Stacey Matthias, Founder and co-CEO, Insight Kids and Insight Research Group
After 2 days of hearing educators, policy makers, designers, marketers, and researchers talk about why tech is so important in 21st century classrooms, playful ways it can help with learning, the difference between well-designed games and not, and how to stay "real" in a virtual world, this presentation sorted and summarized highlights, ideas, controversies, etc.
TRUTH
It’s about ‘time’. Many of our students are leaving school before it’s time. Also about time in that we have 24 hour mobile access. We have no down time. How do we create ‘snack’ time? How do we power down? Concern about time spent on screens, concerned if it’s time well spent. A notion of time compression – of instant gratification and instant reward. Not being able to wait for reward and impact. People want more time to play together. This passion and desire for play endures.
‘I play my way’. No matter what we do in this industry, kids will always play their way. Devices or games might not be designed in the way that kids end up using it. One kid said that his favorite part of a specific game was testing it.
‘The Truth of Boundary Smooshing.’ There is a boundary smoosh between digital and physical worlds. Smooshing boundaries between playing to learn and learning to play, between formal and informal learning, smooshing of content, smoosh of who is the creator and who is the player. The smoosh of roles – who is the teacher and who is the student? What it means to move forward in a learner centered culture smooshes the boundaries of education and how we learn within it.
POSSIBILITY
A teacher in a classroom creates rules and norms, then the students follow those rules. Used ‘Simon Says’ as a simple example. Then used another example ‘the mirror game’ can give us a glimpse of what learning might be like in 20 years.
This is different to Simon Says in that there’s no competition, no interruption, it’s intimate, you need to work with your team member, it’s more creative, you have more control. It’s a moment of mutual expression.
The presenter learned this game working with special needs kids who have autism. Encourages kids to make eye contact and tune in to another person’s body language and movement. Also very powerful for grown-ups in the work environment. Says it’s also a metaphor for the possibilities of where we see technology and learning as we have this ‘boundary smoosh’ between the teacher, the creator, the learner, the user.
What’s the hope for how tech will transform kids lives? Some of the people in this presentation said:
- help transform kids lives
- break down barriers
- support each child’s learning
- to make connections
- to give new opportunities
- to accelerate path to be literate citizens
- to allow them ot be producers, not just learners
- to individualize an adaptive learning
- pursue and deepen their interests and passions
- tech will encourage kids to imagine, create and engage
- improve quality of childhood minutes
- tech will bring kids across the world
- help become more aware of opportunities in their lives and make them happen
- helps them become engaged global thinkers
- become collaborative and creative thinkers
How can we play at the edge of innovation and invention?
What is the pop up book of the future?
How can we help kids favore the savor?
How can we help kids move beyond the screen and into the world?
What will be the next apache and Wikipedia?
How do we create flow experiences for learning?
How do we create a LPS? (learning positioning system?)
How do we make learner centered design feasible on a large scale?
How do we reward kids at school for creativity?
How can gestural interfaces help all kids, including those with disabilities?
How does smart design mitigate the pitfalls of tech?
How do we integrate formal and informal learning?
Mine all this mega data and make meaning from it
How can we close gap between kids parents and schools?
What is the difference between process and product?
How do values manifest in the tech that empowers and eduates kids?
Create the playground of the future?
SUMMARY: As industry leaders, creators, producers we must look to:
Face our fears
Clarify our intentions
Play with passion
Trust yourself and your collaborators.
Trust kids.
Showing posts with label sandbox. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sandbox. Show all posts
Friday, April 29, 2011
Sandbox Summit: Design for Fun
What makes a Good Game, and a Game GoodDrew Davidson, Ph.D. (waxebb.com)
Director, Entertainment Technology Center – Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University
He is interested in in-depth ‘close reading’ of games to provide thorough critique and analysis, and capturing the gameplay experience. In addition, it better finds meaning and value. Through this process finds the true value of a game.
Presentation focus:
MINECRAFT – A SNACKABLE INDIE SANDBOX
http://www.minecraft.net/
Winner of a bucketload of awards at GDC this year.
Minecraft procedurally generates worlds. You start a world, and start a day in this world. You can join local servers and have friends play together in this game.
Create a crafting table to gain the ability to have a bigger crafting area, therefore better ability to make.
Varieties of Game Play
How do you measure where you are in your gameplay experience?
Involvement – at a certain point you are just involved in a game. If you can’t hook someone at this level you’ve lost them already.
Immersion – you don’t think about controls, it’s more about ‘doing’
Investment – you cross the line and wan to have a successful completion in this game experience.
Narrative – often like to look at the narrative. We make sense of the world by telling stories about our experienced. This applies to games.
Is it even a game? Yes - because you have to survive (there are zombies at night!)
Minecraft is about creativity and survival. You need to survive. It’s about what you want to do in this world, figure out your own project.
Minecraft is also very snackable, easy to play in short bites.
In this game, there’s 10 minutes of day time, 1.5 mins of sunset, 7 mins of night and 1.5 mins of sunrise.
The game was made by Markus Perrson, made it by himself. He built it publicly to get public feedback. Offered pre-order to testers. He’s now gone to BETA, hired a team of friends, now has 2 million pre-orders. You can play it for free by yourself but pay if you want to do multi player.
Community support via Minepedia and Mods. There’s also a ‘minepedia’ completely created by the community.
Developer has also opened up API for free so people can mod it from the ground up. The code is free – but with the condition that he’ll put cool stuff he likes in his game (eg. Texture packs)
Game is available on PC and Mac. It’s PC game style, old school gameplay boiling down to the core essence of RPGs.
What is Snackable?
- convenient and easy
- time easy
- complete play experience
- reduction of friction into
your life.
What is Post Secret?
- we are in a SPOILER driven culture
- You have to actively avoid things to keep a secret in a game or movie these days.
- Fits into the social networking hemisphere.
What is Literacy and Mastery?
- how people take control of and have ownership of games
- Minecraft was fascinating in terms of development – one guy, developed with the community and he’s made a fortune.
- How does it add up to an experience that has value?
How can we as producers leverage this open source code to find ways to create educational gameplay experiences through minecraft?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sandbox Summit: WHERE THE WIRED THINGS ARE: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MODERN FAMILY
WHERE THE WIRED THINGS ARE: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A MODERN FAMILY
Vanessa Van Petten, Youthologist and Author
Website: Radical Parenting – a website for parents written by kids.
- Her website has 120 teen interns.
- Created term ‘Youthology’ – aggregate the best studies from around the world, - translate into bite sized pieces to give to parents, educators and educators.
What technology do her readers find has most changed family routine? These were based on reader submissions, here were some of the common devices / sites mentioned.
MORNING
- sites like relishrelish.com (meal planner and tracker).
- Facebook, Twitter for checking updates
- Xbox – incorporating games during daily routine
- Skype
- SmartPhones (reading updates, watch videos, play games).
- iKibble (tracks pet food, meds etc)
- Zimride app for car pools
- Everyone checks their PlumLife! It’s a family online management system. Even sends out individual schedule notices such as ‘take out the trash’
AFTER SCHOOL
- RedRover or Skype Playdate (RedRover is an app that lets school families notify if you want to have a playdate).
- Virtual Worlds and games
- Drawing or playing on phone or iPad.
- Tech is also changing religious endeavours (eg. Bar Mitzvah with cantor in other states)
- TeacherTube / Khan Academy to help with homework.
- SAT prep via Adapster (vocab tracker)
- Tigertext is very popular amongst tweens – as soon as text is received it’s deleted after 4 minutes from BOTH phones.
- Some moms use SticKK – if you don’t achieve your goals you need to pay money to charity.
- WebMD.
- Texting (used examples of texting a child that dinner is ready so they didn’t have to scream)
- iGuardian is an app that tracks your child’s driving and sends reports back to parents.
- iCurfew is a similar app – but once you get to a location it sends the location automatically to your parents.
AFTER DINNER
- play Wii or Kinect
- use rottentomatoes to check out ratings for movies.
- Set up a ‘Synch-Tube’ - Chatting alongside watching vides –
- RunPee.com – tells you the best time to go to the toilet during a movie.
BEDTIME
- bedtime stories app
- skype (for family members away from home)
SOME FACEBOOK FACTS
60% of people stalk crushes
40% decide not to date someone if profile not cool
21% would break up with someone by changing facebook status
10% of people have been dumped over facebook.
Many people loved ex-blocker – an app that removes all mentions of your ex from facebook!
HOW THE DIGITAL DAY IS CHANGING US
The Good:
- ease and efficiency
- access
- help
- connectivity
- new kind of family together time.
The Bad:
- no off-time
- less mind wandering (daydreaming time)
- no boundaries – no off time between social life, home life and school life.
- Insomnia – kids text in the middle of the night. Average of 34 texts after bedtime.
- Kids are having trouble defining the difference between quality connections vs quantity (no undersanding value of ‘true’ friends vs ‘technology-made’ friends)
- Studies showed the more screen-time, there were more feelings reported of sadness and negativity. Online, they feel like they are connecting but there is nothing of substance being said. Compared it to cotton candy!
- Social illiteracy and miscues – need to teach social and digital literacy. Social miscues are astounding .
- New social cues – referred it to ‘flirting’ vs ‘e-flirting’.
WHAT WE CAN DO
- design digital play to be more enduring – need to work at it.
- Digital literacy must be taught alongside social literacy
- Help bring back boundaries and balance:
o Sleep should stay precious. Keep devices downstairs.
o No Electronic Zones (eg dining room) and Awesome Electronic Zones (eg play room).
o No Electronic Times and Creative Electronic Times.
- use and make technology that is imaginative and interactive (cited geo-caching), games that are online/real life back and forth, creating your own rules with the device, hide and seek apps.
- parent integration and spaces for parental involvement.
Vanessa Van Petten, Youthologist and Author
Website: Radical Parenting – a website for parents written by kids.
- Her website has 120 teen interns.
- Created term ‘Youthology’ – aggregate the best studies from around the world, - translate into bite sized pieces to give to parents, educators and educators.
What technology do her readers find has most changed family routine? These were based on reader submissions, here were some of the common devices / sites mentioned.
MORNING
- sites like relishrelish.com (meal planner and tracker).
- Facebook, Twitter for checking updates
- Xbox – incorporating games during daily routine
- Skype
- SmartPhones (reading updates, watch videos, play games).
- iKibble (tracks pet food, meds etc)
- Zimride app for car pools
- Everyone checks their PlumLife! It’s a family online management system. Even sends out individual schedule notices such as ‘take out the trash’
AFTER SCHOOL
- RedRover or Skype Playdate (RedRover is an app that lets school families notify if you want to have a playdate).
- Virtual Worlds and games
- Drawing or playing on phone or iPad.
- Tech is also changing religious endeavours (eg. Bar Mitzvah with cantor in other states)
- TeacherTube / Khan Academy to help with homework.
- SAT prep via Adapster (vocab tracker)
- Tigertext is very popular amongst tweens – as soon as text is received it’s deleted after 4 minutes from BOTH phones.
- Some moms use SticKK – if you don’t achieve your goals you need to pay money to charity.
- WebMD.
- Texting (used examples of texting a child that dinner is ready so they didn’t have to scream)
- iGuardian is an app that tracks your child’s driving and sends reports back to parents.
- iCurfew is a similar app – but once you get to a location it sends the location automatically to your parents.
AFTER DINNER
- play Wii or Kinect
- use rottentomatoes to check out ratings for movies.
- Set up a ‘Synch-Tube’ - Chatting alongside watching vides –
- RunPee.com – tells you the best time to go to the toilet during a movie.
BEDTIME
- bedtime stories app
- skype (for family members away from home)
SOME FACEBOOK FACTS
60% of people stalk crushes
40% decide not to date someone if profile not cool
21% would break up with someone by changing facebook status
10% of people have been dumped over facebook.
Many people loved ex-blocker – an app that removes all mentions of your ex from facebook!
HOW THE DIGITAL DAY IS CHANGING US
The Good:
- ease and efficiency
- access
- help
- connectivity
- new kind of family together time.
The Bad:
- no off-time
- less mind wandering (daydreaming time)
- no boundaries – no off time between social life, home life and school life.
- Insomnia – kids text in the middle of the night. Average of 34 texts after bedtime.
- Kids are having trouble defining the difference between quality connections vs quantity (no undersanding value of ‘true’ friends vs ‘technology-made’ friends)
- Studies showed the more screen-time, there were more feelings reported of sadness and negativity. Online, they feel like they are connecting but there is nothing of substance being said. Compared it to cotton candy!
- Social illiteracy and miscues – need to teach social and digital literacy. Social miscues are astounding .
- New social cues – referred it to ‘flirting’ vs ‘e-flirting’.
WHAT WE CAN DO
- design digital play to be more enduring – need to work at it.
- Digital literacy must be taught alongside social literacy
- Help bring back boundaries and balance:
o Sleep should stay precious. Keep devices downstairs.
o No Electronic Zones (eg dining room) and Awesome Electronic Zones (eg play room).
o No Electronic Times and Creative Electronic Times.
- use and make technology that is imaginative and interactive (cited geo-caching), games that are online/real life back and forth, creating your own rules with the device, hide and seek apps.
- parent integration and spaces for parental involvement.
Sandbox Summit: PERMISSION TO PLAY: GAME CHANGING RESEARCH
PERMISSION TO PLAY: GAME CHANGING RESEARCH
Jane Gould, Senior Vice President, Consumer Insights, Nickelodeon
Started out wanting to know what the state of play was with parents and kids.
Went into this research knowing that Nickelodeon are not play experts, they are kid and family experts.
First went to experts, then went into 200 households across the country. Spent entire days at each of these moments to note down everyday moments. Then quantified what the saw with 1300 households around the country.
PLAY ACROSS THE AGES
Wanted to compare how play was when the parents were growing up. Play across different ages of kids (2-17)
Takeaways was that time has in fact changed play. Does not look like what it used to. However play looks different but it doesn’t mean it’s different and ‘bad’.
Academic play patterns haven’t changed. Six basic academic patterns remain the same:
– social play
– Attunement
– body movement
– imiagination
– object play
– narrative.
It’s true - girls want to nurture, boys want to destroy. This is indeed the cas.e Girls wasn’t to care for babies, flowers, cooperation etc. Boys want to kill, domination, competition ‘a matter of life and death!’
Parents feel their play as a kid was different.
Eg. 72% parents often say it’s more dangerous to play outside then they were young
Competitive play has changed – used to be seasonal , skill development, team work. Speaking to sports coaches, hear about year-round activities, time intenstive obligation, future plans, adult dominated. Now they understand why ‘silent soccer league’ had been created.
KIDS LIKE TO PLAY
Play is incredibly fundamental. Kids like it, want to do more of it. But kept hearing it’s not as easy as it sounds. Many barriers to what kids think of as ‘play’.
This is a generation of non-linear kids. Everything can be re-done, started, stopped, paused. You can come into games at any point and participate the way you choose to.
Changes in play observed by adults are just reality for kids and this reality is filled with excitement for them.
The old saying of ‘a time and a place for everything’ really doesn’t exist anymore for play – it is all the time, it is available any time.
Is play actually fun? Their qualatitive research say it is!
Most popular types for parents:
1. fun
2. social
3. challenging
4. problem solving
Kids wish they didn’t have to plan ahead to have time to play with friends. They want more spontaneous, kid-directed play. Kids prefer to play something where they get to make up the rules or instructions, rather than playing something that already has rules or instructions.
Kids want more outdoor play. 69% kids would prefer to playoutside over play inside. 85% kids love or like play where they get to be outside . 49% of kids agree if they could, they would always play outside.
FORCES AGAINST PLAY
Adult focus on purpose and outcomes – experts and parents all believe that all play must have a purpose. However most kids believe that purpose is the antithesis of play. For kids the process is the desired outcome.
More than half of all parents agree there’s too much focus on learning during play, kids should just get to have fun.
Schools are giving less time to and emphasis on play. Parents are looking to institutions to fix things for them and schools came up in research again and again. Government and schools are de-prioritizing play. Obsessing over standardized tests, and funding that is granted as a result.
Time bankruptcy: there’s more homework, increased curricular activities, ruse of dual earner and single parent households. Parents schedules are a bigger obastacle than kids. While 34% parents say that kids are too busy so playimte needs to be scheduled, but they mostly all agree it should NOT be scheduled.
Neighborhood erosion:
Fear and safety are a prime concern for kids. Protecting your child means play tie is not as free and easy as it used to be. More parental supervision so therefore less playtime, more time spent being locked in the house.
Adults being the Play Police:
More often than not, parents tend to have a negative impact on play – over prescribing, over scheduling, over thinking. Educators are too focused on test scores. Coaches pressure kids to win at all costs. 70% parents say structured play with rules of guidelines to follow keep kids out of danger.
Parents do see a need for child-directed opportunities. There’s no need for expensive and specialty toys. Yet parents still crave learning outcomes from play. For kids, purpose is process and outcome is bonus.
TECHNOLOGY AS FRIEND AND FOE
Technology is both the unifier and the divider. It’s the ultimate snack-sized play.
The link between virtual and physical play is always sought but finally close to being delivered. This is the moment when it’s all coming together.
It’s very clear that both kids and parents are drawn to tech based play. Parents lack clarity in knowing when tech based play is good or bad – they want help and want to know more about the rules on how to guide.
The moment has come where tech and digital play has saturdated kids lives, more likely than to be done than any physical activity. 91& kids play some kind of video games regularly. 78% kids play some type of physical game regularly.
Tech devices serve many roles for kids and parents. Devices are used by parents as a babysitter, a pacifier. Pass-back. Parents know they’ve done it from an informed place – they know what the child is about to play.
For kids it helps kids and tweens stay connected with each other, perfect for solitary or group enjoyment.
But parents do have love / hate relationship. Parents told research they prefer kids to play in traditional play activities. They say they set rules around amount of digital play. But what they also tell research is that kids don’t know how to entertain themselves without technology or media. For parents, video games don’t count as ‘real play’.
Many parents used a term called ‘play play’ – parents say technology doesn’t allow for ‘play play’ to happen.
Self-guided play is taking a back-seat to scripted play. A memory of what parents did when they were young vs what kids are doing now. Parents are not seeing how creative a kid needs to be to survive in that world is key.
FAMILY PLAY
All family play is important to parents. Taking the time to family play is often more thought about than acted upon.
Today’s parents play more with their kids than with previous generations.
Parents and kids value family play – 56% say playing with parents is just as fun as playing with friends.
According to parents important play companions are first, then playing with family is important. This is also for kids – this research was up to the age of 17.
There are different types of parent play. Parents and kids versions of play can be different. Parents often ‘half play’. Encouragement can also lead to pressure.
Board games are still at the heart of family play. Parents and kids still want to interact. Then it’s different types of play with different types of family members.
Mom and dad are definitely different – mom is the connector, the social co-ordinator, the moderator, the care giver. Dad is the buddy, the techy, the coach, the softie. Research showed that moms are never the first point for fun!
There’s a desire for more parent, whole family and grandparent play. This is across the board in research.
THE PLAY BOOK
Parents and experts are worried:
- will imagination be a thing of the past?
- Will kids get and be more obese?
- Will brains fry with too much screen time
- How to fit in more family play?
- How do we get them outside
- How do we keep kids safe?
- How can kids take back control of play?
Play as fun
- too much focused on structured activities
- too many easy go-to activities that are not productive
- outdoor time lacking
- not enough interactivity and imagination.
Consumer needs
- opportunities for kids direction
- real world experiences
- healthier options
- creative expression
- more family connections
- ability to be transformed
- immediate gratification
- more merging of reality and digital
OPPORTUNITY
Take benefits of digital structured world of play. Bring it together with traditional unstructured play to take advantage of what’s needed for this kids. How to push these two things together?
THE PERFECT PLAY EXPERIENCE
- Physical activity
- Involvement of whole family
- Kids to call the shots and use imagination
- Connect to larger world
- Ease of use
- Safety
- Physical social emotional or creative benefits
- Needs to be fun.
Jane Gould, Senior Vice President, Consumer Insights, Nickelodeon
Started out wanting to know what the state of play was with parents and kids.
Went into this research knowing that Nickelodeon are not play experts, they are kid and family experts.
First went to experts, then went into 200 households across the country. Spent entire days at each of these moments to note down everyday moments. Then quantified what the saw with 1300 households around the country.
PLAY ACROSS THE AGES
Wanted to compare how play was when the parents were growing up. Play across different ages of kids (2-17)
Takeaways was that time has in fact changed play. Does not look like what it used to. However play looks different but it doesn’t mean it’s different and ‘bad’.
Academic play patterns haven’t changed. Six basic academic patterns remain the same:
– social play
– Attunement
– body movement
– imiagination
– object play
– narrative.
It’s true - girls want to nurture, boys want to destroy. This is indeed the cas.e Girls wasn’t to care for babies, flowers, cooperation etc. Boys want to kill, domination, competition ‘a matter of life and death!’
Parents feel their play as a kid was different.
Eg. 72% parents often say it’s more dangerous to play outside then they were young
Competitive play has changed – used to be seasonal , skill development, team work. Speaking to sports coaches, hear about year-round activities, time intenstive obligation, future plans, adult dominated. Now they understand why ‘silent soccer league’ had been created.
KIDS LIKE TO PLAY
Play is incredibly fundamental. Kids like it, want to do more of it. But kept hearing it’s not as easy as it sounds. Many barriers to what kids think of as ‘play’.
This is a generation of non-linear kids. Everything can be re-done, started, stopped, paused. You can come into games at any point and participate the way you choose to.
Changes in play observed by adults are just reality for kids and this reality is filled with excitement for them.
The old saying of ‘a time and a place for everything’ really doesn’t exist anymore for play – it is all the time, it is available any time.
Is play actually fun? Their qualatitive research say it is!
Most popular types for parents:
1. fun
2. social
3. challenging
4. problem solving
Kids wish they didn’t have to plan ahead to have time to play with friends. They want more spontaneous, kid-directed play. Kids prefer to play something where they get to make up the rules or instructions, rather than playing something that already has rules or instructions.
Kids want more outdoor play. 69% kids would prefer to playoutside over play inside. 85% kids love or like play where they get to be outside . 49% of kids agree if they could, they would always play outside.
FORCES AGAINST PLAY
Adult focus on purpose and outcomes – experts and parents all believe that all play must have a purpose. However most kids believe that purpose is the antithesis of play. For kids the process is the desired outcome.
More than half of all parents agree there’s too much focus on learning during play, kids should just get to have fun.
Schools are giving less time to and emphasis on play. Parents are looking to institutions to fix things for them and schools came up in research again and again. Government and schools are de-prioritizing play. Obsessing over standardized tests, and funding that is granted as a result.
Time bankruptcy: there’s more homework, increased curricular activities, ruse of dual earner and single parent households. Parents schedules are a bigger obastacle than kids. While 34% parents say that kids are too busy so playimte needs to be scheduled, but they mostly all agree it should NOT be scheduled.
Neighborhood erosion:
Fear and safety are a prime concern for kids. Protecting your child means play tie is not as free and easy as it used to be. More parental supervision so therefore less playtime, more time spent being locked in the house.
Adults being the Play Police:
More often than not, parents tend to have a negative impact on play – over prescribing, over scheduling, over thinking. Educators are too focused on test scores. Coaches pressure kids to win at all costs. 70% parents say structured play with rules of guidelines to follow keep kids out of danger.
Parents do see a need for child-directed opportunities. There’s no need for expensive and specialty toys. Yet parents still crave learning outcomes from play. For kids, purpose is process and outcome is bonus.
TECHNOLOGY AS FRIEND AND FOE
Technology is both the unifier and the divider. It’s the ultimate snack-sized play.
The link between virtual and physical play is always sought but finally close to being delivered. This is the moment when it’s all coming together.
It’s very clear that both kids and parents are drawn to tech based play. Parents lack clarity in knowing when tech based play is good or bad – they want help and want to know more about the rules on how to guide.
The moment has come where tech and digital play has saturdated kids lives, more likely than to be done than any physical activity. 91& kids play some kind of video games regularly. 78% kids play some type of physical game regularly.
Tech devices serve many roles for kids and parents. Devices are used by parents as a babysitter, a pacifier. Pass-back. Parents know they’ve done it from an informed place – they know what the child is about to play.
For kids it helps kids and tweens stay connected with each other, perfect for solitary or group enjoyment.
But parents do have love / hate relationship. Parents told research they prefer kids to play in traditional play activities. They say they set rules around amount of digital play. But what they also tell research is that kids don’t know how to entertain themselves without technology or media. For parents, video games don’t count as ‘real play’.
Many parents used a term called ‘play play’ – parents say technology doesn’t allow for ‘play play’ to happen.
Self-guided play is taking a back-seat to scripted play. A memory of what parents did when they were young vs what kids are doing now. Parents are not seeing how creative a kid needs to be to survive in that world is key.
FAMILY PLAY
All family play is important to parents. Taking the time to family play is often more thought about than acted upon.
Today’s parents play more with their kids than with previous generations.
Parents and kids value family play – 56% say playing with parents is just as fun as playing with friends.
According to parents important play companions are first, then playing with family is important. This is also for kids – this research was up to the age of 17.
There are different types of parent play. Parents and kids versions of play can be different. Parents often ‘half play’. Encouragement can also lead to pressure.
Board games are still at the heart of family play. Parents and kids still want to interact. Then it’s different types of play with different types of family members.
Mom and dad are definitely different – mom is the connector, the social co-ordinator, the moderator, the care giver. Dad is the buddy, the techy, the coach, the softie. Research showed that moms are never the first point for fun!
There’s a desire for more parent, whole family and grandparent play. This is across the board in research.
THE PLAY BOOK
Parents and experts are worried:
- will imagination be a thing of the past?
- Will kids get and be more obese?
- Will brains fry with too much screen time
- How to fit in more family play?
- How do we get them outside
- How do we keep kids safe?
- How can kids take back control of play?
Play as fun
- too much focused on structured activities
- too many easy go-to activities that are not productive
- outdoor time lacking
- not enough interactivity and imagination.
Consumer needs
- opportunities for kids direction
- real world experiences
- healthier options
- creative expression
- more family connections
- ability to be transformed
- immediate gratification
- more merging of reality and digital
OPPORTUNITY
Take benefits of digital structured world of play. Bring it together with traditional unstructured play to take advantage of what’s needed for this kids. How to push these two things together?
THE PERFECT PLAY EXPERIENCE
- Physical activity
- Involvement of whole family
- Kids to call the shots and use imagination
- Connect to larger world
- Ease of use
- Safety
- Physical social emotional or creative benefits
- Needs to be fun.
Sandbox Summit: Where is Technology Not Working?
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Alan Gershenfeld, Founder and President, E-Line Media
Panelists: Wendy Bronfin, Director, Product Management at Barnes & Noble; Sara DeWitt, Vice President of PBSKids Interactive; Rachel Schiff, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Interactive Entertainment
Devices: If you buy technology to help kids to read, you still need to encourage them to read. You can't just hand them a device and expect them to automatically learn. Make sure they're not getting lazy and browsing YouTube.
Put something you want them to learn in front of them. Just because they use technology doesn't mean they're doing it in an effective and productive way.
If you have technology games or books, try and add in real-world activities. Making sure your digital world encompasses more than just the screen time aspect.
Parent Child Interaction: PBS Kids did eye tracking testing, realized there was a real break with kids younger than 6.5 if a video came up anywhere on the screen, they zoned in on the video and stopped doing anything else. Older kids tended to pause the video to get on with their task at hand.
Thinking about leaving breadcrumbs for parents - finding ways to bring parents into the experience later. eg. Martha Speaks, they had an associated app where parents could record what kids were doing in the game. Simple example: leave something for the parent elsewhere on device (such as saved photos from game to photo gallery).
Q: Well Roundedness: What do you do to encourage well roundedness in kids?
A: Was a scholastic research report on time kids reading books for fun and doing things for fun. As they get older, do less reading activity and more time in gaming and then cell phone use becomes more pervasive use of their time. Suggests making compelling content to help.
See what other kids are doing in different ways - different collaboration networks. Follow kids interests through technology - how can we push them to something in the real world? How many of games kids build are things they're very passionate about? How to get them active in this passion outside of digital environment?
Q: What do you think should be kept sacred in the 'real world'
A: It's not an either / or - one person said if you live in boston, you know a lot of stuff is done inside in the winter! Do as much as you can in real world. Also up to the parent to encourage that real world experience.
Nook lady - reading bedtime stories to your child. SOmetimes digital books can inspire a better experience for kids at bedtime - digital media enhances that experience that parents and kids love doing together. It's not about either / or - but how to compliment.
Q: What do you think about when you are designing games for kids interests without pigeonholing them? There are stereotypes about how boys vs girls play games. Eg. sometimes theme might be more interesting for a boy, but how do you make it interesting also for girls?
GameStar Mechanic: they found at late elementary and middle-school age, both girls and boys were engaged in product. Found girls made games very differently at the beginning, but the end product was similar. Found it very difficult to get girls engaged in construction of a product at the 9th grade.
Alot of girls who engage in product, want to go into digital games focus on storytelling narrative of gameplay.
Moderator: Alan Gershenfeld, Founder and President, E-Line Media
Panelists: Wendy Bronfin, Director, Product Management at Barnes & Noble; Sara DeWitt, Vice President of PBSKids Interactive; Rachel Schiff, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Interactive Entertainment
Devices: If you buy technology to help kids to read, you still need to encourage them to read. You can't just hand them a device and expect them to automatically learn. Make sure they're not getting lazy and browsing YouTube.
Put something you want them to learn in front of them. Just because they use technology doesn't mean they're doing it in an effective and productive way.
If you have technology games or books, try and add in real-world activities. Making sure your digital world encompasses more than just the screen time aspect.
Parent Child Interaction: PBS Kids did eye tracking testing, realized there was a real break with kids younger than 6.5 if a video came up anywhere on the screen, they zoned in on the video and stopped doing anything else. Older kids tended to pause the video to get on with their task at hand.
Thinking about leaving breadcrumbs for parents - finding ways to bring parents into the experience later. eg. Martha Speaks, they had an associated app where parents could record what kids were doing in the game. Simple example: leave something for the parent elsewhere on device (such as saved photos from game to photo gallery).
Health: One of the negative things doctors are seeing in kids is insomnia issues in children. What they are saying is as a practice they are developing strategies about how to guide children and families on this insomnia issue.
Q: Well Roundedness: What do you do to encourage well roundedness in kids?
A: Was a scholastic research report on time kids reading books for fun and doing things for fun. As they get older, do less reading activity and more time in gaming and then cell phone use becomes more pervasive use of their time. Suggests making compelling content to help.
See what other kids are doing in different ways - different collaboration networks. Follow kids interests through technology - how can we push them to something in the real world? How many of games kids build are things they're very passionate about? How to get them active in this passion outside of digital environment?
Q: What do you think should be kept sacred in the 'real world'
A: It's not an either / or - one person said if you live in boston, you know a lot of stuff is done inside in the winter! Do as much as you can in real world. Also up to the parent to encourage that real world experience.
Nook lady - reading bedtime stories to your child. SOmetimes digital books can inspire a better experience for kids at bedtime - digital media enhances that experience that parents and kids love doing together. It's not about either / or - but how to compliment.
Q: What do you think about when you are designing games for kids interests without pigeonholing them? There are stereotypes about how boys vs girls play games. Eg. sometimes theme might be more interesting for a boy, but how do you make it interesting also for girls?
GameStar Mechanic: they found at late elementary and middle-school age, both girls and boys were engaged in product. Found girls made games very differently at the beginning, but the end product was similar. Found it very difficult to get girls engaged in construction of a product at the 9th grade.
Alot of girls who engage in product, want to go into digital games focus on storytelling narrative of gameplay.
Sandbox Summit: Leadership in Online Collaboration
Plays Well With Others: Leadership in Online Collaboration
Amy Bruckman – Associate Professor, Georgia Tech
Showed a video:
Pass-My Flash2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFf8399UZMI
This movie was made by 7 different animators aged 17 – 29 who had never met each other. How did they do this?
WHY COLLABORATION MATTERS
Accomplishments are astounding:
- 61% of the web pages in the world built by apache, build by a bunch of people for free
- Firefox has 29% market share
- Wikipedia 8th most popular website.
What’s the next big thing and how do we facilitate that process?
One model is looking at how meaning is active – learning and meaning is active constructionism (Piaget’s Constructivism). Examples:
- LOGO
- LEGO Mindstorms
- StarLogo
- Scratch
Most constructiveness is inherently individual. The online community is a good example. The online community provides technical support, emotional support. The barrier between most people and the meaningful use of tech is emotional – some people are too afraid to try it. (eg people who are too afraid to comment on blogs)
COLLABORATION IS IMPORTANT:
- People can work together to create really innovative stuff, when that labor is co-ordinated effectively.
- When you include more people in the design and development, the thing you create shows the values of the people that contribute to it.
- People learn better when they are supported by other people (zone of proximal development)
- More educational theory is about the way people learn in realistic settings.
Legitimate Peripheral Participation
- Learning is a process of moving from the periphery to the center of a community practice.
- Online fosters a group interaction - Forms a community of practice.
MODES OF COLLABORATION
- REMIX: take someone else’s project and adapt it. However, each project has a single owner.
- BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP: Open Source Software follows this model. Someone starts a project, (eg Linux) and it has plausible promise. Then they show to other people who comment (eg find a bug or suggest a feature). Leader of the project accepts or declines submissions and adapts as necessary. Leader chooses and ultimately makes all decisions.
- OPEN CONTENT PUBLISHING: People working in parallel (eg. Wikipedia). No one tells anyone what to do – people edit and re-edit. In many cases, vandalism is often fixed in a matter of seconds. People check one another’s work. Surprisingly, content is very efficient and very accurate overall. A good example was the English article about the Japan earthquake – it’s comprehensive and factually correct. The more prominent a page, the more accurate it tends to be.
Coordination in Peer Production
Yochai benkler, “Coase’s Penguin”
Projects suitable for peer production must have:
- Modular contributions
- Small-grain size of each contribution
- Easy integration of parts
What inhibits people from contributing? (Bystander effect)
- Social cues
- Self awareness
- Diffuse responsibility
- Blocking
What encourages people to contribute:
Peter Kollock criteria:
- Expect help in return
- Improve reputation
- Efficacy – takes pleasure in having an effect on environment
Design Features can be used that can help people such as identity persistence, a group that has a sense of ‘us’ eg. Wikipedia now has wiki projects
If you have knowledge of interactions you are more likely to help, and particularly if it’s visible.
STUDY OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION
Valentine “29”
Narrative: in study, narrative of structure shapes the process of collaboration. Eg. A movie called Valentine ‘29’. Each one had s specific chapter so they were almost unique. If anything was not done properly, the person leading the project had to react. Also, people work in parallel.
Pass My Flash 2
Continuation: This was a continuation. You make a piece then hand it off to someone else. Work takes place not in process but in series. So bottleneck could take place at any step of the way.
When Farm Animals Attack
Collection: get assets in by a deadline, then the leader will accept and decline what they like then put them all together.
As you can see, there’s heavy demand on leaders in this collaborative process. They need to be strong producers.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COLLABORATION
- Is it a development in parallel or series?
- Does the final product need all contributions, or can some be filtered?
- Is the project ever ‘finished”?
- Is the creative style conventional or innovative?
A new suite of tools called ‘pipeline’ is being built to first try and scaffold existing process and transform it in an interesting way. This tool creates a more P2P open collaborative mode. People can automatically claim tasks, producers can set level of creative control. Alpha testing to be released at beginning of May.
How do you design a collaboration system? They’ve started by doing imperical studies. Then think up new possibilities, guided hy goal of broad diverse participation. Design tools to support new practicies.
This matters because they’re looking to see what the next Wikipedia or Linux? There is something else on the horizon that we can’t predict will work. Imagining new possibilities is an important research component. Also, tech increasingly surrounds the fabric of our day to day experience.
Amy Bruckman – Associate Professor, Georgia Tech
Showed a video:
Pass-My Flash2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFf8399UZMI
This movie was made by 7 different animators aged 17 – 29 who had never met each other. How did they do this?
WHY COLLABORATION MATTERS
Accomplishments are astounding:
- 61% of the web pages in the world built by apache, build by a bunch of people for free
- Firefox has 29% market share
- Wikipedia 8th most popular website.
What’s the next big thing and how do we facilitate that process?
One model is looking at how meaning is active – learning and meaning is active constructionism (Piaget’s Constructivism). Examples:
- LOGO
- LEGO Mindstorms
- StarLogo
- Scratch
Most constructiveness is inherently individual. The online community is a good example. The online community provides technical support, emotional support. The barrier between most people and the meaningful use of tech is emotional – some people are too afraid to try it. (eg people who are too afraid to comment on blogs)
COLLABORATION IS IMPORTANT:
- People can work together to create really innovative stuff, when that labor is co-ordinated effectively.
- When you include more people in the design and development, the thing you create shows the values of the people that contribute to it.
- People learn better when they are supported by other people (zone of proximal development)
- More educational theory is about the way people learn in realistic settings.
Legitimate Peripheral Participation
- Learning is a process of moving from the periphery to the center of a community practice.
- Online fosters a group interaction - Forms a community of practice.
MODES OF COLLABORATION
- REMIX: take someone else’s project and adapt it. However, each project has a single owner.
- BENEVOLENT DICTATORSHIP: Open Source Software follows this model. Someone starts a project, (eg Linux) and it has plausible promise. Then they show to other people who comment (eg find a bug or suggest a feature). Leader of the project accepts or declines submissions and adapts as necessary. Leader chooses and ultimately makes all decisions.
- OPEN CONTENT PUBLISHING: People working in parallel (eg. Wikipedia). No one tells anyone what to do – people edit and re-edit. In many cases, vandalism is often fixed in a matter of seconds. People check one another’s work. Surprisingly, content is very efficient and very accurate overall. A good example was the English article about the Japan earthquake – it’s comprehensive and factually correct. The more prominent a page, the more accurate it tends to be.
Coordination in Peer Production
Yochai benkler, “Coase’s Penguin”
Projects suitable for peer production must have:
- Modular contributions
- Small-grain size of each contribution
- Easy integration of parts
What inhibits people from contributing? (Bystander effect)
- Social cues
- Self awareness
- Diffuse responsibility
- Blocking
What encourages people to contribute:
Peter Kollock criteria:
- Expect help in return
- Improve reputation
- Efficacy – takes pleasure in having an effect on environment
Design Features can be used that can help people such as identity persistence, a group that has a sense of ‘us’ eg. Wikipedia now has wiki projects
If you have knowledge of interactions you are more likely to help, and particularly if it’s visible.
STUDY OF CREATIVE COLLABORATION
Valentine “29”
Narrative: in study, narrative of structure shapes the process of collaboration. Eg. A movie called Valentine ‘29’. Each one had s specific chapter so they were almost unique. If anything was not done properly, the person leading the project had to react. Also, people work in parallel.
Pass My Flash 2
Continuation: This was a continuation. You make a piece then hand it off to someone else. Work takes place not in process but in series. So bottleneck could take place at any step of the way.
When Farm Animals Attack
Collection: get assets in by a deadline, then the leader will accept and decline what they like then put them all together.
As you can see, there’s heavy demand on leaders in this collaborative process. They need to be strong producers.
CHARACTERISTICS OF COLLABORATION
- Is it a development in parallel or series?
- Does the final product need all contributions, or can some be filtered?
- Is the project ever ‘finished”?
- Is the creative style conventional or innovative?
A new suite of tools called ‘pipeline’ is being built to first try and scaffold existing process and transform it in an interesting way. This tool creates a more P2P open collaborative mode. People can automatically claim tasks, producers can set level of creative control. Alpha testing to be released at beginning of May.
How do you design a collaboration system? They’ve started by doing imperical studies. Then think up new possibilities, guided hy goal of broad diverse participation. Design tools to support new practicies.
This matters because they’re looking to see what the next Wikipedia or Linux? There is something else on the horizon that we can’t predict will work. Imagining new possibilities is an important research component. Also, tech increasingly surrounds the fabric of our day to day experience.
Sandbox Summit: Learning 3.0
Learning 3.0: Why Technology Belongs in Every Classroom
Karen Kator – Director of the Office of Educational Technology, US Dept. Of Education
US Dept. Education: Technology plan published in November is called “Learning: Powered by Technology”
This book is available online at: http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010
How are we thinking of technology in the context of the US education system? How do we create education systems so we regain a bunch of time for play and interesting contextualized environments inside schools?
Dangers of being ‘strapped’ to technology and making it define who we are. Are we just talking about big tech or are we talking about a playground where we can discover what’s best about ourselves?
Obama in state of the union focused on innovation, education and infrastructure. These things used to power up the nation. Now we have a situation that we have an incredible amount of inequity. Schools missing 50% of our kids or more - a quarter or kids drop out of high school. 30 – 40% of kids who do go on to post-secondary need remedial help.
++ Digital Media & Opportunity ++
Social Media tools really powered up the opportunity for people to co-ordinate their efforts in Egypt this February. Provided ways to tell stories that we might not otherwise of heard. Tsunami in Japan had people publishing posts, photos, videos everywhere immediately. This offered also the opportunity the hope in the midst of destruction.
Superbowl this year was touted as transition between old and new media. This year, ads were not just ads but needed to figure out how they stretched the time? Used commercial for movie ‘Rio’ as example as how they tied in an Angry Birds promotion. Thinking about the ‘before, during, and after’ of advertising.
Decora Eagles is another example of digital media opportunities – it’s a live webcam that shows an eagle’s nest – it’s on 24 hours.
These kinds of opportunities can really the change the ways we think about powerful learning.
++ Learners of the 21st Century ++
Quest to Learn (school in NYC)
Designed to support digital lives of young people and their capacity for learning.
++ Mobility ++
- 24 hour access
- only have had tablets for one year and look at impact
- social interactions everywhere for learning – not just twitter, but things like epicurious, the strobist (lighting)
- proliferation of powerful, highly produced digital content is changing everything.
++ Big Data ++
Big data we think about today is location data. In education we have not begun to touch the opportunities for thinking about how we use data and help us help students learn better. We are at this transition between a print based classroom and a digital learning environment. Called it a ‘digital inflection point’.
This digital media is beyond interation it is a ‘guiding interface’. It doesn’t mean we ditch learning from people or books, but that we have a new opportunity to design and develop powerful learning environments. Focus of control can shift from teacher to the student.
++ Learning ++
How can we personalize the learning environment? With the internet we can bring in a long tail of interest. In some schools, they outgrow their library very quickly. Need ability for fluid research and analysis as they go.
How do we create an environment that is a universal design for learning? A book is inherently disabled - it can't read for you etc. Digital environments can scaffold lessons, provide greater access to content and demonstrate and help understand content in a variety of ways. Eg games have a perfect place in this world order.
The opportunity to create an environment that merges formal and informal learning. How do we give this credence inside of school?
++ Assessment++
Measuring what matters. Measuring the full range of standards. Embedded into opportunity of what students are having to learn. Sees games as one giant assessment engine.
Opportunity to create persistent learning records that STUDENTS OWN. Family have the copy and rights to that persistent learning record.
++ Teaching Environment ++
Technology used to augment human performance. Helps crunch data, connects them to what they need, when they need it, scaffolds students. Help them better connect to each other. Right now in schools, teachers are limited and not powered with the best technologies. We want tech to 'power up' the role of teachers.
++ Infrastructure ++
24/7, community wide, more access points. Devices come and go, but where can students get access to the tools and resources they need?
Print to Digital - how do we make sure that what we do is productive as possible for students.
What's killing education is the seat time to competency - everything is measured in the time you spend, rather than focusing on competence-based learning.
+ The Future of Learning ++
multiple pathways - multiple instructors
multiple devices - multiple environments - multiple sources
Learner centered.
++ Learning Position System ++
Can we create something instead of a GPS with a map - take those things off and have learning progressions from numeration, calculus etc. Could you create a map that maps out all of mathematics? Where are you in the whole scheme of mathematics? How do we create this notion of a Learning Positioning System?
Dept of Education is improving access, creating more transparency, focusing on the people on hte ground, investing in rapid improvement.
Karen Kator – Director of the Office of Educational Technology, US Dept. Of Education
US Dept. Education: Technology plan published in November is called “Learning: Powered by Technology”
This book is available online at: http://www.ed.gov/technology/netp-2010
How are we thinking of technology in the context of the US education system? How do we create education systems so we regain a bunch of time for play and interesting contextualized environments inside schools?
Dangers of being ‘strapped’ to technology and making it define who we are. Are we just talking about big tech or are we talking about a playground where we can discover what’s best about ourselves?
Obama in state of the union focused on innovation, education and infrastructure. These things used to power up the nation. Now we have a situation that we have an incredible amount of inequity. Schools missing 50% of our kids or more - a quarter or kids drop out of high school. 30 – 40% of kids who do go on to post-secondary need remedial help.
++ Digital Media & Opportunity ++
Social Media tools really powered up the opportunity for people to co-ordinate their efforts in Egypt this February. Provided ways to tell stories that we might not otherwise of heard. Tsunami in Japan had people publishing posts, photos, videos everywhere immediately. This offered also the opportunity the hope in the midst of destruction.
Superbowl this year was touted as transition between old and new media. This year, ads were not just ads but needed to figure out how they stretched the time? Used commercial for movie ‘Rio’ as example as how they tied in an Angry Birds promotion. Thinking about the ‘before, during, and after’ of advertising.
Decora Eagles is another example of digital media opportunities – it’s a live webcam that shows an eagle’s nest – it’s on 24 hours.
These kinds of opportunities can really the change the ways we think about powerful learning.
++ Learners of the 21st Century ++
Quest to Learn (school in NYC)
Designed to support digital lives of young people and their capacity for learning.
++ Mobility ++
- 24 hour access
- only have had tablets for one year and look at impact
- social interactions everywhere for learning – not just twitter, but things like epicurious, the strobist (lighting)
- proliferation of powerful, highly produced digital content is changing everything.
++ Big Data ++
Big data we think about today is location data. In education we have not begun to touch the opportunities for thinking about how we use data and help us help students learn better. We are at this transition between a print based classroom and a digital learning environment. Called it a ‘digital inflection point’.
This digital media is beyond interation it is a ‘guiding interface’. It doesn’t mean we ditch learning from people or books, but that we have a new opportunity to design and develop powerful learning environments. Focus of control can shift from teacher to the student.
++ Learning ++
How can we personalize the learning environment? With the internet we can bring in a long tail of interest. In some schools, they outgrow their library very quickly. Need ability for fluid research and analysis as they go.
How do we create an environment that is a universal design for learning? A book is inherently disabled - it can't read for you etc. Digital environments can scaffold lessons, provide greater access to content and demonstrate and help understand content in a variety of ways. Eg games have a perfect place in this world order.
The opportunity to create an environment that merges formal and informal learning. How do we give this credence inside of school?
++ Assessment++
Measuring what matters. Measuring the full range of standards. Embedded into opportunity of what students are having to learn. Sees games as one giant assessment engine.
Opportunity to create persistent learning records that STUDENTS OWN. Family have the copy and rights to that persistent learning record.
++ Teaching Environment ++
Technology used to augment human performance. Helps crunch data, connects them to what they need, when they need it, scaffolds students. Help them better connect to each other. Right now in schools, teachers are limited and not powered with the best technologies. We want tech to 'power up' the role of teachers.
++ Infrastructure ++
24/7, community wide, more access points. Devices come and go, but where can students get access to the tools and resources they need?
Print to Digital - how do we make sure that what we do is productive as possible for students.
What's killing education is the seat time to competency - everything is measured in the time you spend, rather than focusing on competence-based learning.
+ The Future of Learning ++
lifelong - preschool - k12 - postsecondary - career - life
Formal - informal - in school - out of school
multiple pathways - multiple instructors
multiple devices - multiple environments - multiple sources
Learner centered.
++ Learning Position System ++
Can we create something instead of a GPS with a map - take those things off and have learning progressions from numeration, calculus etc. Could you create a map that maps out all of mathematics? Where are you in the whole scheme of mathematics? How do we create this notion of a Learning Positioning System?
Dept of Education is improving access, creating more transparency, focusing on the people on hte ground, investing in rapid improvement.
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