Gavin's blog

My initial concept is to create a game / simulation based on the events at Gallipoli in 1915. There is many resources around and it is such an important event in our national history. An increasing amount of young people are travelling to Gallipoli for Anzac day as a renewed interest grows. I was fortunate enough to travel to Gallipoli when I was twenty, and still remember the impact the visit had. It is a very sombre place. New Zealand and Australia must be one of the very few countries in the world to have such an immense tragedy as a national day! I finally feel that I am making progress on the research plan. I am now working out the details of the research project and am carefully looking at some History achievement standards and internet resources from Australia and New Zealand for teachers... Time to get back into it...

Last night I read more about Blooms taxonomy, as well as articles looking at Peter Checklands "Soft Systems" methodology. These thoughts framed themselves into the question: "How can you develop video games that enable "deep thinking"? Shirley Alexanders theories on "surface" and "deep" thinking would provide a theoretical underpinning to work to in developing an understanding of how to enagage players in "higher order" cognitive activity. This morning I have been at work trying to get this direction down on paper - and have been pleased with at least constructing a Research Plan that has enough detail to have some concrete discussion about...

Today was the first day working from home. It consisted of searching the web for suitable relevant literature, and trying to write the research plan. My task was to come to some clarification about my research topic. The problem is that I am very aware of the importance of getting the research question right... and I feel the weight of it. I am also aware that I am unfamiliar with a huge body of knowledge and research on educational learning theory. My interests in game research also varies extensively, but predominantly lie in measuring effective learning through game play. It is also my desire that the results from my years project, not just be of interest, but of real use. Mmmmm The research question I left thinking about last week was "Does the level of immersion in a 3d game affect effective learning?" On delving into the definition of immersion, it seems that there is no consenus. However my loose interpretation would be along the lines of: immersion is the degree to which the player relates the game experience to a real world experience. Thinking about this it would be possible to adjust the level of immersion by varying the level of graphics, game logic, audio etc etc. However I think there is an arguement to be made that levels of immersion lead to levels of engagement and engagement creates one condition for learning. There has been much research into engagement of video games in education -and for this reason I am rethinking the research question. Today I have read a little more about Blooms taxonomy. I am interested in considering whether this could be used as an effective measure of learning in video gameplay. Or possibly looking at Alexanders "deep learning" theory... More reading and "deep" thinking required...

This week is the first week of our 2007 e-fellows project. We all met at Core education in Christchurch on Monday for a very busy week... There has been a lot of thinking, writing, rethinking and rewriting going on. The inital focus has been on defining our research questions. When I started at the beginning of the week the question was: "How do you enable students to create their own 3D immersive computer games for their peers, that incorporate a sound educational philosophy with clearly defined educational objectives and content?" and... "How do you measure the effectiveness of learning acquired during game play?" It has morphed a number of times, at present, into: "How does changing the degree of immersion in a 3d game affect effective learning?" The next task is to clarify my thoughts and produce a draft research plan and grid...