarizes what was learned in module one and explains relationship of it with material to be learned in module two
4.    Class should include a variety of collaborative (paired or small group) activities so that students develop awareness of diverse perspectives and to promote classroom community
5.    Provide course resources (scaffolds) for under-prepared students
a.    Prepare materials or locate resources to help those under-prepared students
6.    Make use of time management techniques and course tools to keep students organized and on task
a.    Create a course check-in routine that students follow every time they log into the course
b.    Make use of course tools like the calendar and get students used to checking it to alert them of pending deadlines and assessments
c.    Hide/Reveal course content to focus students’ attention on current and upcoming course activtities
7.    Online course materials should be designed to work in tandem with on ground materials, e.g., textbooks
a.    Course materials in books, textbooks, and handouts do not necessarily  need to be converted to present in your course
b.    Online course materials can act as an advance organizer to students’ on ground materials, i.e., textbooks, etc.
c.    If online materials are a duplicate of paper handouts, then students will likely read one or the other but not both
8.    Class activities should require students to make use of multiple sources of information including the Internet, library databases, etc., in completing assignments.
9.    Course should be designed so that students can easily find what work they’re supposed to be doing, when it’s due, where in the course they have to do the work, and how they’re going to be assessed on their work.
a.    See time management technqiues in number six
b.    Create a table/matrix that displays time  period, activity, due date, toolset being utilized, and method of assessment.
10.    Course should include pre-course (before course begins) and during course assessments to help students assess their readiness prior to instruction and graded activities
a.    Make use of college pre-course readiness assessment so students can determine their level of preparedness to begin the class
b.    Create readiness assessments prior to grade assessments to help students check their understanding