Christian Sandvig's Seminar Blog

You could consider this post to be my response to our "teaching assignment" for the seminar.

Thanks to our playtesting the InnisMod is finished and it seems to work fairly well. We had some hiccups but overall our experiment in educational technology is coming to a close, and now is the time to reflect on it. Here is Harold Innis the video game and the rationale for the project:

Civilization IV: InnisMod http://pact.uiuc.edu/innismod/

You are all invited to a fifty minute panel discussion of whether or not this project was a good idea. I am opening the class to the public and we have invited Prof. Karrie Karahalios, the widely known expert on online environments from our own computer science department. The class members will present their own work and then we will discuss whether or not the whole thing was worth the expense and heartache. Here are the details:

Serious Games:
Video Games in Undergraduate General Education
(A panel discussion.)

Christian Sandvig, Speech Communication
Karrie Karahalios, Computer Science
The Players of InnisMod

Wednesday, May 2
noon-12:50 p.m.
Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana.

Do online environments and video games have a place in general education? Researchers and teachers are increasingly investigating the use of games, digital media, and virtual environments as a platform for active learning in undergraduate classes. This panel will discuss the results of an experiment using a modified version of the multiplayer game Civilization IV in the class "Communication Technology and Society." Most broadly, it will also address the question, what features do online social spaces need to support college-level learning?

(A webcast will be available after the event, check back for details.)

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Following up from Monday's discussion about the frustrations of teaching, here is a handout that I give to TAs that work with me. I don't think there is a good answer to the problem of getting students to do the readings before class, but this handout has helped me in the past. The frustrating thing about this is that there is no simple solution to the problem.

The title of this blog post is a quote from the handout. Here it is:

Getting Students to do Reading Assignments
Download file (PDF, 4 pages)

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Regarding our discussion of undergraduate teaching, Civilization IV and Harold Innis, since there are a surprisingly large number of people in the seminar who are familiar with the game already, if anyone is willing to be a "playtester" for my undergrad assignment on comm tech that would be a big help. I will also ask about this in class. All you have to do is try to think like an undergrad.

This event might be of interest as well:

Teaching and Technology (1 page PDF flyer), Monday 5:30pm

I plan to talk about the Civ IV mod, but I may also talk briefly about blogs and wikis. This event provides GTC and AGTC credit.

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