Kurt Squire and Levi Giovanetto: Apolyton University: The Higher Education of Gaming

Civilization 3 – http://www.civ3.com/
can use real maps to play or not; most gamers don’t use real maps because they need more novelty

elearning systems are not particularly compelling content; we can rethink this and do better
Apolyton University IS a compelling model – http://www.Apolyton.net/; the university is just one part of the community
a self-organizing learning community; it’s international

games change how we interact
there’s a need for critical reading of simulations
need a design level of understanding

1. predictive simulations – predicting the weather; build many models; political discourse
2. “idea” simulations – gives you ideas; lets you see what could happen and then change things

setup and debrief are important in any simulation

Civ3 shares a lot with Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel”
“Civilization III as a world history sandbox” – article by Squire

study game communities as models for next generation learning communities

Apolyton – “a school of strategy, where students sharpen their Civ3 skills and share their experiences in a series of thematic games…. Participants are encouraged to share their strategy after the game….”

Example course: AU102: Give Peace a Chance - have to play the game without militaries

Kurt and Levi used cognitive ethnography to study Apolyton – participant observation, played games

a site of collective intelligence; one player used the site to get better and gain knowledge before the multiplayer option was released

after about 300 hours of playing Civ3, the pattern is that you get bored, which is where AU comes in; rejuvenates the game by offering new ideas, new strategies, new scenarios, etc.

“documenting mistakes helps prevent repetition, recording success helps recall the best practice….” – player
“During Action Reports” (DARs) – turn by turn transcripts written by players
provides reflection on actions, accessing expert cognition
also offers an interpretive frame of what happened and provides a recap of specific moves; can also put up screenshots
can ask questions – “what should I do next;” experts answer
showed one example: expert replies yes, but also explains why person should consider upgrading their military units and how to plan for the future; tries to promote flexible knowledge rather than just one answer
these players have a design-level understanding of the game

Conceptual Tools
– emergence of technical terminology (REXing, Settler Pump, Alex’s archer rush, “culture flipping”)
– ideas, learning have a history

large lurker community just reading the posts; fewer people posting now, but more lurkers than in the past

AU actually evaluates its learning structures; when one is no longer useful, they’ll eliminate; if they see a need, they’ll add one; will modify existing ones

success depends on players’ goals
– newer people gained mentorship
– old players sharpened skills
– developed a community of expertise
– a design level understanding of game simulations

interviewed players and asked “do you ever draw comparisons between current events and a civ game?”
“Yes – culture affects occupation;” found that players use terms from civ to describe current events (golden age, flip, cultural victory); now understand cultural outposts, American ideology; “I actually learned a lot more history and geography through Civ3”; is trying to convince teachers to let him use it in class (kid was in college)

AU functions as a way to move users to become designers; users even interact with the designers

AU participation is lessening becuase they’ve completely explored Civ3; moving on to Civ4; everyone is participating in the beginning of the Civ4 site, not just the experts

“Movement & Supply” section has more words than the New Testament!

Is Civ just a special case? Yes, and that’s why they’re studying it, but it’s a great model

can also look at Madden, Quake, etc. to note how complex the games are but how many sites have sprung up online to meet needs and bring players together
on the Madden site, users have started creating rules for play calling – showed the long list (that would be a lot to track in a game)

AU serves as a powerful model of a self-organization learning system indigenous to an age of simulation. Driven by participants’ desire to learn as a natural extension of pleasurable game play, participation in AU requires “students” to start becoming designers. …a quintessential example of how contemporary pop culture operates
– this is what schools need, this is the model

http://adlacademiccolab.org/gapps.html http://www.academiccolab.org/gapps.html

Richard Halverson: Leadership for Games, Games for Leadership

theories of expertise are too generic
Aristotle: expertise is particular, moral, and gained over time; practical

games provide just the right level that professionals need to help them learn
however, computer and console video games are our generational rorschach test (!)

doesn’t think schools are broken; teachers can change practices in loosely coupled systems, but…
leaders need to organize systemic changes outside the scope of teacher
leaders have resisted games and gaming as the enemy
the new porn; No Child Left Behind prevents games in some classes - constrains curriculum

leading to integrate gaming
rewarding curricular innovation
social and technical transfer systems – creation and maintenance IS the point
biggest issue is that gaming is alien to them; they have no context for it at all

GAPP: what if we created a game that they would actually use professionally to help illustrate all of this? = Instructional Leadership Game
capturing the practical wisdom of school leaders; used a case study of someone changing her school
the representations were dull and “thick” to the school leaders because there was no narrative
investigated simulations, but other examples had too much detail or too little, so the mix was wrong
they haven’t been able to build something with the right mix yet

what they would like to build during the next couple of years:
what’s the right level of representation?
goal of school leaders is always to improve school learning, so their goal is to help school leaders implement systemic change to improve student learning?

Design principles
context authenticity - how to represent practice at the right level? (not just “here’s your plan and here are the outcomes”)
expertise – how to communicate achieved wisdom and strategies?
verisimilitutde - how to make sure research-based practicies actually pay off legitimately

Game Design
players establish resource pool
players engage in mini-games in monthly turns, committing resources

have goals which are tied to strategies that are open to you using resources

your moves affect parents, teachers, and the community, not just the students
building social networks into the game in order to use professional development, friendships, how long the teacher has been at the school, etc. as components that influence the game
want the play to track several years to view consequences of decisions

Questions:

how have you attempted to model counter-implementation?
Richard: that’s the key problem; if you provide professional development that doesn’t require a lot of time, you don’t get a bump in expertise of your teachers - their sociability and expertise will go down

what they hope to show in the game is that real change is expensive and difficult, but POSSIBLE

Kurt actually mentions libraries in the context of gatekeepers, but only in passing as part of a list  :-(

know of any games that are meant to help students perform better on standardized tests?
James Gee: it could be done, but that’s like using a Ferrarri to go afoot; it’s what else you get from this that goes so far past standardized testing
Kurt: “Standardized Test: The Game” – subvert the whole thing! “Pick which answer is the typical WASP one….”
Richard: it’s the assessments that are the issue; schools are adapting to what NCLB requires - could get them to adapt to gaming as assessment

have you thought about how to get parents to understand the effects of gaming? can you build a game for the community?

from a practical standpoint, how do we reward curricular leadership?
Richard: there are migrations of talent in urban school systems – good teachers end up teaching under good principals; problem is not enough leaders try; they feel constrained

JUCCO in Johnson County, Kansas has a gaming curriculum and is doing outreach to the community; finding that parents aren’t the problem - they find it invigorating that kids are interested in this
GameMaker program - use it to teach kids